Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Cassette Tape Notebook using Concord and 9th's Mix Tape Rewind Die Set

Happy Monday and welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week's theme is "Inspired by Music."  I made a cassette tape notebook utilizing a fantastic die set from Concord and 9th.

I started by cutting out the pieces I'd need using the die set, my Sizzix Big Shot and Strathmore Mixed Media paper.

I assembled the cassette, like so:

Next I made the pages for the inside of the notebook.  These were made with paint, Distress Watercolor Pencils, alcohol ink, and Distress Oxide sprays.  I even enlisted the help of my little kiddo to make one of the painty pages!

I cut the painted pages into the shape of the cassette using the dies, with a fold in the middle of each.

The pages were thick enough to warrant the need for a wider spine, so I cut the cassette shape in half and added a spine piece that I cut out of black paper.  This made it fold more like a binder instead of just in half.

I used my Crop-A-Dile to make holes in all the pages, then I strung them together and tied the pages to the cover.

To finish it off, I glued a quote to the front from Dina Wakley's Ledger 2 paper.  Now I have a cute little notebook with painty paper inside that I can tear out and use for collages.

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

• Concord & 9th Mix Tape Rewind Die Set
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, Black and White
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 4 and 6
• Alcohol Ink: Hyper, Sailboat Blue
• Distress Oxide Spray: Squeezed Lemonade, Walnut, Salvaged Patina
• Crop-A-Dile
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper 2

If you want to participate in this week's challenge, upload your music-inspired projects to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

And don't forget to check out all the exciting happenings throughout the month at Simon's STAMPtember celebration!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: STAMPtember Tag using Simon's Inside Birthday Greetings Stamp Set

Welcome to September and another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  "Stamping" is this week's theme and we're also highlighting some exclusive Simon Says STAMPtember goodies!  It is one of my favorite months of the year in the stamping universe, that's for sure!

I started with an AALL & Create tag that I cut and stamped some Simon Mod Plants images onto.

Bring on the Infusions!  I shook on some Infusions Color Stain and spritzed it with water.  I also sprayed on just a bit of Distress Oxide Spray.

When that dried, I painted the inside of the leaf-shapes with some lighter blue paint.

As that was drying, I stamped some text onto newsprint using Simon's Inside Friendship Messages stamp set. 

I cut some strips of the text paper and used that as a border around the tag, then I glued on these cheerful ladies from Tim Holtz's Groups Paper Dolls.  I stamped the sentiment from Simon's Inside Birthday Greetings set.  I cut up the words and glued them to the tag to finish it off.

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

• AALL & Create Tag It Yourself Die Set
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Simon Says Stamp Mod Plants Stamp Set
• Simon Says Stamp Inside Friendship Messages Stamp Set
• Simon Says STAMPtember Inside Birthday Greetings Stamp Set
• Infusions Color Stain: Blackcurrant, Are you Cerise, and Violet Storms
• Tim Holtz Paper Doll Groups
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Distress Oxide Spray: Tumbled Glass
• Distress Ink: Blueprint Sketch
• Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks, Set 5
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper
• Archival Ink: Laidback Lilac

Get your stamping on and join our challenge!  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.  And don't forget to stay tuned for all sorts of exclusive products for this year's STAMPtember celebration!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Four-Legged Friends tag using Dina Wakley's Scribbly Bears Stamp Set

Happy Monday and welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week we are focusing on four-legged friends.  I'm not sure if a bear falls into the "friend" category (hopefully so if encountered in the wild), but I do love this stamp set by Dina Wakley.

I started by cutting a tag using Waffle Flower's Nested Tags die set and some Kraft Heavystock.  Then I scribbled and painted on a piece of paper to create a colorful collage I could tear up for my tag.

Once my painty background dried, I tore off a piece and glued it to my tag.  I blended the edges in with white paint.  I added some more pinkish-red around the edges.

While the paint and glue dried, I stamped this bear image from Dina's stamp set.  Then I went back to my tag and added some scribbling with Dylusions Intense Colour Caykes and Sticks.

Next I water-colored the bear and heat-embossed some pen dot doodles onto dark brown cardstock using an embossing pen and white embossing powder.  I cut the embossed paper into an oval frame shape.

I added some paint to my oval frame and glued my bear to it.  I stamped some alphabet text from a Tim Holtz stamp set (Glitch 2) onto a piece of paper and also cut and painted a border using AALL & Create's Tear it Out die set.

