Simon Says - Make Your Own Background

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's challenge...we hope you can join us this week too because...

The first Monday of the month means the design team are showcasing products from a particular company and this month it's Carabelle Studio. You don't have to use their products to join in the challenge but if you have them, we would love to see how you use them.

We are also welcoming a new Designer In The Spotlight, the lovely and very talented Jo aka Let's Art Journal. If you haven't visited Jo's blog yet, you are in for a real treat, so please pop over and share some crafty love.

the  theme for this week is...
MAKE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND

I created a set of Festive and Funky Christmas cards and used my Ranger Gel Plate and Abstract Flowers and Ronds Art Texture Plates from Carabelle Studio to create the backgrounds.

I have to confess this was a little bit of a step into the unknown for me because I'm a Gel Plate novice, in fact, this is only the second time it's ventured out of the tin but after a little bit of research on YouTube, I was itching to get started.

Apparently the first rule is that less is more when it comes to applying paint to the gel plate, so let it not be said that this old crafter can't follow instructions. I dribbled on Dina Wakley paints and spread it out with the brayer. I pressed the Abstract Flowers Texture Plate on to the surface and transferred what was on the texture plate on to white card. I repeated the process on the other side of the Gel Plate and then pulled a print. Woohoo, get me, sounds as though I know what I'm talking about and oh boy is this addictive, so I repeated the process and pulled another print.

I applied Dina Wakley Lime Paint to the Ronds Texture Plate using a mini round blending tool and stamped on the white card and used Black Paint on the Gel Plate prints. I then trimmed my prints down to create panels slightly smaller than A2 card blanks.

Then I had a thinking out of the box moment and decided, with a little help from Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix Thinlits and my trusty Sidekick to turn the results of this fun adventure into Christmas cards. I die-cut slopes and trees from white card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Home For The Holidays

and the houses from Snowglobe 2

To add a touch more of a Christmas feel, I stamped the snowflakes from Mini Weathered Winter with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger Superfine White Embossing Powder.

and the sentiment from Glorious Gatherings with Black Soot Archival and Festive Berries Distress Oxide heat embossed with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder.

and I have the other 4 backgrounds left to make Thank You cards perhaps

You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx