Here is a Valentine’s Card I made using the most recent kit from Hero Arts. This kit was $34.99 including shipping. I signed up using the subscription option which includes shipping for free.
To see what was in the kit watch this video:
Here is the first card I made:
Here’s the video of me making this card:
To check out the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kits, go here. I’ll be back soon with card #2 and #3 from this same kit!
I couldn’t have expected this card to come out any better! I LOVE how this looks. When I saw the Holiday Glass Stamp Set by Avery Elle I immediately knew what I would do with it.
To see the making of this card, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Here’s a clickable list of supplies :
Avery Elle Holiday Glass Stamp Set ( Buy from us while supplies last!)
Avery Elle Merriest Stamp Set ( Buy from us while supplies last!)
Buy Archival Ink from us while supplies last!
Thank you for stopping by! I hope to be back very soon. P.S. Our Baby Girl is due in less than 2 weeks!!!
I recently received my August 2016 Simon Says Stamp card kit and got right to work making a card. 
I used the vented star die in the kit to make my own stencil. The video for this will go up soon, so make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube Channel!
Here’s a list of supplies ( I really try to stick to mostly what’s included in the kit to make it easy to duplicate my cards):
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll be back soon!
Here’s the last of the cards I made from the Simon Says Stamp Kit of the Month!
Here’s a list of supplies:
Card #7:
Card #8:
(Similar in price to what I used)
A video will be up in a bit explaining how I made these cards. Make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube! Thank you for stopping by!
Here’s the most recent card I’ve made using some of the supplies from the Simon Says Stamp July 2016 Card Kit.
Most of the stamping on this card was done using Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels. It’s super easy to do and the results are awesome! If you would like to see this technique done in a video then make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube. This video will be up in a few days to a week.
Here’s a list of supplies used:
That’s all the supplies! I used mostly what was in the kit except I used a sentiment from the Choose Happy stamp set and used the oil pastels for the stamping rather than an ink.
Sign Up for the August Kit by clicking the banner below.
Thank you for stopping by and I’ll be back soon!
As promised, here is the last Birthday Card I made using the Simon Says Stamp July 2016 Card Kit.
If you would like to see this card close up, you will want to visit my YouTube channel because I have a video going up of the making of this card right now!
Here’s a list of supplies used:
Silver Embossing Powder
Versamark
Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels
Simon Says Stamp Birthday Celebration Stamp Set
That’s pretty much it! I really tried to stay with mostly using items that were included in the kit.I will continue to try to mostly use the items that are in the kit as well. I think it shows how versatile it really is. There were some great sentiments in the kit but I really needed Birthday Cards and it was lacking a Birthday Sentiment. Luckily I had other sets on had with some nice birthday greeting and most cardmakers have at least one set like this laying around.
The technique I did here can also easily be done with a different embossing powder color and other watercolor mediums. You can use white embossing powder and watercolor pencils or even black embossing powder and zig clean color real brush markers. Just use what you have! Thank you for stopping by my blog and I will be back soon.
Here’s my second birthday card that I made using mostly the items that were provided in the Simon Says Stamp July 2016 Card Kit.
I started this card off using a piece of 4.25 x 5.5″ 120 lb white cardstock that was cut down from a 8.5 x 11″ piece that was included in the kit. These are a nice heavy weight cardstock and they take ink very nicely. They are also super smooth. I was again very impressed with the Simon Says Stamp paper.
I inked up the cardstock using Salty Ocean Distress Ink, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and the included Hybrid Ink in Slate Grey. Ink it in this order too. Ending with the darkest color just on the edges of the paper. I used a Tim Holtz Ink Blending Tool to get this effect. Dry the cardstock completely with a heat tool or leave it to dry. You need the cardstock bone dry so the next step works the best.
Now you will ink up some of the solid image stamps from the Handwritten Floral Greetings Stamp Set using Versamark ink and stamp them to create a frame. Heat emboss them with white embossing powder. Don’t forget to use an anti-static powder tool before you do this!
Here’s where the magic happens! Now we will color over the white embossed images with alcohol markers. I used Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers to do this, but you can use Copics, BIC, Sharpie, or whatever alcohol based markers you have. This technique will not work with any other kind of medium since we’re essentially coloring on top of enamel. This creates these beautifully vibrant images on your card and it’s a really fun technique!
Lastly, I stamped using one of my all time favorite stamp sets (Seriously, I find myself reaching for this one over and over again!) Handwritten Notes by Avery Elle. The “Happy Birthday To You” stamp was all in one line but all I had to do was selectively ink what I wanted on each line. Looking at the card now I wish I was a little more particular and slid the “To You” over to the left a little bit, but it still came out nice.
I hope you give this technique a try and I’ll be back very soon with another Birthday Card using the July 2016 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit.
To subscribe to the card kit for $24.95 a month, just click the link below.
I recently ordered some Prima items and among them were the Water Soluble Oil Pastels. Since one of the boxes came dented up I decided I would keep that one for myself (since the contents were likely damaged- and they were) and write a review about it.
These pastels come in a box of 24 and retail for $20.00. Simon Says Stamp sells them. We also sell them but by the time this blog post goes up we’ll probably only have a couple left!
Once I opened my box I got right to work seeing what these worked well for and maybe not so well for.
First technique was general coloring. The pastels are very creamy and would even draw on the tip of my finger. I tried scribbling on a thin sheet of non primed paper and it easily took the pastel. I added some water with my paint brush and it easily made the numbers I had written disappear. They are very soluble even on a non primed surface.
Second technique was mixing with a gel medium. I chopped off the end of one of the pastels with my palette knife and smashed it into some Prima 3D Gloss Gel Medium . It’s not as creamy as a gelato so it took quite a bit of smashing to get it mixed in. I used the red color and you can see the result of me applying it through a star stencil on the picture below on the right.
On the left side of the picture you will notice some light green dots over a purple wash of color. The purple wash of color was added on top of some dried Prima 3D Gloss Gel to see how it would react. I wanted to see if the water soluble oil pastels would stay on that medium or if it would act as a resist. It dried and stayed on it just fine. Then I was able to scribble the oil pastel on a non porous surface and mix in some Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium to create another colorful mixture to put through a stencil. This blended much easier than chopping off the end of a pastel.
For my next technique I thought it would be fun to see how they worked on enhancing texture. I added some Golden Molding Paste to my journal and dried it with a heat tool to create some bubbles and get a lunar type of texture. Then I lightly scribbled on top of the texture, squirted some water on it, and blended it out with my finger. Here’s the effect:
If you like these techniques then I definitely recommend checking out the Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels!
Here’s a video I put together showing all of these techniques in action!
This card took me a while to do but it was a lot of fun! Avery Elle has a new stamp set out called Pixie Dust and it’s just adorable!
Here’s the card:
She’s just so cute! This card did take a while and it’s PACKED with techniques. In order to not make this blog post monumentally long, I am going to to a quick run down of what was done.
Here’s a close up of the fairy girl: 
Thank you so much for stopping by!
As you know from my last blog post, I recently got a Silhouette Cameo 2 Electronic Die Cutting Machine. When I finally decided to purchase this machine after drooling over it for years, I told myself if I am going to dish out hundreds of dollars for another electronic die cutting machine I BETTER USE IT A LOT. Yes, I yelled it at myself in my head. I deserved the yelling though. Considering I spent $350.00 on the Sizzix Eclips when it first came out and I have a SLICE machine. I actually occasionally use the SLICE machine still just because it’s so small and convenient. Sizzix obviously realized they made a huge mistake with the Eclips machine because the cartridges that they used to sell for $40-60 each are now $5.00-6.00 on their website. I’d say that’s admitting you messed up. I didn’t purchase any cartridges and the only reason I bought the Eclips was because I knew I would also purchase the ECAL software (for $50.00 more) and make my own designs. Sizzix actually has an Eclips 2 now that’s specifically designed to be used only with a computer. I suppose I could have just kept using my Eclips but I just did not like the software at all! So, after years of contemplation, I bought the Silhouette Cameo 2 and got a great bundle with a ton of extra stuff for only $250.00 and Silhouette doesn’t charge you for software (unless you want the designer edition). Now there’s a company that knows what they’re doing!
So, here’s a fair warning that a lot of my blog posts will likely include the use of the Silhouette Cameo 2 machine. However, I am sure a lot of what I am using it for could be achieved in other ways. Such as fussy cutting or using the dies that manufacturers make that you can run through a manual die cutting machine such as the Big Shot (which I still plan on using).
On to the real reason we are here!
I was playing around with the Silhouette Cameo 2 and thought it would be sooooo cool if I could turn some of my stamps into die cuts!
It was easier than I expected and I am so happy with the results.
Here’s how you do it:
It’s as easy as that! I also cut out the outer edge so I had something to stack the inside of the flower on. I love how well this worked and it’s an awesome way to stretch your stamps.
Isn’t that just amazing!? If you have a Silhouette Cameo, I HIGHLY recommend getting a PixScan mat if you don’t already have one. It will greatly increase your creative abilities.
All of the papers used on this card are Authentique and the stamped sentiment is by Avery Elle.
That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by!
Intoxicating Arts 