Sometimes it just feels good to get ink on your hands...and maybe a few splashes of watercolor...a spritz of shimmer, and maybe even a splatter of paint. Today's holiday cards got a little artsy, but the good news is that whether it's your style or not, today's products lend themselves to every style from clean and simple to layered and messy, and it's all brand new (and SUPER CUTE) from Simon Says Stamp. Let's take a look at this new holiday collection, called And Everything Nice!
This blog post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links, I receive compensation at no cost to you. Thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart! Both of today's cards begin with the same background, the Leafy Double Garland Embossing Folder. This is a great background for holiday and winter card making. I went BOLD for these backgrounds, but this would also be beautiful as a subtle texture behind a clean and simple holiday card. After embossing a piece of watercolor paper, I used watercolor paints as well as Simon Hurley Solar Spray, and Spellbinders Splatter White to add all kinds of messy color to this background. Here's a TIP: When working with watery paints, keep your heat gun or a hair dryer handy to quickly dry sections if paint starts running or blending where you don't want it to! Sometimes even a quick dab with a tissue is helpful if it your artsy gets a little too fartsy. ;) To finish this card, I added the new Brilliant Cardinal die, as well as a heat embossed sentiment from Stacked Holiday Sentiments. This closeup photo shows the pearly shimmer of the Solar Sprays nicely! Such a fun fancy detail! Next up, same background, and same colors but I started out a little different. For this card, I actually put some watercolor straight onto the embossing folder, sandwiched my watercolor paper in, and carefully put it through my die-cutting machine. This presses the color right into the paper. It wasn't quite enough color, so then I went back and added more paint, water, and then Solar Spray, plus another sentiment from Stacked Holiday Sentiments. This time I added the sentiment onto vellum. Here's a TIP! If there's a bit too much background showing through, add a second layer of vellum to make the words pop. Another vellum tip - staples are a great way to adhere vellum to a card, with no pesky adhesive to hide! Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you're feeling inspired to get your hands a little messy and embrace the spritzy, splattery, shimmery side of the holidays! Don't Miss Out on the Fun:- Stop by the Simon Says Stamp website to see the entire And Everything Nice collection.
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- Don't miss the two-day blog hop Friday, November 7th and Saturday the 8th!
- Are you on the gram? Check out the Instagram hop on Thursday, November 13th.
Shop the Supplies on Today's Cards(there are also coordinating dies available!)
Looking for more holiday inspiration with Simon Says Stamp?
Christmas card season is coming in HOT - it's TIME, friends! It felt great to get a few holiday cards made to begin this year's stash, and the stamps and dies from the new Sugar and Spice release at Simon Says Stamp gave me some fresh inspiration to share! I'm just thrilled to be blog hopping along with some of my favorite card makers for day 2 of Simon's Sugar and Spice release blog hop. If you're feeling merry, read on! This blog post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links, I receive compensation at no cost to you. Thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart! Both of today's cards feature the Plaque Slides dies and coordinating Plaque Slides Christmas stamps, as well as the Narrow Holly Cluster dies. Let's chat about the Plaque Slides first. These sentiments are adorable, well-sized for cards, and will coordinate perfectly with a variety of styles. You'll want to die-cut a whole bunch of the coordinating die shapes and add these cuties to all kinds of cards, tags, gift wrap, and goodies. I super love that there's some versatility with the rounded rectangle shape - you'll see for today's first card, I trimmed off the edges to just keep the rectangle, but on my second card you'll see how easily you can slide a ribbon or twine to attach it. Love that versatility! Here's TWO tips if you'd like to recreate this Merry and Bright card:- Planning to mass produce your cards? Consider stamping the sentiments across the background of an entire 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock. Then, simply cut it into four (or more) pieces to create your cards.
- Depending on the colors of ink you use, sometimes a very busy colorful background can become, well, TOO busy. If that's the case, add a layer of vellum. It'll probably be just enough to make the background less overwhelming, and adds another layer of interest. (I love to use my tiny stapler to easily attach vellum without messing with adhesive that might show through.)
(Note: I layered my sentiment onto a cute scalloped tag from Spellbinders. You can find the Make a Wish Arch Labels die set at Simon Says Stamp.) Next up, you'll see that Plaque Slide die with the twine strung through. This is going to be such fun on gift wrap and packaged holiday treats, but clearly adorable on cards too. Although I used the Narrow Holly Cluster for the greenery up above, on this card the holly is front and center, and makes a bold statement cut from metallic cardstocks. Again, another versatile die set - cut it into pieces and use the holly as an accent, or use the whole cluster as a focal point. I love to have options! Friends, you don't want to miss a stop on today's blog hop. First of all, there's so much AMAZING inspiration, but secondly Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to one commenter on EACH blog! Winners will be posted on the SSS blog on Wednesday October 15th. Don't Miss a Stop on the Hop! Shop the Supplies on Today's Cards
Looking for more Sugar and Spice inspiration from Simon Says Stamp? You might love this post too:
Stencils are a beautiful way to add texture to the background of your cards, and a creative way to make a relatively flat (and therefore easy to mail) card with lots of personality. Today's cards are packed with crisp, cool winter vibes - but thanks to the versatility of stencils, you can take this idea and recreate it in any color palette you choose! This blog post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links, I receive compensation at no cost to you. Thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart!
