Cool Summer kit from Simon Says Stamp

Summer Themed Cards

Is anyone else not ready to let go of summer?  Autumn is my favourite season, but I'm just not ready to let go of the warm, lazy days of summer.  It's a dilemma, so what's a girl to do?  Make some more summer themed cards, of course!

Flamingos!

I was inspired by a design Heather Ruwe shared in the inspiration sheet that comes in the kit.  She created a background with the watermelon stamp from the One Cool Pineapple stamp set.  I loved that design and I used that idea with each of the images in the set, starting with the flamingo (what says summer better than flamingos?).

I stamped the images on smooth bristol paper and coloured them with Nuvo Aqua Flow pens and used a bit of water to pull the colour out into the images, for a light watercolour look.  I added a hand typed sentiment on a die cut stitched rectangle that I adhered to a die cut scalloped rectangle, which I popped up.  The friend I'm planning to send this card to will get a kick out of the cheeky sentiment!

For my second flamingo card, I used the Nuvo Aqua Flow pens to create a sunny beach scene for my die cut flamingo.  I cut the handsome fellow out of Simon Says Stamp glitter cardstock and added him to the scene.  Next, I added the sentiment, which is from the One Cool Pineapple stamp set, and added a flock of "pigeons" to the background.  It's a fun summer themed card.

I am quite enjoying the Nuvo Aqua Flow pens, but I clearly need a bit more practice!

Summer fruit

Pineapples make me happy!  They remind me of Hawaii, which is one of my favourite places in the world.  Adding the cool sunglasses to them just makes me like them even more.  In addition to colouring the pineapples, I also added a light blue wash between and around them, for a bit of added interest.  I made sure to leave room for the sentiment, and added the panel to a top folding card base.






Watermelon always makes me think of summer.  Same design and colouring technique as with the other backgrounds I created, but I added some stamped hearts in the white space between the slices.  I like that added touch.  It provides a touch of black on the card to match the stamped sentiment.

Summer images

The variety of summer images in the One Cool Pineapple stamp set is part of what drew me to purchase the kit.  Well, second to the flamingo, of course.  😉  The sunshiny face, the cactus and the fish were all perfect summer images.  There is a little something for everyone.

Balloon cards

Stenciling

I used the Neat & Tangled Balloon Duo stencil to make some birthday cards.  

I used Strathmore Bristol paper so I could blend with Distress Oxide inks.  Two colours per card created a nice mix.  

I added balloon strings with a Copic Multiliner pen, added a sentiment from a variety of sources (Stamp of Approval, Concord & 9^th), rounded the corners of the card panel and the card base with a corner chomper from We R Memory Keepers.

The last step was to pop the card panels up on 3M foam tape and add them to a card base.  I love how vibrant these simple cards can be.  This is one of my favourite stencil sets because it is easy and quick to use.  You can create beautiful birthday cards in minutes.