Sparkle and Shine ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hey everyone and welcome to the final challenge of 2014 over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week is ~ ANYTHING GOES!

For my final piece of the year, I created a wreath as part of my home decor for the Christmas Holidays! Now, rather than having a traditional wreath featuring poinsettias, I decided to make mine slightly different and used Stacked Snowflakes to frame the Festive Gent in the centre. I was over the moon with how this project turned out and hope you will love it too....

So, here's how I made it and as a base, I used a wreath that I already owned and is approximately 10" in diameter.

I then die cut the Festive Gent, three times from chipboard and layered each of the pieces together to give me one solid die cut image, which I coated with a layer of Gesso before painting it with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint.

Once the painted image is dry, add a layer of Multi Medium over the top and then sprinkle Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the entire image. Tap away the excess and set aside to dry completely whilst moving on to the next part. I just wish you could see how this sparkles at night when the light is shining on the glittery image ~ it's just wonderful!

For the snowflakes, I covered acetate with Frosted Film and then used the Stacked Snowflakes die to die cut multiple snowflakes. If you haven't got any acetate then why not use the packaging from the dies themselves, it works an absolute treat!! To create the icy blue colour on the snowflakes, I used Aqua and Pool alcohol inks on the reverse side (not the frosted film side) of each flake. I then stacked up the flakes and lightly spritzed them with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain for a snow covered appearance. Set aside to dry.

By now your Festive Gent will be dry, so attach him in the centre of your wreath using hot glue to hold him in place.

Next, I used the Holiday Greens die to die cut a selection of foliage in various colours using Core'Dinations card. I spritzed the die cuts with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain and heat dried them. Attach them in a spray arrangement on the side of your wreath.

Cut two strips of Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements fabric and tie into a large bow. I then added some bells which I altered with alcohol inks, to give a rusty appearance and attached these with twine. Attach the bow over the top of the foliage arrangement using hot glue. In the photo below, you can see how I also added some Pine Twine to the foliage, curling it around a pencil and attaching it amongst the leaves and branches.

Add your snowflakes around the wreath and place a small sparkly Prima crystal in the centre of each.

Finally, I added some cheesecloth to line the bottom section of the wreath, underneath the Festive Gent and placed a "crumpled" Flash Card into the bow arrangement, using a memo pin to secure it into place....

...and that is my wreath finished and ready to hang in place.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and enjoyed my tutorial of how I created this festive home decor piece. Next Monday, I will be sharing a tutorial over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and hope you will join me there.

Don't forget that if you're looking for some more great ideas and inspiration for this challenge, then you need to look no further than the blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. Good luck....

Thank you so much for all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies: Holiday Greens, Festive Gent, Stacked Snowflakes

Distress Paint: Tarnished Brass

Distress Spray Stain: Picket Fence

Mediums: Multi Medium, Rock Candy Distress Glitter, Gesso

Alcohol Inks: Rust, Pitch Black, Aqua, Pool

Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric ~ French Neutral

Idea-Ology ~ Pine Twine, Holiday Flash Cards, Memo Pin

Embellishments:  Twine, Prima Say it In Crystals

Surfaces: Kraft Core Nostalgic Cardstock, Acetate, Frosted Film

Ranger Craft Sheet

Big Shot

Hot Glue Gun

Cheesecloth and chipboard from my own stash