That's Life: 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.

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!

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....