FESTIVE FRAME

Welcome to STAMPtember®, a wonderful creative month with Simon Says Stamp!  Simon Says Stamp are celebrating for the whole month of September by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping.

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is all about stamping on different surfaces, of course you can use your stamps on card stock but there are so many more possibilities, fabric, vellum, patterned paper, canvas, wood. This week we would love you to grab a stamp and experiment, maybe trying something a little different from plain white card stock.

I found a small dimensional frame lurking at the back of my shelves and it's that time of year when I start to think about my seasonal pieces for friends and family. I like to be organised and try and make at least one seasonal piece each week, come December 1st you feel wonderful knowing all your cards are made! However, I always struggle trying to think of ideas for my teenage nephew's but once I stumbled across the Toy Soldier die I knew I had the start of an idea. Can you believe this is the first time I have used this die, something I will rectify this year!

I began by covering the inside of my frame with paper from the Seasonal Paper Stash and then painted the outside of my frame with fired brick Distress Paint. I then added stamping to my wooden frame using the background stamp from the Season's Silhouettes stamp set.

I only really wanted one or two words on my frame so I masked off the stamp with paper and inked up the word I wanted to add to the frame using olive Archival Ink.

You will notice that I have not used an acrylic bloc for this as I find it much easier to stamp on an uneven surface using the stamp as is rather than on a block, I can press firmly and obtain a good stamping onto the wood, random stamping is also easier this way, rolling the stamp across the surface.

I repeated this process to add WISHES to the side of my frame and I also added a touch of random stamping using the background stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art Of Making It Merry Stamp Set.

I die cut the Toy Soldier and added it to the frame, adding a small piece of wood behind the soldier so that he stands proud inside the frame, rather than affixing him flush to the back piece.

Chitchat stickers have been added to the wooden frame and also to an Enameled Tag, adding a touch of fired brick Distress Paint to the tag with my finger. I also added some mini pinecones which I picked up from my recent holiday in a forest, I love the natural touch these give. Gold cord has been added around the edge of my frame for further texture and interest.

A Christmas Snowflake Adornment has been added to the side of my frame for added depth, affixed to a piece of twine tied in a double bow.

A large snowflake rosette has been added to the top of the frame using the snowflake rosettie die, cut from a piece of the Seasonal Paper Stash, adding touches of fired brick Distress Ink to coordinate with my frame. A
Cosmo Cricket Cheer Button has been added to the centre of the rosette threaded with coordinate twine.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Enjoy your week. Tracy x x 

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Alterations - Toy Soldier Die, Seasonal Paper Stash, Chitchat Stickers, Enameled Tags, Christmas Adornments, Snowflake Rosette Die
Tim Hotlz Stampers Anonymous Season's Silhouettes Stamp Set
Wendy Vecchi Art Of Making It Merry Stamp Set
Distress Paint - Fired Brick
Archival Ink - Olive
Gold Cord
Twine
Cosmo Cricket Cheer Buttons