Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Christmas Card using Prima's Candy Cane Lane Paper and Poppy Stamp's Whittle Forest Reindeer Stamps and Dies Kit

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is Christmas and I'll be the first to proudly proclaim NOT READY!  But I appreciated the creative kick in the pants to get thinking about all things St. Nick.  I went with time-conservation in mind and made a card using an adorable patterned paper Santa scene so half the work was already done for me.  I'm not sure if that makes me lazy or smart, but yes to both today.

Here are the materials I started out with: a 3x4 journaling card from Prima Marketing's Candy Cane Lane collection and a tree I die-cut from Poppy Stamp's Whittle Forest Reindeer Stamps and Dies Kit.

I painted the tree and cut a star out of a Simon Says Stamp die set.  I added little dots of colored paint onto the tree, then I stamped the sentiment (which also comes in the Poppy Stamps kit).  I added some turquoise paint around the edges of my card.

I outlined the tree, star, sign, and card itself with a black ballpoint pen, then it was assembly time.  I glued this together and added just a touch of green and pink around the edges.  

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Prima Candy Cane Lane 3x4 Journaling Cards
• Poppy Stamps Whittle Forest Reindeer Stamps and Dies Kit
• Simon Says Stamp Stars Die
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint: White, Lemon, Sage, Lime, Olive, Turquoise, Ruby, Carnation, Ocean
• Dylusions Acrylic Paint: Tropical Sangria
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

Are you ready to start making Christmas projects?  Upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Pennant Banner Garland using Pinkfresh Studio's Ornate Banner Dies

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is "home decor."  I ended up making a garland using banner and pennant dies.  I put our family motto on it: Do Good Anyway.  Life gets busy and crazy and while we have good intentions, it can be difficult to follow through on those good intentions for whatever reason.  So that's why I landed on Do Good Anyway as our family motto instead of just "do good."   The "anyway" means we still try to do good even when it's intimidating or we're tired or it's inconvenient or someone isn't appreciative or, in our minds, deserving of our goodness.  We don't let life or people sway us from trying to do good in any circumstance.  I'm not perfect at this AT ALL, but that is the goal.

I started by painting a bunch of nonsense onto a big piece of sketch paper.  This is just water and acrylic paint swooshed around with a brush, then when that dried, I added lines with a graphite pencil and Distress watercolor pencils.

I cut the paper into banner shapes, but the sketchbook paper is flimsy, so I cut another set of banner shapes out of Strathmore Mixed Media paper and glued the sketchbook paper banners onto the sturdier Strathmore Mixed Media banner backgrounds.  I added some white paint and cut scallops out of Dina Wakley's ledger paper and glued it to the top.  I did some outlining with pencil, Distress watercolor pencils, then outlined the entire banners with a black Sharpie.  I also finger painted some dots on there.

I wanted a different shape on my garland, so next I cut out some Pinkfresh Studio ornate banner shapes and started painting and scribbling on them.  I used Tim Holtz's dotted stencil to add some polka dots in the background.

I added some more color and scribbled around the edges, added some white paint to tone it down a bit, then outlined them with a black Sharpie.

I decided I wanted a bigger panel for the middle of my garland, so I repeated the process described earlier.  I wanted to add a sentiment, so I cut out "do good" letters from Tim Holtz's Cutout die sets (uppers and lowers).  I painted them and outlined them with a Sharpie.  The "anyway" that is added to the final product was typed with a typewriter.

Once all of my panels were made, I added a few more scribbles and finishing touches, including splattering everything with Dina Wakley's black gloss media spray.  Then I took strips of fabric and sewed them together into a long patchwork ribbon and sewed the banners and pennants onto the ribbon.

I am lucky enough to have a whole room for my crafty chaos and it has some angular sections.  There is one little alcove that is just wide enough to fit a desk.  Behind the desk is one of my favorite finds: an old weathered pink door with a window section that unlatches and can swing open.  I bought it at the most magical little hole-in-the-wall artsy store that used to exist on the main street of my town.  The store is long gone (the owner moved away, which was a huge bummer for me personally, though I wished the owner the best, of course), but I was able to buy that door when the shop was closing down.  Now I use it as the backdrop behind my desk.  I added some baskets to hold some of my finished projects and tags, etc., and I love how the door reminds me of that shop that always made forgotten dusty things look beautiful.  I thought the garland was a perfect fit for the top of the door. 

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Pinkfresh Studio Ornate Banner Die Set
• Honey Bee Stacking Banners Die Set
• Tim Holtz Cutout Alphabet: Upper Case and Lower Case
• Tim Holtz Dotted Stencil
• Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencils, Set 2
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 1
• Dina Wakley Black Gloss Media Spray
• Dina Wakley Paint: Sky, Olive, Blush, Tangerine, Rouge, White, Turquoise, Marine, Lapis
• Dylusions Paint: Polished Jade, Tropical Sangria, Cherry Pie
• Black Sharpie

What home decor item will you make this week?  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win $25 to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Spooky Card using the Honey Bee Market Cart Builder and Pumpkin Spice Market Cart Add-On Dies

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is spooky!  I don't do spooky-scary, but I do love spooky-cute.  And I tell you, I've been obsessed with witch's brew items this year, so I made this Halloween witch's brew cart card.

I started by cutting out a bunch of shapes, not sure which I'd use for sure at this point.  I cut them out of Strathmore Mixed Media paper and black cardstock (the wheel, sign outline and cauldron).  Then I colored the awning's stripes, the cart itself, and the pumpkins using Distress watercolor pencils, then blending the colors with water.

