Every Happiness Blog Hop with Simon Says Stamp

 

Well, Hi friends!  

Today I’m delighted to be joining the Simon Says Blog Friday Hop for the Every Happiness July Release!  There are so many delightful elements to this release that I think you’ll enjoy.  Today I’m showcasing the wonderful school themed set with coordinating dies called  Best Teacher Ever . 

Our daughter is a teacher and we’re so proud of her.  Every day she brings creativity, intentionality and joy to her classroom.  So, this set has a special place in my heart.  I know how significant our teachers are, and how much they need to hear they are valued and appreciated.  This design tries to bring an elegant feel to a teacher appreciation by using the sentiment as a fun focal point.  

To create the beautiful and vibrant pattern I used my beloved Willowweave die and stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  The stencil creates the vibrant red layer and the willowweave die addes the aqua blue texture.  It’s always a show stopper!  I added in stars from the Best Teacher Ever set to the center of each opening to tie it into the teacher theme.  

Another fun stamped feature is the aqua dividing line between layers where I stamped the ruler element from the set, and added in the sub-sentiment “You rule!”  Totally a cute little teacher touch.  

I think it’s a fun and classy way to tell a teacher you appreciate them any time of the year.  

Don’t miss our not-yet-released Simon Says Stamp Golden Sunflower 3x4 stamp (pictured above) which is automatically added to your cart that contains any purchase from our exclusive Every Happiness collection! This gift with purchase will expire 7/26 at 11:59 pm EDT or while supplies last.

Well I’m the last stop on the hop, but if you’d like to see the whole list of all the beautiful creativity today here’s who’s up today!  Be sure to check back with Simon Says Stamp tomorrow for the Saturday inspiration!  

Don’t forget to comment!  A $25 gift card will be given at every blog along the hop!  Yay!

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Heather Hoffman

Barbara Tarayao

Laura Bassen

Amy Rysavy

Tina Smith

Nicky Meek

Heather Ruwe

Lisa Addesa

Miriam Prantner

Jean Doeringsfeld

Barb Engler

Laura Williams

Christine Okken (you are here)

To catch up on all the inspiration from this release be sure to check out the Every Happiness Gallery.  

 

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Every Happiness Blog Hop with Simon Says Stamp

Secret Garden with Concord & 9th

Hello!  Today I have a delightful little scene for you from Concord & 9th’s newest release.  It’s called Secret Garden Stacks and it pairs with their Pop Out Stacks Base Die.  It is THE most delightful die set to create the most lovely garden!  I had the best time creating with it, and did a little borrowing from my own backyard for the colour palette.  I have the prettiest Indian Spring Mix of Hollyhocks that are having their best year yet, so that inspired the colours.  

The die comes with sections of pop ups that you can add details to on four levels.  Base, background, middle ground and foreground.  I love the little touches in a tiny birdbath, a stone wall and pathway, the pretty fence and sign.  There are several more die in the set that I didn’t even use this time. 

Amazingly, it all folds down into a A2 size for an envelope, without a lot of bulk.  Everything about it feels sweet and fanciful!   It feels like you can peek into little corners.  

Here you an see it folded up.  And here is my own secret garden along the backyard fence with my beautiful hollyhocks. 

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Secret Garden with Concord & 9th

Treasure Sunrise Roses with Simon Says Stamp

 

Well, its been about 6 weeks since I’ve created for myself!  A lot of things have happened in the last few months including a big career change back into a church Pastoral role and our son got married last weekend.  A lot of my creating has gone to doing little bits and pieces for their wedding.  I honestly thought I might have lost my creative spirit.  It’s hard to start back up again isn't it?  

When I’m lost for inspiration, I always go back to what I know, and that’s my love of colouring.  I pulled out this stunning set from Simon Says Stamp called Beautiful Flowers and its coordinating die.  I inked it in Toffee Crunch Memento Ink for a no line look, and coloured the image with Copics, and a bit of coloured pencil for details.  I have some Sunrise Roses in the front flower bed which I used as inspiration for this design.  They come out of the bud in deep coral shades and then fade to apricot and the faintest peachy blossom.  

The image is so beautiful and large that I went with an A6 sized card for the design.  The background is first inked on the card base with SSS’s background stamp Overlapping Drops, and then the next layer is ink blended with Distress Oxide ink and then run through the SSS Pincushion Plate Die, where I left all the holes in the die so it just brings texture.  I’ve added in some ink blended die cut leaves for more tone on tone texture.  

The sentiment, from the stamp set is embossed onto a vellum strip.  Hope you enjoyed!  

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Treasure Sunrise Roses with Simon Says Stamp

Waffle Flower Wilderness on Father’s Day

 

This is the time of year when I always feel so grateful for my husband and the kind of Father he is to our kids.  And though our kids would all be considered young adults, he’s present, available, supportive, and a good leader that walks with them through this life, especially at this stage.  I love that we can honour him in this way.  

For his Father’s Day card, I pulled out the beautiful Forest Sunset Postal Collage Stamp, and the Postal Collage Die to create a rustic wilderness scene for him.  The sky has a bit of the look of an aurora borealis night that we often experience here in the North.  I’ve ink-blended the background and then splattered water, finishing with some detail “stars” with a white Sharpie.  All of the images are embossed in black to give some shine and lots of black contrast.  

I also incorporated the tiny postage from the Postage Collage Miniature Die and Stencil, using some of the small animal images from the stamp set to pull it together.  Those minis are especially darling.   

The background of the card uses the Sweet Plaid Texture Die from Waffle Flower, and the sentiment is an old one from Stampin’ Up!  The type and size is perfect.  

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Waffle Flower Wilderness on Father’s Day

Stencilled Rose with Concord & 9th

Hello! Today I’m back with another pretty Long Line Rose card from the Bundle at Concord & 9th and a slightly different application using the stencil, rather than watercolouring like the other day this week.  

For this design I stamped the image and then used the stencil for colouring, adding in a few details at the end with a coloured pencil.  I also stamped the background of the card with the stamps and then ink blended some more saturated colour.  Those repeated patterns always tie a card together so nicely.  

 

For some contrast, I embossed a Spellbinders frame with clear EP and framed up the flower.  It adds such nice shine.  The sentiment is a lovely encouragement!  

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Stencilled Rose with Concord & 9th

Longline Roses Frame with Concord & 9th

Hello!  Today I have some beautiful roses to show off!  These lovely ones are from Kristina Werner at Concord and 9th and are called Long Line Roses Bundle, and it includes a stamp set, stencils, and coordinating dies.   Later this week I’ll show you how the stencils work, but for the first card, I decided to emboss the roses in gold, and then pull out my watercolour brush and watercolour the image.  The set has such a unique lined design, so it was perfect for varieting tone with watercolour.  

After embossing and watercolouring, I created a frame using a Spellbinders Embossing Folder and gilding it with gold Lunar Paste, trimming out the middle of the frame with a die.  

I trimmed apart the pieces to get them to fit nicely in an arrangement around the frame and then added in the gold embossed sentiment.  

Just a couple of gold enamel dots finish the design.  So many possibilities with this beautiful set!  

 

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Longline Roses Frame with Concord & 9th