Simon Says - A Bit O' Green

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...

A BIT O' GREEN

I created a card to celebrate St Patrick's Day using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Curiosity Shop stamp set, Simon Says Stamp Curiosity Shop co-ordinating dies, Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Serendipity Collage Paper and an Idea-ology Story Stick.

I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to 4" x 5.1/4", smooshed my Custom Blend ink pad (Iced Spruce Distress Oxide/Hickory Smoke Distress Ink/Weathered Wood Distress Oxide/Old Paper Distress Ink ) on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water and dragged the card through the ink and dried. I repeatedly tapped the card into the ink to pick up the remaining droplets until I was happy with the background.

I inked the shamrock image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Curiosity Shop with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink, spritzed the stamp with water and stamped randomly over the background. I inked the hat and moustache with Scorched Timber Distress Ink and 17 with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide and stamped on the panel as a guide for future placement.

I fixed torn strips of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Serendipity Collage Paper in place with Distress Collage Medium using a Distress Collage Brush.

I stamped the shamrocks again on to a scrap of Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock, inked with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide, srinkled randomly with Rustic Wilderness Embossing Glaze, heat set and die-cut using Simon Says Stamp Curiosity Shop co-ordinating dies.

I repeated the stamping and embossing glaze process with the numbers "17". I stamped the hat and moustache, inked with Scorched Timber Distress Ink and die-cut using the co-ordinating dies. I die-cut all the pieces a further 3 times from Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock and layered to create dimension.

I fixed a circle of Eclectic Elements thread to the panel using dots of Distress Collage Medium behind where the dimensional elements would be fixed. I fixed the die-cut shamrocks to the panel using Distress Collage Medium and the hat, numbers and moustache popped up on Simon Says Stamp Thin 3D Foam Squares.

I scribbled an Old Paper Distress Crayon over the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Story Stick, rubbed the crayon into the detail with my finger, buffed with a soft cloth, fixed to the panel with Distress Collage Medium and added a double thread bow.

To finish I inked the edges of the panel with Scorched Timber Distress Ink using a Distress Tiny Blending Tool. I trimmed a panel of Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock to 1/8" larger than the panel and inked the edges of an A2 white card blank with Scorched Timber Distress Ink using the direct to paper technique.

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

Vintage Love Note Cards

Happy Friday my friends, I'm back to share Vintage Love Note cards made using products from Simon Says Stamp Distressed Vintage Notes February 2025 card kit. The kit, not surprisingly has sold out, but if you wish, you can still buy individual items from the kit HERE.

I created 3 cards with pastel Distress Oxide backgrounds and tone-on-tone watercolour stamping using Simon Says Stamp Vintage Love Notes 6" x 8" stamp set and decorated with the Simon Says Stamp Silver Metallic Cord and Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Typed Tags both included with the March 2025 card kit.

I trimmed 3 panels of Distress Watercolor card to 3.3/4" x 5" and coloured with Milled Lavender, Stormy Sky and Old Paper Distress Oxide inks, spritzed with water and dried.

I stamped the floral spray image from Simon Says Stamp Vintage Love Notes, inked with the same ink and spritzed with water to create a watercolour tone-on-tone effect on the backgrounds. I did the same with the sentiment, inked with Scorched Timber Distress Oxide ink.

I inked the butterfly from the stamp set with Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans and Forest Moss Distress Oxide inks, the postmark with Scorched Timber, spritzed with water and stamped on to Distress Watercolor card.

There are dies available for this stamp set (linked below) but I don't have them yet so I used my trusty Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Mini Recoil Snips to fussy cut around the edges leaving a small border.

I scribbled Picket Fence Distress Crayon over the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Typed Tags, pushed the crayon into the crevices with my finger and wiped with a cloth to remove the excess.

I fixed Simon Says Stamp Silver Metallic Cord behind the butterflies to add antennae and fixed the butterflies and postmarks to the panels using Simon Says Stamp Thin 3D Foam Squares to add dimension.

I added the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Typed Tags, fixed the panels to A2 panels of Simon Says Stamp Fog Gray cardstock and matted on to A2 White card blanks.

The weather has turned definitely spring like in my neck of the woods, so I'm planning on having a pottering around in the garden kind of a weekend. Enjoy your weekend whatever you have planned.

Hugs Kath xxx

You Make My Heart Sing

Hello my friends, I'm back to share a 4" square card I rescued from disaster and made using the Simon Says Stamp Tweet Friend 6" x 8" stamp set and Drifting Flowers Embossing Folder from the recent Favorite Things release but also included in the Tweet Friend March 2025 card kit. The minute I saw this embossing folder I knew it would be perfect for the blackout technique, one of my favourite ways to use an embossing folder.

I trimmed the Paper Rose Flower Shoppe pink script patterned paper included in the March 2025 card kit to 3.3/4" x 5", embossed with the Drifting Flowers Embossing Folder with the debossing on the pink side of the paper.

I dragged the Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink pad, also included in the kit, over the surface of the paper.

I die-cut a frame from Distress Watercolor card, fixed to the panel with Distress Collage Medium and added a left over strip of the pink script paper.

I stamped the images and sentiments from the Tweet Friend stamp set, inked with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and die-cut using the co-ordinating Tweet Friend dies.

Miss Super Clumsy then dropped the ink pad on to the panel, leaving a huge black stain. No way was I going to waste this beautiful background, so I trimmed the bottom of the panel to 3.3/4" and fixed the die-cuts in place using Distress Collage Medium. I did die-cut the Sing sentiment twice more and layered to create dimension. I re-stamped the bird and flower on to the last scrap of the pink script paper, fussy cut and fixed on top of the original images.

