Holiday Hoopla Fun

Hi my friends, what a fun magical time we all had joining Tim and Mario for the Holiday Hoopla Extravanganza on Tim's YouTube Channel,  3 - 2 hour Lives jam packed with ideas, hints and tips to get you into the festive making groove with an intermission between each for refreshments. If you missed the Lives, it's well worth watching the replays over on Tim's YouTube Channel HERE or Blog HERE because just when you think you've seen it all, our adorable Professor yet again blows us away with new inspiring ideas.

I love tone on tone effects on cards, so I just had to play along with Tim's brilliant idea using the Distress Two Tone Woodgrain card and some of my favourite festive Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlits from the 2022 release,Bold Text Christmas and Holiday Brushstrokes. I only made one simple card because, guess what, Christmas is creeping up on me yet again but it sparked an idea for my annual tradition gift for family and friends. Compartmental crafting is my jam when it comes to making multiples, change up the sentiments, use different dies as the focal point or make each card the same, it doesn't matter and before you know, you'll have a pile of cards to add to your Christmas box.

I die-cut the sentiment from the Two Tone Light Gray Woodgrain card, trimmed to 4" x 5.1.4" using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bold Text Christmas Thinlits and matted and matted on to an A2 panel of Two Tone Black Woodgrain using foam squares to add dimension.

I  fixed Sizzix Adhesive Sheets to the back of a panel of the Two Tone Light Gray Woodgrain and a scrap of Two Tone Black Woodgrain and die-cut using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Holiday Brushstrokes Thinlits. The adhesive sheets will hold on to the die-cuts until you are ready to assemble, especially those itty bitty dots that have a habit of trying to escape.

I assembled, fixed to the panel using Distress Collage Medium and foam squares on the flower and some of the greenery to create dimension. I added Idea-ology Halloween Droplets and Glossy Accents to the berries.

To finish, I trimmed a slither off the Two Tone Black mat and fixed to an A2 white card blank.

Moving on, Holiday Hoopla and the adorable Twig and Stump were definitely the inspiration for my annual tree decoration gift for family and friends, so it's time to embrace compartmental making and fire up the production line - wish me luck.

Woohoo, tomorrow is the start of Simon Says DieCember, a fabulous release of new dies and a month long party to celebrate one of our favourite crafty items. I'll be back to share the first of my makes for the celebration. In the meantime, have fun with whatever you're making.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Freezing Cold Mood Board

 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 to create something inspired by our 

FREEZING COLD MOOD BOARD

I made gift card tags using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framed Tags Thinlits and laminating pouches to create a faux shaker effect and decorated with Tim Holtz/Sizzix Twig and Stump Thinlits, Simon Says Believe die, Sizzix Merry and Bright and Home For The Holiday Thinlits and Idea-ology Christmas Label Stickers for the sentiments.

I die-cut the tags from Distress Watercolor card and Simon Says Fog, Smoke and Slate cardstock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framed Tags Thinlits.

I created an aperture in the coloured cardstock tags using a rectangle die from Waffle Flower A7 nesting dies.

I created a frame for each tag using the same rectangle die and one slightly smaller, die-cut from, Simon Says Matte Silver cardstock.

I die-cut Simon Says Snowflakes from the Matte Silver cardstock and placed the snowflakes, the waste circles from the snowflakes and a generous sprinkling of Distress Mica Flakes into a small laminating pouch and ran through my laminator.

I fixed the laminating pouches to the back of the tags with strong double sided tape and trimmed off the excess. 

I changed my mind about using the Distress Watercolor card tags and instead die-cut from Simon Says Black cardstock and fixed on the back. I added splatters of white gesso, sprinkled with Simon Says White Detail Embossing Powder and heat set. Heat doesn't affect the laminating pouch, after all it's designed to cope with the heat from the laminator, so it's a great alternative if you don't have heat resistant acetate. I fixed the silver frames in place with Distress Collage Medium.

I die-cut the snowmen and trees from Distress Watercolor card and Simon Says Black cardstock using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Twig and Stump Thinlits and added shading with Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink using a mini round blending tool and Simon Says Round Detail Brush around the buttons.

I fixed Sizzix Adhesive sheets to Distress Watercolor card,die-cut the sentiments using Simon Says Believe die and Tim Holtz/Sizzix Merry and Bright and Home For The Holidays Thinlits and added snowflakes die-cut from the Twig and Stump Thinlits.

I applied Distress Collage Medium along the bottom of the tags, sprinkled with Distress Mica Flakes and added Idea-ology Christmas Label Stickers.

I die-cut the snowman arms from brown cardstock and the hats, scarfs and baubles from Distress Watercolor card coloured with Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide ink and Lumberjack Plaid Distress Ink and Distress Oxide ink.

I trimmed wide wired ribbon from my stash to be narrower, frayed the edges to reveal the silver threads, tied into bows and fixed to the top of the tags with Distress Collage Medium.

I die-cut the Framed Tags Thinlits again from Simon Says Black cardstock, trimmed to create pockets for the back of the tags, made a notch using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Circles die and fixed in place around the edges with strong double sided tape to hold the gift cards.

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

Thankful For You

Hello my friends, I'm sharing a Thankful For You card I made with the Grateful Fall Leaves Adhesive Transfer Sheets and Thermoweb Foil that were included in Simon Says Full Of Thanks November Card Kit to wish all my friends in the USA a very Happy Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for their friendship, love and support. The kit is still available to purchase HERE at the time of writing, but supplies are limited. 

I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to 4" x 5.1/4" and stamped repeatedly with one of the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Brushstrokes stamps, inked with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide.

I trimmed around the adhesive transfer images with Simon Says Fine Detail scissors supplied in the kit, removed the backing and pressed on to the panel. The Adhesive Transfer Sheets can be used with a die-cutting machine or laminator so I decided to give it a try with my Sizzix Foldaway and placed the panel inside folded copy paper.

I removed the transfer pieces which revealed a sticky image of each transfer on the panel. I cut small pieces of the Foil Sheets, from one of the 8 sheets in the kit and from other sheets in my stash. I replaced the panel in the folded copy paper and ran through my Foldaway again.

And voila, as if, by magic, the images and sentiments are now covered in shiny shimmery foil.

To add a little interest to the foil leaves and background, I stamped the script from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Exquisite with Jet Black StazOn because I wasn't sure if Distress Archival would dry on the foil.

I diluted Walnut Stain Distress Reinker with a spritz of water and added splatters.

To finish I matted the panel on to an A2 Kraft HeavyStock card blank.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Fun With Foil

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...

FUN WITH FOIL

I created sparkling foil accents and sentiments on colourful Christmas cards using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks, Stampers Anonymous Retro Flakes and Bold Tidings 2 with Heidi Swapp Toner Ink, Ranger Small Brayer, Thermoweb Gold and Silver Fancy Foils and a laminator.

The cards were inspired by an Instagram Live from Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp where Tim shared amazing mind-blowing hacks using the toner ink and how easy it is to clean your stamps and work surface after using toner ink. It is definitely worth watching and you can find it HERE.If you don't want to listen to the fun opening chat, scroll to 15 minutes.

I coloured the first 4" x 5.1/4" panel of Distress Watercolor card with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Oxide using the direct to paper technique and smoothed out with a mini round blending tool. I added a few drops of Heidi Swapp Toner Ink to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat and picked up the ink on my brayer. I ran the brayer lightly over the snowflake images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Retro Flakes, stamped on to the card and lifted the stamp away immediately. I repeated this process over the background.

I placed Thermoweb Sparkly Gold Foil over the panel and ran through my laminator. I stamped another of the snowflakes, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival.

I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bold Tidings 2, inked with Versamark ink, sprinkled with Simon Says White Detail Embossing Powder and heat set. I flicked on droplets of Distress Resist Spray, also sprinkled with white embossing powder and heat set.

I created the other two cards in the same way on backgrounds coloured with Villainous Potion, Prize Ribbon and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide inks using mini round blending tools and spritzed with water and dried to create that water droplet look. I used Sparkling Gold Foil on one and Sparkling Silver on the other.

I rubbed Simon Says Craft Glue Stick randomly round the edges of the panels and pressed left over pieces of the foils on to the tacky surface.

To finish I matted the panels on to A2 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