Sending Love with Simon Says Stamp

February 26, 2020


Happy Wednesday, crafty friends! I hope you are having a good week so far! I wanted to drop in and share a card I made awhile back...but just haven't had a moment to share it. And while technically Valentine's day is over, I think sending love themed cards all year long is a good practice. :)

I've used Simon Says Stamp's Heart to Heart background stamp on this card, and did my drop & spritz technique with Pinkfresh Studio liquid watercolor. I did not do a video for this card, but you can see this technique in older videos HERE and HERE.

I diecut the vellum heart & white letters using the Ornate Love die set. To get the dipped gold look, I put a strip of purple tape across the letters then covered the bottom in embossing ink. I added Gilded embossing powder to the top, then heat set. Then I slowly removed the purple tape to reveal a perfect & clean line! I love how this turned out!

I finished the sentiment with the CZ Design Sentiment Strips Reverse Love, which are SO nice to have on hand. It saves you time from having to stamp & heat emboss! I finished by accenting the card with Pinkfresh Studio Essentials: Crystals mix, which I have been using a lot more lately! They are gem shaped, so they are perfect in shakers. But if you glue them top side down, they make really beautiful accents too!

That is everything I have for you today! If you have any questions about my post today, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will be sure to reply.
Before you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I would love to be crafty friends online!
Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below, including affiliate linking when possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. I really appreciate your support! I typically link to 2-3 sites, in hopes that your preferred retailer will be among them. I only support legitimate retail sites, that are true partners to stamp, die and scrapbooking wholesalers.

VIDEO: Card Trio featuring Yana's Foiling Basics collection

February 23, 2020



Happy Sunday, crafty friends! I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend so far. We have a newborn foster baby right now, which will likely be a very temporary placement as there is a lot of family available for the kinship search. But we will keep the little one safe & loved while they sort out and expedite the familial foster process. We've finally gotten into a bit of a groove, and are getting a bit more sleep. But we have kept our weekend quiet for the most part.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a card set using the brand new Yana's Foiled Basics collection from Spellbinders, and you can find that blog post HERE. Yana & Spellbinders reached out and asked me to create a video using these beautiful products, and I happily said yes! You can watch these three cards come to life in my video below, or on YouTube.

In this video I share the foiling process, a mistake, adjustments I made for better foiling results and then putting the cards together. It is a bit longer than my usual videos, but foiling is a bit longer of a process. I hope you will enjoy watching it anyways!

These cards focus on the following products in the Yana's Foiled Basics collection: Polka Dot Strip, Foliage Border, Organic Foliage & Yana's Sentiemnts. You can find a full product link list at multiple stores at the end of my post.

I've used cardstocks from Spellbinders/FSJ in the following colors: Whip Cream, Blue Lagoon, Outrageous Pink & Peaches and Cream.

Here is a look at each card. Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below!

Have you tried out foiling yet? These new products from Yana will surely make you fall in love with the process, and I can't recommend them enough! I had so much fun creating these cards, and I am still in awe of the foiling process every time I do it!

efore you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I would love to be crafty friends online!
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday, friends.

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below, including affiliate linking when possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. I really appreciate your support! I typically link to 2-3 sites, in hopes that your preferred retailer will be among them. I only support legitimate retail sites, that are true partners to stamp, die and scrapbooking wholesalers.

Pinkfresh Studio February 2020 Background Stamp Release Blog Hop + GIVEAWAY

February 17, 2020


Happy Monday, crafty friends! It's release day at Pinkfresh Studio, and we are so excited to bring our a brand new product line to Pinkfresh Studio! This is our first time releasing background designs in cling rubber, and we are SO excited about them!

This initial release includes 9 beautiful background designs made from deeply etched red rubber mounted on cling foam. We chose to have our background designs created on this high quality rubber so that you will get a crisp & clean impression whenever you stamp with them. Each background stamp is approximately 6"x6" in size.
These stamps are a perfect fit with the 48 premium dye inks that we recently released, and our upcoming Detail Black ink. I had mentioned in January that we would be releasing Detail Black in February, but unfortunately, or shipment was shorted by quite a large quantity. So, we have to push the Detail Black release until we get the rest of our order.

Here is a look at the 9 new background stamps!

FEBRUARY 2020 RELEASE


We've got a fantastic blog hop lineup and prizes at every stop! I'll get to all of that info at the end of my post, but how about we get to my cards first? The only stamp I didn't get to for the release is Floral Shadow, but I have a super fun card set in the works with it...so be on the lookout!

For my first three cards, I went a little crazy with no-line coloring. These stamps are PERFECT for this fun technique!

LEMON LUSH
My first card uses the new Lemon Lush background stamp, and some no-line coloring with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I used Fade Out ink on Strathmore Bristol smooth cardstock, which is my favored paper for this technique. I do this technique quite simply, and choose just 1-2 shades for each item, then blend with the colorless blending brush. You could take this gorgeous Lemon Lush image many steps further, but as I've mentioned in the past, my coloring skills are quite basic. Once all the coloring was complete, I diecut a panel from it using the largest Essentials: Stitched Rectangle die.

The sentiment was created with the Sentiment Suite: You die, and the Leafy Decor stamp set. I cut the word die 3 times: once from champagne glitter paper and twice from 130 LB white cardstock, then stacked & adhered with a glue pen. I stamped the rest of the sentiment in Detail Black ink (coming soon) and trimmed into a thin strip. I pulled out the Essentials: Crystals Mix to embellish, because I wanted them to be clear, rather than iridescent.

With everything complete, I layered it all to an A2 white cardbase as shown! I see so many possibilities with the Lemon Lush background stamp - I can't wait to watercolor a heat embossed version of it!


LUSH VINES
This card was created in the same fashion as the card above, just very different colors. This card features the Lush Vines stamp, which is SO versatile! It is still very wintry where I live, so I wanted to have a very serene, winter feel to the card. Plus, the sentiment called for that as well. But just by changing the colors you could make this for any season, or holiday, especially Christmas! When the no-line coloring was complete, I diecut it with the largest Essentials: Ornate Banner.

I diecut the Essentials: Ornate Frame die twice from 130 LB white cardstock, then stacked & adhered. The sentiment is diecut from Phrase Builder: Sending and stamped from Leafy Decor in Detail Black. I also accented this card with the Essentials: Crystals Mix. I got the idea for accenting inside of the Ornate Frame like this from the amazing Laura Bassen - hers was a rainbow of course! :)

I layered everything to the top of a shimmery periwinkle A2 card base as shown. Isn't this background stamp just gorgeous?!


ENCHANTED BLOOMS
The final no-line coloring card I have to share with you features the Enchanted Blooms background stamp. This stamp is full of gorgeous florals that you can use as a full panel, or fussy cut if you prefer. I used Arches cold pressed watercolor paper on this card, as I wanted a little texture and was okay with the cream color of the paper for this one. Once the no-line coloring was complete, I diecut a panel using the largest Essentials; Diagonal Stitched Rectangle.

The sentiment was stamped & heat embossed using the Layered Bouquet stamp set on vellum. I wrapped the vellum strip around the top of the floral panel, then accented with the Essentials: Jewels Mix in gold, pink & yellow.

I layered everything to the top of a wine colored A2 card base as shown. This has been a very popular color palette in weddings recently, and now I can see why! It's elegant & classy, but quite bold.

ABSTRACT CUBE
I sneak peeked this card in January, and now here it is in full! This card features the Abstract Cube background, and  is very clean & graphic, with a little bit of rainbow color. I stamped it in Detail Black ink, then cut the panel with the smaller, clean edged die from our Essentials: Stitched Rectangles set.

The sentiment is from our Sentiment Suite: Hello die set, and cut from gold glitter paper & white cardstock, then stacked. I added some leftover rainbow stripes that I created for our December Essentials release, then accented with the Essentials: Jewels Mix.

I mounted everything to an A2 black cardbase as shown. I LOVE this stamp, and I think it would be fun to randomly color in the cubes in rainbow order. 

Diagonal Bars & Do What You Love
This card features the two background stamps that can be used together or separately, Diagonal Bars & Do What You Love. I stamped them with our premium dye inks in Ballet Slipper and Stargazer. I have a card in the works where you can see the words a little bit easier, so be on the lookout for that one. For this card I kept it in the background, then added a couple of the Pretty Frames 2 around it.

The sentiment is from our Phrase Builder: Sending die set, and I used both the word & shadow for this one. I accented the card with our Essentials: Jewels mix.

I layered everything to the front of a navy A2 card base as shown. These stamp sets have so many fun possibilities, and I love that you can layer them or use them alone!

DIAMOND TILES & FLORAL DIAMOND
These cards were featured in my January release post, so I'm just going to share an image of each one. This card features the Diamond Tiles stamp, which is probably my favorite from this release! It also features the Layered Bouquet stamp set and coordinating die that we released in January.

This one features the Floral Diamond background in the background, stamped in Misty Coast. It also features the Just Because stamp set and coordinating die that we released in January.

Those are all the cards I have to share with you today! How about we get to all the info you need for this new release!

PRIZES
You have the chance to win a $25 gift card sponsored by Pinkfresh Studio from my blog {and all the other posts on the blog hop too!} - all you have to do is leave a comment!
You also have the chance to win the full release on the Pinkfresh Studio blog {linked below} and our Instagram feed. You have until Sunday, February 23rd to leave your comments. The winners will be picked & posted to the Giveaway Page on Monday, February 24th, and you must follow the instructions on that page to claim your prize.

BLOG HOP LINK LIST
Our entire card team and some very welcomed guests have been crazy busy creating inspiring projects using all these new background stamps! You are going to LOVE hopping along this blog hop! Here is a full link list, and please note that there is a second page of links. It's come to our attention that the Inlinkz lists aren't always showing up in all browers, so you can also view the entire link list HERE.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Before you move along to the next stop on the hop, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I would love to be crafty friends!

Happy Hopping, and have a great start to your week!

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below, including affiliate linking when possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. I typically link to 2-3 sites, in hopes that your preferred retailer will be among them. I only support legitimate retail sites, that are true partners to stamp, die and scrapbooking wholesalers.

Rainbow Valentine with Simon Says Stamp

February 9, 2020


Happy Sunday, crafty friends! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend so far! It's been a quiet & cold weekend over here in Minneapolis. We got some workouts in, and after that were mostly homebodies. That means I got some crafting time in!

Today I've got a card featuring some newer products from Simon Says Stamp, who happens to be celebrating 18 years in business! What an amazing feat! They've got a code for 18% off your order, which ends tonight at 11:59pm EST. All you have to do is throw some things from your wishlist in your cart, then use the code EGHTN845 in the promo code section when you checkout. Easy peasy! I grabbed a couple things that I needed...including a die for a stamp set that I want to use, and the Amsterdam titanium white fluid acrylic ink.
https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=199868&u=1598441&m=24698&urllink=&afftrack=

I've got a rainbow valentine that I started on Friday at craft night, and finished after my workout yesterday. It features the Rainbow Heart die, and the sentiment is from CZ Design Reverse Love sentiment strip pack. It was perfect, because I call Josh babe almost 100% of the time...and it was so nice just having the sentiments done for me. All I had to do was trim them down and mount with some foam tape. These are really perfect if you are short on time but want some amazing sentiment options!

To start I did all the diecutting with the Rainbow Heart. The heart die doesn't have a solid background, so I traced the negative on to matching white cardstock and fussy cut. I cut the rainbow layers 4 times: once from the rainbow colors, then tree times from white cardstock. I stacked & adhered everything with a Zig pen, then added shimmer to the rainbow layers with a Wink of Stella pen.

 Next I ink blended the background using distress oxide inks in Festive Berries & Tattered Rose. This is one of my favorite blending combos, especially for love themed cards. I diecut the blended background with the largest Stitched Rectangle die, then splattered it with watered down Titanium White acrylic paint.

I trimmed the sentiments down, then assembled everything to the front of an A2 white card base. I used lots of foam tape to adhered everything, as I like a lot of dimension to my cards. Then I finished by accenting with the Essentials: Crystals Mix in red, pink & clear. I use the jewels so much, but I really wanted the crisp & clear feel of the crystals on this card!

That is everything I have for you today! If you have any questions about my post today, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will be sure to reply.
Don't forget that the storewide 18% off sale ends tonight at Simon Says Stamp, so be sure to take advantage if you have some crafty items on your wishlist! Before you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I would love to be crafty friends online!
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday.

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below, including affiliate linking when possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. I really appreciate your support! I typically link to 2-3 sites, in hopes that your preferred retailer will be among them. I only support legitimate retail sites, that are true partners to stamp, die and scrapbooking wholesalers.