It's DieCember!

 Happy 1st day of December everyone!  And with it being the first day of December that means over at Simon Says Stamp it is DieCember!   There are tons of new dies and other products available right now at Simon Says Stamp, just click here to see the new products.   I have two projects to share with you today, so let's get started!  (An affiliate linked list of products is at the end of this post.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.)

Simon was so kind and sent me the new Fir Sprig die.  I just love this delicate little sprig!  I needed to make some cards for my mom to give to her grandchildren and great grandchildren for Christmas and birthdays.  This card is for my niece, Una, who has a birthday at the beginning of December (just two days after mine!).  I die cut the Fir Sprig from silver and green glitter cardstocks and then adhered them together.  I used a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder from last year called Faceted Snowflakes to emboss a piece of white cardstock cut to fit a mini slimline card.  I adhered the panel and the fir sprigs to the card base and then added the white twine bow.  The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Hexagon Greetings stamp set.  I stamped it on vellum using watermark ink and heat embossed using silver embossing powder.    The sentiment was die cut with the hexagon die and popped up on the card using rolled up glue dots placed behind the words.   Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

I have really been into creating projects using different Tim Holtz products and when I saw the Fir Sprig die I knew I had to make one of those kinds of projects to share.  I knew I wanted the sprigs to be sturdy, so I started by spraying sheets of watercolor paper with Rustic Wilderness distress spray stain and distress mica sprays in Tree Lot (from the 2021 Tim Holtz Holiday collection), Frosted Juniper and Fresh Balsam (both from the 2022 Tim Holtz Holiday collection).  I never thought I would be such a fan of the distress spray stains and the mica sprays, but I AM!  Can't wait to see what Tim comes out with next year!   I sprayed up all the pieces and then set then on my crafting desk to dry.  I thought they would be fine there, but they weren't.  Our Doberman, Sparky, is a funny guy.  He often sneaks into the craft room and steals pieces of cardstock or paper from my scrap bin.   On this particular night he snuck in and stole two of the pieces I had created!  I was a little upset with him when I discovered his misdeed in the morning!   I had to spray a few more pieces before I could get started!  Now I know to put them out of his reach!  After die cuttting all the sprigs I added some multi medium matte to the sprigs and poured on Rock Candy glitter.  So pretty in real life!   I let them dry and got started on the base for my wreath.  I covered a square vignette box with paper from the Idea-ology Christmas Worn Wallpaper pack.  Then I got to the fun part of distress up the box.  I added some crackle paste and let it do its job.  Once all the crackles appeared I rubbed on distress crayon in Ground Espresso.  I also added some Walnut Stain ink and then I added some mica sprays in the colors I used for the sprigs, as well as the Rustic Wilderness spray stain.   

Once the box was fully dry, I started arranging all the sprigs in my wreath.   I adhered the sprigs using distress collage medium.  Once the wreath was dry, I added the little baubles that I made by adding them to a dish and coloring them with alcohol ink in current.  I adhered them with the distress collage medium, as well.  I finished with the little candy cane/velvet bow center piece.  I aged the candy canes with some walnut stain before adhering them together and adding the bow.   I let the piece dry completely and then finished things off with lots of Snowfall grit paste.  I added the paste to the tops of the candy canes, as well as the baubles and to the corners of the piece.  

Affiliate linked supply list:

Simon Says Stamp Fir Sprig die

Simon Says Stamp DieCember release

Spellbinders Platinum 6

Simon Says Stamp Faceted Snowflakes EF

Simon Says Stamp Hexagon Greetings Stamp/Die bundle

Rustic Wilderness Distress Spray Stain

Mica Sprays Set 3 - Holiday 2022

Mica Sprays Set 4 - Holiday 2022

Ranger Silver Embossing powder

VersaMark Watermark Ink

Snowfall Grit Paste

Distress Texture Paste, Crackle 

Rock Candy Glitter

Distress Collage Medium

Multi Medium Matte

Idea-ology Confections Candy Canes

Idea-ology Worn Wallpaper Christmas

Idea-ology Baubles Findings

Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink - Current

Distress Crayon - Ground Espresso

I hope you enjoyed my projects.  Don't forget to head over to the Simon Says Stamp website to check out the new release.  Have a wonderful day!

with gratitude...

