Simon Says - Any Holiday Occasion

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 November and that means we are showcasing products from one particular brand/company and this month, the team are using products from a UK company, Visible Image. You don't have to use their products to join in with the challenge but if you have them in your stash, we would love to see what you make with them.

We are also welcoming the lovely and very talented Laura Cassina aka elaborando as our November Designer In The Spotlight. If you haven't visited her yet, pop over, you are in for a real treat.

The theme for this week is...

ANY HOLIDAY OCCASION

I was inspired by the US celebration of Thanksgiving, not a holiday we celebrate in the UK, but a reminder to us all to be thankful for each and every day. I used Visible Image Autumn Leaves Stencil along with Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Pressed Foliage, an autumn palette of Distress Oxide inks and Simon Says Thankful For You Wafer Thin die.

I began by trimming Distress Watercolor card to 5.1/4" square and added Aged Mahogany, Rusty Hinge and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide inks through the Visible Image Autumn Leaves Stencil using Simon Says Mini Blending Brushes which are perfect for applying ink in small areas.

I inked the leaf image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Pressed Foliage with Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink and stamped slightly offset over the stencilled leaf.

I repeated the process on a scrap of Distress Watercolor card and fussy cut.

I added splatters of Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide ink to the background, placed the stencil back over the stamped image, flicked splatters of Flickering Candle Distress Mica Stain on to the stamped and fussy cut leaves and dried to reveal the beautiful shimmer.

I sprinkled Stampendous Frantage Aged Black Embossing Enamel over the stamped and cut out leaves and heat set from underneath until melted. I think I over-did the sprinkling on the background leaf, but hey ho, there's no taking it back once melted. I die-cut the Simon Says Thankful frame from the background, replaced back into the aperture, holding it in place with a strip of Sizzix Adhesive Sheet. I fixed Sizzix Adhesive sheet to Distress Watercolor card, coloured with Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide ink, die-cut the frame again and fixed the letters in place over the originals.

I inked around the edges of the panel with Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide ink, matted the panel on to Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Metallic 2 KraftStock, trimmed to be 1/8" larger, fixed to a 5.1/2" square white card blank and fixed the 2nd leaf in place with Foam Adhesive to create dimension.

To finish I added a twine double bow and the word "Be" trimmed from Simon Says Reverse Merriest Christmas Sentiment Strip.

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