Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Simon Says Stamp

I Heart Daisies

Hello again!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

Anything Goes

We are showcasing Memory Box 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.

I used the Layered Daisies die and the Thanks Jotted Script die both by Memory Box to make my card this week. I cut the daisies out two times for each flower and added a bit of color with my Copic Markers. This die doesn’t come with stems or leaves so I just used the stems from the Etched Crocus Stems die.

For my background, I used the Dibble Dot Embossing Folder with Midnight Green Cardstock and it turned out beautifully! I glued my flowers in place and then I cut the “Thanks” sentiment out three times with Neenah Solar White 110 lb. cardstock and the shadow die I cut just once with Black Cardstock and I glued them together.

I trimmed my embossed background down to 4″x5.25″ and I attached it to a side folding card base. To finish it off, I sprayed the entire surface generously with Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz. Just to make sure we were sparkly enough, I went over the sentiment with my Aqua Shimmer Pen.

I loved these daisies so much that I decided to make a second card with a little more color. I used some cardstock that I had in my stash and I repeated the same process. I cut the daisy out twice for each flower, added a little dimension with my copic markers and used the Etched Crocus Stems.

I used the Fresh Daisies Embossing Folder with Fog Cardstock. My sentiment if from the Greetings Mix 1 stamp set and I heat embossed it with Alabaster White Embossing Powder. I added a faux white stitch around the sentiment using my White Gel Pen. I used some Silver Thread to go around the bottom of my card for a little added interest and then I popped the sentiment up with some Foam Tape. I have soooo much of this foam tape because it used to be “THE” tape to have and use for dimension before all of the 3D foam squares came out which I also had to have so now I have TWO ROLLS of this foam tape that I’ve decided I need to start using it up. I just HAD to have it and it wasn’t cheap so I’m not letting it go to waste. I still use the foam squares when it’s the perfect size but for sentiment strips like this, you best believe there’ll be some foam tape behind it!

Once again I trimmed my background down to 4″x5.25″ and I attached it to a top folding card base. I also sprayed the entire background (minus the sentiment strip) with Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz. To finish off my second card, I attached a few Storm Cloud Pearls.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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

Lavender Tag

Hello again!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

Not a Card

We are showcasing Memory Box 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.

I decided to make a tag for this challenge because I love adding tags to gifts but I never make the time to make the tags!! I used a very large tag die by Mama Elephant called Large Tag Window Creative Cuts and I die cut it using Glossy Black Card Stock. For the back, I used a piece of Neenah woodgrain kraft card stock so I can add a message to my tag.

I love this Lavender Bouquet die by Memory Box. I cut it out using Neenah 110 lb. Card Stock and I ink blended these beautiful colors. I used Pawsitively Saturated inks in Lilac and Pearfection. To tie the bouquet together, I used some Burlap Twine and placed a glue dot on the back to keep it in place.

I just recently purchased Lawn Fawn’s Pearlescent Vellum and it is so beautiful! I’m in love with it and it complimented the lavender nicely so I used it to cut the Privet Branch die twice.

For my sentiment I used a Thermo Web and Unity Adhesive Transfer and I foiled it with Prince Periwinkle. To finish off my tag, I added a few Arctic Breeze Pearls. I had some lilac colored ribbon in my stash so I used it plus some lacy white ribbon to tie around the top of my tag.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

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

Another School Year

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

Back To School

We are showcasing Memory Box 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.

My son is going into his sophomore year of high school so I think he’s a little too old for back to school cards, but I had a blast making this one anyway.   Maybe not too old for a card, but definitely too old for this adorable one. He wouldn’t appreciate the cuteness.

I colored my images from the Book Worm stamp set by Mama Elephant using my copic markers. I always use X-Press It Blending Card when I copic color because I find it blends the markers the best. Anything to help get that smooth transition from one color to another. I set them aside and started to work on the background.

I used a Lawn Fawn die called Quilted Backdrop for my background and placed it over an A2 size piece of Sea Glass card stock. I have a wood flooring die by Penny Black that I was planning on using, but it only fits a vertical card and well I just couldn’t make it all fit vertically. So I improvised. I used some Woodgrain Kraft card stock by Simon and I distressed it around the edges using Walnut Stain distress ink. For the baseboard, I just cut a 1/4″ strip of the woodgrain card stock twice and stacked them together.

I framed the entire scene using a die from the Stitched Rectangle Trimmings die by Memory Box. I cut it out using Holographic Rainbows card stock by Simon to match my rainbow colored books. I cut it out two more times using black card stock in order to give it a little dimension. And because I’m here for the dimension, I also popped the books and animals up on some foam squares so they would pop off the page as well.

My sentiment is from the Love That Student stamp set by Simon Says Stamp and CZ Design. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder on black card stock and used this adorable picture hanging bow from an old Avery Elle diet set. It was perfect for my wall. I used the smallest of the Stacked Deckle dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix for the picture itself.

Ok, can we just talk about how adorable this little worm with glasses is??? I knew I had to incorporate him somewhere on this card. I love the glasses, I love the kitty with glasses as well. I can see myself using these two on several different kinds of cards.

I used some Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the glasses to get that reflection and it’s perfect for this! I also added some Nuvo Aqua Shimmer on the pages of the books because I honestly don’t know if I can make a card without adding something sparkly. I attached my entire panel onto a top folding card base and my card was complete.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

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

Underwater Layered Shaker Card

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

Midsummer Blues

We are showcasing Memory Box 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.

These Memory Box dies are so fun to use, I had never used them before so I thought they’d be perfect for this challenge!!

  I cut all 3 layers out using Bristol Smooth card stock and went to work ink blending each layer except for the very top layer which is the Underwater Collage. For the background layer, I used the Honey Bee Stamps Ocean Scene Builder stencil to add a few rays shining through. I used Tsukineko Delicata White Shimmer ink over the rays so you see this beautiful pearly sheen when you look at it in the light.

Once I had all of my layers cut out, I thought this would look really cool with some dimension so I added craft foam to 2 of the layers but left the top layer foam free so that it wouldn’t start to get too bulky. At this time I thought a shaker card would be fun so I also added some acetate. I had to add a couple of fish so I colored a few from Lawn Fawn’s Finastic Friends stamp set with my copic markers. I used two layers of acetate so that I could glue my fish on one layer to make them look like they were floating in the water. Behind that back layer of acetate is where I put my shaker bits. I used several different types of sequins which I’ve linked below.

For the top layer of acetate I used Heat Resistant Acetate so that I could heat emboss those lovely bubbles from the Stamping Bella Tiny Townie Mermaid stamp set in white embossing powder. My sentiment is from Lawn Fawn’s Keep On Swimming stamp set which I white heat embossed on black card stock. I attached my shaker window onto an A2 size piece of Fog card stock and then attached everything to a top folding card base.

To finish off my card, I added a few Iridescent Bubbles by Studio Katia over some of the heat embossed bubbles and also a few just on my card front to tie everything together. For a step by step tutorial, please watch my video above or head over to my YouTube channel.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!

And the winner from last week’s giveaway is Christine!!! Congrats Christine and thank you playing along. Email me at happyinkdesigns@gmail.com with your mailing address and I’ll send them out to you. 😊

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?id=f5e8378456858c916708
Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Simon Says Stamp

You Make My Heart Smile

Hi friends!!  I hope everyone is having a stellar week so far.  I know I sure am, being the first week of our summer and all.  It’s hump day and that always gets my blood pumping because…

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Yep, It’s time for a brand new challenge on Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  The challenge this week is

Frame It

We’re showcasing Memory Box Products this week and my fellow Design Team members have created some beautiful inspiration pieces for ya.  If you have any Memory Box products, we’d love to see you put them to work this week, and if you don’t that is A-Ok too.  You can still join us for this challenge.