 Hello!  It is a beautiful day here in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Cold, but beautiful and finally the leaves have turned to those gorgeous shades of red, yellow and orange.  Wasn't sure it was going to happen tho as we had temperatures in the 70s just a few weeks ago.  Anyway, my card today reflects those autumnal colors. 

I was a busy bee the other day making cards for my mom to give to her grandchildren and great grandchildren for upcoming birthdays and Christmas.  I have a few more to make but pushed pause on that endeavor to make a card for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  The colors at CTD are those rich autumnal shades I mentioned above plus a little gray thrown in.   Initially I thought it was a completely different color combo and thankfully I learned my error before I started making my card.  To get the beautiful rich cranberry red, yellow gold and rust called for I used my new crafty love:  distress mica sprays!   I used Harvest Moon from the Tim Holtz 2022 Halloween collection and Tart Cranberry from the Tim Holtz 2022 Holiday collection.  I combined Harvest Moon and Tart Cranberry to get the pretty rust you see on the third leaf.   I took my cue from the beautiful cards Jen M and Cecile made using the FMS sketch.   The leaves were die cut with a favorite die leaf die from A Jillian Vance Design and then adhered to the die cut panel.  The sentiments are from the Simon Says Stamp Full of Thanks stamp set.  They were stamped on light gray cardstock with gray ink, trimmed out and popped up on the card.  I finished with a few clear sequins and the little kraft twine bow. 

Here is a close up of the leaves so you can see the beautiful shine from the mica sprays.  Just love it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle Release!

 Hello friends!  The Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle release is now available at Simon Says Stamp!  Simon was so kind and sent me the fun So Many Present background rubber cling stamp.  I made a card and two tags to share.  Let's take a look! (An affiliate linked list of products is at the end of this post.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.)

For my first card I went a sort of mixed media route.  I recently purchase holiday 2022 distress mica sprays by Tim Holts.  I was only going to get one set, but I loved that set so much I decided to get the other one.   This card uses the sprays from set 4.  I stamped the So Many Presents stamp on watercolor paper from Memory Box with Versamark watermark ink, applied white embossing powder and heat set.  Then the fun began.  I just started spraying the panel with the mica sprays.  I let each layer of spray dry before adding another so that things wouldn't get too muddy.  I think things turned out pretty well.  Once it was completely dry, I die cut it and adhered it to a white cardstock base.  The Merry & Bright sentiment is by CZ Designs for Simon Says Stamp.  I die cut the shadow layer from vellum so you can see the background peeking through.  The sentiment from silver glitter paper and then 3 more times from scrap white cardstock.  All the die cuts were stacked and then adhered to the shadow.  I added glue to the back of the piece and adhered it to the card front.   Kinda fun, don't you think?

Over the last few years I have made more tags during the holidays.  The funny thing is I don't usually put tags on any of the presents I wrap.  I literally have a drawer full of tags!   Anyway, stamped some kraft cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink and the So Many Presents stamp to create a tone on tone look.  One of the neat things about the So Many Presents stamp is that a grouping of presents can be popped out from the stamp to be used on its own.  I found some Christmas patterned paper and stamped the three presents on those papers and then trimmed them out.  I adhered the presents as you see and then finished off the tag with the rustic twine, red twine and gold and red bells.  

Affiliate linked supplies:

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle release

Simon Says Stamp So Many Presents cling stamp

CZ Design Merry & Bright

Tim Holtz Holiday 2022 Mica Sprays, Set 4

Hero Arts white embossing powder

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L thin foam squares

VersaMark watermark ink

Spellbinders Platinum 6

Wagner Heat Tool

Thanks for stopping by and please make sure you check out the full release!