SSS Cheer and Joy Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to my blog! I am happy to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Cheer and Joy blog hop to celebrate the brand new release. You should have arrived here from the very creative Vicky Papaioannou.

The Cheer and Joy release contains wonderful dies, stamps, stencils, sentiment strips, sequins and pins, perfect for holiday crafting. Many of the products are very versatile and can be used all year around. You can see the whole release here.

There is also a free gift that you can get with any purchase, if you use the code HPYML9. It's an Simon Exclusive Post Office Box enamel pin. The gift is while supplies last and the promotion will expire on 10/13/19. 

I made three projects, one art journal page and two cards, and there are step photos for all three.

Let's start with the art journal page. I thought the Leaves and Berries stamp would look great on kraft paper, colored with colored pencils. It was stamped on one of the kraft pages in Dina Wakley's Media Journal. I wanted the stamp to take most of the space and just embellished the page with some die cut, stamped and printed words, and sequins. You can easily turn this into a card instead. 

Start by stamping the Leaves and Berries on kraft paper with black ink. For a different look, white emboss the image instead.

I colored  the leaves with Prismacolor pencils. Since I wanted a clean and graphic look today, I didn't add any shading or graduations of color, which I normally would have done.

 Add some life with a white gel pen. Use the pen on the berries and here and there on the branches. Don't worry about perfection.

'Thankful' comes from the Lunch Box Notes 2 set and was stamped with Melon ink. I used the same ink for the stamped sentiment below the die cut square, which comes from the You Got This set. Today will be awesome was die cut from SSS glimmery paper, and once from red paper. I only used the frame from the red die cut.

 

This sentiment comes from the SSS Sentiment Strips 4. I also added a frame with the white gel pen, and some dots.

I just love this stamp with all the movement and all the leaves. You can also do the same technique on white paper, for a brighter look. If you want to do a spring time project, use shades of green instead.

The second project is two quick cards. I only meant to do one, but die cut the snowflake twice, so I did two cards instead. It is always good to have more Christmas cards. They are about 4.6 in square.

The Holly & Pine Frame is so pretty and has fantastic details. If you struggle to get a clean die cut when using heavier paper, place a piece of wax paper between the paper and the die. I also used the Sizzix Precision Base Plate. Die cut from watercolor paper.

Mist with Dylusions Postbox Red Shimmer Mist. I placed one of the snowflakes on a piece of watercolor paper when misting, to get a background to use for another project, and to avoid wasting the pretty shimmery mist.

For the background, I embossed watercolor paper in the Winter Snowflake 3D folder.

Ink with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide and mist lightly with water.

Distress the edges of the embossed panel and mount on red card and then on folded white cardstock. The sentiment was adhered with foam tape.

The Pine & Holly Frame is so pretty with the holly and the pine shapes forming the snowflake. 

The center of the snowflake is a perfect place for a sentiment. I die cut circles with the Repeating Circles die. Some of the sentiments from the Clean Line Christmas set just fit the circle. 

The snowflake on the second card has a more speckled look.

And the sentiment is stamped with several small stamps, also from the Clean Line Christmas.

Finally, I wanted to make a quick card with the trees from the Clean Lines Christmas set. This card could easily be done in a big batch for Christmas cards. The trunks were drawn with a white gel pen.

Start by white embossing the three trees on watercolor paper (4.5 in).

Mist with the gorgeous Dirty Martini Shimmer Spray. If you are making many cards and want some variation, use different mists.

Mount on two shades of green paper, distressing the edges, and finally on white folded cardstock. The mist is very shimmery, as you can see here.

I stamped the sentiment with green ink and mounted it on the gorgeous SSS glitter paper. I just love how glittery this paper is, and it doesn't give off any glitter at all. Stamp a second sentiment and cut into a thin strip.

Don't miss all the inspiration along the hop and of course there are prizes to be won too. SSS is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop and all you need to do is comment. Winners will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, the 16th of October.

Your next stop on the hop is Bobbi Lemanski, who has cheerful cards to share with you.

These are all the stops along the hop:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Debby Hughes

Laura Bassen

Yana Smakula

Nichol Spohr

Yoonsun Hur

Heather Hoffman

Amanda Korotkova

Cheiron Brandon

Bibi Cameron

Emma Williams

Vicky Papaioannou

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Bobbi Lemanski

Preeti Chandran

This is day 2 of the blog hop, and for more inspiration, don't miss yesterday's hop. For even more Cheer and Joy inspiration, check out the SSS Cheer and Joy Gallery. You can also  link your own projects made with the release and there are galleries for all SSS releases, and for the card kits too. 

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! Have a lovely weekend!

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.

Shimmer and Shine Autumn Tag

Hello friends! Did you have a nice weekend? We had beautiful autumn weather and went for two long walks. There was also an early soccer morning and we went to see Dora at the movies. 

I can hardly believe it is already October, and since it is the first Monday of a new month, the team at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog are showcasing a specific designer/company. This week it is Tim Holtz, with his fantastic and very creative range of products. You can find them all here. You don't have to use Tim's products to join, but it is always fun if you do. Our theme this week is Autumn/Fall.

Since it is a new month, we also have a new guest designer. During October, Jo, with her blog Let's Art Journal is our guest. I hope you will stop by her blog to see what she has made for you this week.

Lately, I have enjoyed adding bits of gold to projects, and for today I went all out and made a monochrome gold tag, with just a tiny bit of copper and yellow. I had such fun playing around with different gold surfaces and textures, and although not a single thing is metallic on this tag, it almost looks like the entire thing is made of metal.

I started out by die cutting a tag from gold kraft paper. Mist the tag pretty heavily with water at the back and emboss in the 3-D Crackle Texture Fade. The water makes the embossing more pronounced since it softens the paper. This is so cool and I wish you could see the embossing in real life.

Die cut leaves with the Skeleton Leaves and Fall Foliage sets. They were die cut from yellow kraft core and from gold kraft papers, and from the fantastic SSS glitter papers; gold glitter and copper glitter. I love these papers since they are super glittery, but don't give off any glitter at all.

The gold and yellow kraft core pieces were embossed in the Lumber 3-D folder, for some texture.

I also wanted gold roses, and die cut three roses with Tim's Tattered Pinecone die. One of them was made smaller.

The title was die cut with the Calendar Words set, and I added a Clippings sticker for a sentiment.

The leaves were glued to the background in a layered fashion, to look like a big pile of autumn leaves. I also added gold SSS sequins.

Here you can see the glitter paper better. It looks like real glitter, but without any of the mess. Glitter is the one product I sometimes avoid because of the mess, mainly because I am afraid of it getting into my camera lenses when I take tutorial photos. Glitter is like sand for camera lenses.

Shape the die cuts a little before rolling up the flowers, using a pair of tweezers.

Here's another look at the cool embossed background. 

Metallic projects look different depending on how the light falls, and here you see the warm glow of the tag when placed in sunlight. If you want a more distressed look to the tag, you can sand the background and the kraft core pieces before assembly.

I hope you will join us this week in our Autumn/Fall challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

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

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog 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.

Autumn Notebook Tutorial

Hello friends! I am happy to take part in an Eileen Hull blog hop, to celebrate the release of her new Pocket Notebook die. Don't miss all the notebook inspiration along the hop. You should have come here from Betsy Skagen, who has a very creative project to share with you.

As you know, I love to make notebooks and little books. I made an autumn notebook for a friend, using Eileen's new Pocket Notebook die. It's a great size (4 x 6.7 in) and can be customized in so many different ways. You can, for example, easily make it thicker or thinner.

Start by die cutting two covers from mat board. The die is very versatile and also includes a page element and other details. I only used the cover part today.

Die cut covers from Tim Holtz's Abandoned Paper Stash and glue to the mat board with matte medium. Place under a heavy book. I used two different papers for the front and the back and a third one for the spine.

Glue patterned papers to the inside covers too.

Glue the spines together as shown, using matte medium, and again place under a heavy book.

Sand the edges, to reveal the white core of the paper and give a worn look to the journal.

I used Eileen's Journaling Cards, Flowers & Leaves set to die cut leaves and flowers, from Abandoned paper, canvas, and from the Simon Says Stamp Copper Glitter paper. This is a stunning glittery paper, and doesn't give off any glitter at all.

The bird, from the Birds & Butterflies, was die cut from another piece of Abandoned paper, and the branch from canvas. Later, I also die cut the branch from glittery paper.

Sand the edges of the paper flowers slightly. Shape the flowers with tools from the Tonic Craft Tool Kit and glue together.

Punch a hole in the center of the spine, as shown.

Thread a piece of elastic through the holes, to create space for three signatures.

I secured the elastic strings by tying them through a button and then again at the end to create a closure mechanism. As you can see there is an extra little hole which I didn't use. I covered it up with a tiny flower after taking these photos.

Cut papers and fold in half. Arrange into signatures of about seven papers, depending on the thickness of your paper. I used sketch paper, and cut two papers from an A4 sheet. I forgot to measure the size exactly before giving the book away. I love being able to pick my favorite papers for notebooks and journals. I stitched down the center of each signature with orange thread, but you can also use staples.

Tie the ends of the threads and tuck the signatures in under the elastic bands.

Glue the flowers and leaves to the cover and add a title with a sticker.

Glue the bird and branches to the cover. Give the bird an eye with a marker.

If you want a darker edge, you can ink the edges instead.

Here's the back of the notebook. You can add more details there if you want, but I often keep the back relatively plain. I love Tim's Abandoned papers, and for more inspiration on them check out these posts: Inky Bird Art Journal Page, and Heart Shaker Cards.

I gave the notebook away yesterday, since it was made for a friend who follow my blog and I didn't want her to see it beforehand.

Here you can see all the gorgeous projects made for the hop. Your next stop on the hop is the wonderful Tonya Trantham. If you get lost along the way, you can always head back to Eileen's blog.

These are all the stops along the hop.

Susie Bentz

Pam Bray

Julia Aston

Annette Green

Kathy Clements

Cheryl Waters

Ginger Ropp

Mitsyana Wright

Debbie Bankston

Anita Houston

Maggi Harding

Anne Redfern

Jenny Marples

Betsy Skagen

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Tonya Trantham

Madeline Arendt

Lisa Hoel

Karen Bearse

Nicole Wright

Sue Eldred
Elizabeth Robinson

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog 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.

Other supplies:
Eileen Hull Sizzix dies: Pocket Notebook, Birds & Butterflies, Journaling Cards, Flowers & Leaves