14.09.2014

Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit Revealed!

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It’s the 14th so that means reveal day for the latest Simon Says Stamp Card Kit – woo-hoo!  I squealed when I opened the box with this one – the colours are so warm and cozy – perfect to go with the fabulous “coffee and tea” themed stamp set and embellishments.  The papers are just gorgeous and there’s even a super little cup die in there – love it!

September card kit

I made a card inspired by the colours from the papers and used the card in the kit with the die.  There’s some sweet little sequins in there too – I just love it ALL!

Now these kits are notorious for selling out so if you want it, then go get it before it’s gone!!

Have a great Sunday where ever you are.  I’m going off with some friends for a family bike trek/picnic over in Delamere Forest – such a pretty part of the world and only half an hour from us!

10.09.2014

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Create Your Own Background!

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Thank you for joining us for the  STAMPtember® Stamp-It Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.

This week the challenge is ,,,,,,,,

MAKE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND

there are so many ways to make your own backgrounds, using stencils, splattering, gelli plate printing etc

We are showcasing GELATOS made by FABER-CASTELL this week. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

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I am really pleased with how my background turned out for this card – the colours came out just how I wanted them!  I was going for a bokeh effect and used the Hero Arts Bubble Confetti stencil to create it with the Gelatos (Tropical set).  I first scribbled the colours onto my craft sheet and spritzed with water to dissolve the pigment.  I then taped my stencil down over some Tim Holtz Distress Watercolour card and using the bristle brush that came with the Gelatos started dabbing the colour over the stencil one at a time, moving the stencil around to get random spacing of one colour before moving onto the next.  I could’ve used sponge daubers but I’ve ran out and am waiting for some new ones to arrive!!

gelatosI just continued to keep adding spots of colour over the panel until I was happy with the coverage and then took a white pigment ink (Avery Elle) and added random spots of white.  I think it’s this step that really helps to add to the bokeh effect.  I set the background panel to the side to dry and die cut the Simon Says Stamp ice-cream cone parade from white card and pastel card shades.  I used a glue pen to cover the coloured centre pieces before sprinkling them with fine clear glitter.  I assembled them back together and popped them up on foam tape and set aside.  Before adding the sentiment (from Clearly Besotted’s Many Messages) which I stamped in Versamark and embossed in Ranger gold powder, I added a few splats of Heidi Swapp Gold lame spray and a few Doodlebug gold sprinkles.  Finally I adhered the ice cream die cut and mounted the panel to an A2 white card base.

I can’t wait to see all your creative backgrounds this week – thanks for stopping by!

 


10.09.2014

Halloween Spirit – a new Clearly Besotted Challenge!

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Hello – today sees a new challenge over at the Clearly Besotted Stamps blog and this time the theme is Autumn/Halloween.  I’ve used the fabulous new Halloween Spirit stamp set to create these two little Halloween cards.

Spirit of Halloween 1

I used distress inks for the backgrounds – LOVE the effect you get with these inks – it’s such a therapeutic process too (I literally spend AGES just adding MORE and MORE ink!!!).  I masked off an area and then used a fine-liner pen to draw a sketchy line as a border.  All of the images are from the Halloween Spirit set and I finished off with a few touches of clear Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents.

As always there’s a Clearly Besotted store voucher up for grabs for one lucky winner so get crafting!!