Next I worked on the card's background, which is made from Ranger Distress Kraft Heavystock that I painted and stenciled over.  I also threw in some patterned text paper (Dina Wakley -- do I ever NOT use her ledger paper lately?)

Next I glued my cart together and added some paint to it to make it look more weathered.  I also outlined a lot of my die edges with a black Sharpie to make them stand out.

I added just a touch of Distress Ink smears (Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso) to the background of my card, then I flicked on some of Dina Wakley's black gloss media spray (I was so excited that the color black was finally added to the collection.  I'd been waiting for that one)!  Next I assembled all of my card components.  I added some green dots of paint to make it look like the cauldron was bubbling away, too.  I edged the card with black paint and added two die-cut bats from Tim Holtz's Toil and Trouble set.  Wah-lah!  Finished!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Honey Bee Market Cart Builder Dies
• Honey Bee Pumpkin Spice Market Cart Add-On Dies
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 2
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3
• Tim Holtz Toil and Trouble Die Set
• Tim Holtz Dotted Stencil
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Olive, Lime, Peacock, Black
• Dylusions Paint: Vibrant Turquoise
• Dina Wakley Media Spray: Black
• Distress Ink: Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso
• Ranger Distress Kraft Heavystock
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

What will you make that's spook-tacular this week?  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Fall Card using Papertrey Ink's Fall Farmer's Market Stamp Set and Mama Elephant's Oh Hi Loopy Dies

This week for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, we are being inspired by a beautiful Fall mood board.  I decided to run with the leaves and pumpkin on the board, so I made this card.  It is NOT my typical style of card, but I wanted to push myself and see if I could create something that didn't require twenty colors of paint.  I love using twenty colors of paint, so this was extremely hard for me to do.  I see other crafters make these really beautiful clean-looking pro projects and I admire that a lot even though it does not come easily or naturally to me.  But this is my once-a-year (or less often) attempt at something kind of like that.  I still used one color of paint, though! ;)

I started with a bunch of patterned paper and cut-out's from some beautiful dies.  I also fussy-cut around the pumpkins, apple, and leaves after I'd stamped them.

The brown plaid paper is from Honey Bee's Harvest Festival and the Wood Textures paper is by Craft Consortium.  The more colorful plaid was an old piece I had in my stash.  The stamps are all from Papertrey Ink's Fall Farmer's Market set.  The scalloped-frame and squiggly loop are from Mama Elephant's Oh Hi Loopy Dies set.  The shape the hayride sign is stamped on is from Whimsy Stamps' ATC Antique Frame die set.  I actually cut two of that same shape and taped the two together to elongate the shape I needed.  Partial assembly in process:

And here's when I got all of the elements glued together.

While this wasn't my typical look, I enjoyed the challenge of trying something different.  It takes time and effort to develop a style of your own, but I guess the danger there is that when you do have a style of your own, you feel like you have to stick to that style forever more.  I need to remind myself to try to get out of my own "style box" sometimes and explore what else is out there in the crafty universe.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Papertrey Ink Fall Farmer's Market Stamp Set
• Mama Elephant Oh Hi Loopy Die Set
• Whimsy Stamps' Antique ATC Frames Die Set
• Honey Bee Harvest Festival Paper
• Craft Consortium Wood Textures Paper
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Garden Patina Archival Ink and Carnation Red
• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Leaf Green Archival Ink
• Ranger Monarch Orange Archival Ink
• Distress Ink: Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, Walnut Stain, Shabby Shutters
• Dina Wakley Paint: Turquoise
• UHU Glue Stick

How will you be inspired by the Fall mood board?  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Faux-stitched Tag using AALL & Create's Three Bears Stamp Set and Tim Holtz's Toil and Trouble Dies

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is stitching!  I added some stitched stamping to the edges of my tag.  We're also highlighting products from AALL & Create.  They have a great range of stamps and washi tape that goes from quirky to grungy to elegant.  I used their Three Bears stamp set to explore what would happen if a witch entered the story instead of Goldilocks.  And if you ask me, flying on a chair looks much more stable and comfortable than a broomstick!

I started out with a Kraft tag from Ranger, which I added some paint to and did some scribbling on with Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks.  I also stamped and cut out my elements from the Three Bears stamp set: the sentiment and the chair.  I colored the chair with Distress Watercolor Pencils.  Then I die-cut a witch from Tim Holtz's Toil and Trouble set.

I needed more oomph on my tag (you know me-- it has to be puking color all over the place), so I added more blue and then stamped some Halloween sentiments onto my white circle using Tim Holtz's Pumpkinhead stamp set.

All that was left was to assemble this baby and stamp some stitching around the edges.  I used Studio Light's Script and Stitches set for that.

Yee-haw!  Looks like a pretty fun flight to me!  These are the supplies I used to make this tag, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• AALL & Create: Three Bears Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Toil and Trouble Dies
• Studio Light Script and Stitches Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Pumpkinhead Stamp Set
• Ranger Kraft Tags
• Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks, Set 1
• Distress Watercolor Pencils: Set 1, Set 3
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink
• Ranger Wendy Vecchi Violet Ink
• Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint: White, Sky, Lapis, Night
• Dylusions Acrylic Paint: Cherry Pie
• Sizzix Big Shot
• UHU Glue Stick

Let's see how you incorporate stitching this week. Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.