Living My Dream: Simon Says Stamp Diecember Blog Hop!

Nothing makes me MORE EXCITED for Christmas than new holiday products! Today Simon Says Stamp is celebrating their newest release of dies called Diecember. So if you are feeling a bit like the grinch this year, follow along on this blog hop and I think it will help get you in the mood for the holidays!

There are quite a few new wafer dies in this release, but I will be focusing on these favorites of mine:

I especially love that swirly border! So I will show you the card I made using that one first:

This card uses the adorable Advent Holiday Icons stamp set (it is out of stock right now, but will be back in soon). I want to make a bunch of Christmas tags with it since the images are so small. For this card, I stamped the little images randomly on Ranger white cardstock and painted them in with watercolors. I used my Kaiser Craft Glitter Pens (best $10 I have ever spent!) to shade the images. The set includes a Christmas red and green and a silver perfect for this card.

I die-cut the Sunrise Border die from a piece of Mixed Media paper I had watercolored a solid red. I always prefer to use a piece of watercolored paper over cardstock as you get the more mottled look. It's just one color of paint with drops of water and paint splattered on it. I attached that to the bottom of the card and then trimmed around the edges leaving some space on the bottom of the card to show the inside of it. I covered the bottom of the inside with green patterned paper and can put the salutation on the inside since it is so busy. I finished it with some red and white twine.

As well as using one of the new dies, this card uses a stamp set I am totally in love with by Avery Elle called Chalet. It is sold with a set of dies as well. I will be using it for a future "one stamp, five ways" blog post as I love it that much! I stamped the images with MFT Natural Ink and then colored them with Copic markers for a no-line stamping look. I used my glitter pens again to add details to each image. I also used a Gold Uniball marker.

Now let's get to this delicious Corbell Border Die! I die cut it from white cardstock and then cut around the edges. I backed it with Simon Says Stamp sparkling coal cardstock and attached it under the little village. I think it adds the perfect touch of sophistication to this card. I want to try it backed with watercolored paper as well in all different colors.

Could this Floral Dot Collage die be any prettier? For this card, I die-cut the die from Ranger watercolor paper. I painted each item - green for the little rows that attached the flowers, pink flowers, yellow around the dots, and blue for the background. I attached it to a piece of white cardstock to back it. I die-cut the piece with a stitched rectangle and attached it to a yellow card base.

I also used the new Missing You dies for the sentiment cut from white cardstock. I attached sequins inside each of the flowers and some yellow ones around the edges. I didn't attach the inside flowers or lines to the white cardstock so they kind of float which looks better in person!

This card photographed horribly and it way prettier in real life. The twine matches better and the pink is very sparkly and soft. I die-cut the Corbell Heart die from Ranger watercolor paper. I then painted the entire piece with pink watercolor and flicked some paint over it while still wet. I also used some Daniel Smith sparkling clear paint on it so it is very shimmery. I attached that to a white card base.

I used the same Missing You dies from the last card, but this time I used the cursive words. I die-cut them from watercolor paper, painted them pink, and then covered them with Glossy Accents. I used the new Curly Streamers die for the top of the heart. I die-cut it from white cardstock and embossed it with silver embossing powder. I added some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and a small twine bow.

I hope you enjoyed my cards today and I really hope you are having a happy holiday season - even those grinches out there haha. I'm always a grinch during the season because I eat too much and spend too much! LAST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO THE SIMON SAYS STAMP STORE! What a great Christmas present that would be, right? I will pick one random blog comment on Monday, December 12th and announce it here on my blog.

Happy Blog Hopping - next on the list is LISA ADESSA. Or if you started here, you can go back to the Simon Says Stamp Blog to see the entire list of hoppers. Thanks for visiting and click on the follow my blog link on the top left to get email notifications for my "one stamp, five ways" blog posts! Suzy