Today's cards feature the Large Snowflake Cutouts stencils from Simon Says Stamp. This set includes two large snowflake stencils (and bonus. . . Simon also sells a coordinating die for even more creative possibilities!) Here's the magic about card inspiration - if this wild winter color palette isn't your thing, then try this idea in whatever winter shades rock YOUR fuzzy socks off. Already have a snowflake stencil? Try it with what you have, or play around with a completely different stencil. The Large Snowflake stencils include two different styles. Let's look at the two stencils first, and then I'll show you the difference. The stencil on the left has a large rectangle of negative space, (which happens to be the exact size of a standard card.) For the Merry and Bright card, I laid the stencil down on my cardstock and added shades of blue and green ink (with my favorite blending brushes.) This leaves the snowflake white but fills the card base with color. The second stencil has more of a circle format, creating a white snowflake with color only around the edges. This one is perfect for overlapping snowflakes, as I did below. On both cards I added sentiments from the Plaque Slides Christmas stamps, and the coordinating Plaque Slides dies. (I trimmed the little slides off the sides of the rectangle one above, which just adds to the versatility!) Both of these card ideas will be simple to pop in the mail, and will be perfect for Christmas or basically any other occasion this winter season! Love that!
Lastly, here's a collage-style card that shows a layering idea with the snowflake stencil. It's a bit more subtle and it demonstrates a way to fill some white space using a stencil. I hope these cards have inspired you to take a look at the stencils in your stash, (or you know. . .do a little bit of shopping for something new!) Today is release day of the Sugar and Spice collection at Simon Says Stamp. Man, is this collection packed with all sorts of great winter items, but also some super cute products to use all year long. I'll be back on Saturday with some more projects to share but in the meantime head on over to Simon Says Stamp and check out the entire collection!
Shop the Supplies on Today's Cards:
I absolutely love these large blending brushes. They are super soft and apply ink to cardstock really smoothly!
Oh friends, it's the most wonderful time of the year! No, it's not the holiday season (quite yet) but it is STAMPtember at Simon Says Stamp! It's such a treat to help celebrate with my friends at SSS this year, and I've got some goodies to share with YOU - including a super cute exclusive promotion! Ready to see a couple new cards, and a whole lot of new crafty goodness? Party onward, friends! This blog post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links, I receive compensation at no cost to you. Thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart! Simon Says Stamp sent me the adorable new Highland Cows stamp set (2267ssc) to party with this STAMPtember. It's a 6x8 stamp set with a variety of adorable cows plus perfectly sized coordinating sentiments. (Plus it has coordinating dies!) To create both of today's cards, I stamped the cow images in dark brown ink. Can I stop here for a second, and tell you how honestly impressed I am with Simon's clear stamps? I didn't even have to prime them or stamp them a hundred times to get a good impression. They stamped perfectly, right out of the package.
I colored both of these cuties with colored pencils, and purposely left some extra pencil strokes and markings to create a little more texture. How sweet are these guys? I love that this set includes images in multiple sizes and orientations - no matter what shape or size card you create, there's the perfect little highland cow for the project!
Since STAMPtember is definitely a party, don't leave without your party favor! I've got the cutest Yeti stamp set and coordinating dies that YOU can grab with the code below, free with purchase! And since we're talking GOODIES, be sure to head to the SSS blog and stop by to see everyone participating in the party, because there are lots of treats just for YOU! Shop the Supplies on Today's Cards:
I'm always looking for fresh inspiration for thank you cards, and today's simple die set called Showboat Thank You (brand new from Simon Says Stamp) is the perfect start to three different ideas for crafting up a special thank you card. This blog post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links I receive compensation at no cost to you. Thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart! All of today's cards feature the Showboat Thank You die set from Simon Says Stamp. It's part of their BRAND NEW release, called Happy Camper, and you can check out the whole collection on their website today! (Yay!)
I paired this great new die set with the Just Sayin' collection from Spellbinders, also available from SSS. I love the fresh summer colors of the paper in this collection, and it pairs just perfectly with the Showboat Thank You dies.
I love a couple things about this thank you die set. First, the font is darling. Second, it cuts BEAUTIFULLY. And third, I absolutely LOVE that this sentiment is only two pieces. Unlike some die cut sentiments with lots of separate letters and fussy little pieces to reassemble, this set is easy peasy to line up the two words onto the die-cut background piece. That's a huge selling point for me, because I like QUICK and EASY card-making. For today's last card, I used one of my favorite embossing techniques. To recreate this idea, cut strips of cardstock (or make use of all those scraps you've saved) and piece together to make your card front. (I adhere the pieces together on the back side with washi tape.) Then place that striped panel into an embossing folder and run through your machine. Lastly, adhere it to a card base and add the sentiment. (You can find another sample plus a tutorial on this blog post.) Be sure to stop by the Simon Says Stamp website to check out the entire Happy Camper collection. Plus, there are so many fun events to celebrate this new release: Shop the Supplies on Today's Cards
Showboat Thank You
(for the flower on the first card)
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a beautiful, crafty day! xoxo
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