Simon Says Stamp has a new release! Sunny Vibes is now available here. They sent me a couple of new items from the release to create some sample cards for ideas. I’m collecting some of my creations with those products into two posts, so you’ll find some here, and the others in my Part 1 post, here.

I didn’t get this stencil in what I received to use, but I was crafting with a friend who had it and wanted to try it out. Anything with these geometric and bold sun rays adds so much visual energy to a card, and there are so many ways to use it.

Techniques:

• The background is pretty straightforward ink blending through a stencil, but I did add a color blend to both stencils in the pack (one is Marine-Lilac, the other is Sunbeam-Cantaloupe-Rose, inks from Simon Says Stamp).

• The stencil has a circle at the bottom for the sun itself, but I layered the globe from the Around the World stamp set on it, stamped on Harbor cardstock and ink blended with Blueberry and Grape Soda inks (all from Concord & 9th).

• The little black airplane and dotted line trail are stamped on that with black Versafine ink, with clear embossing on them. It doesn’t show well in the photos, but it adds a dimension and shine to them both that helps them stand out on the ink blended Earth.

• I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the stamp set in white on the background because I wanted it to be readable and clear, but secondary to the “hello” above it. The “hello” is cut three times from bright Dragonfruit cardstock (which relates to the pink in the lower part of the sun rays) and layered together for a bold greeting.

Colors:

• cardstock: Concord & 9th Dragonfruit and Harbor.

• ink colors: Rose, Cantaloupe, Sunbeam, Marine, Lilac (from Simon Says Stamp), Blueberry and Grape Soda from Concord & 9th, Versamark, and Versafine Onyx Black.

This one is different than my usual styles, but I was trying to come up with a design that is beyond my go-to approach. This is a slimline card, with a partial fold-out feature.

Techniques:

• The Earth is die cut from colored cardstock, and then ink blended on top of that. The blended die cuts are glued onto that Powder blue background.

• I cut the Powder piece into the curved shape around the Earth by using one of the Domed Arches dies that was big enough to fit the curve and offset it so the bottom was flat.

• The balloons are stamped in black and then colored with Distress Watercolor Pencils. I used some ink splatter from the pencils on the card also. The clouds and air mail stripes are stamped in light blue and gray, respectively. I chose to not color them in because I wanted to let the balloons and the Earth be the focal points, the clouds and stripe pattern are just background.

• Splitting the greeting so part is hidden inside feels special, and more engaging to the recipient when they open the card.

Colors:

• cardstock: Concord & 9th Clover, Harbor, and Powder.

• other papers: watercolor paper

• ink colors: Juniper and Blueberry (C9), Tumbled Glass and Lost Shadow (Distress Oxide), Versamark Onyx Black

I’ll have more cards from this release to share over the next few days, so keep an eye out either here or on Instagram.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you get some time to create something soon.

Links are below if you’re interested in any of the products I used.

Supply list*:

(Listed by company, with links to Simon Says Stamp and others. Simon Says Stamp links are affiliate links*.)

*Affiliate links do not cost you any more when you shop, but it is beneficial to creators when you use them, so thanks in advance!