SSS Hey Bestie and Love You More Release Blog Hop - Day 1

Today is the first day of a two day blog hop celebrating the Simon Says Stamp Hey Bestie and Love You More releases. As usual, I have quite a bit to share with you, so I'll do the less words and more photos approach today! Here is my latest watercolor card set called "Suzy's Lots of Love Watercolor Prints" (part of the Hey Bestie release in December):

I am very sorry to announce that I only have 8 of the 12 all colored and made into cards to share with you today. I will be posting the other 4 soon though in case you like to come back to see the set for inspiration when coloring yours. After I show you all of these images, I'll give you some tips I used to color them. Here are the 8:

TIPS/TECHNIQUES:

• I use watercolors for the backgrounds and the larger areas of the cards and then I use colored pencils on the smaller areas and to add shading over my watercoloring
• I am IN LOVE (seriously) with the new Nuvo Shimmer Powders and I've used them on almost all of the backgrounds on these cards; look at the first card and the LOVE word card and you will see how they have multiple colors in one color - this one is called Violet Brocade
• I flick paint over the painted areas as I did over the hearts on the Lots of Love card
• I use Nuvo Drops over the letters and other areas I want to have texture/dimension on the cards; see the popsicles and the balloon and letters on the You Make My Heart Smile card
• On this same note, I often use glitter drops to add shimmer as well such as I did over the butterfly
• Sometimes I add a frame to the card and other times I die-cut it smaller than a standard card base and mount it on a colored card to add a frame; you can see both options on my last card posted - which do you prefer? I couldn't decide so I posted them both! (for frames I like either the outside frame on the Hello Bluebird scene dies which is thinner or the largest MFT A2 rectangle frame which is a little wider)
• On that same note, I like the look of the Lawn Fawn just stitching dies which I used on the edges of the popsicle card
• I love my white uniball pen as it works well over colored pencils; I used it quite a bit on the large rose card on both the letters and on the edges of the petals so they look more white
• I add sentiments sometimes to the cards (as I leave them off some of them on purpose so people can add their own); I love using the Cathy Zielske ones and on the small hearts one I added the new Like You sentiment die on top
• My all time favorite pinkish/reddish/corallish cardstock is called Guava by Lawn Fawn - it is just the perfect color and it took me a long time to find one I liked; I used it on the frame on the last card and the butterfly card and on the sentiment Like You mentioned above 

On the Love You More release day, I posted two cards also using stamp sets from the new release. You can see my blog post HERE with more images and directions for both if you are interested. This first card uses Love Friendship stamp set. I stamped all of the flowers in a "random stamping" fashion with a light color of ink and colored with colored pencils:

On this card, I used the Lifting Hearts stamp set which is also sold with a set of dies or together as a bundle. I made a slim-line card running vertically so I could use all of the stamps on one card.

Now back to business!!! Here are the details for the blog hop:

• All of the cards made for these releases will be in the gallery on the SSS Blog. Don't forget to also post your own creations to these galleries! Here are the links to both: Hey Bestie and Love You More galleries
• When adding your creations or to look at everyone else's creations, use the hashtags #SSSHeyBestie and/or #SSSLoveYouMore
• There is a free gift with purchase for this hop - use code BFF489. Please note that this die is free only with a purchase of $50 or more and is available while supplies last. The promotion will expire on 1/12 at 11:59 pm EST.
• SSS is giving away a $25 coupon on every stop on the hop from each blog comment section. They will choose the winners over the weekend and post on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 15^th of January. You can email them to claim your prize.

NEXT ON THE BLOG HOP IS KATHY RACOOSIN

Thanks so much for visiting! Below is a list of all products I used on these cards today. Have a fun hop friends and don't forget there is another one again tomorrow!!! Suzy xoxo

Comments

[Teresa Doyle]

Sweet, sweet cards Suzy and thanks for all of the tips you always share, they are so helpful and I always learn about at least one new product (at least, new to me). I’ll have to get some of the Nuevo Shimmer Powders, you weren’t kidding, they are pretty.

[Bonnie McClure]

White gel pen is such a great tip for pencils and works very well over water colors as well.

[Tammy L Davis]

These look like so much fun! Your cards are gorgeous!

[Angela Clark]

Suzy, love your watercoloring and coloring with the pencils. All are wonderful cards.

[Janet Durbin]

The fabulous cards you create never ceases to amaze me! Awesome job!

[Jeanne Beam]

Love all of your cards! Wonderful colors...
Thanks for sharing.

[Bunny]

These are fun and I really like the LOVE cards.

[Cheriese H]

incredible colouring! love the little touches, especially the stitching on the popsicles!

[Sherri]

so many cute cards.

[Eva N]

Adorable designs for making easy cards. Thanks for listing all the ways we can make them a little more special, from shimmer powders to adding a white gel pen.

[sherri p]

all the cards are wonderful

[Judy]

Your watercolor cards are fabulous, especially the way that you colored them!!

[Susanbcards]

Great coloring cards!

[Amy Cooley]

I always enjoy seeing your beautiful coloring! The popsicles are my favorite.

[Shauna Avery]

very pretty!! Great coloring!!

[Denise Bryant]

Sweet cards with beautiful coloring! Love all the inspiration!

[Valerie Hayden]

So many cards, hard to chose a favorite. Lots of color too!

[La Rae Prentice]

Great use of the colored pencils. The cards are great.

[Holly Lau]

Beautiful coloring and love your cards!

[Gab]

You are so talented!! Love what you created!!

[Brinda]

Such beautiful cards! Love the colours!

[Germaine]

Great ideas for using the Suzy Watercolor prints. I just received a set yesterday from SSS. I will come back for tips when I start to work with them. TFS

[Marie]

Thank you for sharing all the inspiration. Love your style

[Sabrina Radican]

What adorable and beautiful cards!!

[Jeanne Ragan]

Love these cards! You do such beautiful work!