Simon Says Stamp Smitten and Sweetheart Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 2 of the Smitten and Sweetheart Blog Hop ~ day 1 of this hop can be found here!

I'm so excited to be joining this hop and you might have arrived here from my extremely talented friend, the amazing Alberto Gava 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.

For my card set, I chose to combine products from the two releases and used the beautiful Flower Love Stamp Set with the Friendship Leafy Cluster stamps to create a couple of projects that celebrates friendship. You can check out all the fabulous new products in the Sweetheart release, HERE and the Smitten release, HERE.

So you've seen the cards, and it's time to share how I created them...

To begin with I made my background, which is one sheet of black heavystock card that I stamped the design onto, and then cut into three separate panels which I used on the two card projects.

BACKGROUND

With the panel of black heavystock card in front of me, I took the larger leafy clusters stamp from the stamp set and inked this with Versamark Clear Ink. I then stamped the pattern, one leaf at a time, onto the outside edges of the cardstock, leaving plenty of open space in the centre of the panel. After sprinkling with gold embossing powder, I then heat set the powder until molten and glossy.

Now to colour the leaves, and for this, I used a combination of Polychromos Pencils and Tim Holtz's Wicked Elixir Mica Spray Stain. I began by colouring inside the embossed areas with the various shades of green pencils, this helps to intensify the colour of the Mica Stain. Once I had coloured all the leaves, I then spritzed some of the stain onto my glass mat and used a waterbrush, or a paintbrush to apply a colour wash over the top to create the beautiful shimmer.

Allow for the mica stain to dry before cutting the background into three separate panels which are ready to cut and use on the cards.

2 panels measuring 8.5 x 11.5cm and a 3rd panel to measure 3 x 8.5cm.

After machine stitching a border around the outside of the panel, I matted each panel onto gold metallic kraft stash, leaving a border around the outside.

FLOWERS

I used the Flower Love Stamp set to create the selection of flowers that I used on each of the cards. The flowers are all stamped in clear embossing ink onto black card and then I coloured them in exactly the same way as I coloured the leaves, first a layer of polychromos pencils and then I painted the Mica Spray Stain over the top to create the shimmery, jewelled tones.

For the flowers I used the following colours of Mica Stain:

Yuletide, Juniper Berry, Snow Flurries and Flickering Candle

Once the colour was laid down, and I was happy with the tones and intensity, I actually fussy cut each bloom because I don't own the matching die set. But if you don't like cutting and would like the die set, that is available HERE.

With all the components ready, it's time to make the cards.

CARD No. 1

Kraft card blank measurement: 15.5 x 12cm

To create the first layers on the card, I cut a panel of black card, 15 x 11.5cm and attached this to the card blank.

Using one of the 8.5 x 11.5cm stamped background panel, ink up the 'I cherish our' and the 'friendship' stamps from the Friendship Leafy Cluster set with Versamark Clear Ink and stamp this onto the left hand side of the card panel, placing it in one of the open spaces.

Sprinkle gold embossing powder over the sentiment and heat emboss until molten.

Taking a splatter brush, lightly splatter gold paint over the surface, and set to one side to dry.

Using 8 of the stamped flowers, I arranged these onto the card panel, layering some of the stamps over the top of one another to create dimension and using foam pads to attach each of them.

I mounted the finished panel onto a piece of black cardstock, slightly larger than the artwork and with a machine stitched border before mounting these layers onto a final layer of gold metallic kraft stash.

I then mounted the panels onto the card blank using foam pads.

Finally, I added three of the Rainbow Splash Drops to complete this card.

CARD No.2

Kraft card blank measurement:18 x 11.5cm

For this card, I cut a black card panel slightly smaller in size than my card blank and then wrapped a piece of hand dyed Tim Holtz's Mummy Cloth Trimming around the card.

This strip of cloth is dyed using a combination of Shabby Shutters and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains before heat drying until thoroughly dry. I then wrapped the trimming around the card, and tied it into a bow on the left hand side to secure it into position.

For this card, I used the remaining two stamped and coloured panels both of which are matted onto gold metallic kraft card. 

As with the previous card, I stamped the sentiment, Friends Make The World Beautiful, onto the larger sized panel and lightly splattered gold paint across the surface before I mounted both panels onto a piece of black card, 16 x 9.5cm which once again had a machine stitched border around the outside.

Using foam pads, mount the layered card panels onto the front of the card blank and to complete the card, I used the remaining two stamped flowers, layering one over the top of the other with foam pads. This flower is attached it to the left hand side of my card.

Finally, I placed three of the droplets onto the sentiment panel and one larger sized droplet in the centre of the flower and that completes both of my card projects for this hope and i hope you love what i've created.

HOP ORDER:

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Nina-Marie Trapani

Caly Person

Jennifer McGuire

Suzy Plantamura

Amy Rysavy

Debby Hughes

Emily Midgett

Lisa Addesa

Alberto Gava

Emma Williams ♥️ You are here!

Heather Hoffman

Carly Minner

Tracy Ware

Jessica Vasher

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop from the blog comment section! So, this means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be notified and they will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 17th January and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize. 

Also, don't forget that you have until the 14th January at 11:59 EDT to claim a free gift with every purchase! The Hearts and Stars Stencil is available whilst stocks last and all you need to do is enter the code HTZ24 at checkout.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and don't forget to go and check out Day 1 of the hop!!!

See you soon, Emma x

RECIPE FOR CARD:

Simon Says Stamp: Flower Love, Friendship Leafy Cluster, Rainbow Splash Drops, Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder, Black Card

Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains: Shabby Shutters, Antique Linen

Mica Spray Stain: Wicked Elixir, Yuletide, Juniper Berry, Snow Flurries, Flickering Candle

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Mummy Cloth Trimmings

Mediums and Adhesive: SSS Foam Squares, SSS Tape Runner, Versamark Ink

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Card, Black Heavystock, Kraft Card

Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat

Sizzix Big Shot Foldaway Machine