Simon Says... Gift It!

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog has a "Gift It" theme this week.  This was great because I wanted to try out a stamp set called Gifts of the Season that was released in September at Papertrey Ink.  There is a set of Coordinating Dies as well.  While it was released with the Christmas goodies, it can also be used for birthdays depending on how you do it.

One of the really fun things about this set is that you only need two stamps to do this whole stack of presents.  I took my idea from Betsy Veldman and stamped one of my layers in Versamark and then heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. The ink I used here is Hibiscus Burst.  I adore Pink and Gold together in just about any form I can find it in.  I have several colors and styles of this gold foiled paper by Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby's brand).  The gold foiled polka dots of this one made such a fun background for my presents.  The banner is from Paper Clippings: Happy Birthday Details Dies.  I love it and use it as often as I can. The sentiment is an older die from Penny Black.  There's no special techniqes here, I stamped and die cut the stack of presents, and die cut the other elements. I used Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Dies to cut the mat for the card and everything is assembled to a top folding A2 card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

I'm currently trying to decide whether or not to use props in my photographs. Several of my favorite bloggers do and I often like the look they've captured but I don't want the props to be more important than the card, so I am still undecided. I also don't want to spend stamp & die money buying a lot of props, so I am trying to keep it simple and affordable.  That said, I did get a few fun ones for the upcoming holiday season. Lighting gets a bit trickier with the added elements as well, so y'all will have to share your thoughts on this.