Season's Greetings using Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit

Hi everyone!

I'm back today with my final card using Simon Says Stamp's fabulous December Card Kit.I must say the cards I made with this month's kit came together so quickly. Just perfect for this busy time of year!

Here's today's card:

Today's card is another one in which I didn't want to mess around with the gorgeous image on the patterned paper. Because of that I just added a couple of strips of paper/cardstock across the front and did my embellishing there. I stamped my sentiment on one of the label stickers from the kit and adhered cut pieces from one of the holly twigs using Glossy Accents.

Thank you so much for joining me here this week! Just a reminder that sweet Heidi (owner of Simon Says Stamp) has generously allowed to give away one of these fabulous kits on my blog this week. Yay! Be sure to leave comments on any or all of this week's posts for your chance to win! I'll announce a winner Monday December 3rd.

Here's what I used for today's card:

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit - Peace, Joy, Love

Hi everyone!

Before I post today's card I wanted to share the winner from the Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop last week. The winner is:

Pam who said...

Beautiful cards! I am so grateful for my family. I am the oldest of nine, so my family is quite large. We lost our mom in June, so I'm so thankful we will be together to get through the holidays.

November 21, 2012 8:15 PM

Congrats, Pam! ...and sorry for your loss. I hope you had an extra special Thanksgiving with family. If you could email me with your full name and email address I can pass it on to Simon Says Stamp. They will then contact you to find out the charity you would like the donation to be made to.

Today I'm sharing my third card using Simon Says Stamp's wonderful December Card Kit:

Here's today's card:

For today's card I focused on the pattern in one of the light blue papers and cut out snowflakes from it. I also cut out extra centers and adhered them with foam adhesive after inking up all the edges. You can't really see it in the picture but I also added some Rock Candy stickles in some parts for a little more interest.

Be sure to leave comments on this week's Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit posts for your chance to win one for yourself (thanks to sweet Heidi, owner of Simon Says Stamp). I'll announce a winner Monday December 3rd.

Here's what I used for today's card:

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge!

Hi everyone,

I'm back with another Simon Says Stamp Challenge!!!

This week's challenge is Anything Goes! Create whatever you like (but please make something NEW)! The design team is playing with Martha Stewart products.

Here`s my card:

I used this Martha Stewart Heatbeat border punch to punch the different sized hearts which I then used to create my snowflake. Fun!

Here's my full supply list:



I hope you'll join us in this week's challenge! Up for grabs is a $50 gift voucher for the Simon Says Stamp store thanks to sweet Heidi! For all the details and to see what the other designers have come up with go HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp December 2012 Card Kit - Holiday Cheer

Hi everyone!

I'm back today to share another card using Simon Says Stamp's fabulous December Card Kit. In case you missed yesterday's post here's what December's kit looks like:

Here's today's card:

I LOVE this patterned paper that's in the kit and just couldn't cover it all up or cut it into small little pieces so I let it take center stage. I stamped my sentiment along the bottom of the main image. I die cut a couple of snowflakes and added some round labels from the kit and die cut patterned paper to the centers and called it done. :)

Just a reminder that sweet Heidi (owner of Simon Says Stamp) has generously given me the go a head to give away one of these fabulous kits on my blog this week. Yay! Be sure to leave comments on this week's posts for your chance to win! I'll announce a winner Monday December 3rd.

Here's what I used for today's card. Noticed that many of the items from the kit can also be purchased individually:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll join me tomorrow for a new Simon Says Stamp Challenge!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp December 2012 Card Kit & GIVEAWAY!

Hi everyone!

I got a sweet little package in the mail last week from Simon Says Stamp with their December Card Kit inside. This month's kit is FABULOUS! Take a look:

I've been having such a great time creating with this kit. The patterned papers are GORGEOUS! I love the wooden 'Merry' piece, the holly, and yummy May Arts ribbon (which you won't see on any of my cards this week because I'm hoarding it. Hee hee.). ;)

Here's my first card:

I think it's pretty self-explanatory. I'll just note that I cut the 'B' and 'E' out of one of the patterned papers from the kit to add to the 'Merry' sentiment. (Do feel free to email me if you ever have any questions about the cards I share). :) And don't you just love the patterned paper background?!?! I definitely let some of the gorgeous papers take center stage this week.

Sweet Heidi (owner of Simon Says Stamp) has generously given me the go a head to give away one of these fabulous kits on my blog this week. Yay! I'll be sharing the rest of my December Card Kit

cards Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. Be sure to leave comments this week for your chance to win! I'll announce a winner Monday December 3rd.

Here's what I used for today's card. Noticed that many of the items from the kit can also be purchased individually:

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop!

       *** If you're looking for my Simon Says Stamp Challenge card please scroll down***

Hello crafters!   What are you thankful for?  This time of year we count our blessings and the things we are grateful for. I'm so very grateful for so many things: Christ's sacrifice for me, my husband, kids, and extended family. I'm grateful for good friends who love me just the way I am. I'm also grateful for all of you who stop by and visit my blog. Thank you!

