Sparkle the Dark Up!

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "for the love of sparkle".  I've been getting quite into the Christmas spirit with this one - all those cosy thoughts of snuggling up to a log fire and watching the snow sparkle in the light outside.  Of course, I don't actually have a log fire and I'm much more likely to be digging my car out of the snow than sitting back and watching it sparkle, but that's hardly the point!  It's so magical to be out in a thick snow fall, watching the flakes slowly fall to the ground where they twinkle and sparkle - roll on December!

I've used this theme as an excuse to make a start on my holiday cards (I just hope that the next one I make isn't in a rush on Christmas Eve, lol).  I stamped the snowflake 4 times with Versamark watermark ink to create a resist on the background and then applied Distress Inks in various shades of blue over the top.

The main snowflake was stamped with black archival ink and then filled with a white paint pen.  I used the same technique on the "merry" panel, using the white pen and a grey Promarker to highlight the lettering.  Both panels were mounted on white card that had been lightly inked in blue and the card was assembled.

Oh, and "Sparkle the dark up"?  A line from my favourite Christmas song, "December will be magic again" by Kate Bush!

Supplies I used included:

InLinkz.com

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Don't forget, Simon Says Stamp have a great Facebook page too!  Check them out here!

All Taped Up!

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Tape it Up".  I've been hoarding my paper tapes, keeping them in waiting for this challenge to come up!  I decided that I would recycle an empty cardboard box and make it into a money-box.

All the tapes I've used here are from Cavallini, and one of the great things about them is that all the designs have a common cream background running through them, which means that when you lay them side-by-side they look as if they're all one design.  Obviously, when you know that paper tape has been used, you can spot each one, but looking at it on my desk in front of me, you would never get that they are stripes of separate designs, they just co-ordinate together so well!  An added bonus is the fact that they come in great little tins, which you can find another use for once you've used up all the tape!

I'm a big fan of paper tape (or tissue tape, or washi tape, or gaffer tape, whatever you want to call it!).  There are so many colours, designs and patterns easily available now, gone are the days when you'd have to find importers of Japanese products to get your hands on some.  They are very forgiving to work with, if you don't get it straight you can just peel it off and apply it again until you get it right.  They're a great way of quickly adding pattern to a project, and work a treat if you need to brighten up a tired picture frame, decorate a notebook cover or make a quick card.  I guess I'm just a washi tape fan-boy! lol

Supplies I used included:

InLinkz.com

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Don't forget, Simon Says Stamp have a great Facebook page too!  Check them out here!

Holding out for a hero!

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Hero" this week.  As ever, Simon Says Stamp have a great prize on offer - a $50 spending spree in their online store!  Even better, the winner is chosen at random from those who enter, so even if you're feeling a little heroically challenged, you've as good a chance as anyone else of winning! :)

As some of you may know, I'm not taking part in this week's and last week's challenges (I'll be back in the thick of it from this time next week), but I did take a look through my "back catalogue" as it were, to see if I'd made anything in the past that would fit in with this week's theme.  What I love so much about recent challenges is how open they've been to interpretation, making it much easier to tweak your pieces so you can take part.  Here are 5 of mine that fit the bill.  The first two use stamps by Hero Arts, so they were a shoe-in!

This piece uses the Hero Arts chevron cling stamp.

This piece uses the Hero Arts Dots cling stamp.

These next 3 are inspired by one of my all-time heroes, Kate Bush.  (OK, OK, I know that strictly speaking she's a heroine but as I said earlier, that's the great thing about Simon Says Stamp challenges, they're open to a little wiggle room!)

So, there you have it, a little group of "heroes", now it's your turn!  Head over to the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog and see how the other memebers of the team have interpreted this week's challenge, then give it a try yourself!

Don't forget, Simon Says Stamp have a great Facebook page too!  Check them out here!

SCAL: Welding basic shapes together to create your own designs

I had an email from someone who was having problems in welding together the basic shapes they'd used to create their design.  It was much easier to create a video to show what the problems were and how to overcome them.  I thought I'd put it here too, in case others were having similar problems.  I hope you find it useful!

Happy STAMPtember!!

Over at Simon Says Stamp there's a big celebration going on - all of this month they are focussing on stamping in the best STAMPtember ever!  Here's what they have to say about it:

Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. Over the past 10 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a “STAMPtember” ™ event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media and many forms of altering and expressing art.

They have a whole host of fun events going on right through the month and it's already started!  On September 1st they launched a range of exclusive stamps and yesterday there was an exclusive video project demo with Tim Holtz - why not pop over to their blog and check them out? 

Launching today is their fantastic prize blog hop and the fun starts on the Simon Says Stamp blog!  (In case you're wondering why I'm not taking part in the blog hop, yes, I'm still part of the team, but due to family circumstances I've had to take a couple of weeks off from challenges.  Watch out for me back in the thick of things from 17th September!)