Winter Robin Tag

Hi friends! I hope you are well! Christmas time is here now and I spent yesterday working at a traditional Christmas market. 

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 Freezing Cold Mood Board challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and you can see the lovely mood board that team member Zoey created below:

Don't miss the last project by our guest designer Joanne Travis, who has created such beautiful projects for us during November.

I was inspired by the robin on the mood board, as well as by the snow, ice, color combo, and berry branch. It has been a while since I made a project with a transparent background and the mood board inspired me to do a transparent tag with a glittery, frosty snowflake background. I love the look of dry embossed acetate/modeling film.

I just had to photograph the tag on actual snow too, since we still have quite a bit of snow here since last weekend's heavy snowfall.

Start by cutting a tag from a sheet of acetate of from Clearly For Art Modeling Film. You can also try Simon Says Stamp Clear Acetate Sheets. Different acetate surfaces will give different effects, so experiment on a small piece first. Emboss in the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Filigree Snowflakes folder.

Turn the tag around and apply Moon Dust Stickles Glitter Gel to the back.

Stamp the robin with AALL & Create Robin & Nuthatch on watercolor paper. The stamp set was designed by Tracy Evans.

Watercolor with Distress Watercolor Pencils, pick the paint up from the pencil with a paint brush.

Splatter some orange and brown on the bird to create a fuzzy look.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Berry Stems from heavystock paper and ink two of the branches with Distress Ink. I really like this die set and have used it a lot lately.

I cut out the bird and inked the edges, adhere with foam tape.

This sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Printmaking Birds and was stamped on a Tim Holtz Journal Card.

The dry embossed, glittery background is a little hard to photograph, but you might get a better idea of how it looks here.

I picked two small branches from the garden and also added Berry Branches. The berries were die cut from Simon Says Stamp Schoolhouse Red cardstock. I also added some sequins. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it inspired you to dry emboss some clear surfaces.

I hope you will join us this week in our Freezing Cold mood board 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 stopping by here 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 Calendar

Hi crafters! We got a whole lot of snow lately and I hope it will stay for a while since it really lights up the dark November afternoons and evenings.

Today, I have one of my yearly projects to share, my tags for my December Countdown Calendar. These tags will later go into my December journal. 

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 did the tags differently than previous years. I normally use larger tags and they function as journaling cards in my December Daily journal. This year, I am making a different journal (to be posted soon) and there is space for journaling in the journal. Therefore, I decided to use smaller countdown tags and to add Christmas quotes and poems to them. Instead of journaling spots, they will be embellishments in the December journal. There is a mix of Swedish and English on the tags.

The base for the calendar was made in 2015. I make new tags every year and reuse the base. You can make a similar base or perhaps hang the tags in your tree or on the wall.

I went with a traditional color scheme this year. Smear Distress Inks on a non-stick craft sheet, mist with water and press watercolor paper into the ink. 

I made a template in Adobe InDesign, but you can also use Word or write quotes by hand. Print on the inked papers, making sure they are dry first.

Use the Simon Says Stamp Large Standard Tag to die cut tags. I used Very Very Low Tack Tape to keep the die in place to make sure the text was where I wanted it to be.

Stamp numbers with Tim Holtz Worn Text and Lumberjack Plaid Distress Ink. Some of the quotes were matched with fitting numbers, as they were about a particular Christmas event or tradition.

Now for the best part, pick out a whole bunch of Christmas stamps. Ink, mist with water and stamp. I used mainly stamps by Tim Holtz. For texture and to bring all the tags together, I stamped each tag with Simon Says Stamp Halftone Background and Abandoned Coral ink, misting with water first. 

The tags hang from a hook, but can be arranged in other ways too. If you want to see how I made the original base canvas, you can find that Christmas Countdown Calendar here.

Let's have a closer look at the tags. When I took this photo, I realized that 'White Christmas' is on two tags - I had printed it twice since the first print was hard to read and then by mistake included it anyway. I will make a new tag for day 5.

Lumberjack Plaid is such a lovely deep red color. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use it on this year's tags.

I stamped the notes from Tim Holtz Department Store here and there, with brown ink.

I always add pine trees to my countdown tags, since the forest is my favorite place.

And of course, some beautiful poinsettias, which reminds me that I need to get one for us. I always have a poinsettia on the table at Christmas and found a beautiful red pot for it in a second-hand shop recently.

I didn't print text on all the tags, since I wanted some variation.

The snowman tag has a stamped sentiment instead of a printed one.

I see more deer than normally on my walks at the moment, sometimes three different families during a single walk.

I just had to use at least one larger Santa stamp. These tags are a great way to get to use a whole lot of Christmas stamps at once.

This is such a lovely saying.

The 24th is the day when Santa arrives in Sweden and is often seen as the main Christmas celebration day, while the 25th is usually a calmer day. I used my favorite Swedish winter poem for the 24th, about a little gnome (one or the origins of the Swedish Santa) is the only one who is awake in the middle of a winter's night at the rural farm where he is secretly helping out.

So true! In particular when there is also snow.

For the 25th I used the Swedish version of Silent Night and I finished the tags with a beautiful Charles Dickens' quote.

I hope this inspired you to create your own December countdown calendars. You can find my previous countdown calendars here: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

I will be back soon to share my December Daily journal. 

Thank you so much for stopping by here today!

Happy stamping!

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.

Foil Snowflake Tag Tutorial

Hi everyone! The first snow of the year started to fall here on Saturday and today we have a winter wonderland outside the window. We haven't had this much snow for several years.

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.

Our theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog this week is Fun With Foil. I hope you will join us and don't miss the lovely card by our November guest designer Joanne Travis.

I wanted to to photograph my tag in the snow and was lucky to capture a moment when the snow wasn't falling. I used Therm O Web Deco Foil on the snowflakes and also here and there around the edges of the background. The background was done with Snowfall Grit Paste giving it an interesting texture and shine.

Start by applying Snowfall Grit Paste through Tim Holtz Focus stencil. My tag was cut from watercolor paper, but you can use heavystock too.

When dry, mist the tag with Salvaged Patina Distress Spray Stain. The color will be darker in between the Grit Paste. Apply glue here and there around the edges. Wait until nearly dry and then rub a piece of a Therm O Web Rose Quartz deco foil on the areas, with the colored side facing up.

Adhere an adhesive sheet to cardstock and die cut snowflakes. I used Simon Says Stamp Eliza Snowflake and Stitched Flakes. Remove the protective liner, place foil on the adhesive and rub. I used Thermo O Web Aqua and Rose Quartz deco foil.

I die cut a snowflake from Simon Says Stamp White Glimmer cardstock too and stacked the three snowflakes together. Add cheesecloth at the bottom.

The sentiments come from Simon Says Stamp Let It Snow and were stamped with Surf Pawsitively Saturated Ink. Die cut with the coordinating dies and adhere with foam tape.

I also added sequin Simon Says Stamp Winter Flurries snowflakes in white, silver and blue. 

The foil snowflakes are very shiny.

The Snowfall Grit Paste has an interesting texture, looking almost like ice. 

This is an easy way to get an interesting looking background. The darker areas in between the stenciled Grit Paste are my favorite part of this project. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Now I need to go outdoors and shovel some snow. 

I hope you will join us this week in our Art Journal 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 stopping by here 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.