Thursday, September 15, 2016

Gold and Silver Autumn Days ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

I have another card to share with you using the stamp set Autumn Days again.  I wasn't planning on making this card, but the first card I posted using this set had some extra leaves that ended up getting spritzed with some of the Journey Gold and Silver Splashes on accident.  I figured why waste the leaves.  Let's see what I can come up with!



I ended up stamping a few more leaves after spritzing the rest of my card stock with gold and silver, cut the leaves out with the matching dies and started assembling it on a separate piece of Buttercream Card Stock that I had VERY lightly spritzed with more Journey Gold and Silver Splash.  I added the Journey Natural Thread in the background for a little extra embellishment on the card attaching them with glue dots and attached the whole thing to a Buttercream card base.



This card was probably the hardest for the ladies at my stamp a stack, but no one said it was too hard to make at all. :)  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!



Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you would like to be a Fun Stampers Journey Coach click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me on my journey! 
If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. 
If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . 
Supplies used on this card:

Stamp Sets:
Autumn Days p. 70 (SS-0006) $17.95
Autumn Days Bundle that includes the Die p. 70 (BD-0054) $30.50
Sentimental Prints p. 206 (SS-0072) $19.95

Card Stock:
Buttercream p.  288 (CS-0006) $6.95

Ink Pads:
Black Licorice p. 289 (IP-0041) $7.95

Supplies:
Autumn Days Die if not bought as a bundle p. 70 (DI-0118) $15.95
Journey Gold Splash p. 290 (IP-0081) $7.95
Journey Silver Splash p. 290 (IP- 0082) $7.95
Journey Natural Thread p. 310 (AC-0013) $5.95/68 yds.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Hit the Road ~ Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today's card is one of five that I made for my September stamp a stacks. It's a nice CAS masculine card to make using the FSJ set Hit the Road.  Who hasn't thought about taking a trip down Historic Route 66?  My hubby and I would like to do it someday, that's for sure!  
To make this card I stamped everything using the Black Licorice ink pad and colored in the truck with the reddest watercolor pencil in the Journey Color Splash set (I think it was the first one, but since I'm not home I can't check!)  After I colored it in I used a Journey Blending Brush with the tip slightly damp.  It doesn't take much water to watercolor it!  After it was just about dry (paper still a little cool) I colored over it again to darken the truck.  I have to say that I need to work on my photo taking skills because the truck is darker in person and doesn't have any streaks in it!  I guess that's what the flash does, but the color is never as vibrant if I don't use it.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara 

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you would like to be a Fun Stampers Journey Coach click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you on my team!

Supplies used on this card:

Stamp Set:
Hit the Road p. 144 (SS-0312) $18.95

Card Stock:
Fabriano Hot Press 140 lb watercolor paper
(The reason I used hot press for this is because of its smooth texture. My SAS ladies do NOT like the texture on cold press paper because it doesn't always stamp consistently)
Candy Apple p. 289 (CS-0007) $6.95
Black Licorice p. 289 (CS-0003) $6.95

Ink Pads:
Black Licorice p. 289 (IP-0041) $7.95

Supplies:
Journey Color Splash Watercolor Pencils p. 278 (JM-0078) $59.95 
Journey Blending Brush p. 273 (TO-0098) $5.95

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Love Paris ~ Fun Stampers Journey Card

I'm finally getting a chance to post another card for you.  I'm hoping to post four or five more this week too while I'm on vacation.  I was pretty busy prepping for my stamp a stacks that I had last week using the few supplies that I now own from Fun Stampers Journey.  I have some more goodies ordered so I'm hoping when I come back from vacation I'll have them to play with!! :)  Today's card is for this week's challenge at Try Stampin' - or Not - on Tuesday.  I have to admit I fudged it quite a bit to make the sketch work with what I had.  That said I made a clean and simple birthday card for anyone who likes Paris. :)


Here's the sketch we're playing with this week.  Make sure you stop in at Try Stampin' - or Not - on Tuesday to check out what all the designers created and play along with us if you have a chance. :)




I was trying to use fall colors for this card since the optional theme is autumn colors, but with only four ink pads right now it was kind of hard to do! lol  I checked out pics of the Eiffel Tower and saw trees around it and decided to make it look like it's in the distance with the edges of trees around it that are closer.  I didn't want the leaves to be really dark so I stamped on scrap paper once, then quickly re-stamped the leaves on my card stock to give the leaves a lighter color.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you would like to be a Fun Stampers Journey Coach click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you on my team!

