Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Girl Bookmark using Copic and Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend Markers

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is "Feminine."  I decided to do some sketching and coloring with Copics and Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend markers to make this girly bookmark.

I started by drawing this girl and coloring her in with alcohol ink markers.  Ignore that big blob of orange that dripped out of one of the markers on the bottom of her hair!  There were also some smears of black here and there, but such is life with hand-drawing and coloring anything!  Once I had the sketching and coloring done, I outlined various areas with black Micron pens.

Next I decided to make the body of my girl.  I started by smearing some paint around and then stamping onto my paint with AALL & Create's ABC CBA! stamp.

I added some paper collage scraps courtesy of Dina Wakley's Collage Sparks 2.  I also threw on some dots.

I added some pink paint and cut my painted piece into a rectangle shape.  Next I cut out a sentiment from Dina Wakley's Ledger paper, which I glued around the edges of the rectangular dress.  I cut out my girl's head and glued it to the dress.  I needed a background for my girl to go onto, so I painted a bookmark-shaped piece of Kraft Heavystock and glued my girl to that.

I embellished the edges of my bookmark by stamping on some faux stitches using AALL & Create's Franking stamp.

As a final touch, I made a crown for my girl and added that on.  My bookmark was done! 

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

• Orange Copic Markers (YR04, YR07 and YR09)
• Spectrum Noir Tri-blend Markers
• Dina Wakley's Collage Sparks 2
• Dina Wakley Paint: Mustard, Olive, White, Malachite, Sapphire, Raspberry
• AALL & Create Stamp: ABC CBA! 
• AALL & Create Stamp: Franking
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper 1
• Distress Kraft Heavystock
• Micron Pens

It's always a treat to see what you create for each week's theme!  Upload your feminine-themed projects 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: Up in the Air Stars Card using Tim Holtz's Falling Stars Die and Paperdolls - Portraits

"Up in the Air" is this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme, so I went with stars as my up in the air inspiration.

I started by cutting a star panel using Tim Holtz's Falling Stars die and my Sizzix Big Shot.  Then I painted it white and while the white paint was still wet, I added some Infusions colored stain, which I spritzed with water.  Then I bumped up the color by adding more acrylic paint in pink and yellow.

That was bold and bright, which I love, but since that was also going to be the background of my card, I had to tone it down a bit.  I added some scraps of Simple Stories Color Palette paper for a more solid and calm area on which to build my focal point.  That focal point was this guy from Tim Holtz's Paperdolls Portraits.  And I made him a ridiculous hat, of course.  I also painted on some different colors in blue, yellow and green.

For the sentiment, I stamped and cut "stars shining" from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Scribbles stamp set, which seemed appropriate.  I assembled everything together and made a scallop bottom border using Art by Marlene's Postage Madness patterned paper.  I glued the whole thing to a piece of turquoise cardstock, which showed through the stars and this card was done!

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

• Tim Holtz Falling Stars Die
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper
• Infusions Colored Stain: Lemoncello, Are you Cerise, and Rusty Car
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Olive, Raspberry, Lime, Lemon, and Ocean
• Simple Stories Color Palette 6X8 Paper
• Studio Light, Art by Marlene Postage Madness Paper
• Tim Holtz Paperdolls Portraits
• Tim Holtz Seasonal Scribbles Stamp Set
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

I'm excited to see what you see in the air to inspire you 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: Cardboard Panel using Dina Wakley's Pocket Circles Stamp Set

Welcome, welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week we are tasked with making our own background.  I decided to go for a cardboard panel, which turned out like so:

I started by cutting the flap off of a cardboard box and ripping it apart to reveal some of the corrugated interior.  I added some white paint to the cardboard, then sprinkled on Infusions color stain and spritzed it with water.  When the paint is still wet and you add Infusions and water, you can mix the paint and Infusions and come up with all sorts of unexpected colors and shades from the Infusions grains.  And while that was drying, I found a scrap of Dina Wakley Ledger paper that I cut into an arch shape and doodled on with a black pencil.

I set that aside and decided to do some embossing on black paper.  I made some marks with an embossing pen, then shook on some white embossing powder and hit it with a heat gun.  I also stamped and fussy-cut out this dapper gent from Dina Wakley's Pocket Circles stamp set.  I colored around his face with Distress Watercolor Pencils.

I cut a wonky circle frame out of the black embossed paper and also found some pink polka-dotted paper from a previous project that I thought would look good.  And because I can't seem to NOT put pointy hats on people, I made a stripped hat for my guy here, too.

I assembled my elements to the front of the cardboard panel and decided to cut some little dome shapes, too.  I also made a scrap of hole-y (as opposed to holy) paper using a small hole punch.  

I put everything together and wanted to add a sentiment.  I stamped some words from Tim Holtz's Noble Gent stamp set, then cut up the letters and rearranged them so I could spell "Idea Hat," which seemed a fitting final statement for this panel.  I know that I would very much appreciate an Idea Hat that would generate new ideas whenever I put it on and would also retain any good ideas I had before I forgot that I had them!

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

• Dina Wakley Pocket Circles Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Noble Gent Stamp Set
• Infusions Color Stain: Olive Tree and Sleight Blue
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 2
• American Crafts Moxy Embossing Pens
• White Embossing Powder
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 4
• Heat Tool
• McGill 1/8" Hole Punch
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Malachite, Stoked, Cheddar, Raspberry
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

I'm excited to see how you make your own backgrounds 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: Spring Flowers Tag using Simon Says Stamp's Fine Floral Stem Dies and Tracy Evans' Quirky Birds Stamp Set

Snow is falling outside my window (it really is), but the daffodils are still managing to peek through all the gray.  That's perfect for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme, which is "Spring Flowers."

I started with the flowers themselves, which were cut out of Strathmore Mixed Media paper using my Sizzix Big Shot and Simon Says Stamp's Fine Floral Stems dies.  I colored them using Daniel Smith watercolors.

While that dried, I worked on my background tag.  I cut a tag out of Strathmore Mixed Media paper using my Sizzix Big Shot and the Sizzix Tag Collection die set.  I got some dots going in the background by using Tim Holtz's Gradient Dots stencil and some Crushed Olive Distress Oxide spray.  Then I tore up some patterned paper (American Crafts' April and Ivy collection) and glued that down.  I also found a scrap of newsprint paper that I'd stamped some text onto and added that, too.  I made a bright red arch with paint to frame out my design a bit and added white paint to tone down the dark patterned paper.

I added more acrylic paint and tore off some of the patterned paper I'd just glued down at the top of the arch (I know, I know -- so pointless-feeling sometimes, but it's just how the process goes).  I also did some scribbling with a black Distress Watercolor Pencil.

With my watercolor-painted flowers now dry, I cut them up and glued them around my arch.  Next I wanted to try out Tracy Evans' Quirky Birds stamp set, so I stamped this cute little birdie onto white paper, fussy-cut it out, then painted it.

With my bird now in place among the flowers, I spritzed on some Dina Wakley Gloss Spray and this tag was done!

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

• Simon Says Stamp Fine Floral Stem Dies
• Sizzix Tag Collection Thinlits Dies
• Tracy Evans Quirky Birds Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Gradient Dots Stencil
• Distress Oxide Spray: Crushed Olive
• American Crafts April and Ivy 6x8 Paper Pad
• Distress Watercolor Pencils: Set 1
• Dina Wakley Media Gloss Spray: Night and Olive
• Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint: White, Turquoise, Raspberry, Lemon, Carnation, Olive, Sky
• Daniel Smith Watercolors: Phthalo Green, Green Apatite, Quinacridone Coral, Indanthrone Blue, and Quinacridone Pink
• Dina Wakley Media Brushes
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper

We'd love to see your Spring flower creations!  Upload them 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: Tag using Simon Says Stamps' Mushroom Stems and Simple Flowers Dies

"Whatever the weather" is this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme and we're also focusing on using Simon projects.  Living in a desert state that also provides a ton of snow in the winter, I am very familiar with constantly-changing weather!  Just today it hailed, then snowed, then rained, then was sunny, then rained again all within the space of about 5 minutes.  So I decided to make my tag look a little chaotic, but focused on the sun (represented by the flowers) and rain (incorporated by a mushroom) for the nature elements.

I started by cutting and painting some simple flower shapes, along with a mushroom.  Both die sets are from Simon.  I had a dark brown watercolor-y background scrap I painted that I wanted to use for this project because it reminded me of dirt.  I also found a Tim Holtz photo booth picture to utilize.

For the easiest tag background in the history of the universe, I reached for Simple Stories' Color Palette Designer Tags kit and cut out one of the tags.  I really like this paper collection, so I also pulled in a piece of gingham patterned paper from the Color Palette 6x8 paper pad.

I glued and layered, added my mushroom behind my watercolor "dirt scrap", then added some more paint to blend everything together.  I added a scallop, some scribbling (I used Distress Watercolors for some of the scribbles) and doodled some polka dots to finish off my tag. 

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

• Simon Says Stamp Simple Flowers Die Set
• Simon Says Stamp Mushroom Stems Die Set
• Simple Stories Color Palette Designer Tag Kit
• Simple Stories Color Palette 6x8 Paper Pad
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils: Set 1
• Tim Holtz Photobooth Images
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Raspberry, Turquoise, Umber, Olive, Lemon, Tangerine, Sapphire

We're excited to see your weather-related projects this week, which you can upload to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!