It’s STAMPtember with Simon Says Stamp!

         

Hello and welcome to STAMPtember!  It is such a fun time of the year at Simon Says Stamp!  It’s a month long celebration of great products and delightful company collaberations.  Today we’re kicking it off with a Blog Celebration!  Along the way you will find unique codes at each spot that can be used for discounts and free products from the Simon Says STAMPtember release.  Today, I’m creating with the new set called To Friendship.  Its a multi-step stamp set with beautiful sentiments around the theme of friendship.  For this design I did some tone on tone stamping in shades of blues and white.  

Aren’t these folk-art style wildflowers pretty?  I diecut the stamping layer with Simon Say’s Sparkler Scallop Frame layered the stamping onto coordinating sparkly and deep blue cardstock.  Both the flowers in the design and paper strips have that long lean look.  The sentiment is embossed in white.  

Don’t forget to visit the whole list of designers on the Simon Say’s Stamp Blog. Make sure you look for the promotional banner coupon code which you can use to claim a free gift ...for a short time only!!

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It’s STAMPtember with Simon Says Stamp!

Every Happiness Blog Hop with Simon Says Stamp

 

Well, Hi friends!  

Today I’m delighted to be joining the Simon Says Stamp Friday Blog 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

May Day Bouquet with Concord & 9th

I think the world is just better with the beauty of flowers in it!  I’m celebrating May Day with a gorgeous bouquet of florals from Concord & 9th’s new release.  This design uses the new Paper Posy Bundle, with the addition of the Paper Posy Embossing Folder .  

I couldn’t resist playing with the same colour palette as yesterday’s card, because I think it’s a great combination.  I die cut all the flowers and greenery, used the embossing folder to add some texture to some of the petals and leaves, and ink blended some of the colours into the layers.  I also ink blended the background with some water splatters in Rainforest to tie it all together.  

The sentiment is from So Many Sayings Stamp and Dies.  The whole design has so much texture and dimension.  Really delightful to put together!  

 

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May Day Bouquet with Concord & 9th

Plumberry Friend from Concord & 9th

 

Hello!  Today I’m happy to showcase a few fun things I picked up from Concord & 9th and the new colour release.  I’ve been playing with a few different colour combinations, and decided that this was one that was a bit unusual, but I really liked!  I started with the new Petal Print Stencil, and it’s beautiful unique style and a few new colours - Plumberry and Starfruit, along with Briar Rose, Grasshopper and Rainforest.  It packs a vibrant punch!  

Next, I used the Hugs & Friends Dies and those same colours of cardstock to make a bold sentiment.  I love the font on this one!  

I finished off by accenting the card with a few blossoms from the new Paper Posy Bundle, adding in flowers around the sentiment with enamel dots in the centers.  Curling up the centres of the flowers gives it a perfect 3D touch.  

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Plumberry Friend from Concord & 9th

Graphic Flowers with Crafty Meraki

Hi There!  Today I’m hopping along on Instagram Crafty Meraki, showing off another card for the April Release Meraki Melody.  I hope you pop over to Instagram to see all the creations!  

For this fun and graphic design I used the new Meadow Muse Press-Tacular Plate, and the really awesome A2 Timeless Frames Para-Dies.  

I decided to bring some fun colours together and coloured up parts of the images with Copics,  then I outlined the edges with a black Copic marker.  I also pressed the image into the background of the card.  

To tie all the colours together, I used Crafty Meraki Strip Suite- ZigZag Zoom dies.  The sentiment is from the Meadow Muse Stamp set.  

Just a few Meraki Matte Eclipse Black Opal Gems add some shine and coordinate with the black centres of the flowers.  Thanks for stopping by!  

 

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Graphic Flowers with Crafty Meraki

Cross-Stitched Roses with The Greetery

 

Hi There!  Today I’m playing with some pretty products from The Greetery.  The stencil is called Rose Tapestry which I’ve ink-blended in coral and bright green shades.  Next I paired it with the Aida Cloth Texture Plate, it really gives you the sense of cross-stitch fabric.  

Funny enough, I didn’t feel like my Big Shot gave the paper enough texture, so I lined up the texture plate again, sure that I had it perfectly set, and it “hopped” the cutting a bit - but ironically I don’t mind it.  Somehow the tiny double dots are really sweet!  

For the sentiment and little embroidery hoop I used the Hoopla Mini Dies, the Hoopla Mini Inserts and Mum’s the Word stamps and dies.  With a little iridescent cording and enamel dots, it’s ready for a Birthday!

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Cross-Stitched Roses with The Greetery

Peony Sunshine with Pink Fresh Studios

Happy Friday!  Today I’m bringing a little floral sunshine with this pretty new set from Pink Fresh Studios, it’s called Peony Perfection.  In my garden I have 7 different peony plants, and one of my favourite ones is called Coral Charm, so I coloured the blooms with that variety in mind.  The set comes with coordinating dies, which I used to cut them out.  

I stamped the background layer of the card with the set, then added texture with the Dotted Chevron Coverplate Die.  Each of the blossoms are popped up.  

Isn’t that sentiment a lovely one?  A perfect way to congratulate someone, or use as a Wedding design.  

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Peony Sunshine with Pink Fresh Studios

Periwinkle Blossoms with Concord & 9th

 Hello!  I felt like colouring something really special this week, so I pulled out an older set from Concord & 9th called Blended Petals.  I chose not to use the stencil, and instead pulled out my Copics and some coloured pencils to bring it to life.  

I chose to go monochrome, even adding in blues to the greenery.  Then I created tone on tone texture and colour in the embossing folder, dies, and accents, including a little strip of glittery periwinkle paper.  

Love how it turned out!  I’m eagerly anticipating flowers this Summer...maybe not periwinkle coloured...but beautiful regardless!  

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Periwinkle Blossoms with Concord & 9th

Favourite Tulips with Honey Bee Stamps

 

Hi there!  Of all the flowers out there, I think tulips are my all time favourite.  I love their colour, shape, and how they usher in Spring with vibrance.  I decided to pick up the Lovely Layers:  Tulips Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps because the dies are so realistic and give you 3 options of size of bloom to play with, and cut multiples layers of the flowers for wonderful realism.  

Coral coloured tulips are some of the ones I most gravitate to, so I used a few shade of coral cardstock to cut the layers, then ink blended on the layers to give added depth.  While also adding in a few textural details by adding coloured pencil in the die lines.  I also added in some bluebells from the Lovely Layers:  Wildflowers Honey Cuts, because they make a great contrast in colour to the coral tulips, and their petite size adds extra interest.

The background is ink blended with Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink, with water splatters, and I cut a small section of white lattice for the bottom section of the card for texture.  

The sentiment is foiled and is a Spellbinders Let’s Celebrate Sentiments Better Press set.  

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Favourite Tulips with Honey Bee Stamps