Simon Says - Christmas Tag

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

It's the first challenge of the month when the Design Team showcase one particular company/brand and this week we are all using products from our very own Simon Says Stamp.

We are also welcoming the lovely and very talented Laura Cassina aka elaborando on Instagram into the Designer Spotlight. If you haven't visited her site before, then you are in for a real treat.

This week Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring Day 2 of the lovely Tracy McNeeley's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event and we would like you to make a Christmas Tag, link it on the Monday Challenge post and also join in with the event over on Tracey's In My Creative Opinion Blog.

and the theme for this week is...

CHRISTMAS TAG

I created a trio of tags ready to pop on to Christmas parcels featuring the adorable snarky cat from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Christmas and his Lil Gnome friends from Simon Says Stamp. I used Simon Says Stamp Basic Stripes to create the plaid on the background, Simon Says Kate Snowflake, Merry Frame die and Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text for the sentiment.

I die-cut three tags from Distress Watercolor card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Tags Thinlits. The largest die in the set is the same as an #8 Tag and if you don't have this set of dies, you could use the Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock tags. I stamped the cat from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonynmous Snarky Cat Christmas inked with Black Soot Distress Archival on one of the tags and created a mask for the image. I cut a mask for each tag to create a snowbank at the bottom. To create the plaid on the background, I placed copy paper in my stamp platform, laid the tag on top and marked around it with a pencil to create a reference for the production line stamping to create the plaid background. I inked the widest stripe from Simon Says Stamp Basic Stripes with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, stamped on all 3 tags, cleaned off the stamp, repositioned it and stamped again. I inked the next widest stripe with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink and repeated the process. 

I stamped the three narrow stripes with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink and at this point, the plaid just came to life with that pop of red. I removed the snowbank masks but left the cat mask in place and applied Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink through Simon Says Christmas Gnome Home Stencil using a Distress Blending Brush to create trees in the background. I coloured scraps of Distress Watercolor card with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink by dragging the ink pad over the card, die-cut using Simon Says Merry Frame die and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I die-cut the Lil Gnome from Distress Watercolor card, coloured his hat and nose with Candied Apple, beard with Hickory Smoke and body with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide inks using a mini round blending tool.

I added Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink to the edges of the coloured pieces using a mini round blending tool to create definition and fixed to the gnome bases using Distress Collage Medium Matte. I masked part of the sentiment from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text and stamped using Black Soot Distress Archival. I added snowflakes die-cut from Distress Watercolor card using Simon Says Kate Snowflake and coloured the snarky cut with Candied Apple and Frayed Burlap Distress Re-inkers using a Distress Detailer Brush. I stamped the snowflake from Simon Says Gnome For The Holidays inked with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink and added Ice Crystal Sequins to the centres. I coloured Crinkle Ribbon with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, and added to the tags. To finish I added splatters using Picket Fence Distress Paint and my splatter brush and applied Ranger Glossy Accents to the cat's and gnomes' noses.

You can find all the products I used over at Simon Says Stamp, 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 have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in with the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp Online Store.

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

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