November 2, 2022: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Thanks/Thanksgiving"

November 2nd's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge used the theme "Thanks/Thanksgiving" and showcased Hero Arts products. I dove for my stash--because my goodness do I have a collection of Hero Arts products. They're such a wonderful company and I don't do their products justice.

For this challenge, I picked two different products out of my stash and created two fun cards with autumnal colors. I had backgrounds that I had made with the Tim Holtz Distress Mica Spray Stain and the Simon Says Stamp Fall Foliage embossing folder. These backgrounds were going to be perfect for fall thank you cards.

Happy Thanks Card

For this card, I used the Happy Thanks XL stamp and die set from Hero Arts.

First, I trimmed the embossed panel to 4"x5.25" then popped it up on a white card base. Next, I cut the thanks die three times from Simon Says Stamp black cardstock and layered them together for a stacked look. I added this to the card, then covered it with two layers of Glossy Accents to give it some extra dimension and shine and help it stand out against that lovely shimmery background. 

Next, I added a sentiment from that same set, stamped with Altenew Obsidian pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Finally, I accented with some Trinity Stamps Midnight Ball baubles.

I embossed that sentiment four times--can you see the little white points in the image? When I stamp, the ink looks crisp and solid black. I pour on the embossing powder, which also looks even, then heat set... and these little white dots appear. Is my clear embossing powder contaminated with white? If you have any ideas on what's happening there, please share your ideas.

Autumn Wreath Card

For the next card, I picked out the Autumn Wreath stamp and coordinating dies. This set has so many cute images! The snail and the mushroom are particularly adorable.

I knew I wanted to do something with purple, as I had lots of lovely purple shading on the background. I heat embossed the wreath image with Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder onto Gina K Plum Punch cardstock. The plum really caught the purple in the background! I used the coordinating die to cut it out, then cut it another three times to give it some nice dimension. I used a Gina K sentiment, A big thank you, stamped and embossed in the same Gilded powder on the center of the wreath.

Next, I took those adorable little leaves, and stamped them lots of times on white cardstock. I grabbed some ink cubes in Gina K ink colors plum punch, faded brick, and honey mustard, and blended randomly across the stamped images. I cut those out and arranged them in groups of three on my card. Finally, I added more shimmer to the wreath with Trinity Stamps' Gold Satin Baubles.

I love how this card turned out, with all the shades of purple and gold! Do you have a favorite of these cards? Let me know in the comments, or just say hello so I know you stopped by. Thanks for reading!

Also, if you've created and shared two cards in a single post and submitted them both to InLinkz... please tell me how! I'm stumped how to submit both these cards to the challenge without creating two separate posts, which seems excessive to me. 🤣