bundled swag

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon! *I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

Hi friends! I have one last Valentine’s Day project to share with you using some new goodies from the Heart to Heart Release from Simon Says Stamp (click HERE to check out the entire release!). I love that Simon is coming out with so many coordinating stencils to go with their stamp sets, making it easy peasy to add color, shadows, and shape to stamped line art. I used the new Locket of Love product suite as the starting point for today’s project, and I am so happy with how it turned out. Let’s get started on the details!

To begin, I stamped and silver embossed one of the large locket images, chain, and sentiment from Locket of Love using silver embossing powder. I have a beautiful little locket with similar floral engravings on it that was given to me by my grandparents and so decided to create a silver locket rather than a gold one in honor of their gift to me from many years ago. I used a blending brush with the coordinating Locket of Love Stencils to blend Shark Pawsitively Saturated Ink on the chain and locket images, then added some details with a silver sparkle brush pen and a white gel pen, adding shimmer and shine to the image! I also used a gray alcohol marker to add a bit of additional shape to the round spheres on the chain, which when combined with the curved dashes of white gel pen, make it look so realistic!

For the background, I wanted something frilly and feminine, and the Bundled Swag Embossing Folder provided the perfect, over the top texture! It reminds me of those vintage piped buttercream cakes that are all the rage on Instagram right now. I embossed a panel of silver mirror cardstock, which highlighted those intricate embossed details to perfection. If you want to really pick up the details on an intricate embossing folder, I highly recommend using specialty coated cardstock. Pearlescent, mirror, and brushed foil cardstock works beautifully with those intricate embossing folders! I trimmed the long sides, then mounted the embossed panel in the center of a white A2 card front using strong double sided tape.

To enhance the silver embossed sentiment that I had created using the Locket of Love set, I die cut the new Fancy Hey, Girl, cutting a solid white shadow piece as well as nestling the shadow and detail dies together on a piece of silver glitter cardstock. I used the silvery glitter negative space to add additional texture to the card front while still making the crisp white sentiment visible amongst all of the silver and gray images. I had initially planned to do a simple silver glitter “hey, girl” but was afraid that the words would get swallowed by all of the other silver elements on the card. By utilizing the negative space, I still was able to keep my color palette consistent and add additional texture to the card while also making that crisp white die cut sentiment pop from the monochromatic background. After I had adhered all of the die cuts to the card front using foam adhesive, I added a few Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for additional sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! How sweet would this be for a galentine’s party? The Locket of Love set is such a unique stamp set; perfect for Valentine’s Day and beyond! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy love day!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! It’s Simon Says Stamp’s 23rd Birthday, and they’re having an incredible sale to celebrate! I thought it would be the perfect time to share this over-the-top birthday card that I created using some new and old goodies from the Simon Says Stamp lineup. I follow several cake artists on Instagram, finding their use of color and general artistry so inspirational, plus… who doesn’t love cake? One trend that’s going nuts in the cake world: over-the-top 1980’s inspired buttercream cakes. As soon as I saw the new Bundled Swag Embossing Folder I knew that it reminded me of the frosting on those buttercream cakes, so I wanted to use it to create an over-the-top birthday card. And it’s PINK. Lots of pink. Ha! Let’s get started with the details.

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I ran a panel of Rainbow Splash Ballet cardstock through my die cutting machine using the new Bundled Swag Embossing Folder. The texture created with this embossing folder is outstanding; you can use it in tons of different ways, but the scallops reminded me so much of icing borders that I ran with it! I used OLO markers and a Blush paint pen to enhance all of the details on this textured background, then trimmed it down on the long sides and added some very thin strips of Concord and 9th Dragonfruit cardstock, as well as some of the newer Bubblegum Glitter Cardstock to create a full size A2 card front, with that detailed background flanked by some additional pops of color and texture.

After I had created my card front, I used some more Ballet cardstock to die cut the Fancy Cake Set and used the Blush paint pen to add some coordinating decorative details to the cake. I also die cut the candles from some more glittery pink Bubblegum Glitter Cardstock and the cake stand from some coordinating magenta cardstock, pulling in as many colors as I could from the vibrant background. I also used a small blending brush and some coordinating Ballet Rainbow Splash Ink to add some shading to the cake, creating dimension and shape very quickly!

For the greeting, I die cut the previously released Birthday Wishes die from more Dragonfruit cardstock; this incredibly saturated deep pink cardstock stands out beautifully amongst the other shades of pink! I mounted all of the die cuts on my card base using foam squares, then added a smattering of Taffy Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for one last touch of shimmer.

Well, that’s all for my project today! How appropriate to share this over-the-top birthday card along with information on this over-the-top amazing sale to celebrate Simon Says Stamp’s 23rd birthday!!

From now until 3/30/25 at 11:59, you can save 23% off your entire Simon Says Stamp branded purchase by entering code BDAY23 at checkout! Simon literally has one of the largest catalogs of products that I’ve seen, and it’s a great time to stock up on things at a discount, things you forget about until later, like ink refills, blending brushes (the Rainbow Splash blending brushes are SO soft and perfect!), the Craft Tacky Mats, and so much more! It’s a great sale that doesn’t come around very often, so be sure to advantage!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy birthday to Simon! Have a marvelous day!