Simon Says Stamp DieCember® 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 DieCember® 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.

This is the 10th annual DieCember® celebration at Simon Says Stamp. The DieCember® release is full of wonderful new dies, and some stamps, stencils 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 MERRY you will get the Merry on a Line FREE with any purchase of $25 or more (while supplies last)!! This promotion will expire at 12/4 at 11:59 pm EDT.

I love die cutting and all the fantastic techniques you can do with dies. I can still clearly remember when I did die cutting for the first time, a long time ago. For today's hop I made a Winter Wonderland Mixed Media project, which may become a Christmas gift.

One of my favorite things is to create the look of snow in different ways and since I love forests, I decided to make the Little Evergreen Trees into the focal point of my project. The colors were inspired by the Pawsitively Velvet Shades of Blue papers that I used for some of the trees. This board is 5.5 x 8.5 in.

For my base I used Simon Says Stamp Chipboard sheets, which are very sturdy. To make it even more sturdy, I cut a sheet in half and then glued the second one at the back. Leave to dry under a heavy book. Coat with gesso, leaving some of the board showing through. Let dry and then add a second coat, if needed.

Paint the board with Distress Paint and mist with water. When almost dry, dab with a paper towel to create a little texture.

I made my own stencil using the Simon Says Stamp Radiant die. Die cut it from Simon Says Stamp Masking Paper.

Apply Stickles Galaxy Glitter Gel through the masking tape stencil and carefully remove it. Since there are some larger pieces in the glitter gel, my result wasn't perfect, but I wasn't aiming for that.

Die cut the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Little Evergreen Trees from Pawsitively Velvet Shades of Blue, Pawsitively Velvet Snow White and Vellum.

Glue them on the board starting from the top. Cut some of them in two pieces and tuck extra trees in here and there. 

Add some cheesecloth for a flowing snow dune feel.

Next, I added Snowfall Grit Paste, both in thicker layers at the bottom and in a thin layer at the top. Let dry (it will take a while).

When the Grit Paste is dry, dry-brush some white paint on it to increase the texture and splatter white paint all over the project, so that it looks like it is snowing.

Die cut snowflakes with the Snowflake Hexagon from Pawsitively Velvet Snow White and from Tim Holtz Winter Deco Sheets. The latter were adhered to paper first, for stability. Later I also die cut the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Flakes, for some smaller flakes.

Layer the snowflakes together here and there. 

The white splatters sinks into the velvet paper and is therefore mainly visible on the vellum trees. There are Frosty Morning sequin snowflakes tucked in between the trees. 

The mix of velvet, vellum and glitter paper adds a tactile element to the project. This sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery. 

I was in a hurry and accidentally wiped off some of the glitter gel since it wasn't completely dry. I only noticed it when taking the photos and will fix it later with a new stencil.

The sentiment label was stamped and die cut with Simon Says Stamp Mixed Labels and the sentiment and snowflakes come from Let it Snow.

I added a little Stickles to the snow too. 

The Snowfall Grit Paste has a really cool texture.

 
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 7th of December.

Your next stop on the hop is Amanda Korotkova. Don't miss to see the wonderful 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

Emma Williams

Cheiron Brandon

Heather Hoffman

Emily Midgett

Lea Lawson

Sandi MacIver

Kim Hamilton 

For more DieCember® inspiration remember to check out the DieCember® 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 DieCember®, don't miss blog hop day number 1 which took place yesterday.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Happy Christmas 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.