Valentine Tags (using the Simon Says Stamp January 2014 Card Kit)...and giveaway WINNER!

Hi everyone,

I'm popping in to share some quick and easy Valentine tags I made to go with some goodies for my kids come February 14 and also to announce the winner of the Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit giveaway.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of my tags...

I'm still working my way through those cute little tickets and it looks like I still still have a ton left!

Supplies:


...and the winner of the Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit is....

  Sandra who  said...

lovely cards!
what a great kit!
Sandra ltb

December 28, 2013 at 10:16 PM

 Big Congrats, Sandra! Please email me your shipping info so I can pass it on to Simon!

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!
Wishing you a safe and healthy new Year!

Sarah

Love You x 2 (Simon Says Stamp January 2014 Card Kit)

Hi everyone!

I'm back today to share another 2 cards using the Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit: Loved.

This month's kit has been so fun and easy to play with. I'm hoping to make a couple more things over the weekend but we'll have to see how things go. The holiday season isn't over yet and we're having some friends over in a little bit. :)

Both of today's cards feature the wonderful Fancy Pants "Beloved" Tickets. This month's Simon Says Stamp Card Kit comes with a whole package of these beauties! So no need to hoard them. ;)

For my first card I used the vellum that came in the kit along with the Simon Says Stamp Gift Card Envelope Die to to create a translucent envelope for some of the Fancy Pants Beloved tickets to sit in. I love how the heart clip from the kit and a little bit of heat embossing finish things off. The recipient of this card can open the envelope and cash in the tickets as they like. ;)  

 For my second card I lined up some of the tickets in a strip and tied the top one with some of twine from the kit. I love the beautiful papers found in this month's kit and didn't want to cover up this gorgeous vintage looking background paper too much. A little bit of die cutting, stamping, and gems (also from the kit) finish things off here.

Supplies:


Thanks so much for stopping by! I plan to announce to winner of the Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit on Monday, December 30th.Thanks, Heidi, for allowing me to do these giveaways!

Sarah

Triangle Love Card - Hero Arts

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebrating to birth of our Lord and Saviour! :)

Today I'm stopping by to share another card I made using some new Hero Arts. I love this new Tiny Flag background stamp and paired it up with some of my favourite Simon Says Stamp goodies.

I silver heat embossed the background stamp, blended in some distress ink, and added a strip of Kelly Purkey Silver glitter tape along the bottom. I then die cut some hearts from Simon Says Stamp and used one of their love sentiments to finish it off. 

Supplies:


Thanks for dropping in!
Sarah

Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit - Loved

Hi everyone!

I'm back! My Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit came in the mail this morning (yay!) and I sat right down to make a couple of cards. :) Since we're in the midst of the Christmas season I'm planning to share my cards 2 at a time.

 Here are today's cards... first a cute one with a paper-pieced little monster with glossy accents eyes:

...and then one a little more sophisticated looking with some fun ticket stubs and heart stamps added to some gorgeous patterned paper:

 Supplies:



Hopefully I'll be back over the weekend or early next week to share some more cards using this fun kit. Leave a comment on either of my January 2014 Card Kit posts and I'll pick a random winner to receive one of their very own on New Years Eve. :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour!

Sarah

Rainbow Lines Birthday Card - Hero Arts

Hi everyone,

I'm popping by real quick today before I wrap our Christmas gifts to share a birthday card I made using some new Hero Arts stamps.

I used Hero Arts new Five Lines background stamp with their Soft Granite ink and randomly went over some of the lines with alcohol markers. I have more plans for this versatile stamp. :)


I'll be back soon with another card featuring some new Hero Arts.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah 

75% Off on Over 100 MFT Stamp Sets!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick heads up that My Favorite Things has a HUGE sale going on!

Here are the details: "In anticipation of all the upcoming new products we'll be releasing in 2014, we are having a HUGE sale! Save 75% on over 100 retiring stamp sets! Help us make room for brand new MFT goodness and save BIG. Click below to grab your favorites before they sell out". 

