Simon Says Stamp February Card Kit "Sweetheart"

One of my favorite cardmaking products is the monthly Simon Says Stamp card kits. I've tried a few different kits from a variety of companies, and I think SSS is the best! They include papers, card stock, stamps, dies, embellishments, and more that all coordinate but also can be used on their own. I think by the time I went out and bought all of these items separately, the cost would be more than the kit. There is a small discount for subscribing monthly to the kit (this is what I do - saves you about $5). Plus, they're fast with shipping/delivery, too!

And since my kit was recently delivered, I didn't waste any time trying it out. Below is the kit, as well as a recent card:

I wanted to do something related to Valentines Day that could also be used throughout the year. That's part of why I like so many of the sentiments in this kit - you can get more use out of them than sayings for just one day.

 
The sentiment, paper, and sequins are all from the kit. The punched shape for the sentiment and black ink were not included. You could definitely do something like this on your own, even if you don't have a punch like the one above. Use a different shape, or even use a simple rectangle.

Can't say enough good things about the SSS monthly card kits! Already excited to see what next month brings...

 

Materials

Paper - white card and envelope (Hobby Lobby), white card stock and patterned papers (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Inks - Black Memento (Hobby Lobby)

Embossing - embossing folder (personal gift)

Punch - shape punch (Hobby Lobby)

Embellishments - heart sequins (Simon Says Stamp card kit), Recollections pink marker (personal gift)

Freshly Made Sketches #221

Happy Saturday! Are you having a good weekend? I spent some time with a friend today making cards and having lunch. It's so fun to share cardmaking ideas, tips, and techniques with a fellow cardmaker. Hope you're enjoying your time off.

I also took some time this weekend to create a new card for Freshly Made Sketches sketch #221. Here was the design to follow:

And here's what I came up with:

A little masking in the middle of the card really makes the sentiment the focus of the card, even more than so than the sketch inspiration. I think masking is such an effective and easy way to add some technique and creativity to a card.

The green, blue, and purple combination is one of my go-to ink sets, and the Ranger inks just work so well together. I used two different shades of blue for the "hello" die cut. The masking was just a simple circle. This was a pretty easy card to make and is another one of those that could be reproduced with a variety of sentiments and colors.

I hope the recipient enjoys this card and has a wonderful birthday! Join me again next week for another Freshly Made Sketches post!

Materials

Paper - white card and envelope (Hobby Lobby), true blue paper (Michael's), light blue paper (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Stamps - Make It Market Mini Kit: Garden Gild (Papertrey Ink)

Inks - Ranger dye inks (Carribbean Coast, Blue Ribbon, Lily Pad), Tim Holtz distress inks (Dusty Concord)

Embellishments - Blue gems (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Lasting Hearts Card Drive

Have you heard about the Lasting Hearts Card Drive? Many cardmaking bloggers have highlighted it on their blogs and social media sites. Read more here at Jennifer McGuire's blog.

The loss of a child must bring so much devastation and shock. The future that you envisioned will never been as you once imagined it to be, and a little source of tremendous joy is gone. These families surely could use some love, kindness, support, and hugs.

So I'm joining in this challenge with some cards. It's a small effort, and I'll never know the families who receive them. But I hope that these notes give those suffering a little comfort, and also reassure them that they are not alone. There are people praying and thinking of them, and their lives will once again know joy.

Here are just a few of the cards I'm sending off this week...

If you'd like to participate, donate, purchase a special "prayers" stamp set (with a portion of the profits being donated), or learn more about this card drive, check out this post over at Jennifer McGuire's lovely blog.

Freshly Made Sketches #220

Happy Monday, everyone! I'm playing along today with Freshly Made Sketches, sketch #220. A friend introduced me to this blog, and it's quickly become one of my go-to sites for inspiration. I think coming up with a layout and design is one of the hardest parts of cardmaking, so I love that this site provides different ideas. Here's this week's sketch:

I thought about this for a few days before diving in. I thought about snowflakes, balloons, and flowers for the top left corner. And then I remembered some new craft goodies (paper, die cuts, stamps, and inks) I received as a gift, and I wanted to incorporate those into this project. Here's the final card - more details below.

It's a little bit different than the sketch, but I think it still works with the focus in the top left corner and sentiment to the right.

