Holiday Sparkle Blog Hop

November 12, 2022November 12, 2022 Happy Ink Designs72 Comments

Hello, hello, hello!! Welcome to Day 2 of the Holiday Sparkle Blog Hop. As always, I’m super excited and honored to be a part of this hop so let’s get crafty.

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Let me start off by sharing the above blog hop exclusive code. If you spend $50 or more and enter code: CUTEBAG you will receive this adorable zipper pouch for free!! This offer is valid while supplies last or until November 13 at 11:59pm EST. How cute are the little snowflakes and paw prints??

Simon Says Stamp is ALSO giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop from our comments section so be sure to comment on every stop to increase your chances of winning!! Simon will announce the winners on the Simon Says Stamp Blog on Wednesday, November 16.

To view the entire release click HERE.

I used the Warm Christmas Stamp Set from this release and let me tell ya, this is my kinda holiday!! Oh how I wouldn’t give to spend the holidays on the beach somewhere warm and sandy. In fact, I just might have to add that to my bucket list.

So for this card, I started out by coloring all of my images with my Copic markers on X-Press It Copic Blending Card. I fussy cut them all and set them aside to move on to the ink blending. For my sand, I created my own stencil awhile back and it was perfect for this card. I had the On the Horizon Lines Stencil in mind and at the time it was out of stock so I thought, I have the stencil material, why not create my own hilly landscape. Starting off with an A2 size piece of Bristol Smooth Card Stock, I masked off the top of the panel and used Antique Linen , Scattered Straw and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks to create my sand. I splattered the sand with Gathered Twigs mixed with a little water and then with White Gouache and water.

I used the other half of the homemade stencil and just a straight edge from another stencil and masked off the sand to work on my ocean. I ink blended Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Prize Ribbon Distress Oxide inks for my ocean. I reversed the straight edge of a stencil so I could move on to my sky. I ink blended Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks for the sky.

To add a little interest to my sky, I added a few rolling clouds by adding a little water with a fine paintbrush. I heat embossed my sentiment using Alabaster White Embossing Powder. I trimmed my entire panel down to 4″ x 5.25″ and I started to assemble my card.

I popped Santa and the palm tree up with some 3D Foam Squares and then I glued everyone else into place using my Bearly Art Craft Glue. To make my tree shine a bit, I added Crystal Glaze over all of the lightbulbs and the round ornaments. I also added a touch on the Blue Hawaiian cocktail that Santa is enjoying. For a final touch I added a few Tiny Iridescent Bubbles by Studio Katia. I attached my card panel to a top folding landscape card base.

For my second card, I used this adorable snowman from the same Warm Christmas Stamp Set. I started out with an A2 size piece of Bristol Smooth Card Stock. I used my homemade stencil to mask off the sky and did the sand the same way as I did above. I went a little heavier with the Gathered Twigs though. I also used one of the A2 Masks Stencil to keep this card clean and simple.

I masked off the sand and worked on my sky. I ink blended Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks. I set that aside to dry and I colored my snowman. I know this isn’t going to sound good but I fussy cut the snowman out and I respectfully trimmed off his arms as they were too thin to fussy cut.

Before gluing my snowman in place, I stamped him on my background panel so that his arms would no longer be missing. See, no snowman was harmed during the making of this card.

I heat embossed this sentiment from the same stamp set with Alabaster White Embossing Powder. To finish off my card, I added a few Flat Silver Sequins and a thin strip of Silver Glitter Card Stock at the bottom. I attached my panel to a side folding card base.

Now that I’ve shared what I made, it’s your turn!! When you get your goodies from this latest release, be sure to add your projects to the Holiday Sparkle release gallery and anywhere else you choose to share on social media! We LOVE seeing what you all create.

If you haven’t checked out Day 1 of the Holiday Sparkle Blog Hop, then click HERE to be directed to even more inspiration!!

HOP ORDER:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Purple Hair, Don’t Care

August 19, 2020August 19, 2020 Happy Ink Designs4 Comments

Hello crafty friends!! Please join me for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week the challenge is

Oh So Cute

We are showcasing Picket Fence Studios Products this week. If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge.

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store. You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

There’s still time to join our month long Kid’s Challenge!! CLICK HERE for all the details.

The card I made for this week’s challenge was a lot of fun. I love this image by Picket Fence Studios. It’s called Artist Dear and it comes with an adorable little dog, but I decided to keep this one nice and simple.

I enjoyed coloring this gal’s hair purple. I thought it was just what she needed and it matches my purple background beautifully! I colored her with copic markers and cut her out using my Brother Scan N Cut (CM350).

I set my little artist aside and grabbed a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and my Simon Says Stamp stencil, In The Round and went to work ink blending Stormy Sky and Speckled Egg distress inks. YES!! I FINALLY got my hands on a Speckled Egg!! Now if only I can get the distress oxide version…

When I put my artist gal image against the Bristol Smooth card stock, I realized that the X-Press It Blending Card that I used to Copic Color my gal on, was a completely different color white than the Bristol Smooth card stock. I should have known that before I even started but it just didn’t register yet. The X-Press It is much whiter and it was very noticeable so I traded the Bristol Smooth in for some 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Card Stock. It definitely blends quite a bit different, in my opinion but it still turned out pretty nice. I don’t usually ink blend on anything but Bristol Smooth, but for this card, I made an exception. Below is a picture of the difference. The one on the left is the Neenah Solar White and the one on the right is the Bristol Smooth Card Stock. The Bristol is such a smoother blend. Can you tell the difference? I cut the stenciled layer down to 3.75″ X 5″.

I added some foam squares to the back of my beautiful artist and added everything to a purple background. My sentiment is from the stamp set called Exhale Worry by Picket Fence Studios. I thought this sentiment was perfect for this image. She’s got her eyes closed as if to say she’s trusting herself.

I white heat embossed the sentiment on a strip of black card stock that I cut down with the Sentiment Labels die by Simon Says Stamp. I thought it would be fun to offset the stenciled layer just a bit so that you could see a little bit more of the purple background. To finish off my little artist, I covered her hair with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Pen and added white polka dots to her leggings with a white gel pen.