Simon Says (Monday) Guest Designer week 3 - Thank You

Hi everyone,

Here I am again for my third week as Guest Designer for the  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week the theme is

*** Thank You ***

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $25 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz  on the challenge blog post!  You can enter 5 times so that's 5 possible chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance - good luck everyone!

Here's my card for this week (links to my supplies are below the description).

I recently saw an online video for the ‘faux pyrography’ technique, so I decided to give it a go. I cut a 5 1/2” square of white stamping card and spritzed with water. I then stamped part of my recently acquired Julie Hickey floral stamp in one corner using Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink and spritzed a little more so that the ink would wick out. I dried the panel then over stamped using Nocturne Versafine Clair. I repeated this process with a different part of the stamp in the opposite corner of the card, then highlighted the flower centres and dots by painting with watered down acrylic paint from a gold Posca pen. I cut a stitched square frame from kraft card then distressed it with Vintage Photo DOX and a little more gold paint. I die cut a Simon Says Script Thanks die and shadow using kraft and black card stock then added some gold paint highlights to the kraft sentiment. Finally I assembled the card and matted onto a 6” square white card blank.

Here are links to what I used.

Stamps: Julie Hickey - Julie’s Hand Picked Blossoms and Blooms;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Vintage Photo); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Posca pen (gold); 

Tools: Simon Says Stamp Script Thanks shadow wafer dies.

Don’t forget to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time (EST), 1pm UK time (GMT), 2 pm CET to join in.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (November) - Anything Goes with option Thank You - TOP ROCKER

Beautiful Blossoms #35 - Anything Floral Goes

Card Concept #221 - Give Thanks

(Inspired by the theme: style is Shabby chic / Mixed Media)

Crafty Catz #704 - Anything Goes / Thank You

DL.Art (November) - Anything Goes with option Thanks

Make My Monday #265 - Gratitude/Thankful - SPECIAL MENTION

Male Room #204 - Masculine Floral

Outlawz Festive Friday (November) - I’m Thankful (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Thank You

Sisterhood of Crafters - Thanks

Sparkles #194 - Thank You

Triple B (November) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #11 2025 - Anything Mixed Media/Papercrafting Goes

Word Art Wednesday #724/725 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting my blog today.

Hugs,

Floral Spray 🌺

Hi everyone, I mentioned in a recent post that I had bought a craft magazine, which when I opened it contained some unexpected treasures that weren’t really indicated on the packaging as it was a “sale bundle”.  Well, today I have made a card using the stamp set that actually motivated me to purchase the magazine in the first place - a lovely floral spray by Crafter’s Companion.

I die cut a stitched rectangle from white stamping card, then stamped and heat embossed the flower spray in gold. I coloured the image using Zig pens and added some gold Posca spatter. When dry I matted onto a larger stitched square cut from a snippet of pearlescent pink card and onto a 7” x 5” card blank. Finally I die cut the sentiment from snippets of gold and black card, glued together and attached. A fairly straightforward traditional card, but I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Stamps: Crafter’s Companion flower (free with craft magazine);

Media: Versamark; WOW metallic gold embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo- Stitched rectangle dies; Simon Says Stamp Script Thanks die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally’s Angels #96 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #31 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Catz #699 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Moments #273 - Embossing

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #5 - Anything In or From a Garden (2nd entry)

NBUS #77 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(floral stamp)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Snippets Playground #512 - Use Snippets - TOP PICK

Triple B (August) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms with optional Mood Board

Word Art Wednesday #710/711 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Starter For Ten

Hi everyone, today I’d like to share a simple card using some new supplies I got with the latest Indigo Blu Mixed Media kit crafting magazine - I don’t normally buy craft magazines but I just fancied this one for a change. I also made this card relatively simple as I had the idea of entering it into a “speed” challenge - to make a card (excluding time to plan and gather supplies to hand) in 10 minutes or less … sadly that didn’t quite work out as not only could I not manage to complete it in less than 10 minutes despite forensic planning and gathering of supplies beforehand, but also I discovered the said challenge does not allow entry with many other challenges - never mind! Here’s the result anyway.

I die cut a stitched square of white card, a silver mirror card test tube outline, pink glitter card flowers, green glitter card leaf spray and a shadow sentiment - all from a variety of snippets. I blended  Charted Mariner and Kitsch Flamingo distress Oxides through the Indigo Blu stencil on the left hand side of the stitched square, then stuck down my test tube die cut. I coloured inside the die cut with blue Wink of Stella and clear Spectrum Noir sparkle pens, then trimmed and stuck down my die cut flowers and leaves. I glued together my shadow sentiment die cuts and attached, blended more pink DOX round the edges, then attached to a card blank.

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides inks (Charted Mariner, Kitsch Flamingo); Wink of Stella (blue); Spectrum noir sparkle pen (pink);

Tools: Hunky Dory Moonstone Duo- Stitched Squares die; Indigo Blu test tube and flower dies (part of magazine kit); Indigo Blu script stencil (same kit); Simon Says Stamp - Script Thanks die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #494 - Any Occasion

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (June) - Use a Stencil

A Cut Above (June) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut

Fab ‘n’ Funky #618 - Use Your Die Cuts

Just Us Girls #778 - Die Week

Love to Craft #86 - Anything Goes

Love to Scrap #175 - Anything Goes

NBUS #75 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(Test tube and floral dies, script stencil)

Snippets Playground #507 - Use Snippets

(Everything apart from the card blank is a snippet)

Word Art Wednesday #702/703 - Anything Goes

That’s all from me for today. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Rainbow Thanks

Hi everyone, with Thanksgiving coming up in the US this week, there are several challenges around on the theme of Thanksgiving / Thank you. Living in the UK we don’t do Thanksgiving, but I thought I would take a little break from making Christmas cards and make a Thank you card instead. I have also been making quite a few complex Christmas scenes lately, so I have gone in a different direction and made a relatively CAS card - here it is.

I cut a 13cm square of white card, stamped and heat embossed the flower then coloured it with Sakura Stardust pens. I added a little background stamping then overlaid it with a die cut shadow sentiment after I had added some gold Posca spatters ( I actually got my spatters to behave themselves - a minor miracle!). I matted the panel onto black and gold card stock then my card blank, and finished with a scattering of teeny rainbow coloured gems.

Stamps: Visible Image Creative Chaos;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); clear embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pens (red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, purple); Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Simon Says Stamp “Script Thanks” die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #11 - Anything Floral Goes

Colourful Options (November) - Rainbow Inspired (2nd entry)

Creatalicious #271 - Anything Goes with option Thanksgiving/Thank you

Creative Crafters #70 - Anything Goes - WINNER

Mix It Up #68 - Anything Goes with option Stamping

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2345 - Anything Goes

Paper Funday #59 - Anything Goes with option Grateful/Thankful/Thank you

Simon Says (Monday) - Thanks/Thanksgiving

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Thanks/Thanksgiving 

Word Art Wednesday #621/622 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

I hope the rainbow hued flower will provide a bit of cheer in light of the awful miserable weather that seems to have been going on forever! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend - take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Simon Says - Emboss It

Hi everyone,

I'm feeling incredibly excited today, as I can finally reveal what I have been bursting tell everyone for the past few weeks - that I have been asked to be the Guest Designer for March on the wonderful  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! I'm absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase some cards for the next 4 weeks alongside the immensely talented regular members of the Design Team, and just hope I can rise to the challenge and do it justice!

This week the theme is

Emboss It

As it’s the first Monday of the month we are showcasing a brand/company. and this week it is Simon Says Stamp's very own products. You don’t have to use them to join in with the challenge but if you have them we would love to see them on your creation.

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $25 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz  on the challenge blog post!  You can enter 5 times so that's 5 possible chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance - good luck everyone!

Here's my first Guest Designer card (links to my supplies are below the description)

I chose the gorgeous Simon Says Stamp “Floral Harmony”  embossing folder and dies as the focus for today's card. First I smooshed Distress Oxide inks in Broken China, Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage over the debossed surface of the embossing folder then embossed onto a piece of white card stock. I die cut and embossed the matching floral dies, then added some subtle colour highlights using Distress watercolor pencils set 1 (Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Salvaged Patina), and added some sparkle with a Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, before attaching them to the embossed panel. I distressed the edges of the panel with my Tim Holtz Paper distresser and matted onto a larger piece of co-ordinating cardstock that also had the edges distressed. Finally I added the Simon Says Stamp “Script Thanks” shadow wafer die sentiment.

Here is angled picture to show the shine of the sentiment and sparkly flowers ... I find sparkle never shows up well on camera!

... and a closeup of the fabulous detail on the cut and embossed flowers.

Here are links to what I used: 

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils Set 1; Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen;

Tools: Simon Says Stamp "Floral Harmony" Embossing Folder and Dies; Simon Says Stamp “Script Thanks” shadow wafer die; Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser

Don’t forget to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

You have until Monday  8 am Ohio time, 1 pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Daisy Chain #72 - Flowers

Flower Challenge #78 - Die Cuts or Stencils

Shopping Our Stash #491 - Flowers, Flowers Everywhere (3rd entry)

Time Out #233 - Elegant

Word Art Wednesday #585/586 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting my blog today.

Hugs,

Autumn postcard

Hi everyone,

The vintage style stamp I found in my stash for last Saturday’s card was actually one of a pair in an old LotV set - neither of which had seen ink before - so I decided to ink the second one up as well.

This stamp is much more definitely a silhouette stamp than the previous one, so I thought I would try making a background for it  in autumnal colours with my Perfect Pearls, as I'm trying to make use of some of my old stash in new ways. I stamped and embossed the image, then covered the stamped piece in Versamark before brushing on three autumnal colours of Perfect Pearls mica powder - copper, bronze and red - which I then set with a fine mist of water. I also created a stencilled panel of what I would describe as broadly leaf shapes with red Perfect Pearls, then matted everything using black and rose gold cardstock, added a simple sentiment and co-ordinating gems. 

The Perfect Pearls have actually got a massive amount of sparkle which is virtually impossible to capture on these dull autumn days ... so unusually I have taken a photo at an unusual angle to try to show it.

The whole process with the Perfect Pearls was pretty messy and time consuming as it had to be done carefully in stages to avoid mixing the powders; and although a light spritz of water is supposed to be enough to set PP I found it needed a bit more... I don't currently have fixing spray but may look into that. Not really a fan of this technique, but it was something I had been wanting to try out.

Stamps: LotV Set 53 "Vintage Backgrounds"; sentiment - Penny Black “Salutations”;

Media: Perfect Pearls - Perfect Bronze, Perfect Copper, Perfect Red;

Tools: stencil - Craft Sensations at The Range;

Cardstock and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Country View Challenges (October) - Autumnal Colours and/or Hallowe’en

Crafter's Castle #46 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Creative Craft Cottage #145 - Autumn /Hallowe’en

Creative Knockouts #425 - Anything Goes

Get Creative #106 - Anything Goes with optional twist of holidays

(tenuous use of the option  -  my image is a postcard!!)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2143 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday)- Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations (October) - Animals, Birds and Bugs (2nd entry)

We Love Chocolate Baroque (October) - Anything Autumn (3rd entry)

Hoping to have a relaxing afternoon dipping in and out of the Lavinia Stamps Hallaganza events online ... more inspiration equals more shopping temptation!! Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Ebony & Ivory

 

Hi there ... hope you are all enjoying the fantastic weekend weather we've been having here in the UK.

 

This week I was tempted into buying several new dies, as my local craft shop Edwin Allen had taken delivery of a fab new range of very reasonably priced dies by Joy Crafts. I just couldn't resist them!!

 

Kathy in the craft shop had made a fabulous silhouette card with some of the dies; so when I saw that this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge is Ebony & Ivory, I was up and running!! My silhouette card is very different from the one in the shop as I decided to silhouette my die cut flower against a stamped script background with a foliage die cut into pieces surrounding it .... and it's a rather more CAS card than my usual offerings. Here is the result.

