Simon Says Stamp Designer Spotlight

I am very excited to be the Designer in the Spotlight this month at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and I'll be here every Wednesday all month long. This week we are featuring Winnie & Walter products for our theme of Girl Power.  You don't have to use Winnie & Walter products to enter the challenge, but if you have some, we would love to see them used.

I also wanted to mention that Simon Says Stamp generously provides a $50.00 Gift Voucher each week for each of their blog challenges. I actually won one of these right after Christmas and got to splurge on a purchase. That was a lot of fun!  Thanks again to Heidi for providing that each week.

Winnie & Walter have several sets of Sentiments and I love their The Big, The Bold & The (fill in the blank) Series of stamps.  I have quite a few of them with the coordinating word dies. I only have one Winnie & Walter stamp set with images, so I decided to try making a spring-like friendship card using Happiest of Holidays.  I make and use a lot of encouragement cards or "Just a Note" kinds of cards and the sentiments in this set are very sweet.   

Sometimes, as a card maker, I have a tendency to make things more difficult than they need to be.  My original plan was to make something more complex and when I was finished, I didn't like it at all.  So for my second attempt, I wanted to try out this stamp set.  This card is very simple but still very pretty. The combination of colors on the card (Neenah Desert Storm and Simon Says Stamp Surf Blue) with the soft watercolor is just right - not overdone or underdone. 

I started by heat embossing my images onto a panel of Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper.  I did the branch first, then the bird house and bird and once I finished water coloring, I added the sentiment.  With heat embossing it is important to use some type of powder tool between each layer of embossing to maintain a clean image.  The powder eliminates static and also picks up any stray oils from your hands that the particles might stick to. I like to use baby powder and a big fluffy brush but you can use an Embossing Magic Powder Bag, corn starch or even kitchen flour.

I colored this with a combination of Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Distress Ink.  I used simple coloring with a Silver Black Velvet Paint Brush in Size 2 with a tiny bit of water with markers in Light Blue, Blue Grey, Light Grey and Grey.  I have the equivalent of the 48 set.  I started with the 36 set and added the additional colors individually.  Simon Says Stamp carries the sets and each individual color of the Zigs. That means you can get a few and try them out, or get a set and add in any extras that you want. The background was done with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on an acrylic block, more water and a Size 6 Silver Black Velvet Paint Brush.  When it was dry I hit it with some Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Mist and let it dry again. 

Once everything was dry, I die cut the panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die. Then I cut the Desert Storm Cardstock with MFT Blueprints 15 (discontinued) and made my card base from Simon Says Stamp Surf Blue. I assembled everything with Kokuyo Dot Runner Adhesive. I thought about adding a few sequins to the card or some Nuvo Drops but I felt like that would have been too much fluff for such a simple style. If I hadn't painted the background, I think it would have been okay.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  The supplies I used are linked below for your convenience (Affiliate Links may be used at no additional cost to you).

Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper 9 x 12 #140 Shop at: SSS	Cuttlebug Shop at: SSS	Distress Ink Mini - Tumbled Glass Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS
Neenah Desert Storm #100 Shop at: SSS	Silver Black Velvet Size 2 Shop at: SSS	Silver Black Velvet Size 4 Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS
SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS	SSS Surf Blue #100 Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	W&W Happiest of Holidays Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers - 48 Set Shop at: SSS

Color Throwdown #482

Hello!  I am popping in here with a quick post today for the Color Throwdown Challenge #482.  The featured colors this week are Pink, Kraft and Grey.  I was able to pull a card together very quickly for this with several items that were already stamped and laying on my desk.

I had previously stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Wings of Hope Stamp Set.  Since I helped design this set, I know all the sentiments by heart.

I started with the panel of Bristol Paper that had been embossed with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I die cut that panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die.  I die cut the next panel from Papertrey's Soft Stone Cardstock which is a soft grey color for the mat and created a top folding horizontal card base from Papertrey's Classic Kraft Cardstock.

