Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful Release- FOUR New Stamp Sets!

Hi friends! I am utterly thrilled tonight to share that I have not one, but four new stamp sets that I designed being released in Simon Says Stamp’s new Happy and Joyful release for April 2022! We are still pretty chilly and not terribly green here (weird for mid-April), so I’m coloring up a garden full of flowers with these new stamps: Thankful Magnolia, Just A Note Pansy, Celebrate Rose Corner, and Lisianthus!

In the video below, I share some tips on how to get incredible dimension using Thankful Magnolia. I discuss how I achieve depth and shadow using the new OLO markers, as well as how to make intentional choices with my cardmaking. You can watch below or on YouTube by clicking here.

For those who can’t watch the video, here’s a brief summary of how I created this card:

I began by stamping the huge magnolia image from Thankful Magnolia onto some white cardstock using Intens-ified Black Ink from Hero Arts. I then used the new OLO markers (which you can read more about here-the special introductory pricing is still available until 4/24!) to add lots of beautiful depth and dimension to this gigantic flower. And when I say gigantic, I mean gigantic haha-this is a 5×7 card! I designed the image so that you could use the entirety of it on an A7 card, or just have a corner peeking out on an A2 card, or you could orient it so that just the foliage and the filler flowers create a wreath around the outside of the card front. But above all, as with all of my illustrations, I wanted a large bloom that was a blast to color.

Once I had finished coloring and die cutting the Thankful Magnolia (love love love that there is a coordinating die to go with this massive bouquet!), I used the Tin Tile stencil with some Merlot ink to create a textured background for the magnolia. You can see in the video how I manipulated the stencil to be able to extend it beyond the typical 6×6 to fit almost the entirety of the 5×7 card front. I added a greeting from Thankful Magnolia stamped with black pigment ink and heat embossed with pearlescent charcoal embossing powder. A few plum gems added some more sparkle and texture.

My second card features the new Just A Note Pansy stamps. I heat embossed this pretty swag of pansies using silver embossing powder on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, then used Tombow markers to add tons of vibrant pinks and purples, working from the outer edges towards the center, rather than my usual work from the center out. I die cut the finished flowers with the coordinating die.

Next, I die cut the new A2 Marquee dies from some coordinating pink cardstock, then backed the die cut with some sparkling silver glitter cardstock to help coordinate with the silver embossing powder. I love that little sparkle peeking out around the edge of the rectangular die cut!

For the greeting, I silver embossed a few of the coordinating greeting stamps from Just A Note Pansy onto some more bright pink cardstock, then die cut and trimmed them. I added the marquee die cut to a coordinating pink A2 card base using foam tape, then added the watercolored pansies and greetings with even more foam tape. (So much height on this one!) I finished it off with some pink gems for sparkle!

My next card features my new Celebrate Rose Corner stamps. I used these in a bit of a non-traditional way to create this chalkboard card. This is one of my favorite ways to use super detailed images; adding some subtle white shading to the white embossed images is relatively quick and creates a neat impact on the overall card. I white embossed the Celebrate Rose Corner onto some black cardstock using white embossing powder, then added some white highlights to the flowers only using a white pencil. Such a neat effect!

For the greeting, I embossed the new XL Stacked Greetings using white embossing powder on the same black cardstock. I used the new Paws-itively Everything T-square to add a white pencil frame around the edge of a black slimline card base. I also blended a bit of white pigment ink on the one edge and splattered it with a bit of white gouache to add some extra texture and touches of white. I popped up the sentiment and the rose bouquet die cut using foam tape, then added some white iridescent pearls for some sparkle and shine.

My final card was a labor of love, for sure. I used my new Lisianthus stamps and dies with the Caran D’Ache Luminance pencils to create this super saturated and brilliantly purple card! I began by stamping the Lisianthus image onto some pale lavender cardstock using no-line coloring ink, then used the colored pencils to add lots of intense color to the image. Colored pencils are always a bit time consuming, but I am so pleased with the result! I die cut the finished image using the coordinating die.

Next, I stamped the new Soft Plaid Background stamp using some Deep Purple ink onto some more pale lavender cardstock. I used a blending brush to lightly blend the same Deep Purple ink around the edges of the plaid card base to create a kind of vignette for the background of my flowers. I love the tone-on-tone look with all of the different layers of purple!

Once my card base was complete, I adhered the flowers to the card front using foam adhesive. I white heat embossed a greeting from Lisianthus onto some strips of the same pale lavender cardstock, then popped them up wtih some more foam tape. Finally, I added a few pale purple gems for some sparkle.

Whew! Have you made it this far? That was a long one! I am so very excited to be sharing all of these new products and the projects that I created with them… such a thrill to see my illustrations come to life! I hope you’ll take a peek at the entire Happy and Joyful release-so many fun new products!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!