STAMPtember is Here!!!!

Hi Everyone! Are you as excited as I am for STAMPtember? It's Day ONE and today Simon Says Stamp is releasing new exclusive stamps, dies, glimmery papers and envelopes and the cutest plushies you've ever seen and that's not all! The celebration goes on for 30 days where there will be new releases, special exclusive collaborations with some of your favorite companies in the industry, sales, giveaways and blog hops galore. It's a month of excitement, and oh yeah, did I mention one lucky winner will win a $5,000 Dream Craft Room Makeover! Yep, you read that right! See all the details on how to register for the Grand Prize here. 

Check out all the exclusive Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember releases here. 

I'm so glad you stopped by because I made an adorable shaker card using the new Simon Says Stamp Secret Garden stamp set. This set has adorable images and cute sentiments to create so many fun cards and has a coordinating die set too. Stop by tomorrow for another card I made using this adorable stamp set. Enjoy!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - It's A Stitch Up

Hi Everyone! It's time for another challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. This week our challenge is, It's A Stitch Up. Doesn't that sound fun!! We're asking you to do some type of stitching or sewing on your project. For my project, I created a mixed media panel following a Halloween theme. I did some light stitching on my project and had so much fun. I hope you join in the challenge this week and I can't wait to see what you create.

Below you can see how I created my base panel and some of the elements for my mixed media project.

I cut two Sizzix Cabinet Card panels and stamped each panel with the cracks stamp from the Tim Holtz Cracks & Specks stamp set using Versa Mark Embossing Ink. I covered the image with Ranger Black Embossing Powder and removed the excess. Next, I heated the embossing powder with the Ranger Heal Tool.

I inked each panel with Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink using a Ranger Mini Blending Tool.

I attached the panels together at the bottom and cut a strip of card stock from the Tim Holtz Materialize 8x8 card stock stack.

I placed the strip of card stock over the point at which the panels meet and secured everything down with double sided tape so it would stay in place as I did my stitching.

I used my sewing machine to sew a zigzag pattern that attached the Cabinet Card panels to another sheet of card stock from the Materialize paper stash set.

I also sewed on some DMC Metallic Light Silver Thread in a random and straight pattern at the top of my strip of card stock to add a metallic element. The base of my panel is now complete and I'm ready to create the focal point and other elements for my panel.

I cut several sets of leaves from the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves and Mini Tattered Leaves die sets out of Ranger Manila Card Stock.

I colored the leaves different ways as you will see below.

I "painted" Ranger Multi Matte Medium on the leaf and sprinkled Ranger Distress Stickles Rock Candy Dry Glitter over the wet leaf and shook off the excess.

Here's a close up of the glittery goodness.

When the leaf was completely dry, I sprayed it with Fossilized Amber and Carved Pumpkin Distress Spray and dabbed on Peeled Paint Distress Stain on the stem.

To blend the colors together I sprayed the leaf lightly with water using a Distress Sprayer.

Some of my leaves were colored with Distress Crayons. Here, I colored on Fossilized Amber and rubbed it in lightly with my fingers.

I added some Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo and rubbed them together lightly with my finger. I then spritzed it with water so the colors would blend together. I turned the leaf upside down and let the colors drip together and allowed the excess to run off onto my craft sheet.

For the leaves without glitter, I simply sprayed on Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Spray in random areas and dabbed on Peeled Paint stain in random areas. When they were almost dry, I spritzed them with water, dabbed them with a paper towel to remove the excess water. This gives them weathered look. 

Here is a close up of one of the leaves colored with sprays and spritzed with water.

I stamped the skull image from the Tim Holtz Undertaker stamp set three times and cut away parts of the skull to layer on top of each other. I adhered the layers with double-sided foam tape.

Here you can see, on my final project, the dimension the skull has by creating layers.

I wanted to add some leaves to the skeleton's hat so I fussy cut the hat from one of the stamped images and used a craft knife to cut a small slit where I will place the leaves. Be sure to cut over a cutting mat and not your craft mat.

I then placed the leaves in the slit. I adhered this to the skeleton with double-sided tape which created more dimension to the skeleton.

For the goo on the top of my panel, I used the Tim Holtz Drip Edge thinlits die and cut that out of black card stock. I "painted" on Ranger Multi Matte Medium and sprinkled Spiced Marmalade Distress Glitter over the die cut for sparkle. I wanted specks of black to show through the goo which is why I cut it out of black card stock. If you want it to be bright orange, cut it out of white card stock and ink it completely with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink then apply the Spiced Marmalade Distress Glitter.

I adhered the gooey edge to the top of my panel.

To create some "grass" on the bottom of my panel, I cut some cheesecloth and colored it with Peeled Paint Distress Stain.

I let that dry and folded it in sections before adhering it to my panel.

 I also cut out the Tim Holtz Twisted Edge thinlit die and adhered that to the top of my "grass". I cut it out of white card stock and inked it with Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Inks.

To create the bats, I cut six bats from the Tim Holtz Hocus Pocus die set out of black card stock and adhered three of them to my panel. The other three were glittered using the same process as I used to glitter the leaves except I used Black Soot Glitter instead of rock candy glitter. I then adhered the glittered bats on top of the non-glittered bats and propped up their wings for dimension.

Here again is my final mixed media panel. I added a few more things to bring it all together. In the top left corner I added the web from the Tim Holtz Mixed Media Halloween thinlits die set and the spider image and Happy Halloween sentiment from the Undertaker stamp set. I also added a spider from Idea-ology Wicked to the skeleton's hat and some twine and Crossbones to the leaves on the bottom left. 

Below are a few close-ups of my project:

I hoped you enjoyed seeing the process I used to create my Spooky mixed media project representing our It's A Stitch Up theme. Please join us in all the fun and add your project to Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 gift voucher to their amazing store.

For more inspiration, tips and tricks for all types of papercraft creations, follow Simon Says Stamp on:

          

You can find all the following supplies I used to create this project at Simon Says Stamp:

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