If you've been following along the Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop you should be arriving from extremely talented and super sweet Jennifer McGuire's blog. If you're just joining us please start HERE.

Here are a couple of cards I made to say 'Thank You' for some recent acts of kindness shown to me. The first one is going to my dearest friend who knew how much I needed an extra little love on my birthday a couple weeks ago. The other is for our pastor and his wife for having a group of us homeschooling parents and our kids over for a hot dog roast, s'mores, and a treasure hunt through the woods by their house. It was so thoughtful of them and the kids had a blast! :)

 

For this first card I used one of the label dies from the Simon Says Stamp Apothecary Labels set to die cut different patterned papers to create my own patterned background. (It kind of reminds me of quilt.) I used a stamp from the coordinating stamp set for my sentiment. The great thing about these products is that they can be bought separately or at a discounted rate together as a bundle.

 For this second card I used the same stamp and die set as above along with Simon Says Stamp's Curvy Snowflake die, Simon Says Stamp's Folded Banner die, and few other dies. Everything is linked below.

Thanks to Simon Says Stamp I will be giving away a $50 donation to the charity of one commenter's choice.  Just leave a comment with what you are most grateful for and you will be entered in the drawing.  After the winner is chosen Simon Says Stamp will be in touch with you to find out the charity you have chosen.  We will draw winners on Wednesday 11/28.

Also, this Friday Simon Says Stamp will offer a Black Friday discount code to its customers for 35% off selected items in the store. But blog hoppers get the code early for stopping by my blog!  Click here to see the items that are included in the sale. Enter SIMONBF35 in the Promotion Code box (be sure to use all CAPS) and you will get 35% off of those items. Happy Shopping! 

Thanks for visiting! The next stop in the Simon Says Stamp Gratitude Blog Hop is the amazing Kathy Racoosin. If while hopping, you encounter a broken link, you can go back to the beginning for links to everyone who is participating in the hop.

Simon Says Stamp: Dawny's Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Challenge!!!

Today's challenge is to make a card based on this great sketch by design team member Dawny:
 

The design team members are using product from Stamps Happen. If you have some we'd love to see you use them but it isn't required.

Here's my card:

This is what I used to make my card:


I hope you'll join us in this week's challenge! Up for grabs once again is a $50 gift voucher for the Simon Says Stamp store. For all the details and to see what the other designers have come up with go HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sarah

Guest Designing at 'A Blog Named Hero'

Hi everyone,

I'm honoured today to be guest designing over at A Blog Named Hero! The theme of the current challenge is to re-do an old card you made.

Here's my old card created for a Hero Arts blog hop last January...

...and here's my new card.

For both cards I used Hero Arts Large Flower background stamp and stuck with the same design. For the older card I white heat embossed the stamped image onto my cardstock, then pressed Versamark over the entire image before using chalks to color in the design. It was fun to try this technique but I didn't like how the details got lost in it. My new card was inspired by it and a technique I tried last month using Studio Calico Mr. Huey's color mists to color in the image. (Tip: Use a heat gun to dry the Mister Huey's. I let mine air dry over night and there were still wet stops...I think from the Opaque White Mister Huey's I mixed with the other colors).

Be sure to head over to A Blog Named Hero to get more information about the challenge and to see what the fabulous design team has come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp Thanksgiving/ Thank You Challenge

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Challenge!!!

This week's challenge is to make a Thanksgiving or Thank You card! I made a pair of Thanksgiving Day cards using the same technique. Here they are:

Here's what I used to make this card:



I stamped the Mr. Huey's color mist directly onto the Flower Table Cloth background stamp and stamped onto colored cardstock. I love the look!

I hope you'll join us for this week's challenge! Up for grabs is a $50 gift voucher for the Simon Says Stamp store thanks to sweet Heidi! For all the details and to see what the other designers have come up with go HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please visit again tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST for a special post. :)

Sarah

Giveaway Winner & Some Favourites

Hi everyone,

I'm popping in today to share the winner of the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit!!!

 
And the winner is....

Angela who said...
Oh my word! They just keep getting better :) I LOVE this one! So many little details and, yet, this card still seems so sweet and peaceful. Love that! Really like the smattering of musical notes and the twine - especially with the teeny bit of black and white paper peeking out the side and bottom. Beautiful card, Sarah. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us!

November 9, 2012 2:57 PM

Congrats, Anegla! Please email me your address so I can pass it on to the wonderful people at Simon Says Stamp!

I don't have a card prepped to share at the moment so I thought I'd share some of the product I have on my wishlist at Simon Says Stamp. Did you know you can create a wishlist there? So fun. ;) Some of these things are newer and some are not... but they are all things I hope to add to my 'collection' in the next few months. What's on your wishlist? I'd love to know what you've been eying.

Hello

Hello all! :)

Today I'm sharing one final card using the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit.



Here it is:

I've had so much fun playing with this month's card kit! The colors are just so yummy and the embellishments are great too! Thanks, Heidi! If you'd like a chance to play with it too be sure to comment on any or all of the cards I made this week using the card kit and I'll post a winner on Monday, November 12th.

Supplies:

Celebrate!

Hi everyone,

Welcome back! Today I'm sharing another Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit card.



I mentioned on Tuesday just how much I love the chevron/herringbone patterned paper from the Basic Grey Serenade collection found in this month's kit. Today's card shows another way to use it:

I cut along the outline of the pattern again but this time I made banners from it. :) I hope you'll stop by tomorrow for my final card using the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit. Be sure to leave comments on this weeks' posts too for your chance to win a November Card Kit of your own!

Thanks for coming over!

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp Thinking of You/Sympathy Card Challenge

Hi everyone!

***Before I get to this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge I just want to remind you that the rest of the week (days) I'm posting cards using Simon Says Stamp's November Card Kit. Comment on any of those posts for your chance to win one for yourself. :) ***


Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Challenge!!!

This week's challenge is to make a Thinking of You or Sympathy card. These can be such difficult cards to make and I find it's always good to have a few on hand.

Here`s my card for this week's challenge:

I used my Silhouette and Silhouette Glitter Sketch Pens for the flower. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Here's what I used to make this card:



I hope you'll join us for this week's challenge! Up for grabs is a $50 gift voucher for the Simon Says Stamp store thanks to sweet Heidi! For all the details and to see what the other designers have come up with go HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by! 
Sarah

Love from Simon Says Stamp (Novmber Card Kit)

Hi everyone,

Just popping in quick to share a second card using the wonderful Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit.

Here's the kit in case you missed my post from yesterday:



Here's my card for today:

I {heart} the chevron (or is it herringbone?) pattern in this Basic Grey paper and wanted to focus on that pattern with this card. Also, note the big musical heart stamp I mentioned yesterday. Love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Remember all comments left this week are eligible for the draw to win a November Card Kit of your own! Thank, Heidi!

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit (& a GIVEAWAY)

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was low key and involved cleaning and a bit of craft room organizing. :)

This week I'll be sharing some cards I made using the November Simon Says Stamp Card Kit. This month's kit is another fabulous one which includes some fabulous papers from Basic Grey's Serenade collection. I love how warm these papers are, especially as the weather gets colder. Kristina Werner has come up with another wonderful Simon Says Stamp! stamp set for this kit. I LOVE the big musical heart! The last thing I want to draw your attention to is the coaster. I've decided I just love these coasters and did something fun with the one included in this month's kit.

Here's the full kit:



...and here's today's card:

 
I used my Tim Holtz distress markers to color the kraft part of the coaster (the black resisted it)! I first tested the markers on the back of the coaster to see how they would look and to decide which colors I wanted to use).

Here's what I used to make today's card (the first 8 items are included in the kit):


I hope you'll stop by tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday to see the rest of the cards I made using this kit (and drop in Wednesday for a new Simon Says Stamp Challenge). Sweet Heidi has offered a Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit to one of my blog readers! One commenter from this week's posts will be randomly drawn to win the kit and the winner will be announced next Monday, November 12th. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Sarah

Paper Craft Tips & Tricks share

Hi everyone,

First I just want to say a big 'thank you' for all your support and kind works with my WCMD win! You are all such an encouragement to me. Thank you!

Secondly, I wanted to share a card I have published in Paper Crafts Tips and Tricks special issue. This was such a fun issue to work on and really stretched my creativity! I really enjoyed the whole process, from submitting ideas, to working on the technique squares (for the heat embossing section), 2 heat embossed cards, and a few other cards for other sections of the magazine. And once I got my hands on this issue? Wow! So full of get ideas!

Here's one of my heat embossed cards:

I heat embossed the center panel multiple times and while the embossing powder was still hot I pressed the butterfly into it for a number of seconds to make the impression.

For my heat embossed projects in this issue I used American Crafts Zing! embossing powders. I've also heard good things about the Wow! powders but have yet to try them myself.

A couple of my cards from other sections of this issue were up on the Paper Crafts Connection blog a couple weeks ago and you see can see them HERE and HERE. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sarah

Supplies:

Big News!!!

Hi everyone!

I just had to pop in to share some big news with you all! You can see the announcement HERE! I am beyond thrilled and totally humbled to be one of the 4 winners in the LOVE category of Paper Crafts 2012 World Card Making Day Contest! Thank you SO much to the entire Paper Crafts team for this wonderful honour and thank you to all of you who stop by to visit my blog for all of your kind words and encouragement. I appreciate it! Here's a little thank you card for all of you:

Supplies: