Thursday, March 28, 2024

SSS Be Bold, Appreciate You

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Hi friends!  I have a pretty quick and easy card to share today using some of the products from the recent Be Bold release.  

It's mostly quick and easy because the background panel was premade/inked.  Because I only do it every so often, when I pull out my Distress products and get inky, I tend to make a whole batch of backgrounds at once.  These don't all get used right away, so I generally have a little pile to pull from when I'm creating at a later date.

I didn't want to use a plain cardstock or simple inked background, I wanted a little more texture and interest, and this pre-inked panel was just right.

I also wanted to keep the stamping pretty simple, so I placed the panel in my stamping platform and then arranged the four smaller leaves from the Dreamy Leaves set in the bottom right quadrant.  You can see what it looks like below...I inserted a piece of solid cardstock so it's easier to see.


The leaves were stamped with Versafine and them embossed using Broken China Distress Embossing Glaze.  I then turned my panel 180 degrees and repeated the process.  I now had two embossed quadrants diagonal from one another.

Once that was done, I turned the panel 90 degrees so that the bottom right quadrant was one that didn't have any stamping/embossing in it yet.  I cleaned off my stamps with stamp cleaner (important so that you don't accidentally transfer some of the Versamark when you're placing the stamps), and arranged them in that quadrant.  Then I stamped/embossed, turned the panel 180 degrees, and stamped and embossed in the final quadrant.

The completed panel was popped up with foam tape, and I finished things off with the Appreciate You sentiment die which was cut from Matte Silver cardstock, adhered to the shadow die cut cut from green cardstock, and then popped up with foam tape.


That background piece really did most of the work for me on this one.  I'm running low on my pre-inked panels, so it might be time to get messy again!

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

SSS Be Bold, Crocus Row

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Hi friends, today I'm sharing a card created using several different mediums.  I suppose you could call it mixed media, but for me somehow if you don't use paint, it doesn't count.

Anyway, I started by embossing a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock using the Crocus Row embossing folder.

I then colored the flowers and greens using Copics.  I used V12, V15, V17, and BV11 for the flowers, and G24 and G28 for the greenery.

I then went in with several Prismacolor pencils to add a bit more texture and detail.


Once that was done, I used a brayer to add ink to my embossing folder, using Morning for the sky and Pearfection for the grass.  The embossed/colored panel was then carefully placed back into the embossing folder and I ran it through my die cutting machine again to color the background portions of the panel.

I wanted a little more texture in the grassy areas, so I used the brayer to add a bit more color to the those sections.

A sentiment from the Dreamy Leaves set was added to complete the card.

This was a fun one to create, I hadn't had my pencils or a brayer out in a while and it was fun to just play and experiment a little.

Hope you like it, have a great day!

Friday, March 22, 2024

SSS Be Bold Blog Hop, Day 1, Dreamy Leaves

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Hi all!  I'm taking part in Day 1 of a two day blog hop celebrating the Simon Says Stamp Be Bold release.

You should be arriving here from Keisha Charles' blog.

There are some great prizes to be had along the way.  Simon is giving away a $25 credit to the store at every stop along the hop.  All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment.  In addition, use code GREEN all weekend for $7 off any purchase of $40 or more.

Today I'm showing off my new Dreamy Leaves stamps.  There are also coordinating dies available.  The set includes eight leaf images, and I used them all on this card.  I arranged the stamps over my black panel using my stamping platform, inked with Versamark, and then gold embossed.




I love how striking this look is, and it's so simple to achieve.


I used one of the sentiments from the set, also embossed in gold and then die cut using the coordinating dies.  A Gold Matte mat finished things off.

Does this second card look familiar?  I still had all the stamps in place on my stamping platform, so I figured I would create a second card.  This time I stamped on watercolor paper and clear embossed.


Once the embossing was done, I added color using my Gansai Tambi watercolors moving from blue to green to yellow.  I let the panel dry, trimmed it down, and then mounted it to my card base using foam tape.

