That's Life

Monday, 5 December 2022

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town...

Happy Monday friends...

As the Christmas countdown begins, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our theme is all about Holiday Cheer and we would love for you to join us and play along. The DT are showcasing the amazing products from the equally amazing Tim Holtz but this isn't something you have to do, but of course if you'd like to ~ then that would be fantastic!

For my project I created a Christmas card full of the holiday spirit and used one of Tim's brand new Christmas dies from Sizzix ~ the beautiful, stylised Retro Santa and hope you'll love how I made my project combining this image with Stampers Anonymous stamps and that gorgeous Moon Mask, which really is the gift that keeps giving ~ other than inks and tools, I honestly think this is the one thing in my stash that I use the most.

So, let's get started, say hello to Santa because it's time for some Christmas joy

To begin with I made a white card blank to measure 14.5 x 19cm and started by adding the first of my base layers.

I cut a panel of white card, and applied the Candy Stripe Christmas Design Tape around the edge of the card stock to create a patterned border. I then matted the panel on to a piece of navy blue cardstock, slightly smaller in size than the card blank and mounted these layers onto my card blank.

MOONLIT BACKGROUND

Now for the background and how I created that big moon behind him. I cut a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card and 11.5 x 16cm and I placed the solid Moon Mask onto the right hand side of the panel, slightly off the edge.

I then used a blending tool to ink around the mask using Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. starting with the lighter colour and then working my way inwards from the edge using the darker colour, adding less ink as I get towards the edge of the Moon Mask. To complete the background, I blended Villainous Potion Distress Ink around the edges.

Flick water across the surface to add tiny speckles and heat dry thoroughly.

After removing the mask, I inked the inside of the moon with Antique Linen Distress Ink before placing the detail mask over the top and inking through it with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

To complete the moon, I added some darker shading around the edge and then stamped the sentiment in black Soot Archival Ink, using a stamp from the Festive Overlap set.

Machine stitch a border around the outside of the panel.

Now for the snow and I to create this, I applied Opaque Grit Paste through the Speckles Layering Stencil and then allowed for it to dry.

Matt the background onto a panel of silver metallic cardstock, followed by a layer of black kraft cardstock and a layer of white card. I then mounted the panels onto the front of my card blank, using foam pads.

ICICLES FOR DECORATING BORDER STRIP

Using the "Icicles for decorating Christmas Trees' stamp from the Vintage Holidays stamp set, I placed the stamp into my stamp platform, inked with Barn Door Distress Ink and stamped the border. Without removing the stamp from the platform, I inked it once more with a light touch of Black Soot Archival Ink and then stamped again.

Cut the border strip down to size and then after inking the edges, I attached this along the bottom edge of my card. Add a gold metallic droplet to each side of the strip.

RETRO SANTA

Now for my star, that gorgeous Santa. I just love this die, it really does epitomise Christmas and his face is just one of the best Santa's I've seen. The die itself is so simple to put together and I went for traditional colours, but you can choose anything you want.

To begin with I inked my layers and used the following colours:

Santa's Suit: White Heavystock Card inked with LumberJack Plaid and Candied Apple Distress Spray Stains

Beard and cuffed gloves: White Heavystock Card

Base layer: Black Heavystock Card

Belt Buckle: Gold Metallic Kraft Stock

Once I'd die cut all my layers, I inked the edges of each piece with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, before I started to build Santa. On the original die, Santa's face shows the red layer but I wanted to create a proper face, so after cutting the red layer, I then cut a second layer from white heavystock card, trimming the die to have just the piece that will become his face. I then adhered this over the top of the red layer before adding the final die cut layer, which will form the complete face and his beard. I used Distress Watercolour Pencils to add any details to the face.

With Santa complete, I attached him to my card using foam pads and placing him above the border strip.

FINAL DETAILS

We're nearly there and all that's left for me to do is add those gold snowflakes, complete with the Metallic Droplets centres.

I used the snowflake die from the Cozy Winter set to die cut gold metallic kraft card and attached three snowflakes onto the background. To complete the snowflakes, I added gold droplets in the centres of each

So that's my card finished and I hope you love what I've made and the ideas I've used to create this piece.

