Bold Scandinavian Design - Simon Says Stamp Friendly Frolic Blog Hop

Good morning! I'm thrilled to be hopping today to celebrate the BRAND NEW release from Simon Says Stamp called Friendly Frolic with a FABULOUS line up of talented creators! Today is Day 1 of the hop - make sure and check in tomorrow for Day 2 - there is a $25 prize up for grabs from EACH and EVERY stop along BOTH days of the hop!!!

You should have arrived here today from Suzy Plantamura - if you just happened along, head over to the Simon Says Stamp Blog to start at the beginning!



For today's card I used the amazing new Folk Dance Rubber Background Stamp and a new technique that popped into my head one night as I was falling asleep - and I was THRILLED with how it came out!

There is a lot of Scandinavian heritage in my family - both on my side, and my husbands side, so I'm always fascinated with the colors and patterns from that. I wanted to make a striking background with traditional colors on black, and I was so glad my idea worked! I stamped it in white pigment ink on black cardstock, using my MISTI to stamp it a couple times for a nice solid impression. I set it aside to dry for a bit, then used my Polychromos pencils to carefully color in each image, intentionally leaving a bit of white space around the outside edges. The white stamping allowed the colored pencils to pop out bold and vibrant against the black background - SOOOO cool! It was a bit of a slow process, but didn't require a huge amount of thinking, so was nice and releaxing and fun!

Once I finished my background, I wanted to do as little as possible to cover it up - so I stamped a simple sentiment from the previously released Messages for Everyday on a thin strip of white cardstock, and popped it on foam adhesive over the top.

I simple white cardstock mat, then I mounted on a top folding cardbase created with black cardstock - adding a white panel on the inside for a space to write a note as well.

Your next stop along the hop is Elena Salo - I know she has something fabulous waiting for you - so make sure and head that way next!

In case you are looking for more inspiration with the new release - I have these two cards that I posted yesterday. Click on the photos to go directly to the respective blog posts if you want more info!

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Simon Says will be giving a $25 gift certificate to their online store at each stop along the hop - so make sure and leave a comment before you leave for a chance to win! Winners will be announced next Wednesday on the Simon Says Stamp Blog.

Here is the entire blog hop line up in case you get lost along the way:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Cathy Zielske

Amanda Korotkova

Nina-Marie Trapani

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Nichol Spohr

Suzy Plantamura

Heather Hoffman (you are here)

Elena Salo

Ankita Gupta

Karin Åkesdotter

Stephanie Low

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!