I'll Be Home For Christmas

Happy Saturday my friends. I woke up this morning to find myself another year older, another year wiser but sadly only one of those statements is true. My head thinks I'm still 21 but my body knows better and hey, I'm just thankful that I've made it this far. I'm looking forward to spending my birthday at the best party in town, tonight over at Tim and Mario's place and the fun begins at 6.00pm if you're in the UK. I hope to see you there, I'll bring cake. In the meantime, I'm sharing another card made with the Holiday Words background from Simon Says Stamp Holly Jolly release and you can check out all the fabulous stamps, stencils and dies from this release HERE.

I began by trimming Neenah Desert Storm card to 4" x 5.1/4". I fixed Tim Holtz/Sizzix Sticky Grid Sheet in my stamp platform to hold the card in place. I turned the Holiday Words Background sideways so that the text would be horizontal and stamped on the card, inked with Simon Says White Pigment ink and dried with my heat tool. I die-cut Simon Says Stitched Slopes from Distress Watercolor card and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium to hide the empty areas at the bottom. I stamped the trees from Simon Says Gnome for the Holidays inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink.

I inked the sentiments from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text Christmas with Versamark ink, stamped on to scraps of Simon Says Schoolhouse Red Cardstock, heat embossed with Ranger Superfine White Embossing Powder and die-cut using Simon Says Nested Banners. I die-cut the Village house from Simon Says Schoolhouse Red cardstock, fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium and popped the sentiments up on Sizzix Foam Adhesive to create Dimension.

I die-cut 2 Simon Says Kate Snowflakes from Distress Watercolor card, fixed one in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I applied a coat of Distress Collage Medium over the snowflake, sprinkled with Distress Mica Flakes and once it had dried, added another snowflake on top.

I also added Distress Mica Flakes on the snowbank around the sentiment for some Christmas sparkle.

I inked the edge of the panel with Ground Espresso Distress ink using a mini round blending tool and fixed to an A2 white card blank.

I'll be back on Monday to share my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, happy weekend everyone.

Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE

Simon Says - Peace On Earth

Happy Friday my friends, I'm sharing a card I made with the Holiday Words Background  and CZ Designs Peace Die from Simon Says Stamp latest release Holly Jolly, a fabulous collection of stamps, stencils and dies to kick start your Christmas makes, which is now available to buy HERE. 

I decided to make a simple monochromatic Christmas card with just a hint of sparkle from silver glitter card and began by trimming Simon Says Smoke Cardstock to 5.1/4" square. I placed the card in my Tim Holtz Travel Stamp Platform, held in place with a Tim Holtz/Sizzix Sticky Grid Sheet and stamped the Holiday Words Background inked with Simon Says Fog Ink to create a tone on tone effect. I die-cut Peace 4 times from Distress Watercolor card and the Simon Says Village houses and trees from Distress Watercolor card. I fixed 3 Peace die-cuts to the background using Distress Collage Medium Matte, added the houses and trees popped up on Sizzix Foam Adhesive and fixed the last Peace die cut on top to cover where the houses and trees had overlapped the word. I die-cut another house and tree from Simon Says Silver Glitter card and after a little surgery, fixed them in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I added Simon Says Kate Snowflakes die-cut from Distress Watercolor card.

I trimmed the panel down slightly using Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Deckle Edge Trimmer (my new addiction) sprinkled Stampendous Frantage White Chunky Enamel Embossing Powder on the background and heat set from underneath until melted. I inked the Peace On Earth sentiment from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text Christmas with Black Soot Distress Archival and stamped on to a scrap of Distress Watercolor Card. I trimmed with Tim Holtz/Tonic Studios Deckle Edge Trimmer and fixed in place with Sizzix Foam Adhesive.

I darkened the deckle edge of the background panel using a black marker and fixed to a 5.1/2" square white card blank, also trimmed with the Deckle Edge Trimmer, I did warn you, no card is safe from me and my new toy.

Have a great weekend whatever you have planned and I'll be back tomorrow to share another card made with the Holiday Words Background. 

Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE

Sketched Greenery Meets The New Trimmer In Town

Hi my friends, it's November and that means it's time to kick start the Christmas makes so I'm sharing a set of 4 cards and a gift bag I made using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Sketched Greenery and the cubbyhole's exciting new arrival, the Tim Holtz/ Tonic Studios Deckle Trimmer. If you missed the launch of this must-have trimmer on Tim's Saturday Facebook Live, you can watch it HERE.

A huge thank you to Tim, Mario and Tonic Studios for this wonderful happy mail surprise which has definitely been worth the wait. I love love love it and I warn you now, everything that is trimmable, will, for the foreseeable future, probably have a deckle edge, just saying. The truth is I'm addicted to the gorgeous crunchy noise it makes as it cuts. I know, you're probably thinking I need to get out more but that's not an option at the moment so my new guilty pleasure has become cutting "music to my ears" deckle edged strips just for the fun of it.

I wanted a fairly light neutral, cream dreamy background for the cards so I smooshed Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Ink, Speckled Egg and just a smidge of Frayed Burlap Distress Oxides on to the craft mat on my Glass Media Mat and spritzed with water. I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to make 4 - 3" x 5" panels using the "be still my beating heart" Deckle Trimmer, laid the panels on to the ink, dried and then tapped back in to pick up the remaining droplets and I'm sure you are all familiar with this quick and easy way to create backgrounds by now. 

I inked the music image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous The Poinsettia with Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide ink and holding the stamp in my hands, stamped randomly on the backgrounds.

I stamped 3 of the panels using different images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Sketched Greenery, the images with leaves and berries that were to be watercoloured, I inked with Black Soot and Ground Espresso Distress Archival inks and the foliage images like this one, I inked with Forest Moss and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide inks. I inked the sentiments from Sketched Greenery for all 4 panels using either Barn Door Distress Archival or Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger Clear Detail and Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

I trimmed the 4th panel into 4 equal deckled edged rectangles, placed on Tim Holtz/Sizzix Sticky Grid Sheet in my Travel Stamp Platform and stamped the holly image from Sketched Greenery repeatedly inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival.

And I couldn't resist adding that adorable robin from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Christmas inked with Black Soot Distress Archival. I fixed the panels to 3.1/2" x 5.1/2" panels of kraft card and fixed to 4" x 6" white card blanks, both trimmed to have deckle edges, I did warn you, nothing is safe from me and my deckle trimmer. I coloured the berries and the robin's redbreast using Barn Door Distress Re-inker and a Distress Detailer Brush.

I added red dots to the other two cards by dipping the end of a small paintbrush into Barn Door Distress Paint and added Ranger Glossy Accents once the paint was dry.

I coloured the bodies of the bird with Vintage Photo and the leaves with Bundled Sage Distress Re-inkers.

I also decorated a gift bag using an identical panel but used Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bold Tidings 1 inked with Versamark ink and stamped on to the background and a deckle edged strip of vellum and heat set with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

and added Ranger Glossy Accents to the berries on the gift bag and the other two cards with coloured berries.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Christmas Tag

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 the month when the Design Team showcase one particular company/brand and this week we are all using products from our very own Simon Says Stamp.

We are also welcoming the lovely and very talented Laura Cassina aka elaborando on Instagram into the Designer Spotlight. If you haven't visited her site before, then you are in for a real treat.

This week Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring Day 2 of the lovely Tracy McNeeley's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event and we would like you to make a Christmas Tag, link it on the Monday Challenge post and also join in with the event over on Tracey's In My Creative Opinion Blog.

and the theme for this week is...

CHRISTMAS TAG

I created a trio of tags ready to pop on to Christmas parcels featuring the adorable snarky cat from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Christmas and his Lil Gnome friends from Simon Says Stamp. I used Simon Says Stamp Basic Stripes to create the plaid on the background, Simon Says Kate Snowflake, Merry Frame die and Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text for the sentiment.

I die-cut three tags from Distress Watercolor card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Tags Thinlits. The largest die in the set is the same as an #8 Tag and if you don't have this set of dies, you could use the Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock tags. I stamped the cat from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonynmous Snarky Cat Christmas inked with Black Soot Distress Archival on one of the tags and created a mask for the image. I cut a mask for each tag to create a snowbank at the bottom. To create the plaid on the background, I placed copy paper in my stamp platform, laid the tag on top and marked around it with a pencil to create a reference for the production line stamping to create the plaid background. I inked the widest stripe from Simon Says Stamp Basic Stripes with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, stamped on all 3 tags, cleaned off the stamp, repositioned it and stamped again. I inked the next widest stripe with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink and repeated the process. 

I stamped the three narrow stripes with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink and at this point, the plaid just came to life with that pop of red. I removed the snowbank masks but left the cat mask in place and applied Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink through Simon Says Christmas Gnome Home Stencil using a Distress Blending Brush to create trees in the background. I coloured scraps of Distress Watercolor card with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink by dragging the ink pad over the card, die-cut using Simon Says Merry Frame die and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I die-cut the Lil Gnome from Distress Watercolor card, coloured his hat and nose with Candied Apple, beard with Hickory Smoke and body with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide inks using a mini round blending tool.

I added Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink to the edges of the coloured pieces using a mini round blending tool to create definition and fixed to the gnome bases using Distress Collage Medium Matte. I masked part of the sentiment from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text and stamped using Black Soot Distress Archival. I added snowflakes die-cut from Distress Watercolor card using Simon Says Kate Snowflake and coloured the snarky cut with Candied Apple and Frayed Burlap Distress Re-inkers using a Distress Detailer Brush. I stamped the snowflake from Simon Says Gnome For The Holidays inked with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink and added Ice Crystal Sequins to the centres. I coloured Crinkle Ribbon with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, and added to the tags. To finish I added splatters using Picket Fence Distress Paint and my splatter brush and applied Ranger Glossy Accents to the cat's and gnomes' noses.

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 at Simon Says Stamp Online Store.

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

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE