Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Transport It Notecard and Envelope using Dina Wakley's Tinies 2 Transparencies and Tim Holtz's File Cards 2

Our theme this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is "Transport It."  I made a notecard and an envelope to transport it in.

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

• Tim Holtz File Cards 2
• Dina Wakley: Healing and Light Stamp Set
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 1
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 2
• Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 Stamp Set
• Dina Wakley Tinies 2 Transparencies
• Tim Holtz Label Stickers: Thoughts
• Simple Stories Color Palette Patterned Paper
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Bodacious, Mustard, Cheddar, Lemon, Rouge, Turquoise, Sapphire

Upload your transport-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: Start Something Cover using Studio Light Art by Marlene's All White Creative Journal

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is to use paint.  Paint is one of my favorite mediums and I'm partial to Dina Wakley's acrylic paints.  For this challenge, I decided to decorate the cover of a Studio Light Creative Journal.  I love the size of this book (it's just about 4" x 4"), because it's a non-intimidating surface area to cover.  And of course, I threw in lots of paint!

I started by making some patterned paper using two Creative Expressions stencils.  I used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink with the Starburst stencil and Dina's Stoked paint with the Geometric Dots stencil.  I did the stenciling on deli paper.  I also tore out a piece of patterned paper from Dina Wakley's Collage Sparks, volume 1.

I altered Dina's patterned paper by tearing it in half, punching holes in it and painting it with different colors.  I glued my Starburst paper to my book cover.

I glued the other elements to my book cover, then hand-cut and painted a scallop edge out of Simple Stories Color Palette paper.  I cut some rings using AALL & Create's Heart Marks the Spot die set and painted those as well.

I glued those elements onto my page and wanted to try something different with the sentiment.  I traced around the circle, then cut a piece of paper in a crescent shape that would fit around the circle and wrote the words "Start something" in the crescent.  Then I added some paint to my crescent-shape and glued it on.

This cover re-do was done!

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

• Studio Light/Art by Marlene's All White Creative Journal
• Creative Expressions' Starburst Stencil
• Creative Expressions' Geometric Dots Stencil
• Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink
• Dina Wakley Collage Sparks, Volume 1
• AALL & Create's Heart Marks the Spot Die Set
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Simple Stories Color Palette Paper
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Mustard, Cheddar, Raspberry, Malachite, Stoked, Lemon

We're excited to see your painty projects 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: Let the Music Play Tag using Concord & 9th's Greatest Hits Dies

"Let the music play" is our theme this week over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  My instant inspiration was my brother, who is the most amazingly knowledgeable music person I've ever met.  He's introduced me to so much great music over the years and started collecting vinyl records before it was the trendy thing to do.  He's not into the music scene for the concert selfies or bragging rights or any other ulterior motive.  He's in it for the simple love of music and I admire that a lot about him.  With him in mind, I made this vinyl-themed tag.

I started by cutting some record-shapes using my Sizzix Big Shot and Concord & 9th's Greatest Hits die set.  Then I sprinkled some Infusions onto them, spritzed them with water, waited for them to dry, then smeared acrylic paint over them.  I even painted up one of the negative space frames left from where I cut out the record.  I like to mix the intended die shape with the negative space around it whenever possible.

While those were drying, I stamped some images onto a black tag using Distress Embossing Ink.  I shook on some white embossing powder, then heat embossed them.  The dots are from Wendy Vecchi's Open Dots stamp and the cursive is from Dana Wakley's Healing and Light stamp set.

Next I glued my record shapes to the tag, like so:

Last but not least, I added more paint here and there and scribbled some dots going up the side.  I tore a scrap of music-themed paper from La La Land's Spring Song paper pad and attached that to the top of my tag.  I typed my sentiment on a typewriter, cut it out, added it to the tag, then splattered on some Dina Wakley Turquoise gloss spray to finish it off.

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

• Concord and 9th: Greatest Hits Dies
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Green Man Infusions Colored Stain
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper: White and Black
• Wendy Vecchi Open Dots Background Stamp
• Dina Wakley Healing and Light Stamp
• Distress Embossing Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Heat Tool
• La La Land Spring Song 6x6 Paper Pad
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Raspberry, Lemon, Mustard, Cheddar, Sapphire, Turquoise, Black
• Dina Wakley Media Gloss Spray: Turquoise

We're excited to see how you incorporate this week's music 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: Masculine Card using Tim Holtz's Mini File Folders and Paperdoll Portraits

"Masculine" is the theme of the week  over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  We are also featuring products from Tim Holtz.  Here's the card I came up with:

I started with a Tim Holtz Mini File Folder, which I put some white acrylic paint on.  Since the surface of these file folders is kind of glossy, I tried some alcohol ink on it, too.  The alcohol ink gave it a nice watercolor type of look.

While that was drying, I stamped some images onto a piece of paper from a stamp in Tim's Remnants stamp set.

When my folder was dry, I cut a wonky frame shape out of the orange-stamped background and put that onto the folder.  I also brought in some Embellishment fabric tape.

I wanted another pattern to incorporate, so I stenciled some bubble marks onto a piece of Backdrops, Vol. 4 paper.  I used white paint and Salvaged Patina paint, along with some Distress Watercolor Pencils for the green tones.

I tore up my polka dot paper and added it to my folder, then used a star stencil and Distress Ink to make some more patterns.

I added the stars to my folder and wanted yet another pattern (I know, a little pattern-crazy), so I stamped some text from the Sideshow stamp set and colored it with Distress Watercolor Pencils and paint.

Next I picked this guy out of Tim's Paperdoll Portraits set, cut off his hat, traced his suit and made him a new suit, along with a crown.  I hope these historic folks don't mind me messing with their wardrobes!

I put everything together and finished it off with a "stay curious" label sticker.  I outlined some edges with Distress Watercolor Pencils and also added some bright green touches with a Twisted Citron Distress Crayon.  I stamped some green plus-signs onto deli paper and put those at the bottom of my guy for one last pattern.

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

• Tim Holtz Remnants Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Mini File Folders
• Tim Holtz Embellishment Fabric Tape
• Tim Holtz Bubble Stencil
• Tim Holtz Backdrops Paper, Vol. 4
• Tim Holtz Ranger Alcohol Ink: Sailboat Blue, Limeade, Shell Pink
• Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Salvaged Patina, Seedless Preserves
• Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils: Sets 1, 2, 3 and 4
• Tim Holtz Stars Stencil
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Carved Pumpkin
• Tim Holtz Distress Crayon: Twisted Citron
• Tim Holtz Sideshow Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Paperdoll Portraits
• Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Label Stickers, Thoughts

We'd love it if you shared your masculine creations with us!  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.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Lots of Texture Tag using AALL & Create's Intricatags, Heartnook, and Frayed Frames Dies

Adding lots of texture is this week's challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I just can't get enough of these fabulous AALL & Create jaggedy-looking dies lately, so I used three different sets of those on my tag.  I love the grungy wonky look of them.  And how did I add some texture, you ask?  I incorporated fabric and some hole-punched paper made with Simon's Stitching Panel die.  Behold the end result!

I started by cutting out the tag with AALL & Create's Intricatags die set.  I used Kraft Distress Heavystock paper, which I added some white paint to.  While that dried, I cut through some white sketch paper with Simon Says Stamp's Stitching Panel die.  I love all the tiny circular holes that come from the Stitching Panel die, but I did have to add a shim (a piece of cardstock folded in half) to my Sizzix and run it back and forth about 4 times to get the holes to cut cleanly through.  A small price to pay for a gorgeous panel of circles, but worth noting.  Once I had my hole-y paper cut, I watercolored it and added some Just Walnut Infusions color stain.

Next I sprinkled some Green Man Infusions color stain onto my tag and spritzed it with water.  I used a lot of water so that the brown would show up more than the green.  With Infusions, the more water you add, the more muddy it looks.  If you want to highlight the dark brown, add more water.  If you want more color and want the brown to be less prominent, add less water.  I also threw some fluorescent pink (Dina Wakley's Stoked) into the mix and put just a touch of dark black-purple paint (Dina Wakley's Night) around the edges of the tag.

While that was drying, I used AALL & Create's Heartnook die set to cut some rings.  I used both the ring shape and the negative shapes it left behind and painted them with acrylic paint.  I also tore my hole-y paper into scraps so it was ready to be collaged onto my tag and added some more of that fluorescent pink paint here and there.

I assembled my tag elements, then decided it needed something to go across the bottom of the tag horizontally, so I cut a strip of paper using AALL & Create's Frayed Frames die set.  I painted this thin little strip in shades of blue and black and added that across the bottom.  I'd added a lot of watery stuff to the Kraft Distress Heavystock tag and it was getting pretty warped at this point, so I ended up cutting a second tag out of sturdy Strathmore Mixed Media paper and glued the Kraft tag to the Strathmore tag so it had more stability.

I found a quote from Dina Wakley's Ledger paper (set 1) that I really liked, so I glued that onto my tag and outlined each word with a black pen.  To finish it off, I punched a hole at the top, put in an eyelet, and threaded some fabric strips through the top.  While I had fabric on my mind, I found some polka dot fabric in my stash that I glued onto the front of my tag for a final bit of textural oomph.

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

• Kraft Distress Heavystock
• AALL and Create Frayed Frames Dies
• AALL and Create Heartnook Dies
• AALL and Create Intricatags Dies
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Simon Says Stamp Stitching Panel Die
• Watercolors
• Infusions Color Stain: Just Walnut, Green Man
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 1
• We R Makers Cool Metal Wide Eyelets
• We R Makers Crop-A-Dile
• Dina Wakley Paint: Stoked, White, Cheddar, Mustard, Night
• Strathmore Mixed Media Paper

Make something that is loaded with textural goodness this week and upload it 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: Art Journal Page using Dylusions Small Creative Journal

"Let's Art Journal" is this week's theme over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I reached from my Dylusions Small Creative Journal and got to work!

I started by sticking down some washi tape, which helps me at least have SOMETHING on the page so that all that blank space isn't so intimidating.  Then I shook on some Infusions color stain and spritzed that with water.

While that was drying, I made a page of random stamping and stenciling, which I would then tear up and add to my art journal page.  I used Tim Holtz's Bubble Stencil, as well as his Halftone and Rings stamp set and his Sideshow stamp set.

I did a little stamping on my art journal page, then tore up my collage paper and glued pieces of that to my art journal page.

Next I sketched out some leaf-shapes and filled them in with more paint, Distress crayons, and collage pieces.  I added in some text scraps from Dina Wakley's ledger paper.  I drew a striped vase for the bottom of my leaves and added a scallop piece to the top of the vase.  I also flicked on some Dina Wakley Gloss Media Spray in Lapis and stamped some leaves onto my stem from Tim Holtz's Media Marks 2 stamp set.  I doodled some circles, then I typed the sentiment on a typewriter, cut it out, and glued that on.

My journal page was complete!  Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Dylusions Small Creative Journal
• AALL & Create Washi Tape: Mix & Match, Momentous Morsels, and Fly Away Petal
• Infusions Color Stain: Green Man, Lemoncello, Just Walnut
• Distress Ink: Blueprint Sketch, Candied Apple
• Tim Holtz Bubble Stencil
• Dylusions Paint: Tree Bark
• Dina Wakley Paint: White, Raspberry
• Tim Holtz Distress Crayons, Set 3
• Dina Wakley Ledger Paper, Set 2
• Tim Holtz Stamp Sets: Halftone & Rings, Sideshow, Media Marks 2
• Dina Wakley Media Gloss Spray: Lapis
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 4

I love to see art journaling, so please share your creations at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  You'll be entered to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.