Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #109 - Guest Designer!!

Well, talk about exciting!! I got an incredible invitation a few weeks ago to be a GD for the Simon Says Stamps Flickr Challenge  from Barb Engler and nearly fell off my chair!! The theme is all about 'Stencils' and even though I don't actually own any SSS stencils, I of course said yes straight away!!

I created three cards for the challenge and have lots of photos, so grab a cup of coffee and lots of chocolate biscuits and get comfy for a long blog post....

This is my first card, a Walrus cutie and these are the different dies I used.

I started off by die-cutting the SSS 'Border Waves' dies from clear acetate:

I've kept these with my other stencils so I can use them again in the future!!

I cut a panel of white CS and using Distress Oxide inks in different shades of blue, I blended across each stencil, alternating as I went down. I then trimmed the panel and turned it upside down so it looked like waves and popped it up on a piece of white foam. 

The SSS 'Picture Book Walrus' was die-cut from two-tones of grey, white and black CS. I glued them together on a piece of white CS and cut around it. I decided not to die-cut the tiny eye pieces and just used Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black to make some dots, which left some white showing through from behind. I then popped the walrus on some foam tape.

The sentiment (from SSS 'Beautiful Day') was stamped with Versafine black ink and heat embossed twice with clear powder on white CS. I lightly blended some of the blue inks around the edge, glued it to some black CS and put it on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

For my second card I die-cut the SSS 'Cosmo Flower Frame' die from the middle of a big piece of white CS. I put it over a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and started off by blending Distress Oxide ink 'Spun Sugar' all over. I then went back in with 'Picked Raspberry' and then directly in the middle used 'Worn Lipstick'. I trimmed it down slightly, glued it to some black CS and then put up on black foam on the card front.

I blended some of the 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Oxide on a piece of white CS and then die-cut the SSS 'Love' die from it, along with two more from white CS. I glued them all together and then to the card. To give it some shine I covered it with Glossy Accents. To finish the sentiment I stamped it from SSS 'Kind Flowers' in black ink on a strip of white CS and glued to the card, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

For my third and final card I created a stencil with the SSS 'Kindness Matters' die:

I die-cut it from white CS and then adhered to a piece of plain white paper, with glue only on the outside edge of the die-cut. I used a pair of scissors to cut away the paper from behind the words so that I could stop any over-flow ink from going on the card. Using Distress Oxide ink 'Tumbled Glass' I randomly blended the words over the card front. And I can keep it and use it again!!

I die-cut the die again 3x from white CS and also from a piece of white CS that had been coloured with 'Tumbled Glass' Distress Oxide ink. I glued all the die's together and then to the card front. Then came the time-consuming adding of all the white letters with the blue ones on top. 

To finish off I heat embossed a sentiment (from SSS 'Kind Flowers') in WOW! Embossing Powder 'Pastel Glacier Mint' and put it on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

Whew, if you made it this far well done! And if you made it this far with any chocolate biscuits left over can I have them???  This was so much fun to do and a great way to stretch the use of my dies too. Good old 'kiwi-ingenuity' they call it here in New Zealand.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you get a chance to join the challenge too, can't wait to see what you do with your SSS stencil stash!

Take care
Shona