Simon Says Stamp All The Joy Blog Hop ~ Day 1

 Hello friends and welcome to Day 1 of the Simon Says Stamp All The Joy 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 my extremely talented friend, Bibi Cameron ~ 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, HERE.

You can check out all the fabulous new products in this release, HERE including the Christmas Greetings Sentiment Strips and the gorgeous Branching Corner Holly and All The Joy Dies that I used to make my Christmas card, which I hope will inspire you with a few ideas.

So let's begin this stop on the hop and here's how I created my project....

To begin with I made my 16.5 x 13.5 card blank from black card.

BACKGROUND PANELS

I then cut a panel of Tim Holtz Black Heavystock card, 14.5 x 11.5cm, lightly misted it with water and then spritzed it with the following Distress Sprays and Mica Sprays:

Distress Spray Stains: Speckled Egg, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone

Distress Oxide Sprays: Speckled Egg

Mica Spray: Frozen Fog

After another spritz of water to blend the colours, I heat dried the panel and machine stitched a border around the outside, leaving some loose threads hanging.

After matting the panel onto silver metallic kraft card, I mounted it onto the centre of my black card blank.

TAG

Now to create the tag that is mounted onto the card blank and for this I used the largest size of the Sizzix Framed Tags die by Tim Holtz to die cut further piece of black heavystock card.

I then used exactly the same sprays as I used on the backing panel and spritzed these over the tag to colour it.

Once my tag was dry, I used a palette knife to apply Snowfall Grit paste through the Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Twinkle Mini Layering Stencil from Set 57 and after removing the stencil, set the panel to one side to dry before adding a machine stitched border around the outside.

I matted the finished tag onto black card, followed by silver metallic kraft card, each time leaving the border.

After punching a hole at the top of the tag using a Crop A Tile, I fixed an eyelet into position and then mounted the tag onto the front of my card blank, using foam pads and slightly overlapping the top edge.

We now have the base ready to decorate.

SENTIMENT

To begin with I used the Seal Dies and Switchlits embossing Folder to cut silver metallic kraft card. I then cut a smaller circle from black card using the Circles Nesting Die Set and adhered this to the centre of the seal.

Cut the ALL THE JOY sentiment three times from white card, and a fourth time from silver metallic kraft card before layering each die cut over the top of the previous one, finishing with the silver layer on top. Attach the die cut sentiment to the centre of the circle and then using foam pads, adhere the seal into position on your tag.

BRANCHING CORNER

I cut a selection of the foliage and berries from Mixed Media Heavystock card and then inked the greenery with a combination of the three colours from Ink Trio Set 14 ~ ~ Aspen, Sage, Pine

The berries are inked with Festive Berries Distress Ink.

With all my pieces inked, I then added the icy frostiness to each piece and for this I used a combination of an Embossing Dabber and white embossing powder.

Dab the tips of each piece with the dabber and then sprinkle with the embossing powder, tapping away any excess ~ you only want a light sprinkle, not a full on snowfall!! Heat emboss the powder until molten and then smear Collage Medium over the leaves, before sprinkling Rock Candy Distress Glitter and Mica Flakes over the top.

Arrange and attach all the foliage to create a swag around the bottom of the sentiment seal. 

Use the smaller leaves and berries to fluff out the wreath, tucking them in amongst the foliage.

Cut the Happy Christmas Reverse Sentiment to size and attach with foam pads beneath the wreath.

FINISHING DETAILS

All that's left to do is add those all important final details, starting with two metallic droplets that I placed in the bottom left and right hand corners, on either side of the tag.

I then threaded some ribbon through the eyelet at the top of the tag. I used Crinkle Ribbon that I had in my stash, you can use seam binding ribbon as well. I then coloured the ribbon with LumberJack Plaid and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains, before scrunching it into a ball to create the crinkle. Once dry, unravel the ribbon and pop through the top of the tag before I added a Mini Pin through the knot to secure it.

Around the top of the seal, I added a few die cut sparkles which again were left over from a previous project and cut from silver metallic card using a die in the Forest Shadows set but if you have any silver stars or crystal gems, in your collection, then these will work too!

Finally, I added the little Dec label at the top of tag. This is from the Christmas Ephemera Pack and I cut it into half before attaching it to my tag and then adding the letters, "DEC" that are die cut using letters from the Specimen die set, pieced together but if you haven't got this set ~ don't worry, just write it in red ink to give that personal touch.

So that's my card complete and I hope you love what I've made and will be inspired by the ideas!

It's now time to for the next stop on this hop...

HOP ORDER:

Simon Says Stamp Blog  <<YOU ARE HERE!

Caly Person

Jennifer McGuire

Cathy Zielske

Barbara Tarayao

Amy Rysavy

Debby Hughes

Emily Midgett

Keisha Charles

Bibi Cameron

Emma Williams <<you are here

Heather Hoffman

Heather Ruwe

Alberto Gava

Daniel West

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop from the blog comment section! So, this means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be notified and they will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 8th November and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize. 

Also, don't forget that you have until the 5th November at 11:59 EDT to claim a free gift with every purchase! The Holy Stars Stencil is available whilst stocks last and all you need to do is enter the code STAR at checkout.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and don't forget to check back tomorrow for DAY 2!!!

See you soon, Emma x

RECIPE FOR CARD:

Simon Says Stamp: Branching Corner Holly, All The Joy Wafer Die, Sentiments Strips, Black Card, Ink Pads Trio 14, Circle Nesting Dies

Sizzix/Tim Holtz Dies: Seal Dies and Switchlits embossing Folder, Framed Tag

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Mini Layering Stencil 57

Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains: Speckled Egg, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Lumberjack Plaid

Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Festive Berries

Tim Holtz Oxide Sprays: Speckled Egg

Mica Spray Stain: Frozen Fog

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Mini Pin, Metallic Droplets, Christmas Ephemera Pack 2023

Mediums and Adhesive: SSS Foam Squares, SSS Tape Runner, Snowfall Grit Paste, Rock Candy Glitter, Mica Flakes, Matte Collage Medium, Embossing Dabber, White Embossing Powder

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Metallic Kraft Card, Black Heavystock

Crop A Dile and Eyelets

Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat

Sizzix Big Shot Foldaway Machine

Crinkle Ribbon from my stash