I had already stamped the tulips with Sweet Blush, Pale Peony and Berry Sorbet as well as the little butterfly in Sweet Blush.  All I need to do was arrange the flowers above the quote, add a few Nuvo Crystal Drops in Bubblegum Blush and this card was finished.  I did let the Nuvo Drops dry overnight.

We had a death in our family recently and although I sent a card, I plan to send this one as well.  It was a pretty big shock in some ways because this person had cancer but was recently given the all clear from his doctor -- just a few days before he died so it was unexpected at this time.  Anyhow, I didn't want to send the same card but I do want to let the family know we're thinking of them.

Altenew Wings of Hope Stamp Set Shop at: ALT	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Nuvo Crystal Drops Bubblegum Blush Shop at: SSS	PTI Classic Kraft Cardstock Shop at: PTI
PTI Perfect Match Berry Sorbet Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Pale Peony Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Sweet Blush Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Soft Stone Cardstock Shop at: PTI
PTI Tulip Time Dies Shop at: PTI	PTI Tulip Time Stamp Set Shop at: PTI	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS

Merry Monday #279 {Season's Greetings}

I have been wanting to have time to play over at the Merry Monday Challenge.  That is a challenge designed to let you create a stash of Christmas Cards so you'll be ahead of the game come December.  They always have such fun themes and inspiration and I wanted to be able to join in this time.  My friend and fellow design team member from the Keeping Christmas Monthly Blog Hop, Kelly Lunceford, is on the Design Team there and I really enjoy her work as well as all of the other ladies.  This week the theme is to use a poinsettia on your Christmas Card.

My real love for card making came when I fell in love with some of the watercolor cards I found on Pinterest. That led me to bloggers who shared their love of card making and also shared their techniques. Jennifer McGuire was and still is one of my favorites that I found this way and is now also a friend. Through her blog, I found others and I have a number of folks that I follow on their blogs and YouTube Channels. This also led me to attempting to do a bit of simple watercoloring in my card making. There are several methods and mediums I can choose from including markers, re-inkers, and even just smooshing a bit of ink onto an acrylic block and picking it up with a water brush or paintbrush and actually using paint intended for this purpose.

Last year, when I was at CHA (now called Creativation), my Sister-In-Law went to several of the booths for me to get information.  I mean, that show is just huge and there is no way you can get to every booth.  I depended on her to make it to some of them.  One of those was the Daniel Smith Fine Watercolors booth.  They were giving out Dot Sample cards and she got a few of them for me to try.  I keep hearing rave reviews about them.  So I finally relented and got a few tubes to try out.  I am not a "Full Set Syndrome" kind of girl so I tried to get very basic colors to get a feel for how they worked and I must say, I am a complete novice at using, mixing and understanding most of  how these work.  I have a basic elementary school understanding of how color works and in fact, that understanding was the basis for my color choices.  I selected my colors by Non-Granulating, Non Staining and whatever the basic color was that I wanted. Because Quinacridone colors are supposed to be the "High Performance" colors, I got Quinacridone in several colors; Red, Rose, Pink, Coral, Turquoise, and Purple.  I love richly pigmented color so those were obvious choices for me. Since I love to paint floral stamps, I decided to go with colors and tones that I would often see there.  I chose 18 colors to start and I still haven't put them in a palette, preferring at this time to use my little porcelain flower.  If you want a quick read about Quinacrindone, check out the "Derivatives" section at this link over on Wikipedia.  It's very interesting and not a long winded technical explanation.  Well, not too much anyway. You can read the whole thing if you like but this was enough information for me.

I've been watching some Anna Mason Tutorials and once we get moved and settled into our new home this summer, I really want to paint using a square porcelain dish for my palette the way she does.  In an attempt not to have to move anything more, I am not getting a porcelain plate until that time.  Most of them come in sets of at least 4, so that would be 4 more things to move.  If you're interested in knowing all of the Daniel Smith colors I chose, let me know and I'll be happy to write a bit more about it. I found them at a great price over at MerrieArtist.com.  I also know that Ellen Hutson carries them.  As I've taken a few classes over the last few years, I already had a variety of brushes including the popular Silver Black Velvet Series and also the Silver White Series.  In the Silver Black Series I have sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 and in the Silver White series I have Treble 0, 2, 4 6, and 8.  The Silver White brushes are easily stained but as my friend Emily said, they are very nice brushes.  You can find the Silver White brushes on Amazon.com and Simon Says Stamp is where I got my Silver Black Velvet brushes.

Now that I've explained all that, I wanted to use a few of the Daniel Smith Watercolors to paint this poinsettia.  This stamp, Stampendous Create-A-Poinsettia, was one of the first ones I got when I started getting serious about card making.  I like it because it is a large area and an outline image.  I confess, I am not crazy about painting something so small that you can't see the detail I've put in it with layers of watercolor.  By the same token, if you don't know when to quit adding layers of watercolor, that is just as bad and I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of that today. Ha ha! Add to that my thing about adding shimmer and shine to everything and I'm not to sure you can see the depth in my layers for all the Twinkling going on.  It's important to note that when you add a water based solution to watercolors, they may reactivate slightly although I heat set mine a bit from the backside to make sure they were dry.  I had let my panel air dry, but I wanted that extra bit of insurance.  I tried to use a light hand with the Tonic Aqua Shimmer Pen so I wouldn't mess up all my hard work but I need more practice at that.  I hadn't used that kind before so I didn't know how much shimmer would come out.  It could stand to be a lot less.

I started with a panel of Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper and stamped my image with Versamark then heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder which is my favorite - still.  I keep trying some other brands that are out there but Simon remains my favorite.  I like WOW! Gold Rich Pale, but it's more money for less product and as much heat embossing as I do, I want my choice to be as economical as possible.  The simple fact is that I just haven't found another Gold that I like as much. I also use a larger container for my Gold Embossing Powder and it takes far fewer of the Simon Says Stamp brand to fill my container.  I always have a few extras on hand in case I knock something over or whatever.  I have MS so my coordination isn't great and that's not as far fetched as you might think. *Ö*  In fact, I know this from personal experience. *Ü*

For this card, I kept the colors pretty simple by using Deep Sap Green, Phthalo Green, Quinacridone Pink, Alizarin Crimson, and a tiny touch of Moonglow to deepen the pink.  The thing about watercolor is that it will be different each and every time depending on your mix of pigment to water and how much of each color you put in.  For the way I use watercolor, I doubt I will ever need any additional colors ever, but I want to keep all my options open. I am hoping that as I get more comfortable with the medium and as I practice that I might someday be able to do simple "painterly" style watercolor.  It's a little dream I have but I know I'll never get there without practice.

In the interest of showing you that everything I make is far from perfect, I thought I would show you both of these images.  As I was about to finish up this post, I noticed that my Mistletoe Berries were lacking in dimension.  I had colored them in with a Uniball Signo Broad White Pen and put Tonic Aqua Shimmer on them but as you can see in the first image, they were just flat.  So I added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ivory Seashell.  There were actually three batches of Mistletoe Berries but two of them are under the label now so I didn't bother with them.  Sometimes though, I am my own worst enemy and mess something up by going back to add something to it. So far, this one has survived my efforts to improve it.

My card base is Vintage Cream Cardstock from Papertrey, the Green Shimmer Cardstock is some left from a many years ago scrapbooking project and I die cut it with my favorite A2 Stitched Rectangle Die from WPLUS9.  The watercolor panel was die cut with the largest Simon Say Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die.

I haven't blogged in a week, so I feel like this post might be a bit scattered.  If you hung in with me all this time, thank you so much!  Have a great day everyone and thank you so much for stopping by.  The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience (Affiliate Links may be used at no additional cost to you).  Simon Says Stamp also has a nice selection of Daniel Smith Watercolors which you can find here.

Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper 9 x 12 #140 Shop at: SSS	Cuttlebug Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Nuvo Crystal Drops Ivory Seashell Shop at: SSS
PTI Vintage Cream Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Silver Black Velvet Size 2 Shop at: SSS	Silver Black Velvet Size 4 Shop at: SSS	Silver Black Velvet Size 6 Shop at: SSS
Silver Black Velvet Size 8 Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS	Stampendous Create-A-Poinsettia Stamp Shop at: SSS
Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tonic Aqua Shimmer Pen Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: PTI | SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS
WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS

Foiled & Embossed Watercolor Pages

A few years ago ((back in 2015) when I first started making cards, I got a whole pad of pre-embossed and foiled watercolor sheets.  These came from Cosmo Cricket and I had gotten two of them; one 8 x 8 and one 12 x 12.  I picked mine up at Simon Says Stamp and each pad has several pages that have gold foil on them as well.  Recently, I found another of the 12 x 12 size in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 so I snagged it, of course.

I haven't used them too often but recently, I decided that the thing I liked them best for was ink blending, rather than water coloring.  Watercolor Paper takes ink incredibly well, especially if you give it a lot of shimmer mist which I am likely to do.  Pretty much any dye based ink will work, it's just a matter of blending.

The particular card I am sharing today was blended using Simon Says Stamp Hollyhock Ink for ink blending on my watercolor paper.  This sheet was from the 8 x 8 pad and so I cut a stitched rectangle from the sheet, framing up the heart in the center of the panel.  I also do the large 12 x 12 sheets by cutting them into four 6 x 6 squares and using them for background panels.  It's a fast easy and way to add a great design and a punch of color to your background.

I had this card finished and was photographing it for an upcoming event when I realized that I was missing something.  This card was for a guest design post featuring Winnie & Walter Products and while I did use one of their products, I realized that the one I used isn't carried in the store I am doing the guest design for so I had to change gears and make a different one.  But I wanted to share this one because it is so utterly feminine!  If you've visited me before, chances are you know that I love Pink and Gold together.

I was very surprised recently when my daughter said that she wanted to do her office in Pink, Grey and Gold.  She has a home office so she can do whatever colors she wants but they only moved into this house last summer and they still have a few boxes sitting in there and no furniture yet. She is definitely more of a white gold kind of girl but she knew I would love it since pink is my favorite color.  Even though I know she is not planning to do such a dark shade of Pink, I'm sending this card to her.  But first, a few details for you!

The gold foil on these watercolor sheets is a bright yellow-gold rather than the more antique gold color that I typically use which meant I had to break out my Gold Mirror Cardstock.  I don't use this very often, but sometimes, it just happens to be the thing that matches.  My Gold Mirror Cardstock came from Simon Says Stamp and is from Tonic Studios.

Once I had the butterfly and the sentiments die cut from the Gold Mirror Cardstock, I thought I really needed a mat for my front panel from the same gold to tie it all together.  I die cut the watercolor panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle and the Gold Mat from My Favorite Things Blueprint 15 which I believe is retired.

The butterfly is an older one from Impression Obsession while the word dies are both from Winnie & Walter's The Big, The Bold & the Happy, and The Big, The Bold and You coordinating dies.  These are available at the Winnie & Walter Shop here: Winnie & Walter Store.

My card base is made from an 8.5 x 5.5 inch piece of Stamper's Select White Cardstock scored at 4.25". The thing that took the most time here was waiting for the watercolor paper to dry.  Of course, it was warped once it was dry, but I very lightly misted the back side of it with plain water then ran it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing pad instead of an embossing folder and a clean, uncut plate on the top side of the panel.  This flattens it out very well and makes it easy to adhere.

Cuttlebug Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS
SSS Hollyhock Ink Shop at: SSS	SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Mini Round Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SSS
Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Tonic Polished Gold Mirror Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz Shop at: SSS	W&W - The Big, The Bold &The Happy Shop at: SSS
W&W - The Big, The Bold & You Shop at: SSS