Exciting News!!

Hi there!

If you're looking for the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember blog hop, click here.

I've got some exciting news to share with you! Starting today, I'll be hosting challenges for Simon Says Stamp over in their Flickr group!

There will be a different challenge every other Friday and prizes will be given away too!

I'm so excited and would love it if you could stop by and take a look at the details here.

This week's prize is a set of Simon's new inks, just released for STAMPtember!

I hope you'll all join in the fun and play along!

Thank you and have a great weekend! ♥
 

STAMPtember 2014 Blog Hop!

Hello!  

Welcome to another stop on the Simon Says Stamp, STAMPtember 2014 blog hop! If you've been following along, you should have just come from the sweet and talented, Laurie Willison's blog, Soapbox Creations. If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, head on over to the Simon Says Stamp blog where it all begins.

Before I share my cards, you should know that Simon Says Stamp is giving away a prize pack of a selection of items from our STAMPtember® giveaway stash at each stop on the hop! That's 19 chances to win!! So make sure you leave a comment at each stop to better your chances of winning. The giveaways for the prize packs will close at 6:00pm EST on Thursday September 11, 2014 and the complete winners list will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Friday September 12, 2014.

Okay, let's get started! I was sent some wonderful products to play with and boy, oh, boy did I ever have fun! I've created eight cards - I just did not want to stop playing.

The first few cards showcase the fun, Deco Tree Die set. It has such a brilliant design.

It's a really simple card, using the negative portion of the die-cut. This card could be easily mass produced for your Holiday card making. The Merry Christmas die comes in the set too. Here's a close-up so you can see just how cool it is.

I gently pulled up the swirls for a fun effect - isn't that neat?!

This next card uses the same tree die but with the positive die-cut. I also added a bit of dimension in the background using the Zig Zag Dots Stencil and some Texture Paste from Ranger. The Sentiment is from the new, Ornaments set.

And another close-up:

One more creation using this die. It's a gift tag.

I wanted to try the inlaid die-cutting technique with the tree and to make it stand out more, I added the white outline with a Signo Gel Pen. So, both the positive and negative die-cuts were used on the tag - so fun!

I have an elegant card to share next.

This is such a beautiful stamp set. It's called Ornaments and it comes with five different ornaments and some wonderful sentiments too. I embossed everything on this card in Ranger's Princess Gold Embossing Powder. See that swirly wire? That's one of the stamps included in this set.

Here's another fun card using the same set. 

I used the smallest ornament and stamped it with various pigment inks, then added Glossy Accents to each one for some shine.

 

The wires were stamped with Staz-On Silver Metallic Ink and the sentiment is from the Deco Tree Die set, this time cut from black cardstock.

There is another new stamp set called, Presents and Ornaments. I wanted to use a different image from the set, other than the presents, to show you how it can be used for other occasions besides Christmas and/or birthdays. There's an open circle image and I thought it would be fun to white emboss it several times and do some water coloring.

Isn't that fun? The large, Thank You sentiment is from the Many Thanks set. There are so many sentiments in this set - all with different fonts. It's difficult to see in the photo but inside some of the circles there's a teeny, tiny "Thanks" with a heart, which is also included in the set.

Are ya still here with me? Sorry it's getting long but just a few more. This next card was created with the new, Sketched Trees stamp set, along with the matching, Trees and Trunks die set.

After cutting out the trees, I decided I wanted the inner portion of them smaller, so I just used a scissors to make the adjustment. The background was created using that awesome, Zig Zag Dots Stencil again, along with Iced Spruce Distress Ink and water. I love how it turned out! The small, Love, Peace, Joy sentiment is from the Ornaments set.

Okay, two more. It's time for something other than Christmas. Are ya ready for some fruit?

Isn't that pear image adorable? It comes in a set called, You're So Sweet and I love it! I stamped the image with Archival Black Ink then did a bit of water coloring. I added some splatters and the Thank You sentiment and it was done - so easy!

There is a cherry image in the same set that I love even more than the pear. Take a look.

I did some more water coloring for this one - on the cherries and the background. And don't ya just love that sentiment? This set comes with many more images of fruit and four more sentiments.

Okay, that's it. (I'm sure you're all saying, "Finally!") Sorry my post was so long but I wanted you to get a good idea of how fun these new products are to play with. And there are sooo many more in this release. You can check them all out, together on one page, here.

Your next stop on the hop is Suzanne Dahlberg's blog, Freshly Noted. She creates such beautiful cards, I know you'll love what she has to share.

There's lots more fun coming our way this month, so be sure to check in often at the Simon Says Stamp blog!

Thanks so much for hopping along today! And Happy STAMPtember!!! ♥

 

 Giveaway is now closed

STAMPtember Has Begun!

Hi everyone!

September means the end of my favorite time of year, summer. Normally I am down in the dumps when fall arrives, BUT thank goodness something else happens this month that makes it so much better! September means STAMPtember! 

It's an exciting time over on the Simon Says Stamp blog, with a month long party! There are a boat-load of new products that you will love! This fabulous new release includes stamps, stencils, dies, inks, sequins and more! It's a huge release and, in my opinion, Simon's best release EVER! You can check out all the new products here but I'm warning you, you'll want it ALL!

I was lucky enough to be asked, once again, to be a part of their blog hop, which is tomorrow! (Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.) I received some goodies to play with and I've been having a ball creating cards for the hop! 

Here are the goodies I've been playing with:

 I can't wait to share my cards with you, so be sure to stop by the Simon Says Stamp blog tomorrow to start the hop! ♥