I really LOVED that leaf paper (one of my new goodies!), so that was my starting point for this design. It's so clean and simple, and gives a few different colors to use with green, yellow, and red. I decided to use them all with the flower die-cuts and leaves.

The flower dies are unique because they help add some dimension to the card. Part of the petals actually lift up, giving some added interest. I think it's really neat that the flower isn't completely flat on the card, but comes up off the card. Here's a better view where you can see the petals lifted up off the card a bit...

I think anyone who receives a card with these flowers just couldn't help but touch the petals! The flowers are the focus point, and then it comes with a little more fun with petals coming off the card. So fun!

I really wanted the focus to be the leaf paper and the die cuts, so I left the rest of the card simple with the black paper, white ink, and sentiment that isn't too big or distracting. The small pearls and sequins are also good, subtle embellishments.

This was a fun sketch to try, and there will be more Freshly Made Sketches posts to come!

Materials

Paper - white card, black card stock, green paper (Hobby Lobby); yellow envelope (Paper Source); leaf background paper, red paper, yellow paper (Stampin' Up)

Dies - Botanical Builder framelits dies (Stampin' Up)

Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies (Papertrey Ink)

Embellishments - clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), small pearls (Hobby Lobby)

Simon Says: Ombre #ssswchallenge

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed the long weekend! With Monday off, I was able to spend some time on this week's entry for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week's theme was ombre, a design showing up all over the place... so why not cards, too? :)

I went a little girly with the design for this week, using pinks and purples and polka dots, along with one little heart. I also thought it would be fun to include additional ways other than stamping to incorporate the ombre - hence, the washi tape and baker's twine.

This was a pretty simple card to put together. I used just two stamp sets - one for the ombre polka dot look (stamped three times from top to bottom) and another for the sentiment, envelope, and heart. This could easily be mass-produced with the sentiment changed for different occasions with any number of sentiments on the front.

I really lucked out with having different shades of purples and pinks in inks, tape, and twine. I liked having the solid pink stripe across the middle to "ground" the sentiment. That pink polka dot washi tape was a perfect way to incorporate another row of color without stamping - it might look like it's stamped, buuuut it's not! :)

Thanks to SSS for another fun week of inspiration, and many thanks to you for dropping by!

Materials

White card & envelope (Hobby Lobby)
Washi tape (Hobby Lobby)
Baker's twine (Hobby Lobby)
Stamps - Sending Happy Thoughts (Simon Says Stamp), Good Times (Papertrey Ink)
Inks - Ranger die inks (grape soda, wild orchid, pink gumball, black tie)

Simon Says: Something New #ssswchallenge

Hi everyone! I'm playing along again today with the weekly Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week's theme is "Something New" to go along with the New Year. I received some new craft goodies over the holiday season, but I decided to take a different spin on things and use a new sentiment...

I am LOVING the Hero Arts Acts of Kindness stamp set. So many card markers were using this set during the fall, thanks in part to Jennifer McGuire's "Share Handmade Kindness" campaign. I bought the set, and it's quickly become one of my favorites. So many uplifting, positive sentiments are included in this set, and I just think it's a great go-to set for one of those "just because" notes. Here's a picture of the set so you can see the different sentiments included:

Over the holidays, I made some card sets as gifts using this set, but I hadn't yet used that "a bit of kindness to brighten your day" statement. So, it was new to me! The design of that sentiment is so great to fit in so many different spots on a card, and I love that script font - it's my favorite among all the text styles in the set. This card was pretty simple to make...

First, I used a green card base with a small white rectangle cut out of card stock. I started out by pulling out the very ornate star stamp and stamping it different colors along the left side. No rhyme or reason here; I just randomly stamped along the edge. To finish the stamping, I placed the kindness sentiment in the lower right-hand corner.

Now comes the fun part - embellishments. :) I actually went back to the stamp set one last time to use the hearts. I used a larger and smaller heart to highlight around the sentiment. One of the best ways to enforce the kindness theme was with the hearts, so they were a perfect choice. I also pulled out some light pink sequins. I really love the preppy pink/green color combination, so I thought adding a bit more pink here would be a complement to the green card base. Lastly, I added some more pink with the baker's twine along the side of the card. One of the first basic design tips I learned about card design was to repeat a color combination three times, so this twine also made a third time that pink was used on the card.

To finish things off, I adhered the white base to the card. I left the inside blank for someone to use the card as they need it. I've also included a green envelope with the card (not shown in photo). I think one of my signature styles is going to be colored envelopes. They just catch your eye when you get the mail and have a way of standing out! :)

This is one of my new personal favorite cards, and I think I'll be mass-producing it for some future notes! 

Materials 

Stamps: Ornate star on wood stamp (Hobby Lobby), Hero Arts Acts of Kindness stamp set
Clear blocks (Michael's craft stores)
Paper: green cards and envelopes, white card stock (Hobby Lobby)
Baker's twine (Michael's craft stores)
Pink sequins (Studio Calico monthly card subscription - no longer offered)
Ink: Ranger Die Inks (blue tie, lemon twist, blue ribbon, caribbean coast, grape soda, lily pad, pink gumball, wild orchid)

Simon Says: Party! #ssswchallenge

To begin... Thanks to everyone for all of the views on my first post! I am just so excited to be sharing more of my cards through this blogs, and the early traffic has been so great to see!

Today, I'm participating in the Simon Says: Party! Wednesday Challenge. I loved the party theme because there were so many possibilities. I have several January birthdays coming up for family and friends, so I let that be my inspiration. Here's the final product...

I knew I wanted to use the word "party" in my design, so I used one of the stamps from an old Card Kit from Studio Calico (these kits have since been discontinued). I stamped it in Caribbean Coast Ranger Dye Ink. I fussy-cut the circle out and set it aside.

Directly stamping on the card on a diagonal, I used the cute party hats stamp from PTI Caution: Another Year Older. I also used the Caribbean Coast ink for this stamp. I then used pink, yellow, green, and purple markers to randomly color in some of the stripes from the hats. I will admit that this took a bit of time, but I really like the fun and festive look.

I then used a tape runner to attach the pale yellow graphic paper to the card. I pulled out washi tapes in similar green and pink colors as the hats and taped them to the yellow paper. I stamped a line and then, the "party" circle was adhered to the card using some small pop-up blocks. I wanted this to look like a balloon - what do you think? Mission accomplished? Lastly, I also added a few fun turquoise sequins from the December SSS Card Kit "Gifts of Love." (Sidenote: I have to say - I LOVE these Jillybean Soup Sticky Sequins. The kit included red and turquoise. They are so quick and easy to use with the adhesive on the back, and they stick right where you put them! No need to wait a few minutes for wet glue to dry. I would take a sheet of these in so many different colors!!)

There's a lot going on for this card, but I think it's okay for a birthday celebration. The colors really bring it all together, and this was a fun way to participate in the challenge!

Thanks for the inspiration, SSS! Look forward to future Wednesday challenges!!

New Year, New Blog!

Happy 2016 :) I've decided to expand my stamping projects with a blog! I hope this will help me connect with more fellow stampers and also be a better place to share my cards. Welcome! Be sure to check back often for updates.

I started stamping and cardmaking after an invitation to a card class from a friend who owned a bookstore and offered the classes at her shop. Sad to say, the store has since closed (I'm still mourning!), but we continue our cardmaking discussions and time together. I am so glad to have a local friend to share this hobby with, along with so many design teams, bloggers, and social media pages that I find inspiration from!

So... for a first project to share with you all, I am participating in Papertrey Ink's weekly Make It Monday #235. I used markers instead of OMS or colored pencils to add additional color to the stamped images, but I think this still worked for the challenge!

This was a simple card to do! I actually loved the technique so much that I made several other cards so I'll have some ready for gift sets when needed.

I started with a white card and scored some lines on the bottom 2/3 of the card. They're hard to see in the photo, but they add some added texture and interest. Next, I drew large blobs of the purple and blue colors with markers. I used PTI stamp set "Make It Market Mini Kit: Garden Gild" for the flowers and leaves, along with PTI stamp set "Scripted" for the text. I also used Ranger inks blue ribbon, grape soda, and black tie. I stamped the flowers on top of the large color blobs and then fussy-cut them out. I stamped the text and leaves on the card first, then glued the flowers on top. I added a few small white gems for embellishments. That's it! The card took less than 10 minutes. So simple!

I think you could change the sentiment and colors to fit many different occasions, seasons, holidays, etc. It's so good to have such a versatile technique to have for any reason!

Has anyone else participated in this week's Make it Monday? I'd love to see your project!

Thanks for checking out my first cardmaking blog post - stay tuned for more updates to come!