Yay You Blog Hop!

Yay me, I'm so happy to be a part of todays Simon Says Stamp Yay You Release celebration over at the Simon Blog!  There are so many wonderful new products in this release, and I am so excited to share the cards I've made with you from the beautiful new Intricate Floral Background Hot foil plate!...  

This first card is simply made using the plate, gold foil, and a layered Simon sentiment die.  Black, gold, and white are so pretty together, so my thought was, why not hot foil the plate with gold foil on black cardstock, and frame in white with a white sentiment...LOVED!!  I simply added the sentiment, popped up on white card, and done...super simple...but loved this simplicity!  

Here's a close up...

 

The second one, I did much the same as the first, but gold on white cardstock...

I used a different sentiment this time, die cut in gold and layered.  I framed it in gold and done!  Here's a close up...

Then, I thought...hmmmm.....what if I color a white background and the flowers/leaves??...

I colored with markers, it took a bit of time...but it was fun!  Hey, coloring is always fun...and relaxing!!  I used, yet another Simon Happy Birthday die...die cut and layered in white, thought this one went so well with this version!  Here's a close up...

I LOVE the diversity of this plate...there are so many ways to use it...and with hot foil, simple or more involved...the gold foil makes a card SO pretty!!

I had such fun making my cards...my fun is shown above, your fun begins 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 have to win!  Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Blog on Wednesday, May 18th, so make sure you check the Simon Blog on the 18th, to see if you are a winner!!  

The list of participants of today's hop are listed below:

Simon Says Stamp Blog   

Nina-Marie Trapani

Caly Person

Nichol Spohr

Cathy Zielske

Suzy Plantamura

Sidnie Des Jardins

Lisa Addesa

Keisha Charles

Heather Ruwe

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Mindy Eggen

Barb Engler

Cheiron Brandon

Yoonsun Hur

A couple things before I go...don't forget the offer in the banner at the top of my post! Simon is offering the beautiful Beautiful die with any $25 purchase!  Simply use the code BEAUTY when checking out, to get this gift!  Just remember, the offer is only good until the end of the day on May 15th,  OR until supplies last!

Second...there is another blog hop tomorrow!  So please visit the Simon Blog tomorrow, for another day of celebration and inspiration!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and keep on hopping!! 

Hugs!! Lisa

Yay You Release!

The Simon Says Stamp Yay You release is out today, and I have made a card to share with you, with one of the wonderful new stamps!...

I have used the new Arched Greens Cling stamp...and oh what fun this stamp is!  The center of the stamp can be removed, and stamped separately...which is what I opted to do!  I put the center stamp into my MISTI and began stamping everything individually.  I stamped the border and the stem with versamark and black embossed.  To do this and all the leaves, I used scotch tape to mask everything I did not want to be inked.  After embossing the black, I put the paper back into my MISTI, and masked the leaves(and some of the border each time) to stamp each leaf with color and press onto the cardstock.  After all the leaves were stamped, I removed the stamped paper piece, and die cut it with one of the Simon Domed Arches.  I stamped the rest of the Arched Greens stamp with black ink, and popped up the colored piece on top.  I added a die cut, layered and clear embossed happy birthday...it fit perfectly in the image!  

Here's a close up...

I hope you will check out the new release over at Simon...and there will be two days of hops over at the Simon Blog tomorrow and Friday...hope you will check them out for lots of inpiration with all the wonderful new products!  

Thanks for visiting my blog today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Lined Background Birthdays

I've made a couple birthday cards with the cool new Lined Background and Birthday Sentiments stamps from Simon Says Stamp's Happy and Joyful release...

I used five different colors of Simon Saturated ink pads, blending them onto cardstock that I had stamped the background stamp with versamark and white embossed.  I then hand cut one of the sections out of the lines, and popped it up over a card size piece of cardstock that I had curved and stamped with versamark and black embossed.  I added some Tonic jewel drops.  Here's a close up...

The second one, just like the first(actually, I made this one a while ago, the one above, last night...lol), except I did the lines vertical, the coloring horizontal instead of vertical!...

I used another of the very cool sentiment stamps from the Birthday Sentiments set.  Here's a close up...

Such wonderful fun...hoping there is some happy in your day!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Pussy Willows

I've made a card with the beautiful The Greetery BotaniCuts Pussy Willow die...

I LOVE pussy willows!  My grandmother had a pussy willow bush and now, so do I! It's a little harder to grow them in Virginia than it is in Buffalo, but I have been able to adorn my home as well as my two daughters with my cuttings when they bloom in the spring!  In all my crafting years, I have never seen a pussy willow die, and this one is so beautifully realistic!!  When I saw this die set, well, i just HAD...TO...HAVE...IT!!  Only thing is...seems that a lot of other people did, too!  So, I had to wait until it came back into stock, then wait again until I had made time to play with it.  I made time last night, and oh, what fun!    I also purchased the Decofoil white flocking sheets, and die cut the fuzzies on the pussy willows from a sheet of flocking, to give them some real fuzz!  I used an old and sadly discontinued Poppy Stamps sentiment from the Greeting Basics stamp set.  The light blue paper is from a bunch of papers I was happily given, that were once samples. Then I added some jewel drops.   Here's a close up...

 

The pussy willows on my bush(tree), have long since gone, replaced by leaves, but making this card made them live on for a little longer...oh happiness!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Sketched Leaf Branches on Vellum

  I used the beautiful new Simon Says Stamp Sketched Leaf Branch Hot Foil Plate and die set, from the Happy and Joyful release, to make a couple cards...

I'm not sure if anyone has hot foiled on vellum, but I thought I would give the idea a try!  I had to experiment a bit, trial and error, and here are a couple tips from my experiments.  I used a heavy vellum...I used the Simon vellum...super weight!  Use a lightweight piece of paper behind the foil, and vellum...gives it a little much needed heft and stability to the vellum.  My first attempts without paper turned out, but did not look as nice.  I then die cut the branch, and used two of my Prima Markers, to color the leaves.  I added some vellum adhesive on the back of the stem, and adhered to a panel with a CZ Design "thinking of you" sentiment, stamped with versamark and silver embossed.  Simplicity at it's finest!!  Here's a close up...

This second card was an afterthought...I didn't really think about using the smaller die cut leaves,  but thought...hey, why not?? So, you know me...a rainbow birthday card it is...

I combined the colored leaves with one of the new stamps from the XL Stacked Greetings stamp set!  I colored the leaves from behind, adhered with vellum adhesive and stamped the sentiment with Versamark and silver embossed.  Here's a closeup...

Don't know about the weather where you are, but it is beautiful here in Virginia today...birthday or not...happy and joyful!!  Hope your weekend was lovely!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Layered Alphas

I used the very cool new Simon Says Stamp Layered Alphas stencil set, from their Happy and Joyful release,  to make a couple fun cards...

The Layered Alphas stencil set contains three stencils that, when all used, form the letters of the alphabet!  This is such a fun set of stencils...there are so many ways you can stencil these letters!  How I chose to stencil, was to blend the whole of each stencil with a different color, thus stenciling the entire alphabet!  I then cut out the letters to form "thanks".  I popped them up on the card panel and added a sentiment from the wonderful Simon sentiment stamp set, Simply Thank You, to complete the card!  Here's a close up...

This second one, I chose to use more of the letters I had originally stenciled, and the new A2 Marquee dies...

I thought that using up as many of the letters of the alphabet I had stenciled, by making another card, would be cool, so I made the word "LOVE"!  I cut out and popped up the letters like the first card, adding a layered white heart in the center of the "o", all onto the smallest new A2 Marquee die cut.  I blended ink on a second die cut marquee, then adhered  the first, with the sentiment and all the white dots taken out, over the blended piece.  I then, blended ink over a larger marquee's dots...all around the rectangle.  But, rather than cover the larger blended ink dots with another white panel, I just left them and adhered the smaller white with colored dots panel over the larger colored dots.  I just liked how it looked, I loved the color!! I popped the whole thing up on the card, and added a sentiment strip to complete it.

Here's a close up... 

Oh, I had so much fun with these two cards!!  I hope you are having a good weekend...a sunny and very warm Sunday, here in Virginia...the perfect day to stay in and make cards!  Take care!!

Thanks for stopping by today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Daisy Blossom Stem

I have made a card with the two new dies that I recently acquired...the beautiful Memory Box Daisy Blossom Stem and Love You Posh Script dies...

If you know me, you know I love cards that not only have daisies, but that are simple!  I love this daisy and sentiment dies, AND the simplicity of this card!  I used this daisy die a bit different than perhaps it was meant to be used, as I used the petal dies to to around the center, rather than only on one side of the center.  I colored the center with my marker, as well as the stem.  I adhered to a light gray panel with a layered sentiment die cut.  No bling...super clean and simple...happiness.  Here's a close up...

Ok, this was so so much fun!!  Hope you are having some fun on this last full weekend of April!

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Happy Earth Day!

It's Earth Day today, Happy Earth Day!  Earth Day began in 1970, and is a day for becoming, or continuing to be a warrior for our earth!  I have made a card with the new Simon Says Stamp Mother Earth stamp set, from Simon Says Stamp and their new Happy and Joyful release...

I love this round image, especially what it represents!! I made this card with a couple in my neighborhood in mind.  They clean up trash and litter daily by my house...which melts my heart as I am an avid trash collector.  I collect trash in my neighborhood and beyond, every day I walk...usually between 3 to 10 bags each time...sometimes less, sadly, most times that much or more.  This was an especially heavy day...

The picture above is a photo of one of my many clean ups, taken in an effort to show my city officials of my need for an extra city trash can, which I was kindly given, with the help of my daughters' input to my city, last Mother's Day!  SO, needless to say, trash collecting is very important to me!  And I sooooo appreciate anyone who cares enough to help keep the community, and our earth clean, like my neighbors!  This Simon image has the whole Earth in it..the Sun, the stars, wind, rain, rainbow, water and beach, land, and leaves!  I had so much fun...felt like a little kid, deciding what colors I would color each part.  I clear embossed the entire image, and used my glitter pen and then some tonic drops on the stars... 

The sentiment is from the beautiful new Simon stamp set, Beautiful Magnolia, and I thought the sentiment as well as the script/font, was perfect for this card.  Please find a way to help your community and our planet…collect litter, reuse and recycle, plant a tree…it feels great to know you’re doing something to help our world!   Hope all is well in your part of the world...thanks so much for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Happy and Joyful Blog Hop!

I am so happy to be a part of the first day of two Simon Says Stamp blog hops today, at the Simon Says Stamp Blog, celebrating their newest Happy and Joyful release!  I have used one of the amazing new stencil sets along with a sentiment die and a stamp, to make two birthday cards to share with you today!...

This first card was done with four colors of ink...  

I am kind of a novice to stencils and inks, so I thought, four stencils, four colors of ink.  Simply done, I used two green inks, a pink and a yellow.  I then stamped a sentiment from the new Birthday Sentiments stamp set with versamark and silver embossed.  I popped up the flowered panels on either side of the sentiment, and finished!  Here's a close up...

After the first card, I learned a little and let loose...a lot!...

I realized that this pretty set of stencils is so wonderfully designed, that if you use smaller blending brushes, you can use a multitude of colors on your four stencils, as the images on each stencil are spaced far enough away from each other to  make that possible.  So....this card became very colorful!  I used the new Birthday on a Line die for the sentiment, die cut in silver, layered, and adhered between the popped up panels.  Here's a close up...

I had such fun making my cards...my fun is shown above, your fun begins 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 have to win!  Winners will be chosen and posted on the Simon Blog on Wednesday, April 27th, so make sure you check the Simon Blog on the 27th, to see if you are a winner!!  

The list of participants of today's hop are listed below:

Simon Says Stamp Blog   

Nina-Marie Trapani

Caly Person

Nichol Spohr

Cathy Zielske

Suzy Plantamura

Sidnie Des Jardins

                                     Lisa Addesa<--------You are Here!

Keisha Charles

Heather Ruwe

Mindy Eggen

Barb Engler

Cheiron Brandon

Yoonsun Hur

 

A couple things before I go...don't forget the offer in the banner at the top of my post! Simon is offering a free Garden Party Sticker Sheet with any purchase!  Simply use the code GRDPTY, when checking out, to get this gift!  Just remember, the offer is only good until the end of the day on April 24th,  OR until supplies last!

Second...there is another blog hop tomorrow!  So please visit the Simon Blog tomorrow, for another day of celebration and inspiration!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and keep on hopping!! 

Hugs!! Lisa

Happy and Joyful Release!

The Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful Release just came out today, and I have made a card using one of the beautiful new hot foil plates/die set...

Eucalyptus plants are  strong, inside and out, and they symbolize many things, but one of the things they symbolizes is strength.  I made this Mother's Day card to encourage this mom to have strength, and to remind her how important she is!  This beautiful stem requires a Glimmer Hot Foil machine, which I used to heat up the plate, and then ran it through my Big Shot.  I brushed sage ink onto the card, brushed it with a static bag, versamark stamped the sentiment and silver embossed.  I used my Prismacolor markers to color the eucalyptus leaves and then layered.  I adhered a silver border to the bottom of the card, and done.  

Here's a close up...

Hope you will check out the new release over at Simon!  There will be two blog hops, tomorrow, and Friday on the Simon Blog...hope you will hop along!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Love You Mom

I used a new Simon Says Stamp sentiment die and a stencil, along with another older Simon die and stencil, to make a Mother's Day card...

Okay, this card came with a bunch of "I wonder, what if, let's try??" moments.  I wondered if the Simon Heart Stencils were the same sizes as the Simon Heart dies?  I'm not sure about the rest of them, but the one die and stencil size I wanted to work with WERE!  What did this mean, you ask?  What if I  embossed the heart shape with the die onto the cardstock and then stencil WITHIN that embossed heart for a little more interest and definition than simply stenciling.  THEN, I put the new Fanfare stencil up to the heart and... oh... my... goodness...the fans FIT the curves of the heart...well...I loved this idea, too!!  Only thing...this simple design takes getting everything precisely right.  This whole heart thing involves lots of PRECISION...but so cool when it all comes together!! 

Let's try!

SO...I embossed the heart with the die, taped the heart stencil to the cardstock panel precisely, and blended two pinks and a red ink across the heart.  Then, I adhered the Fanfare stencil over the heart stencil, again, precisely(lining up where the top curves come together, the top curves, and the bottom point of the heart).  This wasn't hard, just learn from my little hiccups, take your time and align...hey that kind of rhymes!   I stenciled the same three colors, and then added the layered sentiment die cut Mom, and the popped up sentiment strip.  I added polka dotted paper to the top and bottom and some tonic drops and done.  Here's a close up...

Oh my goodness...so...much...fun!!  Such fun putting things together like this!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

You're on My Heart and Leftovers

I had leftovers from a card that I made over a year ago, in a box of unused die cut and stamped images.  I thought that with this new CZ Design sentiment die, You're on My Heart, from Simon Says Stamp's Hello Gorgeous release, it would be the perfect time to combine the old with the new and make a couple cards...

The rainbow of stenciled layered hearts goes perfect with the You're on My Heart sentiment die!  So, I simply trimmed the hearted cardstock as best as I could, added a layered die cut sentiment, added some tonic drops, and popped up on card.  Here's a close up...

The second one is the same,  just cut a bit different and still has the purple hearts on it ...

Layered sentiment, more tonic drops, and and other close up...

So much fun and SO EASY and SIMPLE!!  Maybe you will have some fun and find some leftovers in your room somewhere, that you'll be able to make into something new!  Hope you have a great week!!  Take care, be safe!!

Thank you so much for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa