I am BACK....and Summer Sale over Altenew

Hello friends!

 I am BACK from my two big trips: first, it was an 18-day trip to Taiwan with my son David. Then Dr. John, David and I were off I go to Amsterdam for 3 days! From Amsterdam, we embarked a12-day cruise to British Isles. It was a very fruitful trip as I also met up with 3 beautiful and talented crafting friends from Liverpool.

Left to right: Virginia (me), Teheerah Atchia, Keren Baker and Lydia Evans (my Altenew teammate). We had some awesome time in a pub for a few sweet and happy hours! Dr. John, David and Lydia's lovely family were also there!

Meanwhile, back at home, my daughter Stephanie was busy working near the finish line toward her PhD  (Public Health and Applied Science) and that she should get her degree in less than two weeks! After traveling 68 days (in Asia and Europe), David is now ready to take on his 1st full-time engineering job tomorrow! I can't believe my baby  boy is officially joining the work force....!!

Dr. John and I are officially empty-nesters!!😐

 That means I have more time to craft!!? I have yet to find out. 😊

(Bruges, Belgium, aka the Venice of the North, photo taken on July 28, 2017)

It was a busy time to jam pack so much sight-seeing in such a short time.

While the sights are amazing, the food during the cruise was non-stop and fabulous, I miss being home and my crafting! I can't wait to share some more new and fun projects with you in the next few weeks!

(click photo to shop)

I am passing on some info about the sales over Altenew.

There is a 15% Summer Sale!

You can find the Summer Sale Collection HERE

This collection includes stamps, dies, bundles and more. Use code SUMMERSALE at check out.

(valid 7/31/2017 at 12:01am EDT through 8/2/2017)

$7 off on orders over $100 (SHIP7OFF)/ FREE US shipping on orders over $200.

Don't forget that Summer Blog Party is still going strong, remember to link up your summer creations for a chance to win a prize!!

I appreciate that you continue to visit my blog and enter the summer blog party challenge! 

(my pet Alexia and the Belgium Waffles)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stencil Sunday @Virginia's #6

Happy Sunday!

We are into the 6th "Stencil Sunday @Virginia's" and there are two more for this series!
I hope that you are happy about that! 😀

  As most of you know by now....

This feature is FREE for all you to enjoy!

In return, I do appreciate that you use my affiliate links for your craft purchase.
There are a few organization that I donate regularly.  The source of earning/commission will be allocated to the charities that I support: Red Cross,World Vision, PBS and TV Ontario.
Affiliate links are applied at no additional cost to you.
A heartfelt thank-you for your support.

I will be sharing stenciled cards with stamps and inks every Sunday during this summer.
I hope with quality posts, you will still get a dose of stamping fun during the summer.
Don't forget to link your summer creations (at the right side bar) for Virginia's Blog Party!

Let's get right to STENCILS!
 Today's project was created with labor of LOVE.
It's definitely not for mass producing....

Cube Builder Stencil

If you are ever in the mood for water-coloring and cube-building. 

  This is it.
I took the joy 😊/pain😒 (depends how you look at the process!!) to watercolor each diamond. 
Then you flip the stencil over and complete watercoloring the other blocks! 



On word of caution: use as little water as possible, so the water would not overflow the stencil.
I know the sentiment says "make a beautiful mess today!" 

BUT, I still like a "controlled" mess as I have a bit of OCD...just slightly! In order to create a controlled mess, I used Splatter Stencil with the Embellishment Mousse (see links below).

 As you can see, my cubes are not perfect, but that is kind of the point...striving for something original and creative. That is what I do. I also added DMC strings and stapled it! Done!

 Thanks so much for stopping by! See you next Sunday!

PS: remember to use "SHIP7OFF" when you make an Altenew orders over $100. The code will take $7 off. Please use my side banner with coupon code) for shopping over Simon Says Stamp.

 You can purchase all these supplies

at Simon Says Stamp, click here. 

at Altenew Shop, click here and here.

Flower Medley!!

Hello friends!

I have a fun and pretty card to share!

This stamp called Flower Medley makes it possible.
I apologize ahead if this stamp is perhaps out of stock since this post is pre-scheduled. 
This Cheerful (Cling) and this Felicity (Cling) are other great options.

Do you love the all the brown outlines and the loosely colored images?

Can you believe that I am still obsessed with Distress Oxide?
I am expecting 2nd collection of Distress Oxide to arrive any day now!! 😊

With MISTI in place, I started out with Barely Beige ink and stamped the Flower Medley. 
You may have to stamp 2-3 times Barely Beige to show up. Once you have clearer images and you can proceed to do the coloring.

 I stamped all the outlines one more time once the images are all loosely colored. And that's it!

My random Taiwan trip photo share: Taroko Gorge

I want to thank you for visiting my blog day and day out!!
Thank you so much!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge #431

Welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge !! Thank you for joining us for the We're Seeing Stars Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too :-)

This week the challenge is...

Anything Goes

 We are using Wild Rose Studio products this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some, we love to see them used :-) 

 

 I used Bunny with Teddy stamp for my project. This stamp is absolutely cute and requires no expertly coloring. I wanted to create a one layer card with a little dry-embossing. Enters....

Wonky Hearts by Simon Says Stamp

I have combined the stamp and die and this is the result.

Th dry-embossing effect could be easily done with Wizard Tan Embossing Mat.

 

After run the card with my old Cuttlebug, I placed the
Wonky Hearts over the dry-embossed impression and colored the outer part with Cracked Pistachio.

 
You can see the shimmer from Perfect Pearl and Wink of Stella (links below). The Hydrangea sequins from Pretty Pink Posh seem like a good idea!! 

As always, Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store!

So now it's YOUR turn ! Happy Crafting !!

There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog . If you haven't subscribed by email, you may want to do so you don't miss out.

You have until Wed. 8am Eastern Time to join in :-)

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too !

I hope you check out the DT's work!  I can't wait to see what you create!!
Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Use of Stamps and Dies

Hello friends!

I hope your summer is going swimmingly well...

Today's post title sounds a bit generic.
However, if you look at this card, you would understand what I mean.

When I said "creative use of stamps and dies", that means....

1. use only part of a large stamp such as Flower Medallion for background effective

2. multi-color stamping can be done easily with the help of MISTI

3. to create a seamless look, simply make two dies in one piece
4. mist the Flower Medallion with water and stamp on the Distress Oxide

5. strings and small sequins make this design "flow"

I am giving this card to a new couple who made a big order of personalized wedding cards from me.



I used the glitter tape from Altenew. These tapes are awesome to have on hand as you never know when you strike GOLD!



Don't forget to check out the latest HERE and sales HERE (if any) over Simon Says Stamp.
 I hope this post inspired you to try out a few new things if you have not done so.

My random Taiwan trip photo share:Tea time!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Stencil Sunday @Virginia's #5

Happy Sunday!

How is your summer going? Fabulous, I hope.

Time flies...we are into "Stencil Fun @Virginia's" No. 5!
 
This feature is FREE for all you to enjoy!
In return, I do appreciate that you use my affiliate links for your craft purchase.
There are a few organizations that I donate regularly.  The source of earning/commission will be allocated to the charities that I support: Red Cross, World Vision, PBS and TV Ontario.
Affiliate links are applied at no additional cost to you.
A heartfelt thank-you for your support.

I will be sharing stenciled cards with stamps and inks every Sunday during this summer.
I hope with quality posts, you will still get a dose of stamping fun during the summer.
Don't forget to link your summer creations (at the right side bar) for Virginia's Blog Party!

Let's get right to STENCILS!

 

Grid Stencil

You can find Altenew's entire June stencil release here.

This stencil may look simple enough, but the details that it adds to the design is amazing.

I did a Reverse Stencil Stamping...that means

---> spray ink onto the card stock to create this card

---> pick up the stencil carefully and flip it over

---> stamp another piece of white card stock with the leftover spray on the stencil

---> you now get this very subtle grid background  (no sprays/inks get wasted!!)

Once I got this grid paper, I set out to emboss the entire border with Hello Sunshine Stamp set.
I then colored the floral images and that's it!

The embossed image can be done in one sitting with the help of MISTI. 

 I painted/water-colored the edges with Gansai Tambi Watercolor.

I hope that you are inspired by my idea and simple execution.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
See you next Sunday!!

PS: remember to use "SHIP7OFF" when you make an Altenew orders over $100. The code will take $7 off. Please use my side banner with coupon code) for shopping over Simon Says Stamp.

 You can purchase all these supplies

at Simon Says Stamp, click here. 

at Altenew Shop, click here and here.

Masculine One Layer (BONUS post for Stencil Sunday)

Hello friends!

I am popping in to share an extra stenciled one layer card that I created.

Today also marks the Altenew July new stamps and dies release (see here).

Cube Builder (Altenew here, Simon Says Stamp here)

The entire release from June can be found here.

Since I am taking a summer break, I will not be part of this blog hop (wahhhh....I know).😐

However, I still want to share something with you from Altenew.

So, here we go.

 The "hardest" part of this card is using the stencil and create the background. 

 Be sure to use a piece of paper to cover the surface while you apply the inks. This way prevent you from getting smudges (ask how I know...). 

Once that's all done, I gold-emboss the cactus from "Be Strong" and stamped the sentiment from Cake Love...done!



Trendy? Check!
 Fun? Check!😀
Masculine? Check!

Sophisticated? Check! 😉

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Don't forget to use the code "SHIP7OFF"(for orders over $100) to get $7 off.
Shop the release here
My random Taiwan trip photo share: hibiscus

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge #430

Welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge !! Thank you for joining us for the Use Plaid Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too :-)

This week the challenge is...

We're Seeing Stars

 We are using My Favorite Things products this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some, we love to see them used :-)

For my project, I am using Stars Above

 This set comes with many lovely sentiment and I love that there are great for coloring! 

I white-embossed the images on Neenah kraft card stock at first and added some colors with Distress Oxide. It didn't look like much at first. Once I applied more colors and added the popped up star, it begin to take shape.

I applied Nuvo Silver Glitter Drops to the star with an old paint brush. To highlight the silver scheme, I silver-embossed the sentiment and added silver DMC strings.



As always, Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store!

So now it's YOUR turn ! Happy Crafting !!

There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog . If you haven't subscribed by email, you may want to do so you don't miss out.

You have until Wed. 8am Eastern Time to join in :-)

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too !

I hope you check out the DT's work!  I can't wait to see what you create!!
Thanks for stopping by!