Simon Says Stamp - Die Cuts

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Thank you for joining us for last week's challenge and we hope you can join us this week too because

and the theme for this week is...

DIE CUTS

I created a card featuring two cats out on the prowl, looking for love perhaps, by the light of the moon using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mischievous and bats from Gate Keeper Thinlits. I also used Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Moon Mask Stencil, branch image from Mr Bones, sentiment from The Scarecrow and script stamp from Entomology.

I fixed the middle size Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Moon Mask temporarily to Distress Watercolor card and spritzed with Twisted Citron Distress Spray Stainn and Twisted Citron and Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide Sprays. I removed the mask and dried.

I spritzed the edges of the moon with water, let the inks wick towards the centre and applied Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide ink lightly through the moon stencil using a Distress Blending Brush. I stamped the branch image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Mr Bones and the sentiment from The Scarecrow, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival.

I die-cut the cats 3 times from Distress Black Woodgrain card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mischievous Thinlits, layered and fixed to the panel with Simon Says Black Foam Squares.

I die-cut the bats 3 times from Black Alcohol Ink cardstock using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Gate Keeper Thinlits, layered and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium.

I inked the script stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Entomology with Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide and stamped randomly over the background.

I flicked on splatters of Harvest Moon Distress Mica Spray

I matted the panel on to Black Alcohol ink card trimmed to be 1/8" larger and fixed to an A2 white card blank.

You can find all the products I used over at Simon Says Stamp, just click on the links below

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2pm CET to join in with the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend online at Simon Says Stamp

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Hello There

Hi my friends, unless you've been abducted by aliens, you'll know that a brand new product has joined the Distress Family - Hello There to 3 sets of Distress Watercolor Pencils. If you missed Tim's YouTube Live launch at the weekend, you can catch up with Tim's amazing product walk-through and inspirational demos over on his YouTube Channel HERE.I do not consider myself a water colourist by any means but I have tried many watercolour pencils over the years and never had much success with them. My choice up to now for watercolouring would always be Distress Reinkers so I was excited and intriqued to try out the new boys in town and as always started off with creating some swatches.I will be sharing a more in depth blog post later in the month once I've had more time to play and get better acquainted with the Distress Watercolor Pencils. In the meantime I'm sharing a card using 5 of the colours from Set 1 to create a simple blended background and stamped with images from Simon Says Vintage Garden, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival ink.

I scribbled the Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint and Villainous Potion pencils on to a 3.1/4" x 5.1/4" panel of Distress Watercolor card and oh boy, these pencils have so much pigment.

I used my Distress Detailer Brush to activate and blend the colours, moving the brush back and forth between the colours and woohoo, for a first attempt, I was very happy with the result, not bad for a novice and who knew that the shavings from the Black Soot pencil, spritzed with water, made gorgeous splatters. I'm going to save those shavings from now on, in a jar to use for future projects.

I stamped the images from Simon Says Vintage Garden, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival.

and added an Idea-ology Sentiments Label Sticker.

I matted the panel on to Black Alcohol ink cardstock trimmed to 3.3/4" x 5.3/4" and fixed to a 4" x 6" white card blank.

Can I tell you a secret, it's official, I'm definitely in love with the Distress Watercolor pencils, I can tell we are going to be friends and I can't wait to play some more and try out lots of techniques.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Stamp It

 Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Thank you for joining us for last week's challenge and we hope you can join us this week too.

As you know STAMPtember® is a very special month in the Simon Says Stamp calendar. This week the Design Team are all using some fabulous products from the latest Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember® Release. You don’t have to use them to join in with the challenge but if you have them we would love to see them used. 

This week we are welcoming the lovely and very talented Anita Rao aka Beads, Charms and Wire into the Designer Spotlight. If you haven't visited her blog before, pop over and say hello and you wil be in for a real treat!

and the theme for this week is...

STAMP IT

I used a kissing technique with Simon Says Ying Yang Cling Stamp from the STAMPtember release and Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Dots Background stamp to create the background on my card, Distress Grit Paste and Distress Embossing Glazes with Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Roses and Mini Valentine Layering Stencils, Idea-ology Photobooth and Sentiments Label Stickers.

I positioned the Ying Yang Cling Stamps on the door of my Stamp Platform and inked generously with Versafine Onyhx Black ink. I laid the dots background stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Dots and Circles on to the stamps, removed and cleaned. I repeated the process on the bottom half of the stamps and stamped the Ying Yang stamps on to a 4" x 5.1/4" panel of Distress Watercolor card. I applied Distress Grit Paste through the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Roses and Mini Valentine Layering Stencils, sprinkled with Distress Embossing glazes and heat set once the paste had dried.

