Simon Says ...

Today's post is for all three of the Simon Says Stamp Challenges; Simon Says Stamp Flickr Group Challenge #53 with a theme of "Anything Goes", Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with a "Stitching" theme and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the theme "Anything Goes".  I love the "Anything Goes" challenges because I don't have to try to make my project conform to something that might not be my style and I love the "Stitching" challenges because those are my most used Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Dies.

These cards are my third project using my leftover Finetec Mica Gold Watercolor from the rinse water.  The first time I used my Finetec Mica Gold Watercolors, I noticed that I was washing so much paint down the drain when I cleaned my brush so I started saving my rinse water. I have it in a container that easily lets me leave the lid open a bit to make the water evaporate and then I can reactivate it with a bit of water when I want to use it.  I was playing with some inks (Orange Zest, Scarlet Jewel, and Bright Buttercup) to make some watercolor backgrounds.

When I realized I had fall colors, I wanted to use my Simon Says Stamp Grand Maple Die to create some cards.  This die was released last year during STAMPtember® 2015.  Having lived in Hiawatha, Kansas a.k.a. The City of Beautiful Maples, I love this die.  I think Hiawatha is the reason I love Fall so much.  I love the gorgeous riot of color that is visible in all the maple trees every fall along with the crisp cool days and evenings with Hot Spiced Cider or Hot Cocoa.

I started by cutting the Grand Maple from each panel of watercolored paper and from White Fun Foam.  Using my MISTI with a negative placeholder, I stamped the greeting, "Grateful for you", using the Winnie & Walter Happiest of Holidays Stamp Set and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Embossing Powder.  To me, this powder seems more of a burgundy metallic than Rose Gold, but it was perfect for this project.  Copper would also have been very pretty.

Next, I cut the watercolor negatives down to 4 x 4 inch squares and mounted those onto Scarlet Jewel 4⅛ inch squares and mounted those to a top folding card base made from Cocoa Cardstock. I adhered all of the leaves to their fun foam bases with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, put a little spray adhesive on the back and placed them into the negatives on the card. This pops them up a bit for dimension but makes it better for mailing than foam tape or foam squares since it's dimension with a solid surface. I felt like the card needed something in the space below the maple leaves so I stamped the "Thankful" from the same stamp set and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder this time.  I did a test stamp on the Cocoa Cardstock with the Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Embossing Powder, but it didn't show up on that color.

I also didn't keep the leaves in the same negative they were cut from because I wanted that color difference to make it show better so I switched them all around.

*STAMPtember® is a registered trademark of Simon Says Stamp