Good morning! I’m so excited to be a stop on the Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words blog hop! I love the fabulous products in this release and how perfect they are for creating cards to encourage, support, and celebrate others! I shared a card using the new release here and I have a totally different kinda card to share today!
I saw the adorable toucan from Encouraging Animals and knew I wanted to feature him! So I stamped him with Simon Says Stamp intense black ink and colored him with copics before die-cutting him with the coordinating dies. Then I applied a layer of Tonic crystal glaze all over the toucan and set him aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card. Next I die-cut a heart from Audrey Blue cardstock and stamped the sentiment from Thank You Teacher with versamark. I heat-embossed it with white embossing powder and added a layer of spectrum noir clear sparkle to the entire heart.
I wanted to create the look of a chalkboard for my background so I masked off a rectangle and blended black soot distress ink onto a piece of watercolor paper. I focused most of the ink on the outer edges of the rectangle and left the center a little bit lighter. Then I spritzed a little water over the distress ink and dried it with a heat gun. Next I swiped a little white pigment ink around the edges and sprinkled it with whtie embossing powder. I did prep the area beforehand with a powder tool but to create that grungy chalkboard effect I didn’t wipe away any stray embossing powder before heat-embossing. I stamped the ABCs from Stitched Alpha with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. Finally I adhered the heart and toucan with a mini-wobbler so it looks like the bird is holding the big heart up with his beak! I hope you’ll check out all the products from the Encouraging Words release and let me know your favorites! 😉
And what’s a hop without a giveaway, right? Simon Says Stamp has generously offered a $25 gift card to EVERY stop on the hop!! All you need to do is visit and leave a comment on each blog. The winners will be randomly selected from each blog and announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog! In case you encounter a broken link here is the full hop list:
- Simon Says Stamp Blog
- Debby Hughes
- Kathy Racoosin
- Yana Smakula
- Heather Hoffman
- Nichol Spohr
- Suzy Plantamura
- Sarah Moerman
- Jessica Frost-Ballas —> YOU ARE HERE! 🙂
- Virginia Lu
- Barb Engler
- Anna-Karin Evaldsson
Good luck! Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous day! If this is your first time visiting my blog I hope you’ll come back! You can subscribe to my blog via the sidebar on the right or find me on Instagram and Youtube. Happy Hopping!
Interested in the products I used? To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!!
 Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words Release Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals bundle Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Stitched Alpha Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Animals dies Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Nested Heart dies Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Copic Markers Shop at: SSS |
 Versamark Ink Pad Shop at: SSS | HA |
 Tim Holtz Black Soot Mini Distress Ink Pad Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink Pad Shop at: SSS |
 Hero Arts White Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS | HA |
 Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Smooth Solar White Cardstock 25 Sheets Shop at: SSS |
 Neenah Classic Crest 80lb Smooth Solar White Cardstock 25 Sheets Shop at: SSS |
 Tim Holtz 8.5″x11″ Distress Watercolor Cardstock Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock Shop at: SSS |
 Inkadinkado Embossing Magic Powder Bag Shop at: SSS |
 Wagner Precision Heat Gun Shop at: SSS | HA |
 Sizzix Big Shot Plus Shop at: SSS |
 Ranger Mini Ink Round Blending Tool Shop at: SSS |
 Ranger Mini Round Foam Refills for Mini Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SSS |
 Mini MISTI Precision Stamper Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS |
 MISTI Precision Stamper Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS |
 Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer Shop at: SSS |
 Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic Studios Crystal Glaze Shop at: SSS |
I love this Encouraging Words release! Awesome card, I especially the blackboard!
Beautiful card! Love the stitched alphabet die.
What a wonderful card and fabulous release!! You’re creations ALWAYS inspire me!
What a cute card! The chalkboard is such a nice touch.
This is a great release SSS has this month! Great ways to encourage the kids and support the teachers.
Great card so nicely done!
Great card! I like how you colored the blackboard.
Love the new release – the world needs more “encouraging words”
The chalkboard look is perfect! Great teacher card!
Love the toucan!
I like the graphic look of the black and white…then the pop of the blue heart!
Love the chalkboard background and how you’ve painted your Toucan. Any teacher would love to receive this card. Really well done!
Love Encouraging Words!
I love this card, my daughter is a teacher and I know she would love it!!
Adorable! Great job Jessica!
Such a sweet card Jess. Love the toucan image and those stitched letters. Great design.
Great card – love the toucan!
Super teacher cards, love them.
This is so cool! Love it all.
Love that card! Love how you combined the stamp and die sets to put this card together! I especially like that cute toucan!!
Perfect teacher card! Great release too.
Delightful card !!!
I’m a sucker for alpha stamp sets…don’t ask, I don’t know why but I love the way you used them and the creation of your blackboard. Yes, the toucan is perfectly colored but the star of the show for me is that amazing sentiment. Love it, love it, love it.
Love the black and white with pops of color so cute
I loved reading about your method for creating the chalkboard! Great idea and great results! Thank you so much for sharing such a great card!