Tim Holtz/Sizzix Chapter 1 - Bloom Colorize Thinlits

Hi my friends, I'm back to share cards I made for the YouTube Live launch of the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Chapter 1 Collection, this time using the Bloom Colorize along with Alphanumeric Stretch Upper Thinlits. If you missed the Live launch, pop over to Tim's Blog HERE where you can check out the whole collection, watch the YouTube Live and see all the amazing inspirational makes listed under each Maker. If you follow my blog, you'll know I love anything floral and also have a bit of an addiction to alphabets so I absolutely fell in love with the Bloom Colorize and the large skinny Alphanumeric Stretch Thinlits and decided to use the 2 together to make 3 contemporary Slimline cards, simple in design and using different colour palettes.

I'm sharing a few hints and tips that I find useful when working with Colorize Thinlits. Sizzix Adhesive Sheets truly are your best friend when you have lots of pieces to assemble. They hold the die-cuts contained in one place with less chance of losing those tiny pieces and if you intend colouring the die-cuts individually, like I did,  it's so easy and a great time saver when they are still safely tucked up their negative spaces. So I began by applying Adhesive Sheets to the back of a 8.5" x 11" sheet of Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor cardstock.I die-cut all the pieces I needed for the 3 cards and coloured the die-cuts using Tim Holtz Distress Blender Brushes.I'm always trying to think of ways to make life simpler and having the coloured die-cuts on my left as a reference, I removed the base layer die-cut for the leaf cluster from it's negative space, coloured the edges lightly with Ground Espresso Distress Ink, peeled back the adhesive carrier and placed on a spare carrier sheet. I repeated the process with each layer until the leaves for all 3 cards were done. If you are not going to use the die-cuts immediately, you could leave them on the carrier sheet and store in a plastic envelope for future use.I repeated this process for the flowers and in no time at all, was ready to assemble the cards.

On the first card, I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to 3" x 8" slightly smaller than the Slimline card blank, covered the top section with Idea-ology Memoranda paper, add splatters of the Evergreen Bough, Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint, Speckled Egg and Ground Espresso Distress inks, the same colours I used for the die-cut Bloom flowers and leaf clusters and fixed the arrangement in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte, adding Sizzix Foam Adhesive behind the main flower to create dimension. I fixed Sizzix Adhesive Sheet to Distress Watercolor card, die-cut HAPPY 3 times using the Alphanumeric Stretch Upper Thinlits and again layered to create dimension. I added a strip of Distress Watercolor card, coloured with Fossilized Amber Distress ink under the wording and stamped Birthday from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Simple Sayings, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival ink.

Card 2

I used the same size panel of Distress Watercolor card, masked off the bottom of the card and added the stripes using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Stripes Stencil with Black Soot Distress Ink and a mini round blending tool. I masked off the stencilled section, coloured the bottom with Candied Apple Distress Ink and stamped the script stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Faded Type inked with Black Soot Distress Archival. I added the Bloom Colorize flower coloured with Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and Candied Apple Distress inks and the leaf clusters coloured with Evergreen Bough and Peeled Paint Distress inks, fixing the leaves in place with Distress Collage Medium and popping the flower up on Sizzix Foam Adhesive. I die-cut LOVE from Distress Watercolor card using the Alphanumeric Stretch Upper Thinlits, fixed in place and added a strip of BlackOut KraftStock where the 2 sections met. I added a light coat of Distress Collage Medium to the flower and leaves using a small paint brush and added Distress Rock Candy Glitter using the Glitter Duster. To finish I stamped the sentiment from Simple Sayings inked with Black Soot Distress Archival in the top corner and fixed the panel to a white Slimline card blank.

Card 3

I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to the same size as before and fixed to the Slimline white card blank. I trimmed a second panel to be slightly smaller using Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Deckle Edge Trimmer and coloured with a light application of Worn Lipstick Distress ink using a mini round blending tool. I inked one of the background stamps from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Mixed Media CMS125 with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink and stamped randomly on the panel. I die-cut the sentiment using Alphanumeric Stretch Upper Thinlits. I fixed the leaf clusters, coloured with Evergreen Bough, Speckled Egg and Ground Espresso Distress inks, in place with Distress Collage Medium and added the flower, coloured with Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Fossilized Amber and a little Ground Espresso on the top layers to create variation of colour, popped up on Sizzix Foam Adhesive.

I finished by stamping the word friend from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Simple Sayings, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival ink and I'll be back soon to share more Chapter 1 makes.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - We're On A Roll

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

and the theme for this week is...

WE'RE ON A ROLL

I was inspired by my love of the TV programme, Top Gear with the original cast of intrepid adventurers, Clarkson, May and Hammond. I loved their epic road trips across the globe in beat up old cars and decided to create a whimsical art journal page using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wacky Transport, Funky Trees and Alphanumeric Stretch Lower and Bold Thinlits from the newly released Chapter 1 Collection.

I began by trimming Distress White HeavyStock to 6" x 9", masked off the bottom section, smooshed Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide ink on craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water and laid the panel into the ink. I dried and tapped the panel back on to the craft mat to pick up the remaining droplets. I created more masks and coloured the rest of the panel using Forest Moss and Ground Espresso Distress Oxide inks using a mini round blending tool working my way down the panel to create the illusion of hills. I pounced Twisted Citron Distress Paint through the Bubble Mini Layering Stencil from Set 5 using Ranger Cut 'n Dry. I inked the sentiments from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text with Ground Espresso Distress Archival and stamped randomly on the background. I machine stitched around the edges and along the lines of the hills with white thread which on reflection, came back to bite me on  the bum.

At this stage I didn't realise that the gremlins had decided it was my turn for some torture and only discovered when writing this blog post that my photo editing software had not saved the rest of the step-by-by photos.

I die-cut the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Funky Trees from green and brown Classic Kraftstock, backed with Sizzix Adhesive Sheets, sanded and fixed to the panel. I die-cut the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wacky Transport vehicles from Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock and Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock backed with Sizzix Adhesive Sheets, coloured with Candied Apple, Wild Honey and Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxides, sanded to create a well travelled-old banger look and fixed in place on the background. Time for Gremlin torture No 2 - I noticed that the white thread had absorbed colour from the background inks and was now a mucky, hardly noticeable mess (basic schoolboy error moment) and I was fast falling out of my love with the project which had turned into my own personal wacky road trip, so I unpicked the stitching and reached for my Black Fine Liner pen to try and rescue my sanity and the project. I added arrows from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Life Quotes Remnant Rubs, fixed Dina Wakley Media Tape to scraps of Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock, trimmed out the circles and fixed to the background using Distress Collage Medium Matte.

I die-cut the title letters twice from Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Stretch Lower and Bold Thinlits, coloured lightly on the edges with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink, layered to add dimension and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte.

To finish I sanded the edges of the panel to reveal the white core, fixed in to my Dina Wakley Blue Media Journal and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Fingers crossed, the gremlins have departed, off to bother someone else, hopefully it's not YOU !!!

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 a chance to win a $25 voucher to spend online at Simon Says Stamp

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

Love You and Love You, Too Blog Hop - Day 2

Hi my friends, I'm thrilled to be joining so many talented makers on Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp Love You and Love You, Too Blog Hop and I'm excited to welcome you to my stop on the hop.

If you shop during the blog hop you can use the code HUGS4U2 to get a free Faraway Hugs 6" x 8" stamp set, with purchases of $100 or more. The promotion will expire on 18 January at 11.59pm EST.

Simon Says Stamp are also giving away a $25 coupon at every stop on the blog hop from the blog comments section so be sure to leave a comment below for your chance to win. The winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp Blog on Wednesday 20th January.

Do you know that Simon Says Stamp has card/project galleries for each of their releases and card kits and also a video gallery. There is so much inspiration to see and I encourage you to check them out and add your own cards and projects to Simon's Brand Gallery and the Love You and Love You, Too Galleries.

You should have arrived here from my sweet and very talented friend, Keisha Charles but if you got lost along the way or would like to start at the beginning of the hop, head over to Simon Says Stamp Blog HERE.

I made a trio of notecards using the Butterfly Kisses stamp set and Butterfly Love stencil from the Love You release.

I began by trimming Distress Watercolor card to create 3 panels measuring 4.1/4" x 5.1/4", slightly larger than the Butterfly Love Stencil. I spritzed the back of the stencil with Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Sprays, sprayed lightly with water and laid the stencil on to the panel. I pressed the panel lightly with my fingers to spread out the ink being careful that the ink didn't seep out from the edges. I waited 30 seconds or so to let the ink soak into the watercolor card, patted with kitchen towel, removed the stencil and dried. 

I repeated on the other two panels using Spiced Marmalade/Mustard Seed and Worn Lipstick/Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide sprays to create a monoprint effect.

I masked off the edges of the panels and added splatters of Ground Espresso Distress Paint.

I stamped the butterfly images from Simon Says Stamp Butterfly Kisses inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink.

I inked the sentiments with Versamark ink, stamped on to scraps of Simon Says Stamp Black Cardstock, heat embossed with Simon Says Stamp Fine Detail White Embossing Powder, trimmed and fixed on the panels using Foam Adhesive.

I dipped my finger into Distress Collage Medium, tapped lightly on to the panels and sprinkled with Sizzix sequins in co-ordinating colours.

I matted the panels on to Simon Says Stamp Black Cardstock and fixed to white card blanks using Distress Collage Medium Matte.

Now it's time for you to hop over and visit the very talented Kim Hamilton to see the magic she has created with the Love You and Love You Too releases and if you missed Day 1 of the Blog Hop, you can check out loads more inspiration HERE.

BLOG HOP ORDER

• Simon Says Stamp Blog 
• Laura Bassen
• Debby Hughes
• Amanda Korotkova
• Yoonsun Hur
• Heather Hoffman
• Bibi Cameron
• Anna-Karin Evaldsson
• Bobbi Lemanski
• Vicky Papaioannou
• Keisha Charles
• Kath Stewart
• Kim Hamilton
• Dilay Nacar
• Lorraine Aquilina
• Misty Elam

Thank you for taking the time to pop by and I hope you're inspired to get creative with the Love You and Love You Too releases. I'm off to make myself a cuppa, find a comfy sofa and start hopping.

Hugs Kath xxx

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Chapter 1 - Born To Be Wild

Hi my friends, I'm delighted to be sharing the first of my makes for the YouTube Live launch of Tim Holtz/Sizzix 2021 Chapter 1 dies. I have to say that Tim has absolutely kicked the ball right out of the park yet again, there is not one set of Chapter 1 dies that I don't love and I had a hard time choosing which ones to use for my makes. But Colorize gets me everytime and I decided to create a wall hanger using Dina Wakley Media Board, featuring the Harrison Colorize, Funky Trees and Alphanumeric Stretch Lower and Bold Thinlits die-cut from a mix of Sizzix Felt and Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock. Isn't he just adorable, who wouldn't love that gorgeous "I'm the King of the Jungle, don't you know" face. If you missed the YouTube launch, you can check out this amazing collection and so many fabulous inspirational makes over on Tim's YouTube Channel HERE.

I began by trimming Dina Wakley Media Board which has a canvas like texture look to 7.3/4" square, spritzed lightly with Fossilized Amber Distress Spray Stain and sprayed with water to even out the colour. I created a mask using a Sizzix circle die, sprayed Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide Spray to create the sun and added splatters of Carved Pumpkin.

Sizzix Thinlits will cut felt but more successfully in my opinion, because of it's fibrous nature, if it adhered to card or paper first. So I  fixed Sizzix Adhesive Sheet to both sides of white cardstock, peeled back the top carrier, fixed to 2 colours of green Sizzix Felt and die cut the trees using the Funky Trees Thinlits. I removed the bottom carrier sheet from the die-cut layers, fixed to the background and added the tree trunks die-cut from scraps of Distress Watercolor card coloured lightly with Ground Espresso Distress ink using a mini round blending tool.

I used a torn paper mask to add colour to the bottom of the panel to create ground for Harrison to stand on.

I laid the dies for the Harrison Colorize on to scraps of Distress Watercolor card with Sizzix Adhesive Sheet on the front and back as before

and added the felt following the colour guide on each die. I die-cut the eyes from BlackOut KraftStock and Distress Watercolor card, a little too fiddly for the felt.

Once assembled, I fixed Harrison to the panel using Sizzix Foam Adhesive.

I sanded Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock to reveal the kraft core, die-cut  using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mixed Media 6 Thinlits and added the crosses to the trees and randomly on the background. I used the grassy tuft die from Tim Holtz/Sizzix Oliver Colorize Thinlits to die-cut green and orange felt to add some texture and interest to the ground section at the bottom of the panel.

I die-cut the title for the panel from BlackOut KraftStock and orange felt using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Stretch Lower and Bold Thinlits.

I punched holes at the top of the panel and added twine to create the hanger.

To finish I fixed the panel to a sheet of  8" square Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock

It's a double post Sunday so I'll be back soon to share a Simon Says Stamp project and will be sharing more Chapter 1 makes in the coming weeks. I can't wait to see what you all make with them once they pop through your letterbox.

Hugs Kath xxx

The packs of Sizzix Felt I used are available from the Sizzix UK website.