Stencil Celebrations

 I absolutely adore my Altenew stencils. 

It's true! I'm not being compensated. There aren't any affiliate inks. Just a heartfelt declaration of love.

May Your Day Be As Amazing As You Are

 Last Spring I was fortunate to have enrolled in the Altenew Secret Garden Retreat. It was an all day event that featured amazing instructors and a huge cache of beautiful products.

Playful Watercolor Flowers

You've seen me use this stencil before. I used a portion of it in a recent blog post.

White Cap Peonies

 Peonies are always stunning. Imagine making them in ANY color.

This square card in Autumn colors was made using the White Cap Peonies Stencil from Altenew. There's no need to embellish. The flowers are striking by themselves. The sentiment is a strip of vellum that is embossed in black. Speaking of black...the black background was created with a technique that I learned from Lydia Evans. She has a FREE online workshop called Surprising Stenciling that explains it in detail.

Have a great day!

Michelle

Occasionally you will see a link to a product I've used that is part of an affiliate program. If you purchase a product using the link provided I may receive a small commission. This doesn't cost anything extra for you, but your purchase really helps support my mission to provide you with more useful resources to create really great crafting projects of your own. Thank you for supporting me and my small business. Let me know if I can do anything to support you!

Autumn Friends

I am in love with the Altenew layering stencils. They are sooo much fun to play with!

Be Merry Deer

I am completely smitten with the Zig Kuretake watercolors. I love playing with them and wanted to use them for my Holiday cards too. They are so creamy and luscious! But, stamping with watercolors? I was hesitant. I applied the paint directly to the stamp. Voila! It worked! Not perfectly...but it worked. :) I must confess; it didn't work every time. I had to play around with getting the right consistency. But it was fun and it was worth it.

I used a stencil and embossing paste to get this wonderful texture. It too, was painted with watercolors.

 I love those metal stars. They have have some real heft to them.

What will you be making this year? Show us the Holiday cards that you've created. Link your project to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and your project could win a $50 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp.  We draw a new winner each week. Your project could also be chosen to be featured in our weekly designer spotlight.

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Stamp and Stencil Fun

I feel like I am the luckiest woman in the world.
I have a wonderful husband, a family that I adore, and a lovely collection of stamps and stencils that allow me to create almost anything. It's been a rough week. Thank goodness for stamping therapy!

I created a scrapbook page this week that features Autumn leaves. I am really enjoying creating leaves this year. These leaves were cut with my Sizzix, colored with distress inks, and embellished with golden shattered circles. The circles were so easy to make with embossing paste and a stencil. I love that golden glow.

I also love my new Waffle Flower alphabet stamps. They have more than one of most letters so that I was able to spell out "Adventure" in its entirety before stamping. I was pretty excited about that. Something only a stamper would understand. ;)

Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. For more than 10 years we have celebrated rubber stamping and its glory. We work to bring companies from around the world together in a one stop shopping environment. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a “STAMPtember®" event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the delight of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media and many forms of altering and expressing art.

Don't forget to show us what you're created with your stamps and stencils!

Join us this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and your project could win a $50 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp.  We draw a new winner each week. Your project could also be chosen to be featured in our weekly designer spotlight.

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TV Time

Is this a fun photo, or what?
I've been wanting to scrap this for ages.  When I heard that Tick Tock was this weeks theme for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, I knew that this was the time to do it.
My Great, Great Aunt Lala took this photo in 1965.  She was a creative soul who dressed department store windows and wore pants during an era when "proper" women didn't do that. She often photographed odd things. She would have LOVED Instagram. ;)
Time flies, doesn't it?

I took my time and created many of my own elements for this layout.

I'm not cheap, but I am frugal...and I like to use my craft supplies in creative, yet cost-effective ways. Stencils and stamps are always a good buy. For this layout, I used my Tim Holtz Clockwork stencil as a template to create my own faux die cut. No machine necessary. I love that! (I try to use stencil patterns like this one, that won't show mistakes from my arthritic fingers.) I also used this fabulous PaperArtsy rubber stamp to make some fun embellishments. I colored them to match my paper and added a bit of Diamond Glaze to the top to create a bit of texture and shine. Another good buy was the Apha Die from Avery Elle. I used it to create title letters in coordinating patterned paper. I purchased this recently and I can see myself using it for years.

Tick Tock  Link up your project to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and you could win a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp. Your project could also be chosen to be featured in our designer spotlight.

InLinkz.com