Vacation

 

 Hello Monday, my friends! And welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Thank you for joining us for the  SPRITZ AND SPLATTER Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.

This week the challenge is: VACATION

Lucky me! I got to go on a cruise this spring with my sister to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. Loving the ship life!

I spent a lot of my time sketching on our trip. My favorite place to go was there Promenade deck.  I tried to do at least one sketch a day while on the ship. I even met the captain one day! 

After our cruise, we went to St. Augustine, Florida to spend time with our sister there. Truly, it was a wonderful vacation! 

 

THis week, I decided on a hybrid art journal/scrapbook spread. I began with some stamping and stenciling. 

 

I decided the background was a little too bold, and would detract from the photos, so I spritzed it and lifter color with a paper towel. 

I printed out a few tiny pictures to use and added them to the pages.  

I stamped some fun imageslllevery ship has a cat, right? I also doodled lines around the photos to pop them. 

I added a couple of tags with thread. 

One of my highlights was having High Tea!

 

A VACATION TO REMEMBER! 

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store 

Supplies:

Stamoperia Watercolor Art Journal

Tracy Evans Numerical Cats stamps

Simon says Stamp Pepita Background stamp

Seth Apter Stencil Girl Zif Zag stencil

Simon Says Stamp Label Tag Dies

Simon Says Stamp Foam Squares

 Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks - Mocha and Ocean

Simon Says Stamp Versa Fine Clair Nocturne ink

Simon Says Stamp Everyday Scissors

Simon Says Stamp Small Blending Brush

Ranger Mister Bottle

Black Pen

Thread 

So now it's YOUR turn, Happy Crafting! Maura

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in .

Let It Snow!

 

 Hello Monday, my friends! And welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Thank you for joining us for the  USE DIES Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.

Our Let It Snow challenge will be a two week challenge, since we all get so busy at this holiday time of year. 

This week the challenge is: LET IT SNOW!

I have not scrapbooked in such a long time, it feels really good to pull out some "vintage" photos of my sons playing in the snow. We have a hill behind our house and open fields at that time, so they used to toboggan and sled on it. It's an exhilarating ride down, and a long haul back up. These two would keep going until they were cold and exhausted.  Ahh, good memories! 

So,,, there are two reasons I am picking up my scrapbooking again. I've spent a few weeks organizing and purging my creative space (lots more work to do!) so I finally have a large enough workspace to do larger projects, and I could finally get to my photos. The second reason is, I spent a weekend with my son's girlfriend helping get her set up to scrapbook a pet album. She inspired me to pick it up again.

Since this is all about snow, I stamped the snowman from Tim Holtz's Stamptember set from this year. 

 Cut and mounted the snow photos...

Tim Holtz's Festive Words dies are perfect for this challenge! 

 Popped in the little snowman...

I stamped a few snowflakes in the open spaces with Simon's Making Spirits Bright stamp set from the December card kit.  

Liking the mix of photos, die cuts and blues... 

 That pop of red really stands out...

Hello Winter! Let it Snow! 

WISHING YOU AND YOURS ALL THE MAGIC OF THE SEASON!

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store 

Supplies:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Festive Words dies 

Simon Says Stamp Making Spirits Bright stamp set

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Stamptember 2023 stamp set

Simon Says Stamp Black , Sea Glass  cardstock

Echo Park Favorite Summer Solids 

Simon Says Stamp Fine Detail Scissors

Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink

Tim Holtz paper trimmer

Big Shot

Tombow Markers

Bearly Art Precision Glue

3M Tape Glider

Simon Says Stamp Foam Squares

Simon Says Stamp Place and Pierce Embellishment Wand

So now it's YOUR turn, Happy Crafting! Maura

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in .

Thankful For This

Hello friends! It's Monday, and that means a new challenge! This week we are expressing our thanks, what we are thankful for, Thanksgiving, showing our gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, I truly am grateful for each and every one of you who stops by for a visit, thank you.

I was inspired to work on something I have not done in a long time - a scrapbook page! I am so thankful for the view out of my windows, and when I came across this photo my husband took years ago, it just called to me.

I started with a sheet of Cordinations paper (peeled paint) and swiped on some Distress Paint in Forest Moss, then took the Tiles stencil and dabbed in Bundled Sage. For the next layer, I took the Ringer stencil and Evergreen Bough. You've probably noticed, I also turned the stencil upside down and pressed the extra paint in places. 

For the tags, I used the Autumn stencil and Rusty Hinge and Fossilized Amber, then went over it with the Wild Honey ink. 

I continued with the same paints and stencil and added the leaf layer. I toned it down a bit by going over most of the page with the Wild Honey ink again. 

It took me a few tries to get the layout I liked. Simon's Vintage Dictionary paper lies behind the photo and tags. Then, I splashed a stream of sequins, buttons and beads from 28 Lilac Lane across the page. 

I folded one tag and did a bit of journaling inside.

I added a touch of the Evergreen Bough distress paint around my photo mat, and the photo also. I felt like I needed to tie these in to the background. I added extra details with a graphite pencil, and white and black pens.

I truly am thankful for this beautiful view my family and I get to see every day...fields, woods and the Adirondack Mountains.

Please join us in this week's challenge and share your thanks. I look forward to seeing what you make! Each week, Simon Says Stamp generously gives a $50 shopping voucher to one lucky participant!

SUPPLIES:

                                       

                                       

A great place to shop!!

Simon is on Instagram, be sure to use #sssmchallenge!

I am very thankful for the wonderful design team I work with, and I know you will be inspired by their beautiful work!

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Guess What! I have been Scrapbooking!

I am doing some scrapbooking these days and wanted to share the 3 pages I finished. I am working on the photos from last year's camping trip out west with my hubby.

What do you think? Metal compass on the destination tag?

What do you think? Should I make/stamp a coffee cup to add to the City Brew photo?

This one I like...tied the twine into knots to give it a rustic look. And, yes, that is hubby playing the guitar.

When I started working on this project, I thought I would do the trip in sequence, until I started working with it and realized a year later, I don't know where some of my photos are taken! Oops! I have a journal, but should have sorted or marked my photos right away - maybe I will remember that next time.