I get card kits from multiple companies every month and although I have used them many times I have not highlighted them…that’s about to change. I am starting with Simon Says Stamps August 2022 kit with the beautiful Vintage Garden stamp set. You can see the full set that comes in the box at https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/card-kit-galleries/august-2022-card-kit-gallery/

My first card went together really quickly. I took some Reflections Shimmer paper and embossed it with the gorgeous embossing folder in the kit.

I used the add-on heart die to cut out some of the patterned paper. Oh, these are some of the most beautiful patterned papers I’ve seen — very classy. I edged it with the included SSS Clear ink and added SSS Silver embossing powder to the edges. Because the edges are not even, I also used a Distress brush pen to get in the nooks and crannies before adding the embossing powder. The ribbon is special – from the aisle bows at my wedding in 2015. I wrapped it around the card front and glued it down then popped up the whole front onto an also included Smoke card base with foam tape. I used some of the small foam squares to adhere the flowered heart above the ribbon. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with the same silver embossing folder then used the die to cut it out. Adding that then the clear drops finished off a beautiful card for number one of this kit.

Card Number 2 was pure FUN and out of my norm. I stamped the flowers on ivory cardstock and then added clear embossing over the black ink. I used some Simon Says reinkers for watercoloring the butterfly and flowers, then die cut them out when dry. For the background I used Simon Says Stamp STITCHED WHIRL BACKGROUND Wafer Die on Neenah 110# cardstock and stamped the sentiment from the Vintage Garden stamp set from the kit. To add dimension I added foam tape to the back adhering it to the lilac card base. The die cut flower pieces were popped up with the foam squares from this kit also. I think this one became my favorite and my husband was really impressed (lol).

I ended with a Clean and Simple card. The butterfly was watercolored with the flowers above. The background here is the Simon Says Stamp DETAIL BOHEMIAN PLATE Wafer Die. I love these background wafer dies…they add so much texture without taking away the designs of cards. The sentiment is from the Vintage Garden stamp set in the kit. I added just a few clear droplets for embellishment.

I still have many more beautiful things of this kit I have not yet used…the gorgeous rose gold paper, the beautiful patterned papers, and the embossing folder that will be used over and over. This kit is wonderful and such a great value. Thanks, Simon Says for your great products.

Hugs to all who came to visit. Have a wonderful day!

Penny

On July 17, 2022 Kristina Werner Hanson put out a great Christmas in July video: (https://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/christmas-in-july-new-stamps-from-colorado-craft-co-watercolor-backgrounds-no-line-coloring/) Kristina always makes water coloring look so easy but this time I thought maybe I could do it.  I had distress reinkers – I thought – so on to creating from her inspiration.

Obstacles…oh dear.  First off, I pulled out different paper. Would that still work? Secondly, I did not have the color of Distress reinkers she used. Hmm – oh wait!

Solutions… I just invested in the whole set of Simon Says Stamps and got the two reinkers sets that were available right now.  As I looked at those reinkers I tried to find colors that would come close to the reinkers Kristina used.   I pulled out Carnation, Cherry, and Pine and thought I would give that a try.

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Welcome to the Endless Ambition Blog Hop with lots of goodies with hot foil plates and stencils…and some stand-alone dies. If you are following along in the blog you got her from my friend Terri Koszler and your next stop is the wonderful Laurie Willison. If you want to start at the beginning click the Altenew Blog post.

As hot foils grew in popularity last year and offered additional designs, I bit the bullet and purchased the Spellbinders Glimmer Machine. It really is easy to use and gives lovely results. I also got a variety of colors and designs of foil as you will see below.

My first card is special as it is highlighting the soon-to-be-released Brushed Gold from Altenew. The foiling was done using the Flowery Bouquet Hot Foil Plate and the Brushed Gold foil. Then the sentiment were created with the Sweet Sentiment Die Set for a simple but very elegant look.

The next two cards show how the positive and negative of foiling can work. First I took the Flowery Wreath Hot Foil plate with green foil to create the wreath outline. Rather than to color in the wreath itself I used the Flowery Wreath Stencils to color directly on the card front, cut a circle in the foiled wreath and popped it up over the colorful stenciling. To add more color I used Altenew enamel dots to the top and a few green sequins.

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Welcome to the August Subscription Blog hop! If you are following along you have come from the marvelous Mugdha Gujarathi. Your next stop is Jenny Martin or you can start at the beginning at Altenew Card Blog.

My two favorite subscriptions with Altenew are the Craft-A-Flower and the Craft Your Life Project Kits – such a great value for your money. You can see all of the Monthly Subscriptions available here: https://altenew.com/collections/marvelous-monthly-series-august-2022  

This month I have a very bright and sunny card using the Craft Your Life kit: Magnolia & Blooms. I created a slim line card an coloring with the stencil to get three different colors in the flowers and two colors in the leaves. Just following the stencil guide I completed the card front. I likes the sentiment from the stamp set that says : “let you light shine through” but I modified it slightly by die cutting the word Shine with the Shine Die Set. First I cut one layer with green glitter paper and also three layers of white cardstock. I offset the green on top of the white to help give more dimension and create a small shadow on the main word of the sentiment. The rest of the sentiment was stamped from the set and just cut out.

My second card is from the Craft-A-Flower: Open Peon Layering Die Set. It’s rather unusual to see yellow and pink peonies but I have a plant received through my local Master Gardeners Club called the Itoh Peony pictured below. Every petal and every bloom is a bit different but the plant is magnificent when in bloom –usually in June.

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Welcome to the August release for Altenew’s Bold and Beautiful! You are getting here from the wonderful Reiko Tsuchida and your next stop is the very talented Tania Ahmed.

If you’d like to start at the beginning click here Altenew Card Blog

Do you like to garden? Do you like to visit beautiful gardens? Altenew has a multitude of beautiful flower stamps and dies and this release gives you a GORGEOUS flower with the Dazzling Dahlia Stamp, Die and Stencil. Dahlia come in lots of different colors, shades, and petal counts. You can plant them as just plants but also from bulbs. I would love to have a garden full of them to brighten my yard! You can google them for a wide variety of colorings. For my Dahlias here I started with pale shades and went to deeper colors on the tips. I stamped the two flowers in Altenew Firebrick as I wanted to use that for the deepest color. The center was blended with Warm Sunshine and Frosty Pink for the middle. On the yellow I added Citrus Burst on outside, Frosty Pink for middle and the center of Sunray. These were free blended…not using the stencil as many dahlias vary. For the leaves here I used the Altenew Hanging Garden Die (see my post from Aug 27, 2020 for more info on this). The butterfly is also a stamp with the Dazzling Dahlia set. I had in my stash some blues and green alcohol ink over Sparkle Yupo paper so I just die cut an area that would look good as a butterfly and used Altenew Obsidian ink for the outline.

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