From Our Home to Yours

Hi my friends, I can't seem to stop playing with the devilishly gorgeous Villainous Potion and couldn't resist pairing it up with Evergreen Bough to make another Christmas card and matching gift tag using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Retro Flakes along with Simon Says Peace and Village dies. 

I originally intended making a slimline card and trimmed Distress Watercolor card to 3" x 8". I smooshed Villainous Potion and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxides inks on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water and laid the panel into the inks. I dried and tapped back in to pick up the remaining droplets. I made sure the panel was thoroughly dry, inked the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Retro Flakes with Versamark, stamped randomly over the panel and heat set the large snowflakes with Simon Says White Detail and the smaller snowflakes with Wow Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder.

At this stage, I trimmed the panel down to 3" x 6" - mini slimline size and created a mat 3.1/2" x 6.1/2" from Distress Watercolor card. I coloured the edges with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink using the direct to paper technique and spritzed with water to create the water droplet effect.

I fixed the panel to the mat using Distress Collage Medium, laid the sentiment strips on the panel to help with the placement of the main elements. I die-cut the Simon Says Peace die 4 times from Distress Watercolour card, layered to create dimension and fixed to the shadow die-cut, cut from vellum and coloured with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink. I die-cut the houses and trees from Distress Watercolor card using Simon Says Village dies and fixed all the die-cuts in place with Distress Collage Medium.

It was one of those change my mind kind of days, so I used Simon Says Nested Banners die to cut an alternative sentiment from the Reverse Merriest Christmas Sentiment Strips and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium.

To finish the card, I trimmed 1/8" off the mat on all sides so that it would fit on to the white mini slimline card blank (3.1/2" x 6.1/2")  and leave a small border around the edges.

Rather than waste the section I had trimmed off the card, I matted it on to a scrap of Distress Watercolor card, punched a hole, threaded through Crinkle Ribbon, tied in place with Gold Sparkle Thread and added the word Christmas trimmed from the Reverse Merriest Christmas Sentiment Strips to create a matching gift tag.

Have a great weekend, enjoy your Halloween celebrations and don't forget to put those clocks back an hour on Sunday. I'll be heading over to Tim and Mario's place on Saturday 9AM PT, 12 noon ET and 5PM UK when Tim will be treating us to a magical walk through tour of his Halloween Home Decor on his YouTube Channel, one that you definitely don't want to miss, so organise your snacks and I'll see you there.

Hugs Kath xxx

Halloween Treats

Happy Thursday my friends, with Halloween just a few days away, I've been on a mission to decorate Halloween treat bags for the grandkids using the ever so adorable Tim Holtz/Sizzix Costume Party Colorize Thinlits characters. Halloween isn't such a big thing in the UK but hey, I never need an excuse to share my love of candy and make a dent in my Tim Holtz spooky supplies at the same time.

I began by covering the fronts of kraft gift bags with the cobweb paper from a Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Halloween Paper Pad, an oldie for sure, perhaps 2019.

I fixed Sizzix Adhesive sheet to scraps of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Classic KraftStock and Neutral KraftStock, die-cut using the Costume Party Colorize Thinlits and assembled.

I applied Distress Texture Paste through Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Mini Brickwork and Stone Layering Stencils from Stencil set 28 on to Mixed Media HeavyStock #8 Tags and set aside to dry. I sprayed the tags with Twisted Citron, Crackling Campfire and Villainous Potion Distress Spray Stains and Villainous Potion Distress Oxide Spray, flicked on water and dried. I used a damp kitchen towel to remove some of the colour from the texture paste areas and flicked on Jack O' Lantern, Peppermint Stick and Holly Branch Distress Mica Stains.

I fixed the tags to the gift bags using Distress Collage Medium, added Idea-ology Mummy Cloth and the Costume Party characters popped up on foam adhesive. I sanded the edges of Halloween Quote Chips and stickers from the Curiosities Sticker book and added to the bags.

I sprayed Idea-ology Crinkle Ribbon (sadly now a discontinued item) with Twisted Citron, Villainous Potion and Crackling Campfire Distress Spray Stain, spritzed with water, scrunched up in my hand and dried with a heat tool.

I added the Crinkle Ribbon to the handles of the bags and filled with Halloween treats.

As luck would have it, there were extras left over, lucky me, how did that happen, I wonder.

Happy Crafting and have fun with whatever you are making

Hugs Kath xxx

Nature's Inspiration

Hi my friends, I've been having so much fun making backgrounds with the latest addition to the Distress Family, the amazing and devilishly gorgeous, Villainous Potion, it's a great way to get a feel for a new colour, mixing up colour combinations and who knew that this colour would sit so well with so many other colours.

If you struggle with colour combinations, take a leaf out of Mother Nature's book because she never gets it wrong. For the backgrounds on today's cards I used a combination of Bundled Sage and Villainous Potion Distress and Distress Oxide inks, inspired by the landscape of my home in the Scottish highlands, dense pine forests and mountains covered in purple heather to make some cute Christmas cards for the kiddos using some new and old favourite products from Tim Holtz, Sizzix and Stampers Anonymous.

I began by stamping the tree line image from Tim Holtz STAMPtember 2020 along the bottom of the panel inked with Black Soot Distress Archival ink, the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Christmas background from Sparkles and Christmas and a snowflake from Retro Flakes, inked with Versamark. I sprinkled with Simon Says Detail White Embossing powder, wiped some of the powder off the Christmas wording and heat set. I die-cut Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mr Frost Thinlits from Distress Watercolor card and Idea-ology Black and Brown KraftStock, coloured with Villainous and Bundled Sage Distress Reinkers using a Distress Detailer Brush and fixed to the panel with foam adhesive. I inked the sentiment from STAMPtember 2020 with Black Soot Distress Archival, stamped on to a scrap of card coloured with Bundled Sage Distress Re-inker, trimmed to separate the words and fixed with foam adhesive.

I stamped the tree line image from STAMPtember 2020 as before along the bottom of the panel, inked with Villainous Potion Distress Ink, the sentiment from STAMPtember 2020 and snowflakes from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Weathered Winter with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Simon Says Detail White Embossing Powder.  I die-cut the stag from Idea-ology Classic KraftStock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Cool Yule Thinlits. I die-cut his scarf from Distress Watercolor card coloured with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink, added the check details with a Faber Castell Purple Artist Pen and Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen. I added Glossy Accents to his eyes and nose and fixed him to the panel with foam adhesive.

I trimmed both panels to 3.3/4" x 5", matted on to 4.1/4" x 5.1/2" panels of white card coloured with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink using the direct to paper technique and matted on to 4.3/4" x 6" white card blanks.

My obsession with Villainous Potion continues and I'll be back soon to share more cards made with different colour combinations. In the meantime, happy crafting and have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Thinking Of You

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...

THINKING OF YOU

I created a card to send to a friend to let her know she is in my thoughts and, as if I needed an excuse, I couldn't resist having a play with the delicious and devilish Villainous Potion, the latest colour to join the Distress Family.

I smooshed my favourite Custom Ink blend pad for creating neutral backgrounds (Antique Linen/Old Paper Distress and Speckled Egg/Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Re-inkers) and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink pad on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water and laid a 5.1/4" square panel of Distress Watercolor card into the ink, dried, tapped back into the inks to pick up the remaining droplets and repeated, drying between layers, until I was happy with the background. 

I used the smallest of the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Shifter Multi Harlequin Layering Stencils with Bundled Sage and Forest Moss Distress Oxide inks to add interest to the background.

I inked one of the images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Faded Type with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink, held the stamp in my hand and stamped randomly over the background.

I die-cut Tim Holtz/Sizzix Festive Bouquet Thinlits from backgrounds I had created previously using Villainous Potion, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Forest Moss Distress Oxide inks.

I assembled the flowers and leaves following the indented marks left on the card by the dies and used Tim Holtz/Sizzix Shaping Kit to curl the petals and leaves.

I fixed my bouquet to the panel using Distress Collage Medium, die-cut the sentiment using Simon Says Script Hello Shadow die and added the word Friend, trimmed from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sentiment Label Stickers.

I inked around the edges of the panel with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink and matted the panel on to a 5.1/2" square white card blank. 

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...2pm 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

Waste Not, Want Not

Hi my friends, I'm sharing another Autumn themed thank you card using the waste from die-cutting the Simon Says Extra Large Thank You die for Tuesday's card, a great way to get more bang for your buck and two cards for the price of one.

I began by inking the Simon Says All Leaves Cling Background with Versamark ink, removed the ink from the edges of the stamp and heat embossed on to a 5.1/4" square panel of Simon Says Black Cardstock with Simon Says Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

I had saved the waste from die-cutting Simon Says Extra Large Thank You die for Tuesday's card, safely stored on a scrap of Sizzix Sticky Grid.

I die-cut the thank you word again from Simon Says Black Cardstock to use as a template to make sure the waste die-cut wasn't distorted when I fixed it to the panel.

I smooshed Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge and Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide inks on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat, spritzed with water, laid a scrap of Distress Watercolor card into the ink, dried, tapped back on to the ink to pick up the remaining droplets and die-cut using Simon Says Ornate Leaves die.

I fixed the black word die-cut in place with Distress Collage Medium, added the waste die-cut and nudged into place with my trusty Craft Pick. I trimmed the leaves to fit around the curve of the waste-die-cut, added "You" trimmed from Simon Says Christmas Sentiment Strips and decorated with sequins from Sizzix Gold Beads and Sequins Tower. To finish I matted the panel on to a 5.1/2" square white card blank.

Woohoo Mr FedEx came a-knocking yesterday with my bundle of Villainous Potion and a huge thank to Tim, Mario and Heidi at Simon Says Stamp.

The swatches and labelling are done and the first snow of winter has fallen on the hills, so I'm planning a snug weekend in the cubbyhole having wicked fun with this most devilishly gorgeous shade of purple. 

Enjoy your weekend and have fun whatever you have planned.

Hugs Kath xxx