Fun Stampers Journey supplies used on this card:

Stamp Sets
Sentimental Prints p. 206 (SS-0072) $19.95
 Love Paris p. 89(SS-0054) $17.95
Branch p. 69 (AT-0046) $7.95

Card Stock
Dark Roast p. 288 (CS-0091) $6.95 (25 sheets)
Oatmeal Cookie p. 288 (CS-0023)  $6.95 (25 sheets)
Buttercream p. 288 (CS-0006) $6.95 (25 sheets)

Inks
Fresh Forest p. 288 (IP-0013) $7.95
Journey Gold p. 290 (IP-0106) $14.95

Tools
Details Pro Shears p. 273 (TO-0063) $13.95


Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Autumn Days with Fun Stampers Journey

I finally have my first card to show you with Fun Stampers Journey!!  I actually made it three days ago, but had to wait to post it because I made it specifically for the challenge at Try Stampin' - or not - on Tuesday.  I love to make fall cards, or at least use fall colors and that's what I did today. I have to admit it's looking a little empty at the bottom where my sentiment is supposed to be, so I put my watermark there hoping it wouldn't look quite so odd!  It still does, but whoever gets it eventually will have a finished card. :) 


Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' - or not - on Tuesday HERE to check out all the other fun cards made using this week's sketch.  I didn't do the banner, but tried to "copy" the shape across the cards with the leaves



I used the stamp set Autumn Days and stamped the leaves with Black Licorice.  Then I used my Journey Color Splash watercolor pencils to color my leaves in.  I didn't actually color them though.  I used a paint brush to pull the color off of the tips of my pencils onto a block.  Then it was simple to watercolor them since it was like having a mini-palette of watercolors.  Once the leaves were dry I cut them out using the Autumn Days Die and spritzed them with Shimmer Gold Color Splash and let me tell you I sure have been waiting to get my hands onto something shimmery like that again!!!  I've been making my own for the past few years and was almost out of the supply of what I used to make it and it wasn't nearly as sparkly because I diluted it.  I only bought the gold and silver so far and sprayed just a bit of the silver to see what it was like...yup, it shimmers and sparkles!  I think I'm going to need to take it easy and not buy any of the other colors for a while. lol  Now on to the rest of how I made the card.  I spritzed a bit of the shimmer gold onto my background piece, then got a paintbrush wet and using the watercolor left on my block I tapped a couple of different colors on both the background piece and the leaves.  Then I just assembled the card.  It was actually pretty quick and easy (well, as quick and easy as it is for me to put a card together from start to finish! lol).


Thanks for  looking and have a great day! 
Sara 

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you would like to be a Fun Stampers Journey Coach click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you on my team!

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Change is Good!

I have been busy, busy, busy making changes here in Michigan.  I said I would get back with you in a day or two, but it's taken me a lot longer than that!  As you can see I've updated the look of my blog.  Because I have resigned as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I needed to make that change as well as a lot of other little changes.  As a demo for SU! I was exclusive to them and their product meaning I did not buy stamps from any other company at all.  The only thing I didn't buy from Stampin' Up! was paint brushes (because they didn't sell them) and watercolor paper (because I go through a LOT!).  If you're wondering, I did not leave Stampin' Up! because I was angry or upset with the company.  They are a great company and I'm sure they will continue to be great in the future.  I was just ready for a change and to see what else is out there.  

With that being said I want you to know I have joined up with a relatively new and growing company called Fun Stampers Journey.  They have a lot of different products out there that I haven't seen because I was exclusive to SU! This will give me a chance to continue being creative with products that are new to me!  I haven't had a chance to do any crafting lately, so I'm definitely ready to get my fingers inky again and try some new techniques.  I don't have a lot of product yet, but I will start to share with you again as soon as I can!

If you want to check out what Fun Stampers Journey has to offer just look to the right of my blog and you can click on either of the catalogs and check them out.

Thanks for stopping by...Have a delightful day!
Sara 

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you would like to be a Fun Stampers Journey Coach click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you on my team!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Changes for Simply Sara Stampin' !

Hello again, Everyone!  I hope you've all been enjoying your summer!  I sure have...except yesterday.  We don't get many tornadoes here in West Michigan, but there sure was a lot of activity going on with one yesterday!  I've watched a little bit of the news, and I'm so thankful that the one in my area wasn't very severe!  We definitely (not me personally other than a bit of water in the basement and back yard) have some damage, but nothing like I've seen pictures of out west.  I have a pic of our backyard shortly after the heavy rain stopped.  Nope, it's nothing like the people are suffering with down in Louisiana. :(  It's still hard to believe about 30 minutes of rain can do this though...



Anywhoo I know I haven't been blogging much lately.  Partly because I've been busy this summer and partly because I have some changes that have been going on.  I'll be posting more about those changes in a day or two...stay tuned and happy stamping! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Stampin' Up! ~ Golden Ornaments

I've been working on my Christmas cards lately and used this week's sketch at Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday to create today's card.  It was a fun and easy sketch for sure, although taking pictures of the embossed gold was not nearly as easy!  I did some light and dark backgrounds trying to get decent pics!  


Along with this week's sketch is an optional technique: paper tearing.  I tore the edge of the card stock, then dragged it through my Versa Mark pad so I could emboss the edge of it gold.  It never really melted like it normally does, but didn't flake off either.  I was afraid if I heated it much more I was going to start my card stock on fire! lol  Make sure you head over to the Try Stampin's blog HERE to check out all the great cards made using this sketch.  We'd love to see what you create if you get a chance to play along. :)


I guess I can't add my color squares like I usually do since it will just show Whisper White and that would be pretty boring! lol


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

retired ornament punch

(both stamp sets are retired also)