Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words Blog Hop

Good morning!  I’m so excited to be a stop on the Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words blog hop!  I love the fabulous products in this release and how perfect they are for creating cards to encourage, support, and celebrate others!  I shared a card using the new release here and I have a totally different kinda card to share today!

I saw the adorable toucan from Encouraging Animals and knew I wanted to feature him!  So I stamped him with Simon Says Stamp intense black ink and colored him with copics before die-cutting him with the coordinating dies.  Then I applied a layer of Tonic crystal glaze all over the toucan and set him aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card.  Next I die-cut a heart from Audrey Blue cardstock and stamped the sentiment from Thank You Teacher with versamark.  I heat-embossed it with white embossing powder and added a layer of spectrum noir clear sparkle to the entire heart.

I wanted to create the look of a chalkboard for my background so I masked off a rectangle and blended black soot distress ink onto a piece of watercolor paper.  I focused most of the ink on the outer edges of the rectangle and left the center a little bit lighter.  Then I spritzed a little water over the distress ink and dried it with a heat gun.  Next I swiped a little white pigment ink around the edges and sprinkled it with whtie embossing powder.  I did prep the area beforehand with a powder tool but to create that grungy chalkboard effect I didn’t wipe away any stray embossing powder before heat-embossing.  I stamped the ABCs from Stitched Alpha with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder.  Finally I adhered the heart and toucan with a mini-wobbler so it looks like the bird is holding the big heart up with his beak!  I hope you’ll check out all the products from the Encouraging Words release and let me know your favorites! 😉

And what’s a hop without a giveaway, right?  Simon Says Stamp has generously offered a $25 gift card to EVERY stop on the hop!!  All you need to do is visit and leave a comment on each blog.  The winners will be randomly selected from each blog and announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog!   In case you encounter a broken link here is the full hop list:

• Simon Says Stamp Blog
• Debby Hughes
• Kathy Racoosin
• Yana Smakula
• Heather Hoffman
• Nichol Spohr
• Suzy Plantamura
• Sarah Moerman
• Jessica Frost-Ballas —> YOU ARE HERE! 🙂
• Virginia Lu
• Barb Engler
• Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Good luck!  Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous day!  If this is your first time visiting my blog I hope you’ll come back!  You can subscribe to my blog via the sidebar on the right or find me on Instagram and Youtube.  Happy Hopping!

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!!

Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words Release Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals bundle Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Stitched Alpha Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals dies Shop at: SSS
Simon Says Stamp Nested Heart dies Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Copic Markers Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Pad Shop at: SSS | HA	Tim Holtz Black Soot Mini Distress Ink Pad Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink Pad Shop at: SSS	Hero Arts White Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS | HA
Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Smooth Solar White Cardstock 25 Sheets Shop at: SSS	Neenah Classic Crest 80lb Smooth Solar White Cardstock 25 Sheets Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz 8.5″x11″ Distress Watercolor Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Inkadinkado Embossing Magic Powder Bag Shop at: SSS	Wagner Precision Heat Gun Shop at: SSS | HA
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Shop at: SSS	Ranger Mini Ink Round Blending Tool Shop at: SSS	Ranger Mini Round Foam Refills for Mini Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SSS	Mini MISTI Precision Stamper Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS	MISTI Precision Stamper Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer Shop at: SSS
Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Shop at: SSS	Tonic Studios Crystal Glaze Shop at: SSS