Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Stencil Fun using StencilGirl's Towers of Arches

Hello, hello and happy mid-September!  I love every step that gets us closer to wearing big bad boots (nothing like a tall chunky heel to make one feel powerful) and drinking apple cider (though I confess I do that all year long).  It's also A+++ to be cozily crafting inside when the weather starts to cool.  It's still in the mid-90's in my neck of the woods, but Fall will come one of these days!  In the meantime, I loved this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme of Stencil Fun.

I started with two Kraft tags that I slathered with white acrylic paint, which I then let dry.

Next up was some acrylic paint in various colors smeared here and there.  I made the dots by putting paint on the tip of a pencil eraser and stamping it down onto my tags.

While that dried, I made another painty collaged page and traced the outline of some buildings onto it using StencilGirl's Towers of Arches stencil set.  I cut out the buildings, added some black and white polka dot patterned paper scraps and stamped some text into the doorway arches.  I glued the buildings to my tags and embellished one with a dog and the other with the word "Beautiful," which came from a roll of washi tape.

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

StencilGirl Towers of Arches Stencil Set	#8 Kraft Tags - Inkssentials	AALL and Create Vivre Washi Tape	Altenew Many Dots Washi Tape	Idea-ology Paper Dolls	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE acrylic paint	Dina Wakley Umber acrylic paint
Dina Wakley LEMON Media Acrylic Paint	Dylusions Pure Sunshine paint	Dylusions Periwinkle Blue paint	Dylusions Tropical Sangria	Dylusions Strawberry Daquiri Paint	Dylusions Mushy Peas paint	Tim Holtz Flip Top DIstress Paint 2021 SALVAGED PATINA APRIL COLOR
Paper-Artsy-Fresco-Finish-MIDNIGHT	Black Permanent Sharpie Marker	UHU Glue Stick

If you have some stencils you want to dust off, DO let us see your geniusness!  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.  That money could come in pretty handy as we're in the throes of wonderful Stamptember!!!  Yayyyy!

Stamptember 2021: Simon Says Stamp "Merry Christmas Trees" Cards

Happy Stamptember to one and all!  What a great time to be alive and stamping!  Stamptember means that all month long, there are exclusive Simon stamp sets and collaborations and a ton o' creative inspiration.  And to help kick it off, this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is stamping.  I decided to make some Christmas cards using Simon's new Merry Christmas Trees stamp set.

I used a stamping and painting technique on these little babies that started with Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  I made a text stamp using sentiments from the Merry Christmas Trees stamp and Simon's Clean Line Christmas stamp.  I stamped the words with embossing ink and heat-embossed everything with black embossing powder.

Next I laid the tree stamp onto my card and traced the outline of it with pencil so I could see a rough estimate of where the trees would be when I stamped them.  I painted the area above the trees with blue paint.

I moved the stamp and painted the rest of the white space with a few different shades of green, plus a yellow section at the top of one of the trees where the star would be.  At this point, I added some snow by using Simon's Falling Snow stencil and white paint.  After everything was painted and dry, I stamped the trees with embossing ink and heat-embossed them with white embossing powder.

At this point, I decided to turn my long card into three smaller cards.  I cut my picture into thirds (which only slightly terrified me) and then I added some dots of colored paint on the trees to replicate ornaments or lights.

I wanted the trees to stand out even more, so I outlined the white embossing lines with a black ballpoint pen.  I also finished off the edges of the cards with a black Sharpie.

Here's a close-up of each:

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

Simon Says Stamp Stamptember Merry Christmas Trees Stamp	Simon Says Stamp Clean Line Christmas	Simon Says Stamp Stencil FALLING SNOW SSST121324	Strathmore Mixed Media 6x8 Paper	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Ranger Black Embossing Powder	Hero Arts EMBOSS WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER
Ranger HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL	Dina Wakley Sky acrylic paint	Dina Wakley Ranger NIGHT acrylic paint	Dina Wakley Carnation Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE acrylic paint	Twisted Citron Flip Top Distress Paint	Distress Paint Cracked Pistachio Flip Top
Peeled Paint Flip Top Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Flip Top Distress Paint MUSTARD SEED Ranger	Dylusions Pure Sunshine paint	Dylusions Tropical Sangria	Dylusions Lemon Drop paint	Dylusions Island Parrot Paint	Black Permanent Sharpie Marker

Upload your own stamped creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!  And ENJOY STAMPTEMBER!!!!