Sale Priced Retiring Stamp Sets

I'm also still waiting for my Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit to arrive. I think with all the extra mail going through the system this time of  year it's sitting pretty somewhere (other then here)! I will have projects to share once it arrives and I have time to play. :)

Have a great day!
Sarah

Lego Hello (with special guest) and NEW 2014 Hero Arts Release!

Hi everyone,

I'm popping in to share an extra special card I had published recently in Paper Crafts Card Creations for Him...which also happens to be my new favorite issue ever. So many absolutely brilliant cards in this one for all those difficult to make for men in our lives. ;)

 

What makes this card extra special to me is that I had some help making it from my littlest guy. :)

Can you guess what his contribution was? ;)

Supplies:

In other news... Have you seen the new 2014 Hero Arts release!!! Great new stamps, dies, inks, ink daubers, ink sprays, and stencils!

I better let Santa know I've been VERY good this year. ;)

I'm waiting for my Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit to arrive in the mail and once it does I'll start sharing some more cards. :)

Have a great day!
Sarah

Happy Birthday, Men!... (and some new Kelly Purkey over at Simon Says Stamp)!

Hi everyone,

I'm popping in real quick to share a couple of masculine cards I made last week using products from my two favourite companies, Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts.

For my first card I finally broke out some of the Hero Arts ink daubers and man I did I have fun with them! I like them better than similar products I've used before.I also can't get enough of this talk bubble die. Love it!

My second card is a simple one with some tone on tone stamping and embellishing. I love how the yellow and turquoise pop against the muted green and brown.

Finally, I see that Kelly Purkey has a new release out over at Simon Says Stamp!

These are my favourites:


That's it for me!
Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Simon's New Valentine 2014!!!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick heads up that Simon Says Stamp has a new Valentine's release and it's FABULOUS! I spy a new background cling stamp (a first for Simon!), some Simon dies transformed into stencils (Falling Hearts and Falling Stars), and the favourite 'Hello' die in a smaller size! Oh...and a collaboration with Mama Elephant! Fun stuff!

Here is the full release:


My favourites?



Be back soon!
Sarah

Some publication shares

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd pop by to share a couple of cards I've had published in the last little bit. Forgive me if I've shared these already. I got a little scatter-brained with our recent move.

Anyways, this first card can be found in Paper Crafts Stamp It! Card Challenges.

The challenge for this category was to use every stamp in a stamp set. I used the Simon Says Stamp You Clear Set. (I'm not sure why but the yellow is showing up way more orange then it is in real life). I used the Studio Calico Mister Huey's sprays and a white gel pen to color the wood veneer pieces before adhering them to the card.

Supplies:

My second card was published in Paper Crafts Handmade Cards.

Here I used my Inktense watercolor pencils to color the chipboard hearts before brushing on a little water for blending.

Supplies:



That's all for now. I'm busy making birthday cards for our church so I'm sure I'll be sharing some of those soon. :)
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sarah

Some Very Washi Cards and a Rainbow of Color from Simon Says Stamp

Hi everyone,

I'm back today to share a few cards I made using some yummy washi tape from Kelly Purkey/Simon Says Stamp. I'm running low of birthday cards and found the bright bold colors in this set to be just the right thing to get the job done. (They were also a life saver since my kids have completely used up my tape runner)!

The Red Diamonds pattern above matched up PERFECTLY for making a larger background and once adhered to cardstock, the washi tape also cut like BUTTER with dies.

I was able to use the Triangles tape to create the fun zig zag pattern above...and used some of the smaller patterns for the bold numbers.

On my final card I used every one of the 8 tapes that come in the set. Quick, easy, and the patterns and colors work so well together! They really take the guess work out of it and are easy to apply. :)


Before I go, I just wanted to mention that Simon Says Stamp has just come out with their own line of inks and coordinating cardstock (in case you hadn't heard)! Big yay! They've also come out with a swatch book supplies kit (including a stamp set) so you can make a record of the inks you have and keep their true colors handy for when you're working on projects. Brilliant!