I die-cut the hearts from the pink script paper, fixed to the frame using Distress Collage Medium, matted the panel on to a 4" square white card blank and patted myself on the back for avoiding, on this occasion, a crafting disaster.

Back soon with more crafty makes, in the meantime, have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Use Your Favourite Technique

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

The first challenge of the month is when the team feature one particular company or brand and this time we are all using the fabulous products from Dyan Reaveley aka Dylusions.You don't have to use them to join in the challenge but we would love to see what you make if you have them in your stash.

We are also welcoming the talented Rox aka Reddirtcrafter as our Designer In The Spotlight, if you haven't visited her Instagram page yet, pop over, you will be in for a treat.

The theme for this week is...

USE YOUR FAVOURITE TECHNIQUE

I love to create one layer pages in my Dylusions Small Creative Journal using stamps and stencils. I used Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Oxide Sprays, Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Grit Paste Opaque with Dylusions Dyalog Quilt It Stencils, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Curiosity Shop, Specimen and Simon Says Stamp Distressed Vintage Love Notes stamp sets.

I spritzed Tim Holtz/Ranger Evergreen Bough, Salvaged Patina and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Sprays on to the pages, spritzed with water to let the inks run and mix and dried, to create a light background.

I applied Tim Holtz/Ranger Evergreen Bough, Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide inks through the Dylusion Dyalog Quilt it Stencils using Tim Holtz Distress Tiny Blending Tools.

I stamped the music notes from Simon Says Stamp Distressed Vintage Love Notes, inked with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and the number banner from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Curiosity Shop, inked with Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide ink.

I stamped the large moth from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Specimen, inked with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, added the stamps from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Postmarked Sticker Book and stamped the postmark image from Simon Says Stamp Distressed Vintage Love Notes, inked with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

I applied Distress Grit Paste Opaque through the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Spots Mini Layering Stencil from Set 59.

I inked the edges of the pages lightly with Scorched Timber Distress Ink using a Distress Tiny Blending Tool, doodled a line using a Memento Black Marker Pen and added splatters of Black Gesso. To finish I added Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Small Talk Stickers.

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 - Favorite Things Blog Hop Day 2

Hi my friends, welcome to my stop on Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop for the Favorite Things release.  I'm thrilled to be joining lots of talented friends and designers to share inspiration using products from this fabulous release and you can check out all the products in the release HERE.

Simon Says Stamp has a blog hop exclusive give-away, the Happy Bee Day stamp set is FREE with the purchase of $50 or more of Favorite Things release products. The stamp set will be automatically added to your cart. This promotion is valid until  at March 2nd at 11.59 PM EDT or while supplies last.

Simon Says are also giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop so make sure you leave a comment on each participant's blog to be in with a chance of winning. The winners will be chosen and posted on Simon Says Stamp Blog on Wednesday March 5th, and if you are a lucky winner, you can e-mail Simon Says Stamp to claim your prize. 

I created a bookmark to include with a book I am gifting to a friend, using Simon Says Stamp One For the Books and Tweet Friend 6" x 8" stamp sets from the Favorite Things release, Schoolhouse Red cardstock and Cranberry Pawsitively Saturated Ink.

I die-cut a tag from Simon Says Stamp Schoolhouse Red cardstock. I stamped Simon Says Stamp Old Letter on to the tag, inked with Versamark ink, sprinkled with Simon Says Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

I stamped the book from Simon Says Stamp One For Ther Books 6" x 8" stamp set on to Distress Watercolor card, inked with Old Paper and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks and the heart accents inked with Simon Says Stamp Cranberry Pawsitively Saturated Ink. I masked off the sentiment from the stamp set and stamped on the book, inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. There are dies available for the stamp set, linked below, but I don't have them yet so I fussy cut around the book with my trusty Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Mini Recoil Snips and inked the edges with Scorched Timber Distress Ink using Tim Holtz Tiny Blending Tool.

I fixed the book to Distress Watercolor card, trimmed around the edges to leave a small border and fixed to the tag with Simon Says Stamp Thin 3D Foam Squares to create dimension. I added splatters of Dina Wakley White Glossy Spray. I coloured a scrap of Distress Watercolor card with Old Paper Distress Oxide Ink, stamped the flower spray and sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Tweet Friend 6" x8" stamp set and die-cut with the co-ordinating Tweet Friend dies. I die-cut the sentiment twice more from Distress Watercolor card, layered to create dimension and fixed the sentiment and flowers in place with Distress Collage Medium.

I added the hole re-inforcer die-cut from the card coloured with Old Paper Distress Oxide ink, fixed the plaid ribbon and red/white twine in place, matted the tag on to Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock and trimmed to leave a small border.

If you arrived from the very talented Sandi MacIver,  you are in the right place but if you happen to get lost along the way, the list of participants below will help you get back on track.

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Caly Person

Suzy Plantamura

Jennifer McGuire

Debby Hughes

Emily Midgett

Lisa Addesa

Miriam Prantner

Bibi Cameron

Sandi MacIver

Kath Stewart (you are here)

Betsy Green

Misty Elam

Carly Minner

Rachel Alvarado

Revati Panickar

You'll find more inspiration from the release on Simon Says Stamp Favorite Things Gallery HERE and if you make anything with the release, we would love you to share with us all in the Gallery. There is also more fabulous inspiration for you from Day 1 of the Blog Hop HERE. In the meantime, I'm off to make myself a cuppa, find a comfy sofa and enjoy an afternoon of blog hopping and being inspired by all the makes.

Hugs Kath xxx