Simon Says - Anything But A Card

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...

ANYTHING BUT A CARD

I decorated a Kraft Gift Bag for a "grows her own vegetables/green fingered/keen gardener" friend using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Carrot Bunny, Alphanumeric Stretch Upper and Tiny Type Lower Thinlits on a panel of Distress Watercolor card, stamped with Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Field Notes and Entomology and stencilled with Simon Says Stamp Clovers 6" x 6" Stencil from the Love You, Too release.

I began by trimming Distress Watercolor card to be slightly smaller than the gift bag and coloured using my favourite smooshing technique and a custom blend ink pad of Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress inks and Speckled Egg and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide inks and yes, it is OK to mix the different inks on one ink pad.

I inked the images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Field Notes with Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide inks and stamped randomly on the background.

Because I wanted a more vivid colour, I applied Peeled Paint Distress Archival ink using a mini round blending tool through Simon Says Stamp Clovers 6" x 6" Stencil

I inked the script background stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Entomology with Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide, held the stamp in my hands, stamped randomly on the background and added splatters of Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide ink.

I coloured panels of Distress Watercolor card, trimmed to fit my Tim Holtz/Sizzix Sidekick with Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide inks and fixed Sizzix Adhesive Sheets on the reverse.

I die-cut the bunny and carrots from Distress Watercolor card and the coloured card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Carrot Bunny Thinlits and assembled.

I added torn strips of brown Idea-ology Classic KraftStock to create the soil for my garden scene, and left the top edges of the strips without adhesive. I die-cut the letters 3 times from Distress Watercolor card and once from the Spiced Marmalade coloured card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Stretch Upper Thinlits, layered to create a drop highlight and fixed in place. I fixed the carrots under the bunny's arms with Distress Collage Medium and fixed him to the panel using Sizzix Foam Adhesive.

I trimmed the remaining carrots and tucked them under the strips of brown Kraft Stock. I covered the bunny and added splatters of Ground Espresso Distress Paint.

To complete the sentiment, I die-cut brown Idea-ology Classic KraftStock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Tiny Type Lower Thinlits and fixed in place

with the help of my new best friend, the Reverse Action Tweezers or Squeezers as Tim calls them from his new Sizzix Shaping Kit, an absolute must for holding and positioning those little itty bitty die-cut pieces and alphabets.

To finish, I trimmed the panel with Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Deckle Edge Trimmer, sanded the edges lightly and fixed to the gift bag using Distress Collage Medium Matte.

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 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