You can find it all here....


My first must haves include Khaki, Island Blue, and Green Apple. Definitely going to get the cardstock sample pack too!

That's all for me today... Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

A couple of giveaway winners to announce!

Hi everyone!

I'm just popping in with a couple of giveaway winners to announce!

First, the winner of the fabulous seed paper and the card set is:

Anonymous who  said...

What a great idea and love the cards!
Margaret K.

November 18, 2013 at 4:14 PM

The winner of the Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit is:

Anonymous who said...

the sequins do look like snow! Great job Sarah.

Julie R.

Congrats ladies! Please email me with your shipping info so I can get your prizes out to you! Also be sure to check out the Sarah's Kitchen Garden facebook page to see if you won the seed paper and card set giveaway she had as well!

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Gifts With Batteries (& GIVEAWAY)

Hi everyone!

I'm back to share yet another card using the Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit: Warm Holiday Wishes.

I was trying to figure out how I could use the battery stamp from the Big Holiday Wishes set that is included with this month's kit in a festive way. This is what I came up with...

... So what do you think? Does it look like a wreath? After stamping and paper piecing the batteries. I covered them with glossy accents to give them so shine. Once I got my wreath together I added some sequins and a bow (also from the stamp set).

Supplies:



Just a reminder that you can purchase this kit HERE at Simon Says Stamp for $24.95. The Simon Says Stamp monthly kits have been selling out so if you're interested you'll want to be quick! If you don't want to miss out on a month and want to take advantage of a discount too you can subscribe each month for only $19.95!! It's an amazing deal!

Now for the giveaway part! Just leave a comment on any (or all) of my Simon Says Stamp Card Kit posts for this month by Sunday November 24th at midnight for your chance to one for yourself and I'll announce a winner on Monday the 25th. :) I also have another giveaway ending the day which you can find HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

25 Snowflake Card (Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit and a chance to win your own!)

Hi everyone!

I'm back today to share another card and another chance to win a Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit: Warm Holiday Wishes.



Here's today's card:

I used the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Maryanne stencil with Colorbox Frost White ink and a dauber to create my snowflake. I then added some of the great Kelly Purkey number stickers to the center and covered them with Star Dust stickles. The sequins were a perfect fit for the tips of the snowflake. I then took a piece of the Doodlebug patterned paper (the one with the clear embossed glittery snowflakes) and using an ink blender and Mowed Lawn distress ink to go over it. Since the snowflakes are clear embossed they resisted the ink!

Supplies:


Just a reminder that you can purchase this kit HERE at Simon Says Stamp for $24.95. The Simon Says Stamp monthly kits have been selling out so if you're interested you'll want to be quick! If you don't want to miss out on a month and want to take advantage of a discount too you can subscribe each month for only $19.95!! It's an amazing deal!

Now for the giveaway part! Just leave a comment on any (or all) of my Simon Says Stamp Card Kit posts for this month by Sunday November 24th at midnight for your chance to one for yourself and I'll announce a winner on Monday the 25th. :) I also have another giveaway ending the day which you can find HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Big Holiday Wishes (and Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit Giveaway)!

Hi everyone!

I'm back today to share another card and another chance to win a Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of your own. Also, just a reminder about this post with a card set and seed paper giveaway.

Today's card again features the Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit: Warm Holiday Wishes.



I'm having so much fun with this month's kit and the adorable stamps included in it.

Here's the card I'm sharing today:

Embossing paste has become a popular tool for card makers to use with stencils. I thought I'd try something a little different and apply it to some plain white cardstock and then press the Sending Big Holiday Wishes stamp into it. Once dried I die cut the sentiment with a Simon Says Stamp talk bubble die (shown below). 

Supplies:

Just a reminder that you can purchase this kit HERE at Simon Says Stamp for $24.95. The Simon Says Stamp monthly kits have been selling out so if you're interested you'll want to be quick! If you don't want to miss out on a month and want to take advantage of a discount too you can subscribe each month for only $19.95!! It's an amazing deal!

Now for the giveaway part! Just leave a comment on any (or all) of my Simon Says Stamp Card Kit posts for this month by Sunday November 24th at midnight for your chance to one for yourself and I'll announce a winner on Monday the 25th. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Sarah

Missing You (& another Giveaway)!

Hi everyone!

I'm back to share another card today but before I do...did you see this post with a card set and seed paper giveaway? Fun, eh?!

Today's card features the Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit: Warm Holiday Wishes.



This month's kit is so much fun!! I <3 the Big Holiday Wishes stamp set! It's perfect for Christmas (and Valentine's too)! Some adorable Doodlebug papers, thin silver striped washi tape, sequins, a fabulous Simon Says Stamp snowflake stencil, and 2 sheets of Kelly Purkey sticker round it out.

Just a reminder that you can purchase this kit HERE at Simon Says Stamp for $24.95. The Simon Says Stamp monthly kits have been selling out so if you're interested you'll want to be quick! If you don't want to miss out on a month and want to take advantage of a discount too you can subscribe each month for only $19.95!! It's an amazing deal!

Here's the card I'm sharing today:

I love that the mittens and string are all separate stamps so you have more options in how you use them. Don't the sequins look a little bit like snow?

Supplies:


Now for another giveaway! Just leave a comment on any (or all) of my Simon Says Stamp Card Kit posts for this month by Sunday November 24th at midnight for your chance to one for yourself and I'll announce a winner on Monday the 25th. :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Cards You Can Grow! (and a GIVEAWAY with TWO chances to win!)

Hi everyone,

I'm back today to share a little project I've been working on! I'm quite excited about this one as it's a collaboration with Sarah Hemingway of Sarah's Kitchen Gardens. Sarah is a friend I went to university with... I don't think I've actually seen her since but we've kept in touch through facebook and I'm totally in awe of her and her creativity, both in the garden and the kitchen. (I kind of want to be her when I grow up.) :) Along with her blog, Sarah has a facebook page where she also shares what she's up to in her kitchen garden. If you follow her blog, you'll see that she has free resources for growing your own food organically, including a spreadsheet calculator where you can just enter your frost dates and it will calculate when to plant everything for you! (I SO need this)!! Sarah also hosts local workshops and sells seedlings in the spring. I hope you'll check out her blog!

Anyways, we got to talking a few weeks ago and the end result was that she was going to make some seed paper for me to play with. I thought that was pretty cool! I'd have some pretty paper to play with and we'd both have a little giveaway. It wasn't until we talked some more that I realized that you can actually GROW stuff from this paper! WHAT!?!? Sarah wrote all about it here. Isn't that incredible?!

I thought it would be fun to make some card sets for various occasions by die cutting some of Sarah's seed paper. The seed papers can all be easily removed from the cards by untying the tags or removing the seed paper from the envelopes. They can then be used to grow various plants (see descriptions/ instructions for using the seed paper below).

Here are my cards:

 

White: Basil and Curly Parsley

Blue: Calendula

 Brown: Old Fashioned Annual Flower Mix

 Pink: White, Pink, and Burgundy Cosmos

 

Brown, White, Pink, Blue

(Copied from Sarah's Kitchen Garden) 
Here’s a list of what seeds are in the different papers:
   Brown: Old Fashioned Annual Flower Mix
The brown paper mix is best grown outdoors, but it can be started indoors in April or May. You can keep it moist as is, or you can plant the paper in soil after wetting it so the roots can establish themselves in soil before being transplanted outside.
   White: Basil and Curly Parsley
The white paper mix can be grown indoors for winter herb production, but you’ll need lots of light if you choose to grow indoors. You can also start this one indoors in April or May, using the methods mentioned above.
   Pink: White, Pink, and Burgundy Cosmos
This is an outdoor plant – Cosmos are big and bushy annual flowers! Again, see above for instructions.
   Blue: Calendula
Calendula is an edible flower that looks like an orange daisy. It grows best outdoors as well, but can also be started indoors for a head start on the season.
   Grey: Broccoli, Radish, Red Clover, and Alfalfa
‘Spring Salad Mix’ was the description on the seed packet for this blend of sprouts. Definitely intended to be grown indoors, and no need for soil! You’ll be eating them about a week after planting them, so they’ll use the nutrition stored in their seed flesh to grow into a nutritious snack.
 

