Living My Dream

Making Backgrounds Ahead of Time Installment #4 - Creating Scenes

I've done three other posts about making card backgrounds ahead of time. You can find those HERE, HERE, and HERE. Today is my fourth installment in this series. It's become a "series" because I love doing it this way! Whenever I have a few backgrounds made, I find putting together a card is so much easier and quicker. Plus focusing on creating backgrounds while the Distress Inks are all out is a fun way to spend an afternoon! Today's focus is going to be on creating scenes for critters with Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks and stencils. I'll be using 3 Simon Says Stamp stencils today. Here is a lookie at them with short descriptions - these things are... Read more →

SSS BLOG HOP - Celebrate You Release

Today is the first day of the Simon Says Stamp blog hop for their new release called Celebrate You. As you have probably seen thus far on the hop, it is full of products that celebrate father's, birthdays, etc... I have a new set of watercolor cards in this release called Celebrate Dad. Here is an image: I have colored all of these watercolor cards to show you how they will look all perdied up! I don't always use watercolor on them even though they are printed on Ranger Watercolor Paper. Sometimes I use colored pencils or Copic markers, or a combo off all three! Let's get started and I'll give you some of my tips to dress them up... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - SSS Gerbera Daisy Background Stamp

Today is the Simon Says Stamp new release called Celebrate You. It is full of birthday, Father's Day, and floral products. I have a new set of watercolor cards in this release called Celebrate Dad. Here is an image: This is the first time I have drawn a boy/man set of cards. It was a bit of a challenge for me as I gravitate towards girly flowery images! I will have them all painted on my blog during the blog hop tomorrow if you want to see them all done. I tried some new creative things with the cards this time to inspire you to use the designs in different ways. Today's "one stamp, five ways" post uses one of... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - SSS June Card Kit Leafy Frames

Hello friends! Today's "one stamp, five ways" post is using the Simon Says Stamp June 2019 Card Kit called Leafy Frames. Here is an image of the kit: As usual, I try to focus on the stamp set which is also called Leafy Frames and can be purchased by itself HERE. Let me just tell you that the papers in this kit are phenomenal! I don't usually like using patterned papers on my cards, but these I could not resist. The only problem was I didn't want to cover any of them up! The papers are by Carta Bella and called Botanical Gardens and can be purchased alone HERE in a 6x6 pad. I have five cards and some envelopes... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - MFT Friendly Foxes by Stacey Yacula

Today is the MFT new release and one of the stamp sets in it is called Foxy Friends by Stacey Yacula. I did a "one stamp, five ways" post today using this cute stamp set. I have five cards to share with you. I've also used the MFT Scene Builder stamp set for a few of these cards. It works so well for backgrounds. CARD 1: I started with a die cut Inside and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Die-namics (which doesn't seem to be sold anymore so no link!). Next, I used the Scene Builder stamp set to stamp the grass, trees, and clouds with MFT Natural Ink. I then colored them in with colored pencils. I was so happy... Read more →

Pretty Pink Posh Blog Hop - New April Release - Day 1

Hi friends! Today is the first day of a 2 day blog hop showing off the brand new Pretty Pink Posh product release for April. The products all went on sale at PPP on the 29th - you can see the entire release HERE. And they sell all of the new products as a bundle with 10% off HERE. The products are also in stock at Simon Says Stamp, so I have linked them to both stores at the end of this post. In the body of the post, they are linked to the PPP store. Ok, let's get started as I have 4 cards to share with you using some of my favorite new products! CARD 1: If you... Read more →