Living My Dream: Simon Says Stamp "AND BACK AGAIN" Blog Hop Day 1

Today is the first day of a two day blog hop celebrating the Simon Says Stamp brand new release called And Back Again as well as their release in mid December called To The Moon. Yesterday I shared this blog post showing 3 of my 6 watercolor designs on my newest set of Suzy's Watercolor Cards called Snowflake Season. Here is an image of the set:

There are two of each of the six designs, so twelve in total. They are printed on Ranger Watercolor Paper on the smooth side so you can use any coloring medium. They are meant to be card fronts so you can color them and then add them to a plain card base. I left greetings off most so you can add your own from your stash and thus make them for any holiday you prefer. First I'll show you the 3 I posted yesterday with just images so you can see the directions on this blog post. And then I'll be posting the 3 others with directions so you can see all 6 of the designs colored.

And here are my three new ones for today with directions for each:

I love Nuvo Shimmer powders and if you haven't tried them, I highly advise it. I used them on all 3 of the cards I'm showing today. They are so much fun to use and kids LOVE THEM. I have let my grandkids use them so many times and they never run out even when you pour out a huge pile! Totally addicted and I buy every new color as soon as it comes out. For this one, I used a combination of Blue Blitz and Atlantis Burst. I apply water to the card first and then I pour some of the powder onto the surface. Then I move it around with a fine tip paintbrush so I could keep it off the snowflakes. It's so pretty and shimmery in real life. It's also reactive, so you can add water droplets after it dries and it still moves the color.

I die-cut the new "Snowy Greetings" die from white cardstock and from SSS Teal Glitter Paper. I bought the 6x6 Glitter Assortment pack and used it for all of the glitter papers I have on this post. I love them as they are thin enough to easily cut in my die-cut machine unlike some other glitter papers I have tried. I attached the glitter letters to the top of the white letters so they are raised a little. I die-cut a small "keep shining" sentiment from the Reverse Sun and Moon set in the "To The Moon" release. I used the Honeybee Sentiment Strips to die-cut it out. I added some Black Board (matte black) Nuvo drops to carry the black theme around the card a little. I also used some Chalk Stick (matte white) and some Aqua Plains Jewel Nuvo Drops around the background. I used some sparkling clear sequins and some sequins from the new Frosty Morning Sequins set.

My favorite color of Nuvo Shimmer Powders is called Meteorite Shower which is a dark navy with bits of pinks and purples running through it. But somehow I lost mine and SSS has been out of stock. So I created my own using other colors including Storm Cloud, Cherry Bomb, Lilac Waterfall, Violet Brocade, and Blue Blitz. I just applied a little of all of the colors on the background here and there to get a similar look of Meteorite Shower and I think it looks about the same. I got some on the white snowflakes which led to a bit of work covering the colors! I applied a white uniball over them first and that didn't cover well. Then I used Chalk Stick Nuvo drops over the snowflakes which made them all puffy. I used quite a bit! It did cover, but I made a mess!

Next, I went crazy adding Nuvo glitter drops all over the snowflakes covering the white I had let dry. I used mostly Nuvo White Blizzard, but i also used some Ranger Stickles in Star Dust and Diamond. I let them dry and added layers so they are quite puffy. I used the "Snowy Greetings" die again for this card. I die-cut it from two colors of SSS Glitter Assortment cardstock. First I die-cut it from white and then black. I layered those over the background gluing the black letters over the full white die. I die-cut a frame using the same white glitter cardstock and the MFT A2 Frame dies and attached that around the card. I used glitter drops all over the background including White Blizzard and Night Sky glitter drops. I also used some Sugar Plum purple glitter drops and Dazzling Blue glitter drops I had flicked Shimmer Powder all over the background as well, so it is very spotty! I spent a lot of time on this one!

I used Shimmer Powders for the background of this card as well. This time I used a mixture of Blue Blitz, Violet Brocade, and Lilac Waterfall. I did a little better job this time keeping the color off the white snowflakes! When I flicked the paint over the background I did cover part of the snowflakes, but I didn't worry about it! I wanted the background to look really messy and colorful again just like the last two. I covered the snowflakes with White Blizzard Nuvo Drops and Diamond Stickles again. You can see some of the little flicks of paint under the glitter gels.

I die-cut this watercolor card and attached it to a white card base. I embossed a sentiment using a stamp and die set from the "To the Moon" release called All About You. I'm so happy I had the dies too as I love sentiments that you can die-cut out. They look so good on cards. I embossed this one with one of my favorite embossing colors ever by WOW called Royal Crush. I used some of the new Frosty Morning Sequin Mix around the sentiment. I also used several colors of Nuvo Glitter Drops and Ranger Stickles around the background in blues and purples.

BLOG HOP DETAILS:

Visit the "To the Moon" gallery and the "And Back Again" gallery to see all of the creations/inspiration using products from each release all in one place. And don't forget to add your cards to the galleries as well!
This is day 1 of a 2 day blog hop, so make sure to start on the SSS Blog tomorrow to see more inspiration!
When you post cards using these releases on Instagram, please use the hashtags #ssstothemoon and #sssandbackagain. Click on these hashtags to see all the creations using these releases!
You can see the entire TO THE MOON RELEASE and the AND BACK AGAIN RELEASE at these links.
The bog hop graphic at the top of my post shows the details of the free gift with purchase for this hop. Use the code GNOMIE and get the 3x4 Love Gnome stamp set FREE with purchase! This promotion expires on 1/23 at 11:59 pm EST.

NEXT ON THE HOP IS SLD CREATIONS - SIDNIE DES JARDINS

Thank you so much for visiting today. Below are all of the products I used on this blog post! Have fun on the 2 day blog hop celebrating the "To The Moon" release and the "And Back Again" release. I hope you liked my latest set of Suzy's Watercolor Cards called Snowflake Season. Suzy xoxoxox