simonsaysstamp – Page 33 – SkyPaperScissors

We Can Weather Any Storm

April 10, 2018June 23, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

Hello there! I know winter is digging in its heels in many parts of the US so I hope, wherever you are, you get to see a glimpse of sunshine today!

Today I’m playing with the new Rain or Shine stamp set from My Favorite Things. I’m a sucker for encouraging sentiments (and ducks!) and this set has a few great ones. I also pulled out a couple of stencils for the background, as well as some standalone dies for the clouds and sun.

I started by stamping out the girl, ducks, and water elements in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. I then brought out what is essentially my entire collection of Copics to color in all of the images, doing some very simple two-color blending. When I was done, I cut out all of the images using my Brother ScanNCut2.

For the background, I used another piece of Neenah Solar White. I used Tombow Mono Removable Adhesive to temporarily adhere the panel to a piece of scratch paper and then I used washi tape to hold the My Favorite Things Drifts & Hills stencil in place while I used a foam blending tool to apply a heavy layer of Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink on the top half of the card to create a blue sky. Then, on top of the inked area, I used more washi tape to hold down the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil.

I misted water over the stencil using a mini-mister (Ranger sells these, however mine is from Tombow). My thought here was that the water would touch the paper at the open areas of the stencil and lift the Distress Oxide ink, creating lighter colored dots that would look like rain (I hoped) and not snow. I let the water sit for about 15 seconds, and then used a paper towel to wipe off the stencil and pick up any excess water.

Then I cleaned the Drifts & Hills stencil and re-arranged it over the blue side of the card and proceeded to ink up the remaining white space with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink to create the ground. The curve of the stencil didn’t line up perfectly but I was able to make some micro adjustments to match the curve of the sky.

For the clouds, I used Lawn Fawn’s Simple Puffy Clouds die set to cut out clouds of varying sizes from some scrap Neenah Solar White. The sun is a piece of yellow Recollections cardstock die cut with My Favorite Things’ Sunny Skies die.

Next I laid out all of the elements onto the background and got a sense of where I wanted to stamp the sentiment, which I stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink. I ended up using only one of the three little ducks that I’d made.

Then, I got out the adhesives. I used Tombow Mono Liquid Glue to adhere pieces flush to the background. For the splashes, I used Zots Bling Clear Adhesive Dots because I wanted just a bit of dimension but couldn’t bring myself to try to cut tiny pieces of foam tape. And for the the clouds in front of the sun I used foam tape. I left most of the rays of the sun glue-free so that they stand up a bit from the background. To finish, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Animal Cards, Baby Cards, Celebration Cards

Welcome Baby

April 9, 2018July 17, 2020 SkyPaperScissors

Hi there! I hope your week is getting off to a nice start!

Today I’m sharing my first baby card. I’m using an old stamp set, Baby Party Animals, from Simon Says Stamp which I found on sale last week. I love these cute animals which I’m sure I’ll be able to put to use on non-baby cards as well.

I started by stamping all of the images in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. I colored all of the images using a variety of Copic Sketch markers: R20 and R30 for the pig, E31 and E35 for the monkey, YR21 and YR23 for the cat, W1 and W3 for the bunny, and Y19 and Y21 for the rest of the elements. I did very very basic blending and added a few highlights using a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

Though I purchased the coordinating dies, I ended up using my Brother ScanNCut2 to cut out all of the images in one pass. I’m really falling in love with that machine!

I created the card front panel by die-cutting a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper with the largest of the Wonky Stitched Rectangles die set from My Favorite Things. Then I blended Spun Sugar and Tattered Rose Distress inks all over the panel. It was only after I finished blending that I remembered I had intended this card to be for a boy or a girl, so in hindsight, pink wasn’t the best color choice. Oops! And somewhere hiding on or under my desk is the bunny’s balloon. Double oops!

I sprinkled a few drops of water onto the panel, let them sit for 10 seconds, and then mopped them up with a paper towel in order to create a splatter effect. It’s very subtle, but gives a bit of interest and dimension I think.

Before I began adhering all of the stamped pieces, I stamped the word “baby” in Versafine Onyx Black ink in the bottom right corner. Then I laid out all of the stamped elements and once I found a layout I liked, I began adhering them down using Ranger Multi Medium Matte adhesive. I saved a few of the elements (the balloons, banner, and two of the presents) to pop up with some foam adhesive, for added dimension.

To finish, I adhered the entire panel to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for visiting!

