giveaway - getting the most from your background stamps

SNEAK PEEK NUMBER ONE

(I'm calling this the daddy bear card because I am giving away the baby bear card.)

SNEAK PEEK NUMBER TWO 

Hello..hello friends, How are you? Me? I am so excited today because I have TWO cards that are being featured on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. The card in my giveaway is the baby bear version and when you click over to the Simon BLOG you will see the daddy bear card with a tutorial sharing a different way to use your background stamps.

THE GIVEAWAY BELOW

These are the stamps that I used in both of my cards and I am excited to give them away to one of you. 

Penny Black was so generous to donate these stamps that I used in the Simon Says Stamp feature. Thanks Penny Black!! 

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

 Hop over to the Simon Say's Stamp blog & leave a comment.... please let me know that you did so your name will be entered in the drawing.
The winner will be randomly drawn from the blog comments on my blog and the winner will be announced on APRIL 30TH.  
 YOU are invited to subscribe to my feed or "follow me" to qualify.

ANOTHER CHANCE to win .... If you would like to spread the word about today's post You can leave your name again...each time you tweet, Facebook, or blog about it for extra chances at winning.  

 Have a wonderful week and I'll see you at the Simon Say's blog. A big thanks to Simon Says Stamp & Penny Black! Thanks to you for taking the time to visit! Hugs, Kathy
P.S.  Did you see the April card kit giveaway? Click here if you missed it. :)

CARD SUPPLIES:

a blog named hero

Hello Friends, How has your week been so far? Today I am honored to have this card featured on "A Blog Named Hero".  All MONTH they will be celebrating their First Anniversary of blogging and I take my hat off to them. It takes a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication to bring good content on a daily basis. Congrats ladies this truly is a celebration! 

Stamp the "Love Jar" on some acetate with a permanent ink. Use a small dot of Glossy Accents to adhere to the background. The "Perfect Bow" was die cut with this and then Glossy Accents were applied before adding it to my card. 

Stamp the "Flowers & Vines" background with Soft Blossom.

After stamping the stems add some color with a brown colored pencil. 

Repeat adding green to the leaves. I stamped a few extra stems and leaves, cut them out, applied glossy accents then I added them to the stamped stems on my background.  

Stamp the background again with Memento and color the flowers with some markers. Cut them out and pop them onto the stems and leaves. Email me if you have any questions. A special thanks to Mary Dawn... you rock girl :) and a thanks to YOU for your visit today. I hope you will stop by on Saturday I have some awesome stamps to give away! Did you see the April card kit giveaway? Click here if you missed it. Have a happy weekend, Kathy

CARD SUPPLIES:

giveaway... good and bad news

Hello Friends, How are you today? Did you have a relaxing weekend? Any time to get crafty? I had a nice chunk of time to play with Simon Says Stamps April Card Kit. The bad news is that April's card kit is SOLD OUT! I know that Simon tries really hard to not let that happen but, sometimes it's hard to prevent. If you have fallen in love with the kits you can register to get them at a mere $19.95 and a kit will be reserved just for you. It also gives Simon a heads up on how much to order AND you can opt out of the subscription... pretty sweet deal! I hear that May's card kit is going to rock your socks so keep that in mind. :)
THE GOOD NEWS IS I HAVE APRILS SOLD OUT CARD KIT TO GIVEAWAY! Just leave me a comment and tell me if you have ever used a card kit or not. I'll select a random winner on the 17th of April but, you must check back with me. If I don't hear from you I will pick another winner ( I will give the winner five days to contact me. If you have a card kit Simon will credit you for the value of the kit. )

I loved all the prints and colors in this "Fancy Pants, Park Bench" 6x6 paper pad. This fun die cut called, "Full Card Bubbles" has been dubbed by a few friends as the swiss cheese die..lol.  In case you missed it... I colored inside the bubbles for the Simon Says blog hop here. As you can see it's a pretty versatile die cut and love how it's fills a card.

I filled the centers of the bubbles/circles with smallers ones and randomly placed them. If I filled them all it would have been to much. The yummy bow was a hit at a card making retreat I was just at. After die cutting mine I covered the bow with Glossy Accents. (stay tuned for two more cards using the "Perfect Bow" die but, NOT as a single bow as you see today)

When a card comes together it's always fun to make another one. The scale of this sentiment is perfect for a window card. The stamp set that was in the card kit is still available to purchase .... just an F.YI. :)

If you have questions about the card please email me. The center of the bow on this card was replaced with a dot left over from the die cut. Stay tuned ... I have some Penny Black stamps to giveaway on Friday! Have a great week! Hugs, Kathy

CARD SUPPLIES:

blog hop and winners

Hello Friends, Just  popping in for a few things today. Simon Says Stamp is participating in "The Operation Write Home Blog Hop" and not only is it a good cause but, there is some good giveaways too! For example, Simon Says Stamp will be GIVING AWAY A $50.00 GIFT CARD! I was honored to create this card for Simon and you can get all the details on the SSS blog here.

Also read on for some winners.
The winner of the Simon Says Stamp blog hop as seen in this post is: 95. Kari Webster and 
The winner of the Hero Arts Giveaway as seen in this post is 127. Sabrina
The winner of the BasicGrey Giveaway as seen in this post is 10. Tamika
A big congrats to Kari, Sabrina and Tamika. A big thanks to you all for your enthusiasm and participation. Enjoy your weekend! Hugs, Kathy

P.S. Soon I will be GIVING AWAY Simon Says Stamps NEW AND SOLD OUT APRIL CARD KIT and  I  will be giving away KELLY PURKEY NEW AND SOLD OUT KIT HERE. 
(value $49.99) so stay tuned. If you want to subscribe to my blog  so you don't miss anything just click here if you don't already.. and you want to :)

tim holtz stamps

Hello Friends, How are you? Are you seeing signs of spring in your part of the world? It's been cold here on the east coast but, I have high hopes for a lush spring soon. 

Time is traveling so fast these days that I can't seem to stay ahead of that 8 ball. With that said I have a quick share for you today. It was nice to pull this Tim Holtz stamp from my collection of colored images and give it a home of some simple distressing and layers. 

I often use this banner from Simon Says Stamp. Love the size! For my card I wanted to extend the ends to reach off of my card. I die cut the banner twice, cut the ends and glued on top. The sentiment was printed from my computer. 

I used some clear Scrap Dots to pop up the fan. Love using unexpected colors on stamped images lately with pastel Copic markers. Thanks for your visit today. Soon I will be randomly picking the winners for this BasicGrey giveaway and this Hero Arts giveaway. Thanks again for your visit and have a great weekend. Hugs, Kathy