A sentiment strip from the Reverse Sunshine and Rainbows Sentiment Strips set was popped up over top with foam tape.


Isn't it amazing what a change in orientation and medium does to a card?

Last up I did some coloring.


I started by stamping the four larges leaves with Gina K Black Obsidian ink.  Then I colored with Copics using BG05, BG09, BG45, and BG49.

I placed my colored panel back into my stamping platform and stamped again this time using Versa Clair Nocturne.  This just crisps up and sharpens the lines.

The leaves were then die cut using the coordinating dies, and I colored the edges/outside the lines with my black Copic marker because I wanted the background to be completely black.




I also die cut an extra one of each of the leaves in black which I adhered the colored leaves to for just a bit of depth.

The sentiment, also from the set, was embossed in white on the panel, and then I adhered the leaves.

That's all for me today, but there is lots more to see.  Your next stop on the hop is Heather Ruwe and I have the full list below for you.  Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered to win a $25 store credit.  Happy hopping!

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Nina-Marie Trapani
Suzy Plantamura
Barbara Tarayao
Kristina Werner
Cathy Zielske
Keisha Charles
Miriam Prantner
Heather Ruwe
Cheiron Brandon
Tina Smith
Jean Doeringsfeld
Emma Williams
Bobbi Lemanski
Jennifer Kotas
Barb Engler

Thursday, March 21, 2024

SSS Be Bold Release

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Hi everyone!  There's a new release from Simon Says Stamp available today called Be Bold.  

I have a several new products in this release:




You Rock (which I designed to coordinate with Nested Leaves)



I'll be sharing some Dreamy Leaves cards with you tomorrow, but for today I'm showcasing some super simple cards created using the Wild & Free Flowers set.

This is really gorgeous floral set that looks wonderful colored, but the amount of detail in the flowers really lends itself to a simple black and white pen drawing look.

I've jazzed that up a bit using some very simple masked inking. 

I recently picked up some new inks in the Pawsitively Saturated Inks line, and thought I would take the opportunity to try out a couple new colors.  

For this first set of cards, I used Dew and the Printmaking Houses stencil.  This stencil has two sides, one large rectangle opening, and one with nine smaller openings.  I centered the large opening over my white panel and applied ink in an ombre effect, spreading ink inward from one of the corners.

Once I was happy with the inking, I placed the panel in my stamping platform and stamped the floral image as well as the sentiment.

For the card on the left, I simply stamped the flower over the entire panel.  For the second card, I masked off the bottom and right side, before stamping, so that the image appears only in the inked area.


I think both versions are equally effective, just depends on which you prefer.

This second set of cards features the color Pansy and uses one of the masks from the Domed Arches and Masks set.


Same technique here, but I changed up the orientation to be vertical.

These cards came together so quickly.  You can easily mass produce them.


That's all for me today.  I'll be back tomorrow participating in a blog hop, but for now, be sure to head over to Simon to check out the full release.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

February 2024 in Books

Pretty good month of reading.  I was somewhat ruled by the number of holds that cam in from the library this month, so didn't get to fit in a classic or non-fiction book.  Lots and lots of historical fiction this month.  Here are ehe recaps:

Hello Beautiful - Ann Napolitano - fiction - five stars - I really loved this book.  It's about William Waters, a boy whose upbringing is tragic and although he survives it, in part because he finds basketball, it scars him deeply.  In college he meets Julia Padavano who chooses him to marry her and join her large tight-knit family.  He also makes some pretty amazing friends, teammates, and coaches.  Julia has always had a plan for her lie an she plugs Walter into the role of husband/father/protector, but when difficulties arise in the Padavano family, her carefully crafted world begins to crumble, Walter with it.  the result is a schism in the family with Julia taking their daughter to live alone in New York City, and Walter and the rest of t he Padavano family remaining in Chicago.  There were several twists, some expected and other unexpected.  Julia was the one character I had manjor issues with, but she was a necessary foil to the overal plot.  I loved the themes of family, sisterhood, and friendship. A must read.T

he Book of Fire  - Chisty Leftieri - fiction - five stars - Irini lives in Greece with her artist husband Tasso and daughter Chara.  Their lives are torn apart when a wildfire destroys their forest home, killing many in their small community, including her beloved father-in-law.  In the aftermath of the fire, Tasso is unable to create after his hands are badly burned, that and the loss of his father leaves him a shell of himself.  Walking through the burned landscape one day, Irini come upon the man who started the fire.  Her response to him causes her to relive the tragedy again.  A really compelling story about family, love, forgiveness, and healing.

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver - fiction - five stars - Several have recommended this one to me, and it was well worth the wait at the library.  This is a modern retelling of David Copperfield and really well done.  It's about Damon/Demon born to a young, single, mother in Appalachia.  His family story is troubled, he ends up in foster care, addicted to opiods, in a co-dependent relationship.  The good news is that he has a good heart and people who care for him along with artistic talent.  A story of hope against all odds, Fantastic retelling of this classic.

The Liberators - E.J. Koh - historical fiction - three stars - This one was a bit of a dud for me, closer to two and a half stars rounded up.  It follows the life of a South Korean family as the emigrate to the United States.  It started off with promise, but devolved from there.  I was not crazy about the personalities of the characters, for the most part I thought they lacked strength.  Disappointing.

Artifice - Sharon Cameron - historical fiction - four stars - The story of Isa, who pre WWII worked with her father in his art gallery. Now they are struggling.  She needs to find funds for unpaid taxes and ends up selling the Nazis a forgery to come up with the money.  But then she gets involved in the underground movement.  They need funds to smuggle Jewish children out of Amsterdam.  Isa comes up with a plan to cheat the Nazis again.  I enjoyed the way Cameron wove this story together.  A few of the plot twists were a little too implausible for me, but overall a very good read.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise - Colleen Oakley - fiction - four stars - This was a fun, quick read, bit of a palette cleanser.  Louise has suffered a fall and her daughter insists that she hire a helper.  Tanner was a college soccer star who suffered a career ending injury and without her scholarship can't go back to school.  She's been languishing at home until her mother volunteers her to fill the position of Louise's helper.  Tanner and Louise live together, but separately until Louise's past catches up with her.  Apparently Louise pulled off a pretty huge jewelry heist years ago.  Now she needs Tanner's help to get to California as quickly as possible.  Not particularly believable, but a fun adventure with an interesting twist that I did not see coming.

Twilight Territory - Andrew X. Pham - historical fiction - four stars - This story takes place during and after WWII in Vietnam.  Most of what I've read about Vietnam has been more focused on the Vietnam War era.  I did not know much about the French colonial period, and the WWII era was an interesting one.  For the Vietnamese it was difficult to ascertain who was better, the Japanese or the French.  Tuyet was living humbly with her aunt and daughter when the Japanese arrived.  She ends up falling in love with one of them, Takeshi, marrying him and starting a life.  If was of course short lived.  Once the Japanese fell, rather than return to Japan, Takeshi chooses to join the Vietnamense resistance to the French.  Tuyet and Takeshi must live under the radar, often on the run.  Lots of sadness in this story, but it was really interesting to learn about these years in Vietnam.

The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel - ReShonda Tate - historical fiction - four stars - A fictionalized account of the life of Hattie McDaniel, the woman who played Mammy in Gone with the Wind and the first African American woman to win an Oscar.  The story begins on the evening of the Oscar awards and ends with her death.  This one is a great story, but it was a little difficult for me to read. Tate's writing style just wasn't my favorite.  Still, I enjoyed reading about McDaniel.  She had a pretty tough career, typecast, along with most African American actors at the time into menial/servile roles.  She fought to gain more benefits/rights for African American actors and for more meaningful roles, and was often at odds with the NAACP which criticized Hattie for being willing to take roles that did not cast African Americans in a good light.  A pretty amazing woman who did not receive the credit and respect due her during her lifetime. 