I didn't end up using the grey seed paper because when I ran it through my die cut machine it squished the seeds and wet the paper. Now that I think of it, using a punch with that one would work really well. :) Also, I made sure to save all my little scraps of seed paper so I can grow them myself. ;)

Now for the giveaway part! Sarah and I are BOTH giving away a set of the 4 cards you see here along with two 4" x 5" sheets of EACH color of seed paper (so you can play with it yourself)!!! To win my giveaway just leave a comment on this post by midnight Sunday November 24th and I'll announce a winner on Monday the 25th. To win Sarah's giveaway like her Sarah's Kitchen Garden facebook page and follow her giveaway instructions there.

Supplies used:


Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Rainbow HB2U

Hi everyone,

I'm popping by to a share a birthday card I made using some fun Simon Says Stamp exclusives.
 

If you know me you know I love my background stamps...well I love background dies just as much! I die cut the chevron background using kraft cardstock and then again using white cardstock. I then colored in the little white pieces with my Marvy alcohol markers, adding some white Wink of Stella before adhering them in place. The HB2U stamp was inked up with Hero Arts shadow inks. Once stamped I went over the image with some more Wink of Stella.

Supplies:


Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Brand New My Favorite Things

Have you seen the brand new My Favorite Things Release?

Some fun stuff! These are my favorites:


Be back soon with a card. In the meantime here something I'm working on and will be sharing in the next little bit:

Hugs,
Sarah

New Hero Arts at Simon Says Stamp!

Quick! Have you seen the new Hero Arts over at Simon Says Stamp? They are part of the early release from the upcoming 2014 catalog.

Here they are:



And these are the ones that are on the top of my list:

Fun, eh? I'm a sucker for patterns so I love the triangles. I'm also excited to see some great sets for kids and men! Will definitely be using the Lil Hoot set for my kids (and I'm sure they'll be wanting to play with it too). ;) And the Missing You set? I'm all ready to pull out my googly eyes with that one.

Will be back soon with some publication shares.
Hope you have a great week!
Sarah

Let's Celebrate!

Hi everyone,

This post will be short and sweet. Just popping in real quick to share a card I made a couple of weeks ago using some wonderful new(er) Hero Arts along with some paper piecing. Love this Vertical Arrows background stamp!

Supplies:


Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah

Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop!

Hello!

Welcome to the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop! You should be arriving from Jen del Muro's blog. If you've made it this far...CONGRATS!!!...lol. This is a MASSIVE blog hop to say *thanks* to Mrs. Moxie Fab Cath herself for inspiring so many of us with her posts over at Moxie Fab World over the past number of years. Although I was more of a lurker than anything, I always appreciated Cath's fun, trendy, and informative posts. Her Tuesday Trigger Challenges were always inspiring and I loved getting to know other crafters through her Moxie Fabber of the Week posts. I was honoured on occasions when she shared some of my published cards and found it so helpful that she would go into detail as to why she thought they were Moxie Fab.

Cath, thank you for being so Moxie Fab!

 
For my card I used the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil, an ink blending tool, and Hero Arts Charcoal Ink to create my background. I then went over the individual circles with a clear Wink of Stella marker to glitter them up. I then die cut the Wrapped Mailing Label, white heat embossed it with Hero Arts Bursts background stamp, and colored it in with Inktense pencil crayons and my Wink of Stella marker. The 'thanks' diecut had glitter added to it before adhering it and a few embellishments to the card.

Supplies:


Thanks so much stopping by and special thanks to Cath for all the inspiration she has provided for so many of us! Your next stop is Laurie Willison's blog.

Here is the full list of participants: