Simon Says - Christmas

 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...

CHRISTMAS

I created Wintry Night Sky Christmas cards with a neutral palette using Tim Holtz /Stampers Anonymous Moon Mask Stencils, Bottlebrush Trees and Holiday Sketchbook stamps and added a pop of red with the sentiment and Tim Holtz/Sizzix Swirling Stars Thinlits.

I used Sizzix Sticky Grid to hold the largest Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Moon Mask Stencil in place on an A2 panel of Distress Watercolor card and created backgrounds using Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and Hickory Smoke Distress Spray Stain and Distress Oxide Spray. I removed the mask and spritzed the edges of the moon with water, allowing the ink to wick and flow into the moon. I dried the panels and applied Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink through the matching detail stencil using a mini round blending tool.

I stamped the images from Bottlebrush Trees and Holiday Sketchbook, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival.

I inked the sentiments from Holiday Sketchbook with Versamark ink, stamped on to strips of red cardstock, sprinkled with Simon Says White Detail Embossing Powder, heat set, trimmed and fixed to the panels with Distress Collage Medium.

I sprinkled Stampendous Frantage Aged Black Embossing Enamel which is a mix of black and gold chunky embossing powder, on the panels and heat set from underneath.

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I added white accents to the snow on the panel on the left and dots to the trees on the panel on the right using a Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen.

I die-cut stars from red and Gold Metallic KraftStock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Swirling Stars Thinlits and fixed to the panels with Distress Collage Medium.

I trimmed the panels to 4" x 5.1/4", matted on to A2 panels of Idea-ology Black Kraftstock and fixed to 3" x 6.1/4" white card blanks.

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

I've Got Christmas All Wrapped Up

Hi my friends, I'm sharing my "I've got Christmas All Wrapped Up" projects I made using the amazing  Bottlebrush Trees stamp set from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Christmas release of stamps and stencils. I had great fun creating my own Rustic Woodland themed wrapping paper,  cards, tags and gift card holders also using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Specimen, Collector and Framed Tags Thinlits. If you missed the Live launch of the new release, you can catch up over on Tim's YouTube Channel HERE and see all the projects from each of the Makers on Tim's Blog HERE.

I began by taping black wrapping paper to my workdesk and placed 2 different sizes of Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bottlebrush Trees on to Tim Holtz Grid Blocks, inked with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink and Picket Fence Distress Ink and stamped randomly over the paper. I masked off a small section of the Hollyberry Layering Stencil and applied Crushed Olive Distress Oxide ink through the stencil using a mini round blending tool and moved the stencil around to fill in the blank spaces.

I covered Distress Watercolor card with the black paper, inked the raised edge of the medium sized Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framed Tags Thinlits with Picket Fence Distress Ink using the Distress Small Brayer and die-cut.  I stamped the Bottlebrush tree inked with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink and applied Picket Fence Distress Ink using a piece of Ranger Cut 'n Dry through the Elements Christmas Stencil.I added splatters of White Gesso and Decayed Distress Mica Stain, wrapped the package and tied with white seam binding ribbon. I fixed the tag to the package with a small foam square and added a seam binding bow and twine.

I repeated the "making my own wrapping paper" process on the reverse of the black paper, stamped the Bottlebrush trees with Rustic Wilderness and Brushed Corduroy Distress Oxide inks and added splatters of Brushed Corduroy Distress Oxide ink and Decayed Distress Mica Stain. 

I lightly inked around the package with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink, tied the package with twine and added a tag die-cut with a circle die, stamped with a tree and Brushed Corduroy Distress Oxide ink applied through the Christmas Element Stencil.

I repeated the stamping and stencilling on the front of a Tim Holtz/Sizzix Specimen File Folder

coloured the inside with Brushed Corduroy Distress Oxide ink, stamped a Bottlebrush tree, inked with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink and added Idea-ology Metallic Stickers.

I created a tag card to match the black package on Distress Watercolor card and stencilled using Black Soot Distress Oxide ink.

I decided to switch up the colours and bring in some red. I used Candied Apple Ditress Oxide ink with Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bold Tidings 2 and the Christmas Elements Stencil and the stars from the Specimen Thinlits set are die-cut from card coloured with Candied Apple. I die-cut the Collector pocket from Idea-ology Christmas Backdrops paper.

The wrapping paper did take a bit of time but hey the cute little Specimen card and Collector pocket took no time at all, way to go if you have a bumper list of cards to make.

Happy Festive Making

Hugs Kath xxx

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous - Holiday Sketchbook

Hi my friends, I'm sharing the acetate overlay cards I made for the YouTube Live launch of Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Christmas release using Holiday Sketchbook, Tiny Poinsettia, HollyBerry Layering Stencils and Christmas Elements Stencils with lots of new products from the Ranger Holiday release. If you missed the Live, you can catch up with all the new stamps and stencils and check out the amazing projects from the Makers on Tim's YouTube Channel HERE or Tim's Blog HERE.

I began by trimming heavyweight acetate to create 2 - 4" x 5.1/4" panels and applied Distress Snowfall Grit Paste through the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Poinsettia, Hollyberry Layering Stencils and Christmas Elements Stencils using a palette knife and set aside to dry.

I trimmed panels of Distress Watercolor card to the same size as the acetate panels and spritzed the panel on the left with Iced Spruce and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide Spray Stains, dried and spritzed with Winter Frost and Fresh Balsam Distress Mica Stains, flicked on water and dried. I repeated the process for the right hand panel using Kitsch Flamingo and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Spray Stains and Cocktail Party and Merry Mint Distress Mica Stains.

I stamped the images and sentiments from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Holiday Sketchbook with Black Soot Distress Archival and matted the panels on to Distress Watercolor Card trimmed to be 1/8" larger.

I coloured the images and around one of the sentiments with Picket Fence Distress Watercolor pencil shavings from my palette using a small brush and because I had left the stamps on the lid of my stamp platform, I was able to re-stamp with Black Soot Distress Archival ink to sharpen up the images. I flicked Distress Resist Spray on to the panels, sprinkled with White Fine Detail Embossing Powder and heat set to create snow on the background.

I spritzed ribbon with Cocktail Party and Winter Frost Distress Mica Stains and dried. I lined up the acetate on the panels and used Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to fix the lengths of ribbon on the panels and tied a knot and trimmed. I stamped extra sentiments on to scraps of the coloured Distress Watercolor card and fixed to the front and back of the acetate.

I scored and folded Simon Says Black Cardstock to create the cards, added a panel of Distress Watercolor card inside and stamped the matching images and sentiments, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival ink.

This is when I realised what should have been glaringly obvious, on reflection, excuse the puns. Yes,  acetate cards are notoriously difficult to photograph so apologies for my amateur camera skills.  Watch this space for more projects made with this amazing collection of stamps and stencils, in the meantime, have fun with whatever you are creating.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Home Decor

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...

HOME DECOR

I created a Christmas Banner using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framed Tags/Alphanumeric Shadow Upper Thinlits, Stampers Anonymous Darling Christmas/Merchant stamp sets and Idea-ology Backdrop Christmas/Christmas Deco Sheets and Mirrored Stars.

I trimmed an A4 sheet of Distress Watercolor card in half and coloured with Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink using the smooshing technique on my Glass Media Mat. I inked the raised edges of the medium size tag from Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framed Tags Thinlits with Barn Door Distress Archival ink using the small Distress Brayer and die-cut 5 tags.

I stamped different sentiments from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Darling Christmas, inked with Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink, repeatedly over the tags to create a tone-on-tone background effect.

I stamped the images from Darling Christmas, inked with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink. I stamped the Santa images, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival and coloured with Distress Watercolor Pencils Set 3, lifting the colour from the pencils with a wet brush.

I stamped the garland images inked with Candied Apple and Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide inks.

I stamped "25" from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Merchant, inked with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink.

I fixed Christmas Deco Sheets which are adhesive backed to scraps of white card and die-cut using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Shadow Upper Thinlits. I also die-cut the hole re-inforcers from Framed Tags Thinlits.

I die-cut 3 extra of each letter from Distress Watercolor card and layered to create dimension.

I fixed the letters in place with Distress Collage Medium, trimmed 2.3/4" wide strips from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas Backdrops paper and cut a notch at the bottom.

I decided in my wisdom to colour Idea-ology Mirrored Stars with Gilded Foundry Wax which requires the use of a heat gun to get the desired shiny effect and this is where I need to say - "don't do as I do, do as I say" 

because the mirrored stars are probably some kind of plastic and one or two of mine seemed to slightly melt at the tips so it's not something I will be trying again. Not every "what if" experiment works out as hoped, note to self - next time - use Alcohol Ink.

I fixed the tags to the backing sheets and threaded twine through the holes, ready for hanging

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