As always, if you make anything, or if you've been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look and if sometimes I miss it ~ just keep nudging me!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until next Monday at 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today ~ stay safe and keep well.

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Stampers Anonymous: Vintage Holidays, Festive Overlay, Moon Mask, Speckles Layering Stencil

Sizzix: Big Shot Foldway, Retro Santa, Cozy Winter

Distress Ink: Villainous Potion, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire, Hickory Smoke, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap

Distress Watercolour Pencils

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Christmas Design Tape, Metallic Droplets

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Metallic Kraft, Black Kraft Card, White Heavystock Card, Navy Blue Card

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Barn Door Archival Ink, Black soot Archival Ink, Grit Paste

Tools: Glass Media Mat, Blending Tool, Tim Holtz Paper Trimmer, Heat Gun, Tim Holtz Stamp Platform

Saturday, 3 December 2022

Simon Says Stamp DieCember 2022 Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Hello friends and welcome to Day 2 of the Simon Says Stamp DieCember Blog Hop.

I'm so excited to be joining so many of my talented friends and designers on this hop and if you've arrived here from, Mindy's blog ~ then hello, but if not, and you want to catch up with everyone who is participating in this hop, then don't worry because you can head back to the beginning by clicking ---> HERE.

There are so many gorgeous new products in this release and I can guarantee you’ll be spoilt for choice because every single one of them will have you heading to your craft room to create some festive Christmas magic and sparkle. You can see all the products in this amazing release, HERE!

Now, back to my make and I created a winter greetings card using the gorgeous Snowflake Medallion, and combined it with an older die, Snowy Greetings.

So let's get started and here's how I created my card...

To begin with I created a card blank measuring, 11.5 x 18cm using Simon Says Stamp Off White Cardstock.

LAYERS

To create the base layers for my card, I cut a panel of Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media Heavystock card, 11 x 17.5cm and I spritzed the card with Speckled Egg and Tumbled Glass Distress Spray Stain. After heat drying the card panel, I inked the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and matted it onto my card front.

I then cut a panel of Pawsitively Velvet cardstock, 9.5 x 16cm and using chalk white cotton thread, I machine stitched a border around the outside.

I matted this panel onto off white card, and then mounted the layered card panels onto the front of my card blank.

SNOWFLAKE BACKGROUND

To create the background for my card, I used a panel of Distress Watercolour card, 8 x 15cm. I spritzed the card with a light misting of water and then spritzed Speckled Egg and Tumbled Glass Spray Stains over the panel. After heat drying the panel thoroughly, I smooshed some Frayed Burlap Ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with a little water and dipped the edges of my card panel into the tiny droplets. After drying the panel once more, I inked the edges with Frayed Burlap ink.

Now to create the raised snowflakes that you can see on the background and for this I used the Snowflake Medallion Die and cut two of the images from Distress Watercolour card that I inked using the same colours and the same technique as I used on the background. TOP TIP: Add adhesive sheets to the back of your card panel so it's easier to adhere the fine detail snowflake.

Place one die cut snowflake at the top of the inky blue card panel and adhere it into place.

Attach the second snowflake along the bottom edge of the panel, aligning it with the previous die cut and stick into place.

Using an Embossing Dabber, gently brush the dabber across the raised snowflake surface of the panel ~ you don't need to add a solid block of the ink, just allow it to kiss the snowflakes where it touches. Sprinkle Cosmic Shimmer Snow Storm over the panel and tap away the excess. Heat emboss and melt the powder.

I matted the finished panel onto a piece of gold metallic cardstock and using foam pads, mounted this onto the card front.

SNOWFLAKE MEDALLION

To create the snowflake, I cut three layers from Mixed Media Heavystock card, before cutting a fourth layer from Watercolour card, again inked in the same colours as the background.

Attach and layer each of the snowflake die cuts, finishing with the coloured die cut on the top to create a substantial snowflake, the thickness of mountboard.

As with the background panel, lightly brush the dabber over the snowflake die cut and once again, sprinkle the embossing powder over the top and gently heat emboss the snowflake.

Layer the finished snowflake over the top of a second snowflake medallion, this time cut from gold metallic card, and attach the blue snowflake at an angle to the gold one to form a complete circle.

I attached the snowflake to my background, placing it in the centre using foam pads, strategically placed so they don't show through.

SNOWY GREETINGS

In the centre of the snowflake, I added a sentiment ~ Snowy Greetings. This die is in two separate pieces, the solid backing and the beautiful greeting, which I cut three times ~ twice from mixed media cardstock and a third time from gold metallic card.

I layered each of the die cuts to form the sentiment before attaching it to a die cut vellum background.

I attached the greeting to the centre of the snowflake using Matte Collage Medium, that I applied behind the lettering so it wouldn't show through the vellum.

Finally to complete my card, I added metallic droplets to the centres of the snowflakes on the background and crystals to the arms of the large snowflake in the centre.

That's my card for this hope finished and I hope you love what I've created....

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop! This means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 7th December and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize.

Also, last but by no means least ~ if you shop during the DieCember blog hop, then you can get yourself a beautiful Merry On A Line Die FREE with any purchase of $25 or more. The offer is valid until 4th December 2022 at 11:59 ET, or while supplies last and the code you need to use to claim your gift, is: MERRY

Thank you so much for stopping by today and hope you enjoy this fun hop....see you soon, Emma x

BLOG HOP ORDER

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Emma Williams <<YOU ARE HERE

RECIPE FOR CARD:

Simon Says Stamp: Snowflake Medallion, Positively Velvet Snow White Cardstock, Snowy Greetings, Tape Runner, Off White Cardstock, Vellum

Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap

Distress Spray Stains: Tumbled Glass, Speckled Egg

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Metallic Droplets

Mediums: Cosmic Shimmer Snow Storm Embossing Powder, Embossing Dabber, Adhesive Sheets

Surfaces: Distress Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Distress Watercolor Card, Sizzix Gold Surfacez Opulent Cardstock

Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat

Blending Tool

Monday, 28 November 2022

Bah Humbug!

Hello everyone...

As another month flies by, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our thoughts are turning towards Winter, and we challenge you with our FREEZING COLD mood board which you can see over on the challenge blog, together with all the details of how you can play along with this week's theme.

For my make, I created a tag inspired by Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol and used one of my favourite Halloween dies, The Count who just needed a few additional items of clothing to update him for his freezing cold debut on this wintery make. I just thought this was perfect to use for the star of the show, Ebenezer Scrooge and of course, I loved the fact that he had such an 'frosty' stare.

So let's get started, it's time to pull up a chair to see how I created this week's make!

To begin with I used the Mini Etcetera Tag and began by covering it to form the base for my make...

ETCETERA TAG

I prepped my tag by applying Christmas Design Tape to form a border along the bottom and top edges. I then cut a panel of the blue paper and a strip of the green stripe paper, both of which are from the Christmas Backdrops pack. Taking the blue panel of paper, I applied some Opaque Grit Paste through the Sparkle Layering Stencil, and once the paste was dry, I added rips and tears around the edges of the blue panel of paper.

You can see how the crumpled edges look on the finished tag, in the photo below and this shows how I followed the shape of the tag without cutting any of the paper away.

I then machine stitched a border around the outside edge of both pieces before I adhered both panels onto my tag, placing the green striped strip at the bottom and then sticking the blue panel to cover the remainder of the tag.

To add some frostiness to my tag, I drizzled Glossy Accents around the edges, and whilst the medium is still wet, I sprinkled Mica Flakes over the top. Set the tag to one side to dry thoroughly.

LEDGE AND FENCE

For the ledge, I used the medium sized Pinked Etcetera Trim and covered it with a generous amount of Crackle Paste. Once the paste was dry, I attached the ledge to my tag, placing it over the join of the two panels of paper and adhering it into place with Matte Collage Medium.

