It’s show time!

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Hey everybody! As I type this I’m cruising the floor at the CHA summer show in Las Vegas (HOT weather much?!) and checking out all of the new products coming soon! I will be sharing my findings starting Wednesday night here on my blog (if you’re an email subscriber, you’ll get updates each morning, not multiple emails), favorites, and as many photos as I can pack right here onto my blog.

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In the meantime, you might notice the gentleman here on this card. Hello sir, what are you up to?

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He is one of the new Tim Holtz stamps – I had the honor of creating samples for Stamper’s Anonymous featuring the amazing new sets. My cards can be seen in their booth, and over the next few weeks/months I’ll be sharing them with you here as well. Most of them are Halloween and Christmas themed – and actually this guy could be something of an evil scientist I suppose (thus, Halloween-y) but I think he’s just brewing up serious science stuff. No messing around for him! I want to make a cupcake or something silly to put in his hand (instead of the tube) to mix it up… ha!

Well I’m off to walk the show floor and hopefully meet up with some good friends too. I wish you very happy crafting!

If you’d like to see my photos and favorites from the show, people pics, and more today- I will be posting to my Instagram. Don’t have Instagram? That’s ok- you can still view it online here.

Simon Says: August kit blog hop!

 

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Summer is in full swing and we’re celebrating with a card kit blog hop featuring the August 2013 Simon Says Stamp card kit! With it’s bright colors and new exclusive Simon Says Stamp products, it’s sure to get you in the creative mood. I’m excited to be taking part in this hop – and I will be sharing with you two new cards and a scrapbook layout all made from this kit.

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What I am loving about this month’s stamp set is that it would be great on my scrapbook pages (you can see some stamps in action above!) as well as on cards and other projects.

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For the first card, I used the new exclusive stencil with salty ocean distress ink on a piece of cardstock before spritzing with water (that’s how I got the water spots) and layering on some hand-cut banners and a heart. My sentiment stamps are done with white embossing powder for extra pop.
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For my second card, I wanted to use that great stencil again. This time though, I used with white acrylic paint to create some texture and funky detail onto one of the patterned papers from the kit.

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This card was actually really quick and easy to make – the longest part was waiting on the paint to dry so I could add stitching, pink ink, and finish up the card!

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The stencil and little hello button are my favorite parts of this kit. Love them! Of course, I love a lot of the patterned papers too and wanted to use this kit for a scrapbook page before I quit my creative session for the day.

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I loved mixing mist splatter with stamping tiny hearts (from the kit) as well as the two (stitched and heart) border stamps that were in the kit. This page doesn’t have journaling – that is intentional! It is going to be the opening/title page in a “sisters” scrapbook album.

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Some of my layouts about my daughters and their relationship go into a sisters album (vs general family/by year album) and this will be just the page to kick off another album!

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Well now you’ve seen my projects – it’s almost time to hop on along to other stops on the hop!

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This is a great kit! The colors, stamps, and all the details really come together for amazing results and simple to make projects. If you are interested – I’d suggest heading over to order yours asap. I think this one is gonna sell out fast!

The incredible Kathy is the next stop on this blog hop – you can check out her blog here. She’s got FIVE cards to share!

Before you hop to the next blog – remember that Simon has prizes to share!! There is a prize being drawn at random on each stop of the hop, so for your chance to win leave a comment on each of the blog posts as you hop along to be entered in the random drawings. (if you’re reading this via email – hop onto the internet so you can comment)

The giveaways will stay open until Sunday July 21 at 6:00pm EST and the winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Monday July 22, 2013.

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Supplies Used:

If you encounter any broken links on the hop, you can head back the Simon Says Stamp blog for the  full list of participants as well.

Creative Play with Gelatos [and a card]

002 Today I wanted to share a card I made with Gelatos – the basic how-to is this:

1. apply to paper

2. add water with a brush to blend

Easy! I used an embossed image here, so the gelato color initially stuck to it (because its raised) but once I added water the color slid right off and onto the plain paper.
004 The thing about new or new-to-you products is that you need to just know the very basic of how it works to get started. I see a lot of people get hung up on “but this is something new…” well most things work similarly to other stuff on the market.

For example, gelatos are like watercolor but in a chapstick-like form. Some of the approaches I use when I want to blend distress products works for them as well, and knowing that they will be reactive with water is key too. Once I know the basics, and saw a video showing some how-to I realized it really is as simple as apply + add water and off I ran.
007 One fun thing to do with them is to rub onto a stamp, then spritz lightly with water and stamp, as I did here below.
012 I really enjoyed my quick little 15 minute session with my gelatos, and getting more comfortable with them too. I really want to pull them out more often, and I think no-pressure short creative play sessions are key to that.
031 Here’s the card I made with my butterfly experiment-
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supplies used:

note: the bottom row is not supplied used, so much as my favorite small/starter sets of gelatos! I got those first, learned them, and loved before diving into the BIG set that I used in the card above.