That's Life: Simon Says Stamp Be Creative Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Saturday, 18 February 2023

Simon Says Stamp Be Creative Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Hello friends and welcome to Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp Be Creative Blog Hop.

I'm so excited to be joining so many of my talented friends and designers on this hop and if you've arrived here from, Mindy's blog ~ then hello, but if not, and you want to catch up with everyone who is participating in this hop, then don't worry because you can head back to the beginning HERE.

There are so many fabulous new products in this release and I can guarantee that you’ll be spoilt for choice because every single one of them will have you heading to your craft room to BE CREATIVE. To see all the products in this amazing release, click---> HERE

For my card, I was inspired by the colours and art of one of my favourite artists, Piet Mondrian, which was all about primary colours, and horizontal and vertical lines but I thought this colour palette would be perfect for using with the Parallelogram stamp, and I created a background that became the main focus of my make.

So let's get started on how I made my Mondrian inspired card...

CARD BLANK

To begin with I made my card blank from black card. This measures 13.5 x 18cm and is a tent style card with the fold at the top.

BACKGROUND AND LAYERS

Moving on to the background and for this cut a panel of Distress watercolour cardstock and placed the card, smooth side uppermost, inside my Tim Holtz Stamp Platform. If you don't have Tim's platform, there are other stamping platforms available and for larger stamps such as this one, I always find it will help to get a really good impression.

I inked the stamp with Simon's Intense Black Ink Pad and stamped the image directly onto the cardstock. If you haven't got a good impression, just repeat the process until you're satisfied. Remove the panel and sprinkle clear embossing powder over the ink. After tapping away the excess, heat emboss the powder until shiny and molten.

Now for the fun part, all that colour...

There is no right or wrong way to lay down the colour, you do you and just have fun but in keeping with Mondrian's work, I chose to use three primary colours, red, blue and yellow, alongside black and white.

I watercolored my background using Tim Holtz Watercolour Pencils; Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Salty Ocean, Prize Ribbon, Barn Door and Black Soot. I applied colour to each of the shapes using a water brush, and building up the intensity in layers.

Once I was happy, I allowed the background to dry before cutting a panel to measure 10 x 14.5cm. Don't throw anything away at this stage, you will be using those offcuts.

I machine stitched a border around the outside of my panel and then mounted it onto black cardstock.

Taking the offcuts, I cut two further strips, 2 x 11.5cm and 1.5 x 14.5cm and also mounted these onto black cardstock, machine stitching the layers at either end of both strips.

Now to build up those layers. I wanted to create the look of a frame behind the main panel, so with this in mind, I began by adhering a panel of Dina Wakley's Watercolour card that I mounted onto the black card blank. I then cut a panel of white card, 11.5 x 16cm, machine stitched a border around the outside before again matting the card panel onto black cardstock. I attached the layered panel onto my card blank with foam pads before attaching the stamped panel, again using foam pads to add dimension and height.

Taking the two strips, I placed the narrower strip vertically down the left hand side and the wider strip, horizontally across the bottom section of the card.

SENTIMENT DIE CUT

We're nearly there and all that's left is the sentiment. Using the You Shine Die Set, I cut two layers, one from black card and a second from gloss card. I haven't used the surround on this make. I layered the glossy sentiment over the top of the black card die cut and then adhered it to my circle that I cut using the Sizzix Vintage Labels Die Set by Tim Holtz.

I matted the label onto a circle of black kraft card, and then attached this to my design.

So that's my card finished and I hope you love what I've created and will be inspired by the ideas I've used.

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop! This means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 22nd February and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize.

Also, last but by no means least ~ if you shop during the Be Creative blog hop, then you can get yourself a beautiful Handcrafted with Love 3x4 stamp set FREE with any purchase. The offer is valid until 19th February 2023 at 11:59 ET, or while supplies last and the code you need to use to claim your gift, is: ART4U

Thank you so much for stopping by today and hope you enjoy this fun hop....see you soon, Emma x

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