Winter Wonderland

Hi crafters! Today I am happy to have a tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp store blog, for a mixed media winter wonderland. 

It was nice to create a winter project, since the weather here is pretty much the opposite of this project now. Grey and rainy.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

I had a wooden piece at home and decided to turn it into winter / Christmas décor. You can make a card instead, or do the techniques on a canvas. My piece of wood is 3.8×8.2 in. I used dies from Simon Says Stamp And Everything Nice and DieCember® releases, combined with paint, media and glitter. 

The cute snowmen were made with Simon Says Stamp Jolly Snowmen Embossing Folder and Cutting Dies.

You can see the full project, tutorial and all the details on the Simon Says Stamp store blog. 

Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Altered Christmas Gift Box

Hello crafters! We are still waiting for winter weather here, after another grey weekend. 

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

This week we have a Wrap It Up theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us and don't miss the beautiful project by our December guest designer Carrie Swift.

The new DieCember® release is filled with dies, stamps and other great new products. 

I had a gift box which I got sometime ago, with I believe chocolates inside and decided to alter it into a Christmas gift box. It had a nice floral pattern on the lid, that I didn't want to cover up. I used patterned paper to alter the box, and gesso and paint for the lid. There are sentiments stamped on each side.

This was the original box.

I covered the sides of the box with a pretty Poinsettia paper from Tim Holtz Christmas Backdrops and added another piece of backdrops paper to the base. I kept the part that the lid would cover as it was, since it was a tight fit and I was afraid that the box would be difficult to open otherwise. The lid was painted with gesso. 

Paint the lid with Picket Fence and then dry brush Pumice Stone, especially on the floral design and the edges.

I used a mix of stamps for my sentiments. Many of them come from Simon Says Stamp Festive Merriment. 

Die cut three hearts using Simon Says Stamp Heart Shaker Shapes from the new DieCember® release. One was die cut from a Christmas Backdrops paper and two from Simon Says Stamp Silver Vellum. Fold in the middle and shape.

The lid already had a hole at the top and a ribbon pull. I pierced a hole through the hearts and used the original ribbon. The lid was stamped with two sentiments and I also added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Lilac Gems. The sentiment at the top comes from Tim Holtz Darling Christmas and the one at the bottom from Tiny Text Christmas.

The vellum hearts gives a nice hint of shimmer.

I positioned the heart die so that I would get a section of the paper that I liked. I used this same paper for my December Journal.

Tie ribbons around the bottom of the box. The sentiment on the lid comes from Simon Says Stamp Festive Merriment and the one on the box from Tim Holtz Watercolor Trees.

Each side of the lid and of the box has a different sentiment.

Silent Night comes from Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas.

Dry brushing paint on an embossed design, makes the design stand out better.

I sanded the edges of the papers after gluing them to the box.

The patterned paper at the bottom finishes the design, while also covering up the text that was printed there.

Join us this week in our Wrap It Up challenge! You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Santa Tag

Hello friends! Today I have a quick and simple Santa tag to share. You can also turn it into a card.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

I was in the mood for a traditional Christmas project and thought this Santa stamp from Tim Holtz Letter To Santa would be perfect. I also used traditional green, red and gold colors. 

Using my MISTI, I inked the stamp with Red Geranium for his clothes and then added Jet Black. I repeated the stamping with only the black ink, adding some to the red areas too. 

Ink the tag with Distress Ink.

Stamp with a holly stamp and then gold emboss the sentiment from Tim Holtz Mini Holiday 4. Apply some embossing powder around the edges too. Restamp the sentiment with dark brown ink for a shadow effect.

Add sequins as berries to the holly.

Next I added some white details with a gel pen to Santa and Stickles to the beard and trimmings on his hat.

I die cut a gold star using Simon Says Stamp Holiday Window Decor and added a sentiment sticker and some pretty ribbons.

The Stickles adds a much nicer effect in real life than photographed.

Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Notebook

Hello crafters! Today I have a notebook to share, which I made with a Christmas theme. You can also turn the design into a card.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

I really like the worn and distressed plaid papers in Tim Holtz idea-ology Christmas Backdrops pack. Here I decided to turn it into a notebook cover, so that most of that lovely patterned paper would show. I embellished the book with die cut pieces and a sticker.

There are so many pretty papers in the Christmas Backdrops and most would work well for a notebook cover. I folded the paper using a bonefolder and did the same to all the inserts. 

It was stitched with three strands of embroidery floss along the spine. Always pierce holes before stitching in paper.

Tie the floss on the inside. 

Die cut the title, lamp posts and holly using Tim Holtz Vault Christmas 2021 and Festive Gatherings. I die cut them from silver, black and gold kraft stock paper, as left-over inky paper.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Fir Branches from Simon Says Stamp Midnight Green cardstock. 

Layer them on the cover. Off-set the gold word slightly.

The lamp post was sanded and inked. I added Simon Says Stamp gold glitter paper to the back.

Since the backdrops papers are double-sided, you get a lovely crackle pattern on the inside covers.

The back cover looks like this.

I die cut the berries from the same inky pink paper as the title. I only had very little paper left, but luckily, the berries were small enough.

Use the notebook to write down Christmas memories, or recipes, or traditions. You can also give it away as a gift.

I hope this project inspired you to make some notebooks.

Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

December Countdown Tags 2025

Hello crafters! It is time for my yearly December Countdown Tags project. These will go into my December Journal as date cards.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

This year I made shaped tags using scraps of watercolored paper and die cut the papers with Simon Says Stamp Petal Tipped Labels die set. I die cut numbers and stamped some patterns, images and words on te tags. 

These tags are meant to be hanging in my Advent calendar that I made years ago, but after our move, my Christmas things are still packed away and I haven't been able to find it yet. You can see it here, in last year's December Countdown Tag post.

I picked out a whole bunch of different watercolor or inky scraps. Many of these were papers where I had just tried out different color combinations of paints. Die cut with Simon Says Stamp Petal-Tipped Labels.

The numbers were die cut from kraft cardstock with Tim Holtz Sizzix Emporium Alphanumeric set.

I stamped the tag with various background, Christmas and word stamps. The background and image stamps were inked with Distress Ink, misted with water and stamped, for a watercolored effect.

Later, the tags will go my December Journal as date tags. You can find the December Journal here.

Even small scraps of inky or watercolored papers can be interesting when you die cut them. 'Magical' comes from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery.

It was a bit tricky finding small enough words to fit on the tags.

I also used some clippings stickers from Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker Book.

The holes were punched with my Crop-a-dile. I might remove the twine when I add the tags to the journal.

The tag to the right got an accidental inky heart.

Watercolor stamping fits with the background and makes it easier to stamp on the textured watercolor paper. 

More tags, where I just tested how different colors would blend on the paper.

On the darker tags, I stamped with dark inks. 

Pine needles of different kind are a favorite for Christmas and winter projects.

Getting closer to Christmas.

I also add Boxing Day to my tags since Christmas is celebrated all three days in Sweden (24th-26th).

You can find the previous years' countdown tags here: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.