That's Life: Simon Says Stamp Favourite Things Blog Hop Day 1

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 1 of the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

I'm so excited to be joining this hop and you might have arrived here from Caryn Davies' blog, 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, I chose to use the Basic Shapes Circles Die Set and the Eggstra Special Stamp Set from this release, to create a card celebrating Easter. You can check out all the fabulous new products in the Favorite Things release, HERE.

So let's begin and here's how I created my Easter card...

To begin with I made a white card blank measuring 18cm square and with the fold along the top.

BACKGROUND

To create the stamped background, I cut a panel of kraft card, 15cm square and used the small Easter Egg stamp from the Eggstra Special stamp set, inked with Black Soot Archival Ink, to stamp a repeat pattern over the entire panel.

Once my stamping was complete, I then coloured each of the eggs using Polychromos Pencils.

TOP TIP: There is no need to take up precious crafting time colouring any area that will be eventually covered and if you find you missed anything once you do add the artwork, just go back in and colour the areas that need it.

When all my colouring and shading was finished, I took the Tim Holtz Splatter Brush, which I dipped into some Picket Fence Distress Paint, and lightly splattered the surface of the card. I allowed for this to dry, before I added machine stitched border around the outside edge and matted the background panel onto ivory card, followed by another layer of kraft card. I then mounted my layers onto the front of the card blank.

STAMPED IMAGE

We're now ready to create the artwork and for this I began by stamping the Easter Egg image from the Eggstra Special stamp set, inking this with Black Soot Archival Ink and stamping it onto a piece of kraft card. Once again I coloured this image with Polychromos Pencils.

I then fussy cut around the edge of the eggs and the grassy verge, cutting away the three flowers at the top of the image.

Set this to one side to move onto the next layer.

For this layer, I used one of the circular Basic Shapes Dies, to cut a circle of Mixed Media Heavystock Card, (approx 11.5cm in diameter), and inking up the same Easter Egg stamp as before, I stamped this image along the bottom section of the circle

To create the blue sky, I inked the background using a blending tool and Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Distress Inks being very careful to avoid the three flowers at the top of the image. Once my colour was in place, I then spritzed with water, allowed the inks to blend and then heat dried the surface. If you need more colour, then just repeat this process until you're happy with the blend.

I inked the edges of the circular die cut with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink before taking the fussy cut image of the Easter Eggs, placing foam pads on the back of them and attaching them over the top of the stamped image on the circle. I then added colour with Polychromos Pencils to the remaining three flowers and some white pen detail to the stamped image.

MESSAGE BANNER

Cut a strip of kraft card, 14.5 x 3cm and ink up the Happy Easter message from the stamp set in clear ink. Stamp the message on the centre of the strip, and sprinkle white embossing powder over the surface before heat embossing until molten and glossy.

Matt the strip onto a further piece of ivory cardstock leaving a border top and bottom and then splatter Picket Fence Distress Paint over the top.

On either side I used the Crop A Dile to punch a small hole, and then set an eyelet into each, again using this tool. I then threaded some twine through the eyelets, tying them in a knot to secure them. As the finishing touch to the banner, I placed 3 gold metallic droplets on either side.

Attach the banner across the bottom section of the card, placing it onto foam pads for added dimension.

CIRCLES

Now to build up those circles and for this I began by taking the smaller circle die (approx 11cm) that I used for the artwork, together with the next size down. I then placed the two dies, one inside the other, onto a piece of gold metallic kraft stock card and created a frame by running these two dies through my machine.

I repeated this two more times to create three separate die cuts which I layered together to form a thicker circle that I attached around the edge of my artwork to create the gold frame.

After die cutting a circle of white card, I attached my artwork to the centre of the is piece.

I then continued die cutting the third and fourth circles, from kraft card, and the final layer from gold metallic card using the ascending order of dies in the set, so that each die will create a border for the next one.

With all my circular die cuts complete, I started layering them over one another, and adhered the kraft circle tover the top of the large gold circle and then, using foam pads, I attached the artwork panel to the centre of the layered circles.

Attach the completed layers to the front of the card, so that the circles slightly overlap the top fold. To complete the frame around the edge, I added some small gold metallic droplets.

We're nearly there and all that's left is some details...

DETAILS

As you can see, I added some clouds to my scene and for this I used a die that I have in my stash, called Sizzix Christmas Cutouts Die Set by Tim Holtz. If you haven't got this die set, then don't worry ~ there are plenty of cloud dies to be found and you might already have some in your stash, including some from this collection from our very own Simon Says Stamp.

I cut four clouds from watercolour card, inked the edges with a little Lost Shadow ink and then placed them onto my circles, using foam pads. I added some black pen highlights to each cloud.

So, that's my card finished and I really hope you love this fun make and all the techniques I've used.

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, 5th March and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize.

Also, don't forget that you have until the 2 March at 11:59 EDT to grab yourselves the exclusive Happy Bee Day stamp set which will be automatically added to your card it if contains $50 or more of Favorite Things release products. This gift with purchase will expire on 2nd March at 11:59EST or while supplies last.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and don't forget to go and check out Day 2 of the hop tomorrow!!!

See you soon, love Emma x

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