 

Stamps: Penny Black "Letter Background" (1999L) and sentiment from "Salutations" transparent set;

Media: background distressed with Antique Linen distress ink;

Supplies: ivory heart pearls from The Hobby House;

Tools: Joy Crafts Vintage Flourishes dies - Flower/Leaf 2 (central flower) and Flower/Leaf 4 (foliage); Deorative Labels Eight nestabilities; Cheery Lynn "Lace Corners - Deco B".

 

Challenges:

Cute Card Thursday #272 - Ebony & Ivory

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Theme Begininning With "S" (silhouette)

Sparkles #44 - Monochromatic

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (June) - Clean & Simple

Totally Papercrafts #170 - At Least 3 Punches / Dies

Allsorts #210 - In The Garden

Stamping Sensations (June) - Summer Blooms

Crafts & Me #136 - Something Old

(background and sentiment stamps)

Heck Of A Challenge (June) - Bingo

(Pearls / Die-Cuts / Flowers)

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

 

That's all for today :-)

Hugs,

Giving thanks

 

Hi there - hope you're all having an enjoyable week. I'm the wrong side of the pond to be making a Thanksgiving card, but everyone can make a giving thanks card, hmmm??  This is for a very good friend of mine :-)

Stamps: free Whimsy Wee stamp by Sylvia Zet (in craft magazine); Whimsy "friendship ticket"; "thankyou" sentiment from Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Nitwits" collection "Promises";

Supplies: flowers form Wild Orchid Crafts (some via The Ribbon Girl); pealrs from The Hobby House and Wild Orchid Crafts;

Tools: large classic oval and scalloped oval nestabilities; Magnolia doohickey "Lovely Fence" die; Memory Box "Marshmallow Cloud"; Cheery Lynn "Fanciful Flourish"; X-Cut small butterfly punch.

  

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations #189 - Sketch

Simon Says - Thank You / Thanksgiving

Crafting For All Seasons #40 - Thank You

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Thank You

Everybody-Art #213 - Oval Shape

Charisma #45 - Keep Your Cool (cool colour spectrum)

Stamp With Stampavie #181 - Swirls & Pearls

Penny Black & More at Allsorts (November) - Any Die Will Do (2nd entry)

Divas By Design #61 - Anything Goes

Penny's Paper Crafty #102 - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting today.

Hugs,

Penny Black Saturday #158

Good morning, and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks so much for all your fantastic entries last week - sorry I didn't get opportunity to get around them all, and alas this week won't be any better as I am studyling for an exam this next week .. but hopefullya fter that normal service will be resumed :-)

This week we have an easy peasy theme for you

Desert Island Stamps

You can interpret this two ways for sure ... what is your real favourite stamp that you would have to take with you to a desert island (a bit like Desert Island Discs lol!), or indeed you could use sa stamp with a beach type theme.

The other ladies on the DT have used a fabulous variety of their favourite stamps to inspire you, so please do go and check them out. And to whet your appetite we also have 2 fab prizes this week for randomly chosen winners ..

Firstly ... from Penny Black

This fabulous brushstroke style stamp - 4042K "Daisy Fields"

and also from The Ribbon Girl

a yummy assortment of ribbons and trims.

Don't forget that to be eligible for a prize you should submit a new project which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

So ... as I'm already running late I'll get straight  onto my card for this week.

Now choosing a favourite would be impossible for me as I love them all ... but this cute little duckling always melts my heart ... also with his yellow bill he was perfect for the Simon Says colour challenge (see below) which is also featuring Penny Black stamps this week :-)

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "Duckling" coloured with Promarkers;

Papers: Free with a craft magazine many moons ago;

Supplies: 2-tone yellow rose from Crafts4U2Do, lavender roses from Wild Orchid Crafts; daisy from my stash;

Tools: decorative photo borders shapeabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" PATP; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - sketch

Simon Says - Lemon and Lavender

I ♥ ProMarkers #72 - Include Flowers

Penny Black at Allsorts (July) - Flower Power

Crafty Cardmakers #49 - Spots and Stripes

Fuzzy Wuzzy (July) - Get Punchy!

Allsorts #110 - Free and Easy

Hope you can join us this week - have a great weekend.