Each week Simon Says Stamp generously gives away a $50 voucher to one lucky (randomly selected) winner to use at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp store.

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This was one of those super easy cards that I love to make.  I created the alcohol inked background and then cut it up to match the size of the frame I wanted to use.  I’m using the Stitched Rectangle Trimmings by Memory Box for the frames.

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I decided to use 3 different sized frames just because the theme is “Frame It”.  I used the Heart Smile die from Simon Says Stamp and after cutting it out 3 times using some scrap white card stock, I topped it off with the silver wash paper from DCWV.  I cut the frames out 3 times as well to add some dimension.

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I left the inner two frames white and added the same silver washi to the largest stitched rectangle.  Then I just added a couple layers of colored paper and I was done!! I decided against adding any embellishments because I just didn’t think it needed any.  I think there’s a lot going on and besides that, there’s really nowhere to add anything.

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If you watch my YouTube video, you’ll know what this picture is…

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Can you tell???

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I can, but only because I’m looking for it.  No one else will ever know….

And now it’s your turn!!  Grab your Memory Box goodies (or not) and join us!!  You have until Wed. 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

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Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.
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Thank you guys so much for stopping by today!!  Be sure to check out the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and join us!!  We LOVE seeing all your entries.

Tim Holtz WHITE ALCOHOL INK YUPO…
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Simon Says Stamp HEART SMILE Wafer…
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Memory Box STITCHED RECTANGLE…
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Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#…
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Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#…
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DCWV 6 x 6 METALLICS Glitter And Foil…
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Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH…
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Therm O Web SILVER Deco Foil Transfer…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink INDIGO Ranger…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink SAIL BOAT BLUE…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink PATINA Ranger…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink MERMAID Ranger…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink STREAM Ranger…
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Tim Holtz ALCOHOL INK STORAGE TIN…
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Tim Holtz Ranger ALCOHOL BLENDING…
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EK Success CRAFT TWEEZERS Precision…
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Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT PICK…
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Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT SCRATCHER Wire…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink MINI APPLICATOR…
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Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink MINI APPLICATOR…
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Tim Holtz Distress Marker SPRITZER…
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3M Scotch PINK ATG ADVANCED TAPE…
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Tonic DELUXE ADHESIVE Nuvo Glue 200N
[ SSS ]

Cardmaking · Handmade Greeting Cards · Haul Goodies · Life

Simon Says Stamp Haul Video

Hi guys!!  It has been 10 months since I’ve done a haul video!!  Can you believe that?!?  Wow..  I’ve been a good girl for quite a while now.  But it was my Birthday on October 2nd and I decided to treat myself a little.  Actually, I needed to restock a few things after a fairly large card order that I recently did so that’s my excuse for placing this order.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself (and my hubs) anyways.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I won’t be blogging or posting videos for a couple of weeks.  I’m going in for yet another major surgery on November 13th and I’m planning on spending a week in the hospital down in San Francisco.  I hate being so far away from home when I have these surgeries.  That’s one of the hardest parts.

I think this will be my 21st abdominal surgery that I’ve had in the last 10 + years.  Hopefully it will be my last.  But I’ve said that many times before too…  Just to give you a little background on me, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was 25 and a year later, I had to have my large intestine removed.  I was so sick at the time, what should have been a 3-5 day hospital stay (because it was a laparoscopic surgery), turned into a 3 week hospital stay.  Every complication that I could’ve had, I did.  This was before I met my hubby and had Jayden though.  I had a few medical errors made on me that led to many more complications.  They really snowballed after I had Jayden though.  When he was 6 months old, I ended up with a perforated bowel and came pretty darn close to leaving Jayden without his Mama.  My local hospital wouldn’t fly me out because they didn’t think I would survive the flight to S.F. so one of my surgeries were performed locally.  All the rest have been in San Francisco.  Over the years, it’s been one thing or another.  I was flown out once because I had adhesions wrapped around my small intestine and my ovaries and basically cutting off circulation.  Another surgery I had to have because my small intestine kept kinking in one area, causing me to have one small bowel obstruction after another until they finally operated and put a stint in.  Now because of all these surgeries, I have a 6 inch cyst on one ovary and another 6 inch cyst on the other…  They don’t think it’s cancer, but they’re so big, they are now causing me to have small bowel obstructions so it’s time for them to go.  That’s why I was in the hospital back in May, it was another bowel obstruction.  Nobody wants to operate on me though!!  It’s crazy!!  They will try to save my ovaries, but I’m preparing to have them both removed.

So I have to head down for a few more tests before surgery and I’m still having iron infusions once a week so between that and trying to wrap up our football season, I’ve decided to just take a little break from card making and blogging.  I’m trying to tie up a few loose ends before I go in and spend as much time as I can with my boys.  But as soon as I’m feeling up to it, I’ll be back on here, sharing my weekly projects!!

I’ll leave you with this oh so fun haul video and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!!


Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Hello Friend

Hi guys!!  I’m back with another card and a new theme for this week over at Always Fun Challenges.  The theme this week is Black and White.  How fun is that?  You can do just about anything with B & W!!  I started off thinking I was going to be making a Halloween card, since Halloween is right around the corner, but at the last minute, I decided to go with a ‘Friend’ card.  If you’d like to see what I made for last week’s challenge, click here.

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You can never have too many of these kinds of cards and I really wanted to use this embossing folder again, so this is what I came up with.

I had a little bit of a rocky go with the background, which you can see in my video below, but in the end, I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.  And I LOVE the little flower die that was included in last month’s card kit for Simon Says Stamp.  It was the perfect addition.

Well, it’s family night at the Elam Residence so I’ll leave you with a video and a list of all the products I used.  Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see y’all next week!!

Amazon, Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com, Blitsy Disclaimer:
These are affiliate links.  What that means is at no cost to you, I will receive a small commission if you purchase something from the links I’ve provided.  That small commission will help me maintain my blog and youtube channel while still providing the links to all the products that I use.  Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.  And if you have any questions on any of these products, please feel free to ask!!  I’ll always give you my honest opinion.
Cardmaking

Fawning Over You, w/Prisma Pencils

Hi there!!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.  Me, I have a house full of boys right now, but it’s not as exciting as it sounds.  J-man has 2 friends staying the night and they’re attempting to record another video for Jayden’s new YouTube channel.  One of his friend’s is actually pretty good at doing the introductions and keeping the crickets at bay, but then they all look at each other and they start cracking up laughing, so it’s on to the next take.  It’s pretty funny to listen to them as I sit in the next room at my computer, typing away on this post.

But back to the card.  I originally planned on this being a valentine’s day card, featuring these ADORABLE little deer in love, but then I chose my sentiment and realized that it could be used for other occasions as well.  The stamp sets I used are Fawning Over You by Memory Box and You Matter stamp and die set by Simon Says Stamp.  I also used the Stitched Banner from SSS.  After cutting out my card front with the Wonky Stitched Rectangle die by My Favorite Things, I used my Mini Misti to line up and stamp out all of the images.  I used the Neenah Desert Storm 100 lb. card stock for my card front and base.  Next it was time to color these adorable images!!

I knew I wanted to color this card with Prisma colored pencils, before I even knew what I was doing or what images I was going to use.  I’m so excited that just this week, I received my Faber & Castell Polychromos colored pencils.  I’ve been wanting these for quite some time now so I’m extremely happy to have these in my hot little hands.  But before I can play with them, I decided I wanted to use my Prisma colored pencils on the next card that I made.

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For the deer I used Sienna Brown (945) for the main color and then I added some shading with the Dark Brown (946).  I also used the dark brown on their hooves.  Of course I had to add some color to her cheeks with the Peach (939) pencil.  For the area around the eye and down their chest, I used Ginger Root (1084).

I didn’t really like the spots on their back so I took my White Gel Pen and covered the entire spot in white.  I used Lawn Fawn’s Lobster ink to stamp the little heart above the deer.

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I LOVE how this tree turned out!!  I used Apple Green (912) for the overall color and Grass Green (909) around the edges.  The tree trunk was colored with Dark Brown (946).

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After I colored them, I added some Gamsol.  I really like how the Gamsol pulls the color out and brings it to the surface.  It gives the image an overall smoothness.  Gamsol works great on Prisma pencils because they are wax based.  The polychromos are oil based and while you can still use gamsol on oil based pencils, it pretty much already has that smoothness to it.

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For the pennant, I used the white (938) around the edges and pink (929) and Magenta (930) alternately for each triangle.  Because I went over the lines with the white pencil, it made the black from the ink pad that I used to stamp the image, turn a waxy gray color so I just used a Copic Multi-liner pen to go over that black line again.

I’ve been doing some research on the differences between Prisma’s and Poly’s and it sounds like the two work really well together so instead of getting rid of my Prisma pencils (which is what I had originally planned on doing), I think I’m going to hold on to them and test them out to see how the work together.  Polychromos are more translucent and Prisma’s are more opaque so if you wanted to put a lighter color over a darker color, Prisma’s would be the way to do it.  It wouldn’t work out too well with the Poly’s.

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I used the “You” die from Simon Says Stamp on a really pretty dark red card stock, but it came out of my scraps bin, so I have no idea where the paper came from.  For the rest of the sentiment, I used the matching “You Matter” stamp set from SSS.  I used a Stitched Banner die from SSS and heat embossed the “Make Me Smile” portion of the sentiment.  I used a white embossing powder on black card stock.  The black card stock is called Licorice Twist from Bazzill.  It’s my favorite black card stock.

I let the banner hang out over the edge of the card front and simply trimmed off the access.  Then using my Zig 2 Way Glue Pen, I glued down the sentiment.

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And since I hadn’t added any dimension yet to my card, I decided to pop up the card front using some Craft Foam.  I always use the Be Creative (or Scor-Tape) to adhere my craft foam down because I know it ain’t going anywhere once I stick it on there.  It is awesome adhesive!!

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To finish off my card, I added some much needed sparkle to the “You” and the little red heart above the deer.  I used the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen in Crystal Clear.  What a amazing pen that is!!  I LOVE my Wink of Stella and I always will, but the S.N. pen leaves such a beautiful layer of sparkle behind.  Lastly, I added some Glossy Accents to the heart and attached my card front to a matching red background.  Using my ATG, I attached all of that to a Neenah Desert Storm card base.

To finish off the inside of my card, I used this Scalloped Stitched die from Gina Marie Designs to add a white insert, since the card base is the color of kraft card stock.  img_0320i

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And then my card was complete!!

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So as I was finishing this card, I found out that my friend, Darnell was doing her awesome NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge again right now and it just so happens that the first weeks theme was colored pencils and kraft card stock.  Well, unfortunately I was a day late entering for that particular theme, but fortunately for me, the challenge is still going on!!  She’s doing a 3 week challenge and each week has an optional theme.  Since I missed the theme for the first week, I didn’t bother entering, this particular card but it just dawned on me that the theme is optional!!!  So, since I did use NBUS, I’m going to go ahead and enter this in the final week of this oh so fun challenge.  I encourage you to check out her blog here.  She’s very entertaining and extremely talented.  I promise you you’ll have a blast if you join along in this challenge.  We’re in the final week, so go check it out right now!!!  If you miss it, don’t worry.  She does this challenge a couple times a year so be sure to follow her blog so you’ll be notified when the next one is happening.

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my post. I hope you guys are having a fabulous weekend!!

Blessings,

Misty