Simon Says Stamp Holiday Sparkle Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to my blog! I am so happy to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop to celebrate the new Holiday Sparkle release. If you are following along in the hop, you should have come here from the creative Miriam Prantner.

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.

The Holiday Sparkle release is full of wonderful new stamps, stencils, dies and special papers. Perfect for winter and Christmas crafting, but also for many other themes. You can find the whole release here. If you use the code CUTEBAG you will get the sweet Holiday Zipper Pouch FREE with any purchase of $50 or more (while supplies last)!! This promotion will expire at 11/13 at 11:59 pm EDT.

I made an art journal page, but you can easily turn it into a card instead.

I like to make some Christmas and winter pages in my art journals and the Retro Layering Christmas Berries stencil is large enough to cover an entire page in my Small Creative Journal, making it great for a background. I also did some dry embossing and used the new Luxe Glitter Cardstock and Pawsitively Velvet Luxury papers.

I wanted to start on a background which already had some color and texture. Smear Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap on a non-stick craft sheet. Mist with water and press the page into the ink.

When dry, apply embossing ink through one of the two stencils in the Retro Layering Christmas Berries set and emboss with white powder. Always be careful when using a heat tool and do not touch the melted powder until it has cooled down completely.

Ink the berries and flowers with Saltwater Taffy and Lumberjack Plaid. I used Simon Says Stamp Detail Round Blending Brushes for the inking. They make it easy to ink the design with different colors.

Next, continue with the leaves using Salvaged Patina and Lucky Clover.

Dip Distress Watercolor Pencils in water and flick a paint brush against them to create splatters.

If you want the berries to stay the color of Lumberjack Plaid, skip this step. I wanted glossy berries and knew that the Glossy Accents would alter the color of the berries a bit since they were inked with waterbased ink. However, I didn't think it would change their color quite as much as it did. I still like them, but might have preferred the darker shade. If the white dots become less visible, you can add them back with a white gel pen once the Glossy Accents is dry.

Die cut the hat and gloves from the Sweater Weather embossing folder and die combo. I used watercolor paper.

Color the design right on the embossing folder, using Distress Watercolor Pencils. Mist the paper with water and emboss.

Repeat for the gloves and let dry.

Ink the edges with Frayed Burlap and die cut the ball on top of the hat from white Pawsitively Velvet paper.

Die cut Fir Branches from white and brown Pawsitively Velvet Luxury paper. For another project using the Fir Branches check out the two Sparkly Christmas Trees decorations I made on Thursday.

The new Luxe Glitter Cardstock is stunning and so glittery. I love being able to get the look of glitter without any mess. I die cut the sentiments using an older Simon Says Stamp die called Winter Snow.

You can color the Retro Layering Christmas Berries stencil set in many different combinations. Use the whole design or only parts of it.

I stamped a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Stamped With Love using Surf ink and cut it into strips to only use a part of the sentiment.

This sentiment comes from the Let It Snow set from the Cozy Hugs release and was stamped with Surf ink on Tim Holtz Christmas Backdrops paper.

The combination of glittery Luxe Glitter Vardstock, the soft Velvet paper, the dry embossing and the glossy berries adds a lot of interest to the page.

Don't miss all the inspiration along the hop. There are of course prizes to be won too, and at each stop on the hop SSS is giving away a $25 coupon, randomly drawn from those who leave a comment. The winners will be posted post on the Simon Says Stamp store blog on Wednesday the 16th of November.

Your next stop on the hop is Amanda Korotkova. Don't miss to see the stunning project she has created. If you get lost along the way, here are all the stops:

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Laura Bassen
Debby Hughes
Alberto Gava
Miriam Prantner
Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)
Amanda Korotkova
Mindy Eggen
Lorraine Aquilina
Heather Hoffman
Emily Midgett
Jennifer Kotas
Tina Smith
Jean Doeringsfeld
Misty Elam
Diane Morales
Maura Hibbitts

For more Holiday Sparkle inspiration remember to check out the Holiday Sparkle gallery at Simon Says Stamp, and if you make something with products from the range, it is fun if you post it in the gallery too. There are galleries for all releases, and for the card kits, full of inspiration.

This is the second blog hop for the Holiday Sparkle release, don't miss blog hop day number 1 which took place yesterday.

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.