I added Idea-ology Photobooth matted on to Alcohol Ink Black Cardstock and Sentiment Label Stickers popped up on Simon Says Foam Squares.

To finish I matted the panel on to Alcohol Ink Black cardstock trimmed to 1/8" larger and fixed to an A2 white card blank.

You can find all the products I used over at Simon Says Stamp, just click on the links below

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2pm CET to join in with the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend online at Simon Says Stamp

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - STAMPtember Blog Party

Hi my  friends, the month long STAMPtember celebration of stamps, dies, stencils and more has begun over at Simon Says Stamp and you're invited to join in the fun.

Throughout STAMPtember, Simon Says Stamp will be celebrating every day, posting exclusive collaborations, contests, prizes, special promotions, announcements and even more surprises on Simon Says Stamp Blog. To get the party started, there's a special STAMPtember BLOG PARTY today on Simon's Blog and I'm thrilled to be joining lots of my Simon Says friends to share lots of inspiration using the new products - click HERE to join the party and check out the list of participants. You will also find a promotional code on each blog participating in the party to receive a free gift with a qualifying purchase.

 and you can check out all the fabulous new products from the STAMPtember release HERE.

I created a card using the super cute Layered Squirrel, Sparkling Facets Embossing Folder and Sassy Thankful stamp set from the STAMPtember release.

I spritzed an A2 panel of Distress Watercolor card with water, placed the panel in the Simon Says Sparkling Facets Embossing Folder and ran it through my die-cutting machine. I smooshed Twisted Citron/Mowed Lawn Distress Oxides and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water, tapped the panel into the inks repeatedly and dried.

I coloured scraps of Distress Watercolor card with Antique Linen Distress Oxide and Rusty Hinge, Crackling Campfire and Ground Espresso Distress Inks, die-cut the Layered Squirrel and assembled.

I stamped the large sentiment, acorns and oak leaf from the Sassy Thankful stamp set on to scraps of Distress Watercolor card, inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival, coloured with Distress inks using a Distress Detailer Brush and fussy cut. I stamped the smaller sentiment, inked with Versamark ink on to a scrap of Simon Says Dark Chocolate cardstock, sprinkled with Simon Says White Detail Embossing Powder, heat set and fussy cut. I attached the squirrel and the sentiments to the panel using Simon Says Foam Squares.

I added Ranger Glossy Accents to the squirrel's nose and eye and fixed the panel to an A2 Distress Kraft HeavyStock card blank.

I hope you enjoy visiting all the talented makers participating in this fun Blog Party. I'm off to make myself a cuppa and join you.

Hugs Kath xxx

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous - The Scarecrow

Hi my friends, I'm sharing a card I made for my Maker's Social Make using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous The Scarecrow from the Halloween release and doesn't he look the business decked out in his best finery. If you missed the Live launch of this release, you can check out the new stamps and stencils and all the amazing projects from the Makers on Tim's YouTube Channel HERE or Tim's Blog HERE.

I used a panel left over from the Leaf Print cards I made for the Live Launch which I created by smooshing a Custom Blend ink pad (colours linked below) on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water, laid Distress Watercolor card on to the ink, dried and tapped back in repeatedly to pick up the remaining droplets. I inked the Leaf Print images with the same ink pad and stamped randomly over the background and also stamped the script image from Gothic Tapestry inked with Vintage Photo Distress Archival.I stamped the moon/sun image inked with Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide ink, re-inked just around the edge of the stamp with Ground Espresso Distress Archival and re-stamped to darken the edges of the image. I stamped the scarecrow with Ground Espresso, the bats with Black Soot and the corn stalks with Peeled Paint Distress Archival inks.I re-inked the scarecrow, stamped on to a scrap of Distress Watercolor card and fussy cut. I coloured the scarecrow and the corn stalks with Zig Clean Color Markers and a Distress Detailer Brush and fixed the scarecrow over the original image using Distress Collage Medium.  I inked the sentiment with Black Soot Distress Archival and stamped on the moon. I used a Sakura Black Glaze pen to darken and add shine to the bats, crow and scarecrow eyes.

I dragged the Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink pad over the edges of the panel and fixed to a white A2 card blank, covered with Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock, sanded back to reveal the kraft core.

Have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx