Saturday, May 29, 2010

Memorial Weekend - So Charming!


Small Medium Hearts
Happy Saturday! I have a very, very busy Memorial weekend this year. My sister and her husband will be visiting as well as my college roommate from freshman year, I may go to a soccer game on Saturday, and my friend's parents are having us over for a cookout on Monday! I am excited to see everyone, but I'm hoping I don't get too exhausted from all of the fun activities (as if that could happen!). I'm thinking that, because I have Monday off, I will just enjoy the weather.

There is a 75% chance that I will design a few cards and maybe, if I'm feeling motivated enough, I will make a charm bracelet or two. We have TONS of charms here and I've been eyeing some by Blue Moon, especially. They have a few different kinds of heart charms and I thought it might be neat to make a charm bracelet for my mom or grandma, just because. In addition to the Small Medium Hearts (see above left), there are Large Hearts Lost & Found (see right) that would be nice for variety.

If I decide to make a bracelet for myself, too, I would choose the keys. For some reason, I have always thought old skeleton keys were cool. I found one in our basement once, but no one in my family had any clue where it came from (maybe that's why I like them, hehe). Anywho, Blue Moon has Silver Key Charms that I like. Perhaps I will use them to make a necklace instead - I'm personally more of a necklace person these days. I might even save them and use them on a card (check out the Blog Challenge involving tent card and charms - SO many remarkable works!!).

I can't wait to get some work done this weekend in between all of the social fun! Sorry to gush so much, but I really do love weekends...they are like a reset button for my brain - I like to get a bunch of tasks accomplished so that I'm ready for the next week. We shall see how productive I am though! : )

Have a stupendous weekend!!
-Sarah
sarah@simonsaysstamp.com

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix IN ACTION!!!


It's Alterations time again! Many of you have already purchased and began playing with your Alterations Bigz Dies, Movers & Shapers Dies, and Decorative Strips.

This video by Tim Holtz gives excellent tips and techniques on not only cutting with these fabulous dies, but also maintenance! Check out Tim's blog HERE for endless creative inspiration.

The Tim Holtz Alterations Dies are compatible with any of the Sizzix Bigz Machines (Big Kick, Big Shot, Big Shot Express, Big Shot Pro) as well as the Cuttlebug Machine. And...Tim's Sizzix Machine is due to be released mid July 2010!

Other Sizzix accessories you'll need are the Big Shot Clear Cutting Pads (for cutting Bigz dies, Movers and Shapers Dies, Decorative Strips, and Embossing with Texture Fades) and the On The Edge Cutting Plates (for cutting with On The Edge dies). Also, for embossing with the Texture Fades, you'll need the Big Shot White Platform Base. A helpful tool for die maintenance is the Tim Holtz Craft Pick by Tonic. Get those little "leftover" pieces of material out of your dies before you use them again!

More good news, we have shipped out all of the PREORDERED TEXTURE FADES THIS WEEK! (Some of you may have already received yours - woohoo!). The video shows cool tips and techniques on the Texture Fades as well!

The Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix line can cut and/or emboss many materials. Highlighted in the video below are Cork, Core'dinations Paper, Ten Seconds Studios Metal, and even the packaging from Grungeboard! Yes, you can go GREEN and reuse your packaging with awesome results!

I hope you enjoy this video from Tim and are inspired to fire up your machines!
~TERRA

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Lucky Duck Winner for Tim Holtz Distressable Elements DVD!


Happy Friday Everyone! I found a "cool dude" duck for a cool dude Tim Holtz Giveaway! Do you like him?

It's time to announce the winner of the Tim Holtz Distressables Elements DVD!

Drumroll please........

The winner is AMANDA!

She said: The only Tim Holtz products I have is Glossy and Crackle Accents - and I love using them. Thanks for a fabulous giveaway!

Congrats Amanda! Please contact Steph at steph@simonsaysstamp.com and give her your name and address to claim your prize! Have a fabulous weekend!

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Thursday, May 27, 2010

We Are Living in a Material World and I Am A...






Material Girl

Happy Thursday, everyone! Unless you're not in to pop culture in the 80's I'm thinking that you can finish my sentence in our blog title...yep, that's right, you guessed it...MATERIAL GIRL! :)

This super sweet collection has been very popular for Cosmo Cricket, and they decided to join forces with Unity and make a couple really great stamp sets inspired by the line! Get all the accessories to make the great card examples above!


Get Scrappy With


Ready Set Chipboard


Buttons


Crafting Kit


Mini Deck


***Blog Candy Alert! Join our following and tell me your favorite song from the 80's and you could win a Material Girl 6 x 6 Mini Deck!! Super sweet paper that's perfect for a variety of crafting in the Summer...best of luck!! I will announce the winner on Thursday, June 3rd!

Keep those creative juices flowing!

Steph

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Letters!


If you've been reading any of my past blogs, you will notice that I have a lot to be thankful for and I have a lot of people in my life who I feel deserve a big thank you. I've decided, because I have so many great resources at my fingertips every day, to make my own cards! While, I certainly could use a stamp that says "Thanks" or "Thank you," I think it might be nice to put the person's name on the card as an added personal touch and I've determined that the Build a Set Uppercase Alphabet (see at right) will help me with this project! Gelatins has a decent selection of alphabet clear stamp sets. I particularly like that the letters aren't just solid or outlined letters, but they have stripes or checkers - BONUS!! There is also a Build a Set Lowercase Alphabet (see left) that I'm thinkin' I'll need to use. My mom's friend recently gave me a bread machine because she had a few extras that she didn't need and she knows that one of my passions is cooking (or even moreso eating!). I still owe her a thank you note and I think it would be fun to make the card myself and also bake some bread! If any of you have any ideas about what kind of bread to bake, let me know!!

Build a Paisley Floral
I think for the front of the card I might use the Gelatins Build a Paisley Floral. I love paisley designs anyway, but the great thing about this one is that there are superb floral patterns within each shape!! I plan to get colorful cardstock (perhaps from Hero Arts) and then use different colored ink pads to stamp paisley floral designs on the front. I'm really excited about this new endeavor, actually. I love surprising people with small gifts or anything that may help to brighten their day : ) I also just decided that it might be cute to use the dotted paisley shape as an outline on the back of the card for a "made with love" or "made by" tag! I may even add pearl or gem embellishments!! Huzzah!

I highly encourage all of you (who are so kind to be reading this!) to go make thank you cards of your own!! Have a fantastic day and happy card-making!

-Sarah
sarah@simonsaysstamp.com

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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Hero Arts Summer 2010 Collection is Available!


Hero Arts' new Summer 2010 collection is spectacular! I had the pleasure of working with many of these stamps last week and am so excited to be able to finally reveal the new designs to you! What do you think? We'd love to hear!

While we were visiting Hero Arts last week, Shari Carroll taught us how to make TENT CARDS! Love her! SMILE SHARI!


Do you want to see all of the new 2010 Hero Arts stamps? Click HERE - we stock them ALL in our Simon Says Stamp Superstore.

Want to see a GREAT HOW TO video using the new Tsukineko metallic inks? The video is by Jennifer Mcguire and can be seen HERE. It is TOTALLY WORTH your time to view this video. Jennifer is easy to watch, gets straight to the point and gives HUGELY HELPFUL tips and tricks. The card she makes in the video is shown below - killer awesome! Don't ya think?!


Look at some of the gorgeous cards you can make using the new Hero Arts Summer 2010 stamps! Can you pick out the ones that were used in the board below?



Happy Tuesday! Thanks for taking time out of your day to Hero Chat with us! We'd love to hear from you!

Luv,
Heidi

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