On either side of the tag, I added a small fence. For this I used one of Tim's idea-ology Metal Gates and snapped these in two pieces. I then painted the metal with white gesso, dried it throughly before drizzling a small amount of Mushroom Alcohol Ink over areas of the metal, leaving some of the painted areas to still appear white.

I attached the gates to each side of the tag, placing them onto the ledge using matte collage medium.

To decorate the gates, I cut small pieces of Pine Twine. Because this is wired, you can shape the twine which I did to form a garland. I then attached my tiny garlands to each of the gates using hot glue before attaching red and blue Christmas Droplets, which I glued into place with Matte Collage Medium.

Now to add the first of that crisp and white, frosty snow, and for this I used Opaque Grit Paste, which I applied along the top of the ledge and onto the tops of the gates. Sprinkle with Rock Candy Glitter for a touch of sparkle.

For even more sparkle and a frosty appearance on the garland, I smeared some Glossy Accents over the surface and once again, I sprinkled with Dry Rock Candy Glitter.

To complete the ledge, I added some 'snowball' Baubles and attached these with Glossy Accents, before sprinkling some more Dry Rock Candy Glitter over the top.

THE COUNT ~ EBENEZER SCROOGE

Now to move onto the star of the show...

I used the following cardstock for The Count:

FACE: Distress Watercolour Card, inked with Antique Linen Distress Ink and edged with Frayed Burlap

WAISTCOAT: Distress Watercolour Card, inked with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Ink

CLOAK, SUIT, FACIAL FEATURES, UMBRELLA and HAT: Black Kraft Card

HOLLY and INSIDE OF CAPE: Distress Watercolour Card inked with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

EYE and SHIRT: White Heavystock Card

Once I had all my card layers die cut, I started layering each piece and building the character and once The Count was ready, I could add his hat and umbrella. When it comes to adding the cloak, I didn't want the collar, so I just snipped this section away to make it look more like coat tails.

I wanted my gent to have a warm winter scarf and for this I cut a strip of Mummy Cloth and spritzed the cloth with Rustic Wilderness Distress Spray Stain. Once the cloth is dry, I wrapped it around the neck of The Count, tying it to secure the scarf into place.

I then used foam pads to attach "Ebenezer" onto my tag, placing him so he stands between the two open gates.

For the hat, I used the dies from The Gent Thinlits Die Set and cut these from black kraft card, adding a red band. I then added the Holly Leaves which is from the Winter Wardrobe Thinlits Die Set and cut from the watercolour card, inked with Peeled Paint, and the berries are inked with Candied Apple Distress Ink.

To complete The Count, I added an umbrella which he has hooked over his arm. I cut the umbrella three times from black card, using dies from The Park Thinlits Die Set and then layered the die cuts to make one thick die cut piece. I hooked the umbrella over his arm and attached with Matte Collage Medium to hold it securely in place.

For the frosty look on The Count's hat, I applied some Snowfall paste and then sprinkled Mica Flakes over the top.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the details...

FINISHING DETAILS

Details are always so important to me and to begin with I added a "Be Joyful" quote chip from the Christmas Baseboard pack and attached this to my crackled ledge. I added a Hardware Head on either side, which I painted with Candied Apple Distress Paint.

On the left of The Count, I added a Clippings Sticker "bah humbug" and attached some Mirrored Stars around it. Each of the stars are inked with Mushroom Alcohol Ink to give them more of a vintage feel.

Finally, I added the December 24 sign which Ebenezer is looking up to, in the top left corner.

This is from the Christmas Ephemera Pack and I mounted the plaque onto a piece of the red Deco Sheet, that was cut slightly larger in size than the ephemera piece. Using foam pads, I attached it to my tag, hammering a tack nail into top. To add that final touch of frostiness, I cut pieces of foliage from green inked cardstock, using dies from the Winter Wardrobe Thinlits Die Set and frosted the die cut pieces with Rock Candy Glitter before arranging them over the top of my sign.

So that completes my project for this week, and I hope you've enjoyed it and love the piece I've made. It was definitely a lot of fun to create Ebenezer using one of Tim's older dies and I'm so happy with how he turned out.