When I started this card I knew I wanted to combine this adorable Flourish Rabbit die from Simon Says Stamp with the Elegant Circles Die Set from Pinkfresh Studio. What I didn’t know is that I’d use one of the oldest embellishments I own and had never opened before (we’re talking 19 years, people).

I cut the bunny from Neenah Classic Crest 110lb coverstock. For the piece that makes the background of the ear, I gently ink blended a little Dried Marigold Distress Ink to give a hint of color. On that same piece, I colored the eye black so it would show through the top piece of the die. I used 2 alcohol ink markers to color the flower and leaves on the rabbit. I also used one of my lightest Copic markers (E40) to add in a hint of shading on a few edges of the rabbit.

I used the largest die in the Pinkfresh Studios Elegant Circles die set and cut it from a pale green cardstock, Soft Seafoam from Stampin’ Up!. I stacked this die cut with 3 more behind it to give it a lot of lift and sandwiched a circle of Heavyweight Vellum from Amazon amongst the stack. After I had glued the rabbit on this portion, I wanted to add tiny flowers and leaves on the bottom edge to give the rabbit something to sit on. I pulled out my basket of “paper flowers.” In this basket is both the kind of paper flowers I would buy from Prima decades ago and tiny little paper flowers from left over die cutting I had done recently. I unearthed an unopened package of tiny white paper flowers and silver brads from a long-ago company called Making Memories. I bought these in about 2007 when I was working for Archiver’s. I paired these cute little flowers with greenery from some large Poppystamps Pop Up Easel card die sets. I put tiny orange Poppystamps Fairy Jewels in the center of all the flowers and glued everything onto my circle frame.

I discovered an already paint splattered piece of Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake in my stash, cut it into a 5 x 5” square and dry embossed it with the Tufted 3D Embossing Folder from Spellbinders. I backed this with a piece of pale orange cardstock 5.25 x 5.25” and another piece of Crumb Cake, 5.5 x 5.5”. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in dark green ink from the Simon Says Stamp Easter Greetings stamp set and used the Honeybee Stamps Mini Messages Banner die set to cut out the greeting. As usual, I attached this to a white cardbase.

I am entering this card in 3 challenges. First is the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the theme of Emboss It. Next is the Double Trouble Challenge using the 3-2-1 element (3 Copic markers, 2 new dies, 1 cotton tail) plus Thing 3 theme of Easter. Finally, I am entering the CreaLadies challenge with the theme of animal. 

NOTE: Square cards in square envelopes, of any size, cost more to mail than a rectangular envelope. Please check with the USPS to make sure you have enough postage.

A very happy Easter to you!

I made this graduation card for a dear family friend upon receiving her master's degree. The Yay You die and shadow die were designed by Cathy Zielske for Simon Says Stamp. The brick embossing folder is a retired Stampin' Up! product, but there are very similar, fantastic ones from Honey Bee Stamps here, and Altenew here. 

I cut the graduation hat from my Silhouette as I did not have a die. The rainbow was hand drawn using a straight edge and a variety of Copic and other alcohol markers seen here, such as RV55 Hollyhock, RV17 Deep Magenta, R29 Lipstick Red, YR68 Orange, and V06 Lavender. 

The sentiment strip was from my stash, along with the flat iridescent sequins. I am entering this at Addicted to CAS #304 and Simply Clean and Simple CAS Card Designs. 

I recently got several packages of Tim Holtz’s Palette Paper Collection. It is absolutely dreamy. I’m so glad I got the Orange Tim Holtz 8x8 Palette Paper Collection, because it made the most ideal carrots. I used the Tim Holtz Abstract Elements die set to cut out 3 different sizes of carrots and then I edged them with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink to really make the orange pop. I used one die from Trinity Stamps Wildflower Clippings die set to create the carrot tops, cut from watercolor paper sprayed with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain.

I created Mr. McGregor’s Garden by taking Canson XL watercolor paper and dipping and drying it in a series of inks and sprays: Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inkpads along with Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain Spray Stains. I made dirt! I die cut this one large piece using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Clouds Border dies and a die from the retired Mama Elephant Slim Window Dressings Die Set. It was a bit of a trick getting the carrots glued just where I wanted them and then gluing the levels of dirt all together. I’m sure I did it the hard way.

I computer printed the “Mr. McGregor’s Garden” text onto Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake paper and then cut it out (along with some green cardstock) using the sign dies out of the Tim Holtz Road Trip die set.

I made a tiny sentiment from the old Colorado Craft Company Bunnies and Robin stamp set.

I used a homemade cloud stencil along with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to inkblend clouds in the sky.

I adhered the entire garden scene with foam tape on top of the cloud background. I was happy with how my garden grew. ;-) I am entering this in the Pick Three Challenge using text, slimline, and die cuts.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk () at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. I do not get paid to promote any products.*

Hi everyone! I am very excited to announce I was invited to join the Simon Says Stamp Designer Family last month. So, today I am helping to introduce the In My Heart release from Simon Says Stamp. I have 3 cards to share today featuring the Bereavement Thank Yous* sentiment stamp set designed by Cathy Zielske for this release. Now, I think we’d all admit that this isn’t exactly a stamp set you’d be “excited” to use. However, when you’ve been through a significant loss of any kind, and people love and support you through it, you want to say thank you. This is that stamp set. It’s also an ideal set to have on hand to make thank you cards for someone else to give in their time of need. Those kinds of cards are a gift all unto themselves.

My first card was inspired by the gorgeous new Spellbinders Color Wheel cardstock. I chose their Oceanside cardstock (the color reminds me of Tim Holtz Uncharted Mariner Distress Ink) and cut 2 pieces to 4.25” x 5.5”. Next, I die cut a circle out of the right lower portion of 1 piece, leaving the perfect amount of room for my Bereavement Thank Yous sentiment to fit inside. Finally, I embossed it with the Tufted 3D Embossing folder from Spellbinders. That folder really has a Wow factor. With the flat piece, I heat embossed my sentiment onto the lower right portion to line up with the cut circle. I used Ink on 3 Gold Rush again.

Next, I die cut a variety of pieces of leaves and flowers from Poppystamps Floral Vase Pop Up Easel Set and Floral Cake Pop Up Easel Set. I glued those down on the embossed top piece and attached that with a lot of foam tape to the sentiment piece. Finally, I stamped the slender one-line sentiment from the same stamp set in a dark teal ink onto white cardstock. I used a Honey Bee Stamps sentiment strip die to cut it out.  I attached it with glue on the left and 2 skinny strips of foam tape on the right to hover just below the gold sentiment. Finally, I attached all this to a white card base.

My second card features not only the Bereavement Thank Yous but also the Heart Flowers Background from Simon Says Stamp. I used a few of Tim Holtz’s Distress Watercolor Pencils from Set #4 and scribbled all over the stamp. I spritzed the stamp with water and then stamped it onto a light kraft cardstock. I did this 2-3 times to get one good impression. I absolutely love how those pencils (pigment-based) look on colored cardstock. I cut it to the size I wanted. Next, I took a copper colored cardstock and dry embossed it with a folder featuring an all-over-pattern. I cut that to a size just a fraction larger. Next, I took my Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser (a favorite tool) and roughed up all the edges on both these pieces.

I heat embossed the “I appreciate you” (a great stamp for any kind of thank you) with Ink on 3 Gold Rush embossing powder on a strip of dark brown cardstock. I also die cut a circle from this same cardstock. Between these two, I sandwiched lots of leaves cut using Simon Says Stamp’s Eucalyptus Leaves die set and Trinity Stamps Wildflower Clippings. I used a darker kraft cardstock, the copper colored cardstock, and also a gold pearly cardstock from the Crafter’s Companion (Violet Studio) 6x6 Pearlescent Colours paper pack.

Finally, I added two pieces of rough twine (they came with a pack of tags I bought on Amazon) to the cluster and attached everything with glue and foam tape.

My third card is simpler and larger. I wanted a 5x7” card so I could allow a decent amount of white space around the sentiment. First, I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Breezy Blossoms set of dies, stamps, and stencils to make a few floral accents. I used Taylored Expressions Lavender Glaze ink and Dusty Concord Distress Ink to color the flowers. Next, I used a piece of Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Cover stock and stamped it with the Bereavement Thank Yous sentiment using black Versa Clair ink. 

Leaving space above and below the sentiment, I die cut it using the Spellbinders Essential Arches dies. I cut a larger arch from black cardstock to mat it onto. I used a piece of Neenah cover stock about 3.5” x 5.5” and embossed it with Honey Bee Stamps Spring Medley 3D embossing folder. I mat that onto a piece of Taylored Expressions Lavender Glaze cardstock, and then onto my 5x7 piece of black cardstock.  I assembled everything as shown and added tiny black gems around the floral accents. Of course, all this was glued to the top of a cardbase made out of Neenah 110lb cardstock.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk (*) at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. I do not get paid to promote any products.

Mixed Media is a marathon. A card idea can come together and get produced relatively fast most of the time, but a big mixed media project takes time. The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to use a bit of green sent me off in every direction. This giant tag is 6 1/4" x 9 1/4". I started with Tim Holtz Backdrops Vol 5 and chose an "Old Paper" piece. I cut it to a tab shape and matted it on black cardstock.  Instead of using actual stitching around the edge, I used a very old 49 & Market stamp set called Gabi's Line Stitching and stamped my stitching around the edge. Using Tim Holtz Blossom Stencil and his Opaque Crackle Paste I stenciled onto the paper. To knock down some of the brightness of the crackle paste, I dabbed on Old Paper Distress Ink. 

I rarely use my alcohol inks because I am usually not happy with my results, but this time I just wanted green. I used Ranger Alcohol Ink in Moss along with a little bit of Chronicle on a piece of Duralar paper to just get a mass of green. I die cut this with Tim Holtz Nested Hexagons dies and made a lot of hexagons and hexagon frames. I glued those down, some with foam adhesive. I splattered the tag with Distress Paint in Picket Fence. I took Tattered Rose Distress Spray Stain and Antique Linen Spray Stain and made a mass of an orange-y coral color on Canson XL watercolor paper. I cut 2 of the Tim Holtz Scribbly Butterflies from this and glued them together at the center. 

Next, I fussy cut these 2 amazing flowers from another sheet from the backdrops. That took time. Since the big flower was so fragile, I glued it to a piece of heavyweight vellum that I had already heat embossed with Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Glaze and Tim Holtz Floral Outlines stamp set (my favorite TH stamp set). I glued the small flower directly onto 2 hexagons. Since I wanted to lighten up the area behind my big flower, I put some thread along with a strip of Tim Holtz Mummy Cloth beneath it. I adhered the flower and vellum with carefully hidden foam adhesive. 

Finally, I inked and matted 2 phrases from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book onto black cardstock and adhered them with foam adhesive. I tied some beautiful green Vivant ribbon around the hole I punched at the top. 

I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and the Make My Monday Challenge and the Inspiration Station Challenge.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk (*) at first mention, were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. I do not get paid to promote any products.

It won’t be long before the Cherry Blossoms begin to bloom in the eastern US. I love seeing pictures of these gorgeous trees, but I have not yet seen them in person.

Today’s card features the Papertrey Ink Into the Blooms: Cherry Blossoms die set. I cut the flowers from white and several shades of coral and peach cardstock. I also inked the edges of the white pieces with a delicate colored ink from Concord & 9th called Nectar.

I created the cloud background using a homemade stencil I created many years ago plus Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

The Simon Says Stamp Celebrate sentiment is fantastic for so many different occasions.