Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Art Journal!

I am so honored to be a guest in the Designer Spotlight for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for the month of February! Thank you to the Blog Team!

This week's challenge is "Art Journal"! A randomly selected entry will receive a $25 gift card to Simon Says Stamp! You have 1 week to enter the challenge, go to the blog and get all the details!

I'll be honest with you, when I received this challenge, I felt, well, challenged. The Dylusions art journal is filled with 

8.5" x 11"mixed media pages but they are BLANK. I sat and stared at the page for several minutes. I looked on Pinterest and YouTube. I tried several things that were just not me. And in the end, I did a larger version of a card I would probably make. I'm actually happy it's in this bound journal, now I can keep it for myself!

Here are my steps, not the best photos but a good look into my process. I first splattered and dipped my page into Distress Inks in Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen and a few drips of Ground Espresso. I diecut the smaller bird from the  Tim Holtz Feathered Friends set from already inked red and brown scraps. I always have lots of inked Distress Heavystock on hand.

The bird needed a little greenery behind it, so I took the Tim Holtz Glorious Bouquet stamp and randomly stamped some of the leafy sections in Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron Distress inks. Originally I was going to add another of the same birds but decided it needed a larger image, so I added the cardinal. This die was a Simon Says Stamp Diecember 2020 gwp and is no longer available.

Here is a cardinal I made awhile ago using the larger bird in Feathered Friends and some creative cutting to make a cardinal. I try to think up new ways to use my dies.

I stamped the sentiment from the Tim Holtz stamp set called Observations in black Ranger Archival ink. (The No. 365,302 is from the Tim Holtz Field Notes stamp set and the script stamp is from the Dearly Departed set).

I diecut inked Distress Heavystock with the Tim Holtz Garden Greens dies and added a few Idea-ology Bouquet flowers and Thrift Shop ephemera.

Supply List with clickable links to Simon Says Stamp!

Thanks so much for visiting! Please stop by the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and see what the talented designers have created, you'll be inspired to pull out your art journal! 

I can also be found on Instagram @Susanbcards

Have a great week!

Susan