CZ Designs + Simon Says Stamp!

Good afternoon!  I was super excited to find a CZ Designs stamp set in my mailbox a few weeks ago and I knew immediately exactly how I wanted to use it!  I discovered Cathy Zielske on instagram at the beginning of the summer thanks to Jennifer McGuire and I feel like she’s my spirit animal!  Seriously.  Her insta-stories crack me up and I look forward to her daily karaoke! 😉 I highly HIGHLY recommend following her on instagram (@czdesign and @cathyzielske) as she falls more and more into the world of card-making! 😉

Cathy has teamed up with Simon Says Stamp to release a few fabulous sentiment and alphabet sets and I wanted to share a few colorful rainbow cards using one of her new stamp sets!

It was tricky to get this card to photograph so I apologize for the glare on the red at the top of the card.  To create this card I started by placing a piece of yupo paper into a box (to help contain the alcohol ink).  Then I squirted a few drops of flamingo alcohol ink onto the paper and quickly used an air puffer to puff the ink across the paper.  I use a cheap air puffer that would be used to clean a camera lens.  I repeated the process using alcohol inks in Poppyfield, Valencia, Sunshine Yellow, Limeade, Sailboat Blue, and Amethyst.  I concentrate the drops in the center of the paper and tried to puff it out towards the outer edges of the paper.

I let the alcohol ink dry overnight and then trimmed it down to a 4.25″ by 5.5″ panel.  Next I adhered it to a 110lb cardstock base with A LOT of ATG adhesive.  I knew I wanted to heat-emboss the sentiment and yupo paper has a tendency to warp with heat.  I’ve found that adhering the yupo paper to thick cardstock helps to keep it from warping.  After it was adhered I stamped the sentiment with versamark and heat-embossed it with silver embossing powder.  I made sure my heat gun was really hot before I brought it to the yupo paper and I kept it moving constantly to avoid hot spots.  Finally I added a few sparkling clear sequins to finish the card.

I repeated the process for my second card but lost a little of the green ink in the process (it mixed in with the purple to create that dark area near the beginning of the sentiment…oops).  Again I stamped the sentiment with versamark, heat-embossed it with silver embossing powder, and added a few sparkling clear sequins to finish the card!

I love how alcohol inks move on the page and thought the bright colors would pair perfectly with Cathy’s bold sentiments!  Her new stamps and dies are now available at Simon Says Stamp so head over to do a little shopping! 😉

Interested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!!

CZ Designs for Simon Says Stamp Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Sunshine Yellow Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Poppyfield Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Valencia Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Limeade Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Sailboat Blue Shop at: SSS
Ranger Alcohol Ink Amethyst Shop at: SSS	Ranger Alcohol Ink Flamingo Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Pad Shop at: SSS | HA	Hero Arts Silver Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS | HA	Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins mix Shop at: SSS	Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Smooth Solar White Cardstock 25 Sheets Shop at: SSS
Tim Holtz Adirondack Yupo Paper Shop at: SSS	Inkadinkado Embossing Magic Powder Bag Shop at: SSS	Wagner Precision Heat Gun Shop at: SSS | HA	Mini MISTI Precision Stamper Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS	Glossy Accents Shop at: SSS