All that was left was to assemble!  I also found a quote that I cut from Dina Wakley's Ledger 2 paper, so I tacked that on at the end to finish this off.

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

• Kraft Heavystock
• Waffle Flower Nested Tags Die Set
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Dina Wakley Scribbly Bears Stamp Set
• Embossing Pens
• White Embossing Powder
• Heat Tool
• Tim Holtz Glitch 2 Stamp Set
• Watercolors
• Dylusions Intense Colour Caykes and Sticks
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink
• Dina Wakley Paint

We can't wait to see what you create 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: ATC using Seth Apter's Twisters Dies

Happy Monday and welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week's theme is to make an ATC: those wonderful little works of art measuring 3.5" x 2.5". 

If you want to hop on board for a total card idea scrap/redo, then here we go!  I started by cutting an ATC card with Tim Holtz's Collector die set.  I painted it white, waited for the paint to dry, then stamped some flowers on it from Tim's Floral Elements stamp set.  So far so good!

I shook on some Infusions, which I spritzed with water and let dry.  I also added some paint to my flowers.  I love incorporating text, so I glued on some scraps of Dina Wakley's ledger paper.

This is where I started to run into trouble.  I just didn't like what I had done.  The colors were too dark or muddy or SOMETHING.  I restamped the lower flower, painted it yellow, cut the petals and glued them onto my flower for some color variation, but I still wasn't feeling it.  I stenciled on some polka dots hoping that would solve the problem since polka dots are my happy place.

Nope!  I just couldn't get the look of this right.  It was a battle.  So I did what I always do right before I throw something in the garbage can: I paint over most of it with white paint.  That provided enough of a re-set for me.  I added some red and white polka dots to the middle, threw in some bright orange and a little more Infusions, then cut these great shapes from Seth Apter's Twisters die set and painted/stamped them.

At last I was liking it a little more.  I glued the rings to my ATC, then re-stamped some of the flower petals on the bottom right corner.

I stamped the "curiosity" sentiment using Tim Holtz's Theories stamp set, then cut the words and glued them on for the finishing touch.  ATC complete!

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

• Tim Holtz Collector Die Set
• Tim Holtz Floral Elements Stamp Set
• Infusions Color Stain: Are You Cerise, Blackcurrant, Royal Blood
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 2
• Tim Holtz Gradient Dot Stencil
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Seth Apter Twisters Die Set
• Tim Holtz Theories Stamp Set
• Trinity Stamps Polkadot Pattern Background Stamp
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

We are excited to see how you interpret this week's ATC theme!  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: She Spoke from Her Heart Art Journal Page

Happy Monday to one and all!  We're starting the week off with a great theme over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: art journaling!  I like art journaling because you can thumb back through a book of your own making and see different techniques you used at different times and can also see how far you've come or how your style has changed over the years.  

For this challenge, I was drawn to the expression on this beautiful woman's face and used her as the centerpiece of my page.

I made this page in my Studio Light's Creative Journal, which is a handy 4" x 4" size.  I painted the background with grey paint and water.  When that dried, I added some white dashed-line stenciling using Tim Holtz's THMM182 stamp and stencil set.

Next I used Tim Holtz's Large Collage strips and tore some various patterned pieces from those and glued them to my page.  I used orange paint to bump up the color of the flower on one of the scraps.

I added some turquoise polka dots using that same Tim Holtz stencil (it's three different patterns on one stencil) and also stamped some yellow-orange circles onto the background using Tim's Grunged stamp set.  I stamped some red polka dots onto white paper using Trinity Stamps' Polkadot Pattern background stamp and glued those scraps on top.

I cut flower petal shapes out of the collage strips and added them to the flower petals I already had.  I brought some rich dark pink to the party with some dots and smears of color.

I outlined my flower petals with a white Posca pen then cut a slide shape using Tim Holtz's Specimen die set and used that as a frame for one of his photobooth images.  I cut the sentiment from the collage strips and added that on as a last touch.

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

• Studio Light/Art by Marlene Creative Journal
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Tim Holtz Stamp and Stencil Set: THMM182
• Tim Holtz Specimen Die Set
• Tim Holtz Large Collage Strips
• Trinity Stamps Polkadot Pattern Background Stamp
• Tim Holtz Grunged Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Photobooth Images
• White Posca Pen

We're excited to see your art journaling creations!  Upload your projects to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.