The Storm We Made - Jessica Chan - historical fiction - five stars - This story takes place in Malaysia just before and during WWII.  Cecily Alcantara is the frustrated wife to a low-level bureaucrat in the British colonial government.  She is not a fan of the British colonizers and becomes a spy for the Japanese.  Fast forward ten years during the Japanese occupation and all is not what she thought it would be.  The Japanese are no better than the British.  Cecily's family has been split apart.  This was another really interesting read as I did not know any of the history of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, it was a pretty brutal read as well, there was not a lot of good that happened during that time.  Great book.

The Women - Kristin Hannah - historical fiction - five stars - Another fantastic book by Hannah.  This one focuses on Frankie McGrath, who follows her beloved brother to Vietnam as a nurse.  Her brother dies before she even arrives in Vietnam, but she's committed.  It's not at all what she expected/was prepared for though.  The injuries and loss of life she encountered were scarring.  When she returns to the states, she struggles to reintegrate into civilian life.  Fellow nurses Barb and Ethel who she served with help her along, but Frankie continues to struggle, and has issues with addiction and PTSD.  While I knew about the challenges facing service members returning from Vietnam, this books shines a light on the total lack of recognition and understanding for women who served there.  A must read. 

Favorites this month were Hello Beautiful and The Women.  Least favorite was The Liberators.  I just finished Medea which I really enjoyed.  What are you guys reading?

Friday, February 23, 2024

SSS Splendor Fine Floral Stem and Neatly Knitted

  *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Today I'm sharing a Spring card featuring a couple of the new products from the Splendor release.

I started by using the Neatly Knitted embossing folder on a piece of green cardstock.  I really love the knit design and to make it stand out just a bit more, I very lightly inked the raised portions with white pigment ink using a blending brush.

Next up, the Fine Floral Stem die.  This was die cut from Glossy White cardstock.  One pass through creates the base piece as well as three flower accent pieces (which could be adhered directly over the die cut flowers or offset to create a fuller flower - which is what I did) and flower centers.


The die was colored using Copics.  This is the first time I've colored with Copics on glossy cardstock.  The ink dries very quickly, so you really have to work hard at the blending.

I used YG25, G24, and G28 for the stem/leaves, Y00 and Y11 for the petals, and Y08 and Y19 for the flower centers.

I thought about adding some embellishments, but decided to go with a more clean and simple look, so I just added a simple sentiment from my Plant Sentiments set to finish things off.


Thanks for visiting!  It's starting to get pretty warm here.  I'm thinking that Groundhog might have gotten it right this year!

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

SSS Splendor, Mixing and Matching Products

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.


Hi friends!  I've got a fun Easter card to share with you today featuring several products from the Simon Says Stamp Splendor release.

I started by spreading paste through my new Hippity Hoppity stencil over kraft cardstock.  The panel was then set aside to dry.

Next up, I stamped the large bunny from the Bunny Kisses set.  This is a four step bunny.  One stamp for the body, the second ear, ear and eye/nose details, and then the tail.  I stamped the body of the bunny with Flannel, but very lightly.  I actually used a blending brush to add color around the edges of the stamp, lightly tapering in as I wanted a very light coloring to the bunny.  I used Flannel for his second ear as well.

For the ear/face details and the tail, I used Cozy which is a more brown gray.

To add a little more depth and shading, I used colored pencils to accentuate the shaded areas a bit.  Once done, I fussy cut my bunny.

The grass was created using stamps from the Lots of Luck set.  These were stamped twice in Cabbage and Artichoke and then die cut.

The sentiment, also from Bunny Kisses, was white embossed on a strip of green cardstock.


Once I had all my pieces created, I simply adhered them to my card.  The stenciled panel was adhered directly to my card base, the grass pieces directly to my panel (using Sookwang tape), and the bunny and sentiment strip were popped up.

I really enjoy mixing and matching my supplies, so this was a fun one to put together, thanks for stopping by!