Happy Halloween...Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!!  I have made a card to celebrate the day, as well as using the same die for a Christmas card, too, using a funnnn new Simon Says Stamp die from Simon's Sweet Wishes release!...

I die cut the Witch Feet die, and covered the socks/stockings with black and orange/yellow die cut cardstock pieces.  I used an older Simon square die, die cut a window for the feet, and popped it up over the card.  I added a die cut and layered sentiment, die cut from glossy cardstock.  Here's a close up...

Then...I had the idea to use the witch feet and make them into elf feet...thus a Christmas card!...

I made it very similar to the first...the top panel a bit smaller than the first, as I didn't need a much space for the sentiment.  I used one of the new sentiment dies, again, with the glossy cardstock, and layered....Here's a close up...

I love that this die can be so versatile...so...much...fun!!!  Hope your Halloween is happy!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Buckeye Leaves Birthday

I've made a card with a new Simon Says Stamp embossing folder and sentiment die, from their 

Sweet Wishes release!

I used a black ink pad, rubbed on an embossed piece of cardstock, along with glossy black cardstock, to make a more "guy" kind of birthday card.  I layered the die cut sentiment, and popped up the green panel on the card.  Here's a close up...

Leaves and plants are big...this was so much fun!!  Halloween tomorrow...then it's on to November...woo hoo!!  Hope you have a great rest of your day.  

Thanks for stopping by, today...I really appreciate your visit!! Hugs!! Lisa

Beautiful Bloom

I have made a card with the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Blooms stamp and die set, from the Sweet Wishes release!

The stamps from this set actually came out in September with the STAMPtember® release, but I was beyond THRILLED to have the stamps rereleased, along with the dies, in this new release!!  The flowers are so pretty, and I chose to simply use one of the flowers and two of the leaves, along with a sentiment, to make my card.  I stamped, die cut, colored and popped up the flower , and layered the leaves.  I colored the flower like a black eyed susan...kind of Fallish!  I popped up the panel onto the card, and done.  

Here's a close up...

Such a pretty set...and such CAS fun!!  Hope you have had a great weekend!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Artsy Flowers

I have used one of the beautiful and sweet new Simon Says Stamp stamp/die sets, from their new Sweet Wishes release, to make a couple flowery cards!...

I made this large petal filled flower into a black eyed susan, or a sunflower...but either way a Fallish flower.  I colored the flower with markers, die cut and adhered to a embossed piece of cardstock, using one of the new Rainbow Splash embossing folders.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut, adhered over the stem of the flower.  Here's a close up...

The second card...

This card was simply done with three flowers that I had made into my favorite daisies.  I'm not great at coloring, at all, so I had the idea to blend ink into the centers with a blending brush.  Not sure about you, but it does seem that yellow ink, at least with a marker, tends to "bleed" into the black image ink, when using yellow markers, so  blending with an ink pad and brush seems to have been a much better route to go, than coloring with markers, anyway.  I adhered the flowers to the gray panel that I had stamped the sentiment onto.  

Here's a pic of what my stamped flower that I used to blend, looked like...

You may have noticed, I changed the sentiment...yes, I do change my mind...it seems frequently.  These daisies just looked like "thanks"!

Here's a close up of the card...

Hope you have been having a great week...OMG...one week til November...yikes...the month is flying by!!  

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Tulip Filled Birthday Wishes

I have used the new Rainbow Splash Mosaic Tulips embossing folder, to make a birthday card...

I used, what I'm calling, the debossed coloring method, of embossing.  I embossed the white cardstock, then colored the images on the DEBOSSED side of the paper with markers.  THEN, comes the magic!  I took a black stamp pad and swiped it over the debossed, colored images, and voila...the black stamp pad only touches the flat parts of the embossed cardstock...you have colored images with a black background!  The cool thing in the coloring with markers, is that you don't have to be precise or perfect with your coloring...the swiping of the black stamp pad will cover all the over coloring!  I then added a Simon birthday die cut sentiment, which I had layered.    Here's a close up...

I LOVE red tulips...this card was so much fun to make!!  Hope you're having a great week!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Dimensional Christmas Cards

Simon Says Stamp has just released the new November Card Kit today!  I have used a paper pack(with foam squares!) from the kit, along with the kit's embossing folder and sentiment from the stamp set in the kit, to make five, dimensional cards for Christmas!

I had SO much fun making these cards!!!  I was sitting watching Inside Out 2 with my son, and put these together while watching the movie!  I had a blast...and love their popped up look!  The sentiment was not made to be straight, but, for my use, I attempted to straighten it the best I could!  I think these are so cute!  I have taken individual pictures of each card, to show you what they look like a little closer up...

I

The cool thing about Simon Card Kits is that you can subscribe to them, and get them every month.  The kits have everything inside you would need to make cards with!  I did use my own white cardstock and black ink, but was great having cards in a kit!  Hope you will check the kit out...have a link below!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Sweet Wishes Blog Hop Day 2!

I have the honor and thrill to be joining a whole bunch of wonderfully talented artists, to celebrate, with a Blog Hop at the Simon Blog,  Simon Says Stamp's newest release, Sweet Wishes!  This is a fun and beautiful release...there are stamps, dies, embossing folders, and accessories,  that celebrate everyday, as well as the upcoming Christmas season!  I have used one of the beautiful new die sets, with Fall in mind, to make a couple cards...

This Autumn Sunflower die set is beautiful!  I do love sunflowers, and this die makes for some really pretty and easy/simple flowers and cards!  I die cut the flower from dark yellow cardstock.  I layered the brown center.  I stamped the background with Fog ink, and adhered the flower to the backround, along with stamping, then die cutting the sentiment, love this sentiment, BTW, from a new stamp/die set from this release! I thought it perfect for this card with the contrast between the gray images of the background,  and the bright golden yellow of the flower!  Here's a close up...

Then....I had an idea!  What if I took this simple, beautiful flower, and using the same sentiment, made the flower, REALLY full of color...all different color??!!...

I die cut the flower petals from white cardstock, and colored the petals with different color markers.  I die cut the center from black cardstock  and used the same background and sentiment for this card, as for the first card...just thought it would be fun to see the difference in the two, yet having so many similarities.  Here's a close up...

Okay...I had SO much fun with these two cards!!  My fun was above, your fun is below!!

Simon is generously giving a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop from our comment sections, so the more hop blogs you comment on, the more chances you will have to win!  Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Blog on Wednesday, October 16th, so make sure you check the Simon Blog on the 16th, to see if you are a winner!!  If you are a winner, you can email Simon to claim your prize!

The list of participants in today's hop are listed below...

Simon Says Stamp Blog 
Nina-Marie Trapani
Caly Person
Suzy Plantamura
Emily Midgett
Amy Rysavy
Debby Hughes
                                 Lisa Addesa<------You are Here!
Alberto Gava
Kulbir Kirkland
Heather Hoffman
Allison Frazier
Maura Hibbitts
Misty Elam
Mary Reiner
Anne Fiene

A couple notes before I end my post...Wanted to let you know...as you read in the title of this post, this is day 2 of blog hops, celebrating this release!  There was another blog hop yesterday...and that gives you not only 14 more projects with wonderful inspiration, but also 14 more chances to win a $25 coupon from Simon if you leave comments!  

ALSO...don't forget the wonderful offer in the heading of this post...A free Fancy Tidings of Cheer die set with any purchase!!   Simply follow the 3-step directions in the banner, and the die set is yours!  Do remember, though, that the offer is only good until the end of the day on October 13th(tomorrow), or until supplies last, so don't wait!   Hope you will keep hopping along and join the fun and inspiration for the rest of the hop!  Thank you so much for stopping by and "keep hopping"...hugs! 

 Lisa

Sweet Wishes Release!

There's a new release out over at Simon Says Stamp today, Sweet Wishes!  I have made a sparkly Christmas card to start off this wonderful release!...

This Stylized Tree die set comes with a tree die and a die with three different sized decoration balls.  I used Simon Glitter cardstock for both the tree as well as the ornaments.  I die cut and layered both the tree, as well as the ornaments.  I adhered them to a black piece of cardstock that I had embossed snowflakes on, with a Simon embossing folder.  The sentiment is from an older die set, Merry and Bright, using the same white glitter cardstock.  I cut off the "Bright", and layered it.  Here's a close up...

Hope you are having a great start to this month!  Cooler temps here in Virginia...in...my...glory!!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Stencil Fun!

I have made a couple cards with two new stencil sets and two new sentiment dies from Simon Says Stamp's STAMPtember® release!...

I used the pretty and cool kklmSnowflake Stripes stencil set for my first card.  I used four different colors of blue for my stripes.  I also used Pixie spray on my stencils to get them to stick to my cardstock.  This is helpful, so that the stencil stays in place while you're brushing on the ink!  I love the way this card turned out, but I have to be honest with you...so that you can learn from my mistakes, and so that I can hopefully keep you from having to make the same ones I made, here are my first two attempts... 

Zoom in on the pictures, as you can see the mistakes better, closer up. Stencil sets were made with precision in mind...but this one, especially.  I was not so particular the first time, especially, and then even the second time, I was a bit off.  Bottom line, make sure that the strands of the snowflake are lined up precisely, before inking!  The third time was the charm and after inking, I cut it down, to fit on an A2 card.  I used a new Simon sentiment die, cut in white, and layered on a black border.  I used Nuvo drops for an accent, and done!  Here's a cloe up...

The second one, another of the pretty new stencils from the STAMPtember® release...

I looked up pictures of this leaf, and found alot of variegated leaves.  So...I chose to use two green inks and a white ink.  I then cut the leaf out, and popped up on a gray panel with embossed fronds on it.  I dotted the gray paper with some Nuvo green crystals, and added a silver die cut and layered sentiment.  This time, I used a vellum cut border for behind the sentiment.  Here's a close up...

I think stencils are soooooo much fun!!  Hope you are having a great start to your week!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Love and Joy at Christmas

My first Christmas card of the season!  I have made today's card with a new Simon Says Stamp sentiment stamp set and a new embossing folder/die set, both from their new STAMPtember® release!

I die cut the leaves/berries and then put the die cut into the embossing folder.  I ran it through on my Big Shot, and the leaves/berries then had beautiful definition!  I colored the leaves/berries with markers, and used glossy accent to dot the berries and give them some pretty shine!  I then put the die cut "inside" a popped up panel with a heart die cut window and two sentiments stamped in the space of the upper left hand curve of the die cut heart. Here's a closeup...

It will be October in a couple of days...less than three months until Christmas!  I am ready to get started getting ready!  Hope you have had a great weekend! 

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit

I have made a couple cards with the new Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit!...

I stamped the largest leave stamp in the set three times, and then used the stencil from the kit, to blend color(s) onto the leaves.  The card kit DOES NOT come with the coordinating dies, but can be make as a separate purchase.  I used the die for this leaf, and cut the leaves, then layered each of them with a second leaf.  I used all the sentiments from the stamp set, lined them up in my MISTI, and stamped them in a light gray.  I used the middle space to adhere a stamped and die cut "thank you"....stamping in black and layering makes the sentiment "stand out".  Here's a close up... 

The second card, I used two more of the stamps, along with two more of the dies...

I die cut, colored, and layered both of the images.  I used some old, but much loved, making it last, red enamel accents(not quite sure why Tim Holtz/Ranger stopped making this), and dotted the blooms.  I adhered the blooms over the leaves.  I used a sentiment from a Simon stamp set from the STAMPtember® release...just thought it fit on the card so perfectly and loved the sentiment!  Here's a close up...

You can subscribe to the monthlhy card kits at Simon Says Stamp...it's fun to get card making supplies, from stamps to paper, and all kinds of add ons, to make cards with from the minute you open the box!  I've added the link, below, for the monthly subscription!  Hope you're having a great weekend!  

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Sincere Thanks

I have made a thank you card with a beautiful new Simon Says Stamp sentiment die, from the STAMPtember® release, along with a new embossing folder, from the new Simon October card kit!...

I embossed the folder on a cream colored cardstock that came with the card kit.  I then took a Rainbow Splash Buttercream and then Simon Latte ink pads, and brushed them over the embossed images...giving the panel some color on the images.  I die cut the sentiment with silver matte cardstock, and layered with two white cardstock layers underneath.  I popped up the panel on the card.  Here's a close up...

Simple, but with two beautiful products and some ink...you can't go wrong!!  Hope you have a great weekend!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa