STAMPtember® Use A Stamp Challenge And Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Today, the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge team have a STAMPtember® blog hop. Be sure not to miss out on any of the inspiration. Our challenge this week is 'use a stamp' (it needs to be a rubber or clear stamp, not a digi image). You should have arrived here from the wonderful and very innovative Andrea. If you get lost along the way, you can always head to the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog to start from the beginning.

As always, Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store. Apart from this prize, there is also an additional chance to win, since each DT member has a grab bag to give away (see more at the end of the post).

We are showcasing the new STAMPtember® products. CLICK HERE to see them all. It is a huge release with loads of stamps, dies, stencils and inks.

I made a mixed media wall hanger and had such fun with a bunch of the new STAMPtember® products and some previous Simon Says Stamp exclusives. I love poppies and this summer I've taken quite a few photos of them. In particular, there were poppies growing along the way we walk to the shops and I kept saying to my son that I had to remember to photograph them. He luckily reminded me about that one time when I had my camera with me, so they are now caught on film and inspired this project. The poppies on the panel (4 3/4 x 6 in) were made with the new Tattered Poppy die set. I took step photos.

Start by die cutting the poppy twice from Neenah cardstock.

I used Pan Pastels to colour the flower, since it is fun medium for flowers and gives great results quickly. Colour the petals with two shades of red and add some black at the base. I coloured the petals on both sides, since I was going to make dimensional flowers. Colour the stamen with yellow and black and the leaves and stems with two shades of green. I used Sofft tools to apply the pastel.

Shape the flowers using the Sizzix Susan's Garden Tool kit. This step really brings the flowers to life.

Glue the flowers together as show, one petal at a time. I added an extra petal to the flower to the left, and made the second flower smaller.

Add some Glossy Accents in the flower centers and sprinkle with Pollen Micro Beads.

Cover a piece of mat board or chipboard with old dictionary text, using Matte Multi Medium. Tear the edges instead of cutting them.

Coat with a layer of gesso, but don't cover up all the text.

Die cut circles using the wonderful new Circle Loops die. This is one of my favourites from the release, circles are so versatile.

Glue the circles to the background with multi medium, overlapping some.

Paint the background with watered down Pumice Stone Distress Paint.

Stamp with the Tiny Alphabet Background stamp. I don't often use diagonal elements, but I love this stamp, and simply angle it to get straight text.

Smear Prima's Graphite Sand Texture Paste on the background with a palette knife. This cool paste dries to a rough glittery finish, perfect for soil. I used it in a similar way on my Roots Canvas Tutorial.

I wanted to add some shadows to the background and used a Black Soot marker here and there, especially along the lines of the circles. Smudge with your finger until you are happy with the result. I also added some green to the stems since I thought they were a little too light.

Splatter Black Soot paint on the background for more texture.

Die cut three letters using the Alphabet Blocks die and glue to the background with multi medium, add some medium on top too. Stamp words and cut into strips, adhere in the same way. When the multi medium is dry, add some shadows to the letters and strips.

The poppies are easy to make and have a great dimensional look and would work great for lots of different gifts and home decor project. If you rather want them to be flat, just glue them together after colouring them, without shaping the pieces.

On the smaller flower, I folded up the front piece so that it would look as if it is facing in a different direction.

Glue the leaves to the stems with multi medium.

I used just part of one of my favourite sentiments, from the One With Nature set. 

This sentiment comes from the My Sunshine set. Here you can see how glittery the Graphite paste is.

It is always hard to capture the dimension of projects on photos, here you can maybe see the 3-D effect on the flowers a little better.

I hope you will join us in the hop and in this week's challenge. Take out your stamps and start stamping. We are looking forward to seeing what you create.

The next person on the hop is Ashli, and you can be sure to find wonderful inspiration on her blog. If you get lost, you can always head back to the start at the Simon Says Stamp blog.  

Each DT member has a Simon's Goody Bag to give away! All you need to do is leave a comment on this post AND enter the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

If you want to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, you can find them here. If you use Instagram, please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

There are giveaways and daily inspiration from designers over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog, if you haven't subscribed by email you may want to, so you don't miss out.

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Thank you so much for stopping by here on my blog today! There will be lots of posts this week. 

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp CIRCLE LOOPS	Simon Says Stamp TATTERED POPPY	Simon Says Stamp ALPHABET BLOCKS	Simon Says TINY ALPHABET BACKGROUND	Simon Says ONE WITH NATURE
Simon Says Clear Stamps MY SUNSHINE	PanPastel MIXED MEDIA 2 Pastels	PanPastel 10 FLOWER COLORING KIT	PanPastel SOFFT KNIVES & COVERS	Sizzix SUSAN'S GARDEN TOOL KIT
PanPastel 4 MIXED SHAPES SPONGE BARS	Neenah Classic Crest 80 LB SUPER SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE	Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz Distress Paint BLACK SOOT	Tim Holtz Distress Paint PUMICE STONE
Tsukineko JET BLACK STAZON	Prima Flowers GRAPHITE SAND TEXTURE PASTE	Prima Flowers POLLEN Micro Beads	Ranger 4 Oz. MULTI MEDIUM MATTE	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE GESSO
Aleene's ACID FREE TACKY GLUE	Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White	Sizzix MAGNETIC PLATFORM	Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE
We R Memory Keepers CROPADILE

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