Living My Dream

Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers Card

One of my favorite floral stamp sets by Simon Says Stamp came out in one of their card kits in April of 2019 called Delicate Flowers. Here is an image of it if you haven't seen it: Even though it was in a card kit, it was also sold alone and is still in stock. There are also dies to go with it and I wish I had had them when I made this card! I made 5 cards with this set when it came out and you can see that blog post HERE. The stamp set alone is sold here Delicate Flowers and the dies are sold here Delicate Flowers Dies or it is sold as a bundle here... Read more →

Simon Says Stamp Floral Heart Stamp

Today I pulled out a stamp set that was purchased I believe last year. It's a 6"x8" stamp set called Floral Hearts. I think it is SO pretty! Here is an image: I couldn't wait to use my colored pencils to color that gorgeous heart image! It is a bit bigger than a standard card size, so I increased my card size a little to fit the whole heart (5" x 5.75"). I also love the five sentiments with the really pretty fonts. I wasn't able to use any of them as I didn't want to cover very much of my hand colored flowers! Here is my card: I stamped the heart on white cardstock with MFT Natural Ink. I... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Hexagon Floral

Today I have a "one stamp, five ways" post to share with you using a cling stamp by Simon Says Stamp called Center Cut Hexagon Floral. It was part of the Crafty Hugs release earlier in 2020, but I hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I was saving it for a 5 card post because I loved it so much and couldn't wait to color it. Above you can see my 5 cards together and here is an image of the stamp set: The center piece comes out so it can be used with or without it. They also have a Hexagon Die that can be used around the center piece or to replace it with cardstock for... Read more →

MY TOP 10 FAVORITE CARD MAKING PRODUCTS OF 2020

Truth be told, 2020 was not really a year I have a lot of favorites from! It had lots of bad stuff with some good thrown in, but overall it was a stressful year for sure! I became an empty nester which changed my life a lot! After raising kids for 29 years, I finally had time just to myself. I decided to dive into this card making business a bit more giving me a chance to use my craft supplies more than ever before. I put together a list of MY personal favorite products for 2020 to share with you. Here they are: 1. Karin Brushmarkers These may not have been new to most of you in 2020, but... Read more →

Simon Says Stamp Crafty Bunnies

When the Crafty Bunnies stamp set was released as part of the Crafty Hugs release, I really wanted to create a card with it. But I didn't get a chance until NOW (months later!). Here is an image of the 6" x 8" stamp set: With all these cute little bunnies in this set, I wanted to make a slim-line card so I could show them off. And here it is: This is a one layer card with a frame over it. I stamped all of the images in the stamp set with MFT Natural Ink and then I colored them in with colored pencils. I colored the background with Copic markers. I couldn't figure out what colors to use... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - SSS CZ Light Me Up from Love You Release

When I saw this 6"x8" stamp set in the Love You release, I immediately had ideas to use it for and wanted to do a "one stamp, five ways" post with it. I finally got a chance to do so! I love the story of this stamp set. Cathy Z. usually designs stamps for Simon as you probably know and her style is very graphic. I noticed that this stamp was a little more playful and the font was different, so I was surprised it was by her. But then I read that her daughter designed it - so cool. She did an amazing job too! It is called Light Me Up and here is a peek at it if... Read more →

HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO (ho) ......

I decided to make one more Christmas card before retiring for the season (and actually spending time enjoying the season haha). The great thing about this card is I used items that were "left over" from other cards I had made. I literally put all of the things on this card together without making anything new except the Ho's! So here we go (it's a mash up)! SSS had a special edition kit this season called We Believe. They also sold the We Believe stamp set by itself illustrated by Doodlebug. It was one of my favorites (I did a "one stamp, five ways" post with this kit/stamp here)! I colored the entire stamp set and then didn't use this... Read more →

Roses are Red Watercolor Cards - Part 2

Today I have the rest of my Roses are Red watercolor cards painted and made into cards to share with you. This set was part of the recent Love You release at Simon Says Stamp. Here is an image of the set: I showed 3 of these cards colored during the Love You blog hop. You can see that blog post HERE with directions for these 3, but here are images: And now I will show you the other 3 cards painted with directions and supplies I used for each: I painted this card with my Daniel Smith watercolors. I've been using the Karin Brushmarkers quite a bit lately, so it was nice to return to my professional grade paints.... Read more →

Simon Says Stamp Heart Animals Stamp Set - Love You Release

I made a Valentine today! Woot-woot! It was really fun! I know I should be all about the holidays right now, but honestly, I just want it to be Valentine's day so things are closer to back to normal. So now I am going to share that Valentine I made! SSS has a new stamp set with matching dies called Heart Animals from the Love You release. Here is an image: I made a slim-line card so I could use all of the stamps in the set. I made the card background first by cutting a piece of white cardstock into a 8.5" x 3.5" strip and then a 7" x 8.5" piece for the card base. This leaves a... Read more →

"One Stamp, Five Ways" - SSS January 2020 Card Kit Snowflake Season

Today is the release of the January 2021 (yes 2021) Simon Says Stamp Card Kit. It's called Snowflake Season and is full of snowflake goodness!!! Here is an image of the kit: One of my favorite things about this kit is the papers - they are double sided and so gorgeous. I wanted to make a card out of every piece! This 6x6 pad is by Whimsy and called Blurry Flurries. I have a "one stamp, five ways" post to share with you using many of the kit contents, but primarily focusing on the stamp set which is also called Snowflake Season and is sold alone. I also used the embossing folder in the kit for a couple of my... Read more →