“Happy Birthday” – A Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge using Stampers Anonymous Stamps

Y’all, the first week in August is the PERFECT time to be doing a “Happy Birthday” themed challenge!! Because……. August is MY birthday month!! Yes, I will be celebrating all month. We have several birthdays in August. It’s my husbands too, but I mean come on!! To add icing to the cake, Simon Says Stamp gave me permission to play with Stampers Anonymous Stamps. So, I guess you could say today’s challenge was right on. Haha. For today’s challenge, I of course went with a birthday card. It was simple and quick, but I think it turned out simply beautiful.

I used a kraft paper, blank card base, and my Dylusions Mixed Media Cardstock. And of course, with my Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamps, I went with Distress Oxide Sprays. The colors I chose were Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, and Shabby Shutters. I used my favorite technique of spraying a little of the spray on my non-stick glass media mat and spritzed it with a little bit of water. I then dabbed my paper into the ink droplets until I was happy with the coverage. I made sure it was good and dry with my Ranger Heat It tool before moving on to the next color. I of course used the same technique for all three shades of green.

Once I was happy with my inky background, I used my original Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, to distress the edges of my paper. For this, I used a blending tool and blending foam. You just simply apply the ink in a circular motion, around the edges of your paper until it makes you happy.

On to the Stampers Anonymous Stamps!! For today’s make, I chose Baroque (CMS400), Classics #1 (SCF001), and Just Sayings (CSS31727). For the background, I chose to use the smaller flourish in the Baroque set. I stamped the image with my Distress Archival in Vintage Photo to match the distressed edges. I figured that would blend in nicely in my background. And, I think it did.

For the main focus of my card, I went with the dragonfly from the Classics #1 set. My mother used to take pictures of dragonflies, so I’ve acquired a new appreciation for them, lately. When you pay attention to them, you’d be surprised how many different colors and types there are. We were at a house on the lake the other day, and there were some little, bitty, baby ones in an azalea bush. So cute!

Anyway, this dragonfly, today, is liquid platinum. I just LOVE liquid platinum. It is beautiful when it’s heat embossed. For those of you that may not know, a quick tutorial on heat embossing. First, you stamp your image that you want to emboss with embossing ink. I used my Distress Embossing Ink, but there are others out there. Once you’ve stamped a good, clean image, you pour the embossing powder over the image and tap off the excess. I prefer to do this part over a coffee filter, or a piece of copy paper so that when I’m done, it can be poured back into the bottle. Then, using a heat embossing tool, you heat the powder until it melts. You end up with a beautiful, crisp image. Some embossing powders are shiny, and some can be dull. This particular powder is true to it’s name. It just looks liquid!!

Once my dragonfly was embossed, I couldn’t really decide what to do about my sentiment. But, since I liked the embossed dragonfly so much, I just decided to go the same route with my sentiment. The set I used for the sentiment was the Just Sayings set from Stampers Anonymous. I think this set was made for your big box stores, and i think I purchased it at either Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Once I was happy with the page, I adhered it to the blank card base with my Xpress-It double sided tape.

And that, as they say is that. Simple, but somewhat elegant, I think. But that’s just me. It really is all about what makes you happy. Dragonflies, they make me happy. Birthdays, not so much now as they used to. Little peoples birthdays, those make me happy. Cake!! Now CAKE, that makes me HaPpY!

Until next time,

Jennifer

Here is a list of the supplies:

Dylusions Mixed Media Cardstock

Blank Kraft Paper Card Bases

Products used :

Distress Oxide Spray Peeled Paint

Distress Oxide Spray Crushed Olive

Distress Oxide Spray Shabby Shutters

Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Distress Archival Ink Vintage Photo

Distress Embossing ink