Feel Good Cards, Friendship Cards, Just Because Cards, Love Cards

You + Me = Awesome

April 4, 2018May 21, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

Good morning, I hope you’re having a great week!

Let me start by apologizing for any duplicate blog post emails you may have received over the past couple of days. I’m still learning about this blog platform and I made a couple of mistakes that caused the extra emails. Thanks for your patience!

Today I have something a little different. I felt challenged by this Simon Says Stamp You + Me set which has a lot of linear elements and bold sentiments. I decided that I wanted to use the “You + Me = Awesome” sentiment and then somehow weave together strips to resemble a knot, or “we.”

I started with Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock and stamped the L-shaped strips (the stamp has three stripes) four times in Altenew inks (Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, and Purple Wine).

I fussy cut the strips and then wove them together, using washi tape to temporarily hold everything still while I got all four pieces spaced and lined up properly.

For the background, I created a pink splatter on an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White. I started by smooshing my Picked Rasberry Distress Ink mini ink pad onto an acrylic block, and then I used a Pentel Aquash Water Brush to mix a bit of water into the ink and to pick up some of the color. Holding the brush over the paper, as if I was turning a key in a lock, I used a finger of my other hand to tap the middle brush and splatter ink onto the card front. By moving closer or farther from the paper, I was able to create splatter drops of varying sizes.

To finish, I adhered the “knot” to the card front and then removed the washi tape. I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Black Onyx ink and then adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Encouragement Cards

Keep Your Head Up and Your Heart Strong

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

I can always use some encouragement, what about you?

This card starts off with a background using Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock and Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Heart background stamp. When I use a background stamp, I always lay it etched side up, ink it, and then lay my paper down onto it. I put a piece of scrap typing paper over the top to keep my hands from getting inky and then burnish the surface to ensure I get an even impression. I did that here with clear, sticky, VersaMark ink. Then I sprinkled the panel with Hero Arts white embossing powder and hit it with a heat gun.

I chose two soft Distress Oxide Ink colors, Tattered Rose and Hickory Smoke, to blend. I had originally planned to pick a third color to blend between the rose and smoke, but I really wanted the heart to stand out. I’m still not sure if I made the right choice to use just two colors. I applied and blended the ink using foam blending tools, taking care to follow the design of the heart in the center of the panel. When I finished, I rubbed a paper towel lightly over the panel to pick up any ink that was sitting on top of the heat embossing to restore its bright white color.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp You Got This stamp set. The stamp is actually a single line, but I wanted to break it up into two lines. Rather than cut the stamp apart (which I can never bring myself to do even though it doesn’t harm the stamp), I used a Post-it note to cover a few of the words when I inked it up so I could stamp one line at a time. I used Versafine Black Onyx ink which gives a nice crisp impression.

To finish, I trimmed the panel down to 4″ x 5.5″ and adhered it to an A-2 sized card base, leaving a border on the left and right sides. Then I adhered the sentiment using foam tape to add dimension.

Thanks for visiting!

Animal Cards, Thank You Cards

So Very Grateful… Hummingbirds!

March 27, 2018June 23, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

On Sunday I finally made time to swatch out the Peerless Watercolors that I’ve collected. I have two sets now, the “Complete Edition” which has 15 colors, and the “Bonus Pack” which has 40 additional colors. I swatched them onto 2-inch squares of watercolor paper so that I could keep them in coin pages, as suggested by Jennifer McGuire here.

With that done, I got down to making this card. I started by heat embossing the My Favorite Things Etched Flowers background onto Canson XL watercolor paper using VersaMark ink and Hero Arts white embossing powder. I used painter’s tape to tape the embossed card front down to my work surface. Using a flat brush, I wet down the surface with clean clear water and then painted the flowers and sky with Peerless Watercolors.

I did the same with the hummingbirds from the Pretty Pink Posh Hummingbird Thanks stamp set, heat embossing and then watercoloring them with the same supplies. To finish the hummingbirds, I used a black Sakura Glaze Gel Pen to add som”e color and dimension to the birds’ eyes and beaks.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp’s Stained Glass Love stamp set. The complete sentiment reads “so very thankful you are my” but I masked off the “you are my” so I could have this standalone sentiment. I stamped it using Versafine Black Onyx ink.

To finish, I trimmed the card front to just smaller than an A2 size, popped up and adhered the hummingbirds and sentiment using foam tape, and glued the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a great day!