STAMPtember 2020 - Christmas Snarky Cats

 

The STAMPtember collaboration between Tim Holtz and Simon Says Stamp is something I look forward to every September. This year's stamp set is delightful and one you don't want to miss!  

Please note that this is an EXCLUSIVE collaboration stamp set only sold through Simon Says Stamp as part of the SSS STAMPtember celebration. It is not part of the Tim Holtz Signature Brands releases and will not be sold anywhere else. It is a one and done, so if you don't order and it sells out, it is gone. That means you may have to pay extra for shipping or tarriffs, or taxes if you are in another country, so please keep that in mind. Just wanted to be sure you have fair warning.

I am so thankful that I was asked to make a few samples with this year's release. Below are my cards, but I will add a link to the LIVE Facebook reveal Tim had this morning so that if you missed it you can see all of the amazing cards and inspiration, including one from Tim!  Also, be sure to check Tim's blog for photos of all the cards and links to all the makers. 

For this card, I stamped a tree in the background by just repeat stamping a branch from the CMS390 Yultide Gatherings stamp set. I stamped in Distress Atchival Peeled Paint and then added a little watercolor. The cat was stamped on Distress Watercolor Cardstock, colored and then I added Glossy Accents to the lights. When dry, I fussy cut the cat, put him on an Action Wobbler and it was almost ready to go. I added the little bird at the bottom. I love him. I call him the judgey little bird because he seems like he's standing there with the piece of pine, read to DIY his nest and he stopped to watch the ridiculous cat tangled in all the lights. HAHAHAHA! So I had to add him to every card after that so he could look on in judgement.

The background of this card uses two older background stamps from Tim and Stampers Anonymous, Slate and Stone CMS299 for the stone background, and Wallpaper and Wood CMS126 for the mantle pieces. I just cut a couple of strips of the woodgrain and adhered it to chipboard to make the mantle, .5 and .75 by 4.

Then I fussy cut both of the stockings, and cut the cat off one. Then I transferred that cat behind the other stocking so I could pop it up in front of the cat for dimension. Then added the sentiment and judgey little bird. I imagined in this scene that he was looking at the ridiculous cat stuck in the stocking, but also thinking those pieces of pine would be perfect for his DIY nest project.

Isn't it great that there are some snowflakes on this set? Stampers Anonymous is so awesome about letting Tim add all kinds of fillers and bits of things in their sets. I used a technique I learned from Jennifer McGuire for this background. I've been obsessed with it this summer! LOL. It was made by stamping the snowflakes in clear embossing ink on a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock. Then I heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I colored the background with Speckled Egg Distress Ink and Weathered Wood on the edges, then I ironed off the embossing powder so that it left a resist impression of the white snowflakes. I love this look!!

The cat is fussy cut, colored like my calico cat Leota, and then I stamped an extra set of arms holding a cup, fussy cut them and popped them up for dimension. Then added a judgey bird again. I imagined him thinking, "You couldn't even have dropped a few crumbs for me? I'm working hard here! DIYing my nest!"

The card I made originally with this kitty didn't get sent to Tim. I fussed with it and fussed with it and just ended up not being happy with it so I only sent him three cards. Once they were in the mail, it allowed my mind to relax and clear and I was able to make this card.

On a piece of Distress Watercolor Paper, I stamped the cat, bird, sentiment and branches in Black Soot Archival Ink. Then I lightly went around the entire piece with a little bit of Speckled Egg Distress Ink, and stamped the little sparkles in Speckled Egg as well. I colored the floor and shadows with Pumice Stone and Black Soot Distress Ink. Then I colored the cat with the new Crackling Campfire and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I have orange kitties too so I needed to represent! Then on a separate piece of watercolor paper, I stamped the cat with the lights in Black Soot Archival. I colored the lights and then sprayed the entire piece with two layers of Distress Resist Spray. When that was dry, I fussy cut the lights off the cat and adhered them in little strips and some individually, along the pine branches so thay looked like they were on a tree.

The judgey little bird is just judging this guy for even thinking about messing with the lights because he knows it won't go well. LOL

That's it! So much fun! Thank you Tim Holtz, Heidi Crowl, Simon Says Stamp, and Stampers Anonymous. I'm so grateful to have been asked to participate in this year's STAMPtember release.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Milk Cap Christmas Tree Version 2 - Christmas Idea-ology

Wasn't that Idea-ology Christmas reveal from Tim Holtz amazing? If you missed it, check out his facebook page for a replay. So many new and returning Idea-ology products.  I wanted to share one of my makes today. It may look familiar to some of you who have been following me for awhile. I made a version of this two years ago using the milk caps from the everyday line and some vintage optical lenses I bought from Tim when he was selling off some of his stash. LOL This is the updated version with some of the new Ideaology goodies.

The Idea-ology Optical Lenses are part of the everyday line. They make a perfect frame for some of the Christmas Milk Caps that you might want to highlight.

I wanted to keep as many round items as I could on the piece, so I added some of the tokens. I colored the text by rubbing Candied Apple Distress Paint into them and then wiping the excess off. You can achieve the same look by rubbing Distress Crayon into the text as well. I also rubbed Candied Apple Distress Paint onto the poinsettia adornments and rubbed it off so the metal still shows, but it looks like they are old and the paint wore off.

This metal frame technique is one I learned in a class from the incomparable Paula Cheney. I started off with an Idea-ology Framed Panel and some Ranger Foil Tape. I detailed the technique on the first blog post so instead of reinventing the wheel, I'm just going to say, check it out here: Milk Cap Christmas Tree.

When it was all put together I wanted to add a little sparkle, so before I attached to the Optical Lenses, I sprayed the entire piece with Distress Resist Spray and then dusted it with Distress Rock Candy Glitter using the Glitter Duster.

I love how it adds just that little bit of Christmas Magic!

Also, this paper is also one of my favorite Stampers Anonymous background stamps and I adore that it is a black Christmas Paper in the new paper pad. Love, love, love!!!

One last little tidbit, I added a Word Band at the bottom with some Long Fasteners just to kind of anchor the piece.

Also, just a note that I also covered the back of the panel with the Foil Tape. Before attaching the frame, I cut 1.5" strips and adhered them on all the edges, folding them over onto the back of the piece, then I just trimmed a full 6x12" piece to the length of the back and adhered it. I aged it with the Distress Crayons the same way I did the frame. Then I attached them together.

Thanks for stopping by to see my new, updated version of this project. It's one of my favorite holiday makes from years past. It goes so perfectly on my kitchen mantle at Christmas, with a vintage milk bottle we got from my husband's grandfather.

I have links below to all the new products and some of the older ones I used in my makes this year. Enjoy! And stay tuned for some upcoming tutorials on some of my other makes in the coming weeks.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Specimen No.3616 - Stampers Anonymous

How beautiful are the insects on the new Specimen stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous?  Beautiful! Right?  And they make putting a lovely card together super easy.

This card began with one of the iron-off resist techniques from this post, using the Distress Embossing Glazes.

I stamped the Renaissance stamp with clear embossing in and embossed it with Walnut Stain Distress Embossing Glaze, then colored with Distress Ink and then I put another piece of Heavystock over it and ironed it with a hot iron until the Glaze reheated and melted into the second piece of Heavystock. It left behind bits of the dark glaze, but I love the light resist the glaze created. It's fabulous.

I added some focal text above and below the butterfly using some wording from the Specimen stamps.

The detail in this butterfly stamp actually makes it seem like it is textured. Incredible! I stamped it on Distress Mixed Media Heavystock in Black and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I watercolored it with Distress Inks.

Here is a look at the other side of the background resist technique. I love it with the Renaissance stamp!

I decided I wanted a tiny bit more detail on the background of the stamp, so I used my hand and lightly stamped parts of the script stamp from the Dearly Departed CMS413 stamps. There are many stamps from the Tim Holtz line from Stampers Anonymous that have a script stamp, so if you didn't purchase Dearly Departed (yet -- it's a lovely set!) but you have a different one with a script. I recommend this technique of just using bits of it to add some detail.
 

 That's it! It is an especially easy card to make if you spend some time making a bunch of your backgrounds first and then adding the focal points afterward. That's a technique I learned from Tim and it has served me well.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

If I Play Dead - Snarky Halloween Cats

One more Snarky Cat Halloween card. The Snarky Cat Halloween stamps from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous have several items on them, including a pumpkin and this spider web. I felt that this cat and web just needed to go together and I was so happy when Tim mentioned in the reveal that he had designed them to work that way.

To make it look like the web is attached to the cat's feet and tail, I first needed to stamp the cat on a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and also on some Judikins Eclipse Masking Paper. Then I cut out just the area between the cat's foot and his tail since that is where I wanted the stamp to go. I also cut around a few other parts of the cats so I could make sure I got the mask aligned properly.

Once the mask was in place I put the web stamp where I wanted it to go.

After I stamped the web, I removed the mask and it looks like the web is attached to the cat's leg and tail.

I used two pieces of background paper that I had made from the iron-offs from the backgrounds I made in this post. For the front of the card, I put the fold on the left side of the horizontal card. Then I used the backgrounds on the front and trimmed it down to 4.25x3.25 ish. Then the side of the card is actually the inside that is seen because the front is trimmed down.

I made a web background with the same iron-off embossing resist technique I just linked above. I used and older web stamp from Tim Holtz. I cut a piece a little bit wider than the portion that is revealed and then attached it to the "inside" of the card. I stamped the word DEAD with the Blockprint CMS370 alpha stamps to go with the sentiment on the "front".

Since this side has a web in the background, I stamped some of the little spiders from the Snarky Cat web all over this side piece. I thought it added a fun little bit of whimsy. The easiset way to do this is just to ink up the just spider part of the web stamp and carefully wipe off any ink that gets on the web before you stamp it. I did not put the stamp on a block, I just used my finger to stamp this little guy.

Here you can see how the front of the card is shorter than the back or inside of the card and how it leaves a small portion or area for writing a note.

Thank you for visiting today. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a note through the link  in the right column. 

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

 
 

It's Behind me - Halloween Snarky Cats

 

 You know I love the Snarky Cats and the Halloween Snarky Cats were an instant favorite for me. For this cat I thought it would be funny to have him being chased by the bat and that's when I decided he needed to be paired with then new Sketch Manor stamps.

I stamped a cat on some of the 6" masking paper from Judikins and fussy cut it out. Then I stamped the cat on a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock. I covered the cat stamp with the mask and began to build the forest and background with the stamps from Sketch Manor.

When I was finished stamping the background, I pulled the mask off and the piece was ready to watercolor with Distress Ink.

I watercolored the moon and let some of the warmth of the yellow Distress Inks flow out so that it seems to be shining.

I used three different blue colors of Distress Inks so that the farther away from the moon the sky was it would be darker. I used various Distress Inks in brown to color the trees and the dirt.

The very back ground paper was one of those pieces you are messing around with and decide it will make a good background. I stamped the entire piece of Heavystock with the sheet of Halloween Tiny Text stamps in place on the Index Card.

I embossed it with Distress Embossing Glaze in Hickory Smoke and then ironed it off on a scrap paper. Then colored the paper with Chipped Sapphire.

I stamped the bat from the Snarky Halloween Cats, fissy cut it out and adhered the bat so the wings stick out a little in flight. I also added a Halloween Token and some Halloween Trims twine, both from the Idea-ology line.

This was a fun card to create by pairing two of the new sets together. I hope it inspires you to look for some fun stamps to pair with the new Halloween Snarky Cats.

Tami

Til Death Do Us Part - Idea-ology Coffin 3

For the final installment of my Widow Bride Coffin Vignette, I have two versions to share. The original version that Tim showed in the Facebook Live Idea-ology reveal is a bit simpler and I have a photo of that version at the end. But this is my version with some added details. 

Before I begin the tutorial I thought I would put a link here for you to see the loop of the inspiration bride, Constance Hatchaway, in her area of the attic in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. If you aren't familiar with her it might help you understand this piece a little more.

 

In the lower portion of the vignette, we covered yesterday the mantle shelf, candles and such. So I am going to pick it up with the additions in this area. I decided I wanted to add a few things that hinted at death and murder, so I added a bottle of poison and funeral urn.

This poison bottle was easy enough to make. I put a few drops of Black Soot Distress Paint into one of the Tiny Vials. Then I brushed the outside with Distress Collage Medium to make it look frosted and even a little dusty.

I tied a bit of the Halloween Trims twine around the neck of the Tiny Vial and instead of a cork, I put an Antiqued Gem in the stem to dress it up a little. I did antique it a tiny bit more by lightly brushing a bit of Mushroom Alcohol Ink on the gem. I adhered it into the neck of the vial with Distress Collage Medium and let it dry.

One last thing I wanted to add was the word poison or something indicating poison. So I grabbed a few of the toxique and poison bits from the Ephemera Snippets pack and I cut them up to fit on the Tiny Vials. You will see I made several of these as I was trying to figure out how many I wanted to use. I finally settled on just the one, but I have saved the extras for other projects.

Here you can see the Funeral Urn in place. I was kind of imagining it holding the ashes of her latest deceased husband (the one sitting above her in the attic.)

I began by taking a small apothecary vial and removing the cork. I adhered this Fluted ring from either the Ring Fasteners or the Fluted Fasteners They both have this part. I adhered the fluted part to the top of the vial with Distress Collage Medium, and then attached the Hitch Fastener to the top as a handle on the lid. Once they were dry I painted over the entire thing with Pumice Stone Distress Paint.

Then I attached one of the smallest Adornment Stars to the front of the urn. I brushed Black Soot Distress Paint over the entire piece and lightly wiped it off the high points so that details showed.

Here you can see two things, how the black paint settles in the recessed areas and why I never bother to get a manicure. LOL! My fingers look like this most of the time.

Then I painted one of the bases from the Vignette Finial Sets and added a little detail with a piece of the Halloween Trim Tape.

I wanted more Mourning Drapery so I colored more Mummy Cloth to drape over the base that the urn would sit on.

An there you have it. The finished urn in place, ready for mourning.

Moiving on, I needed to mirror the wedding flower arrangement on the other side of the coffin. The dead plant is another Broom from last year's Idea-ology Halloween release. I sprayed it with a bit of Black Soot Distress Spray Stain so it looked even darker and attached it in the Relic.

I colored the Bouquet flowers with Pumice Stone and some brown Distress Inks. I also used aged the Grave Relic holder with some Black Distress Paint and then wiped it away.

You may also notice that I added a spider adornment in the corner there to again, mirror the one on the backside, hinting at her black widow nature of killing her husbands.

From this angle you can see that as with the wedding side, I adhered a Metal Gate and draped it with Mummy Cloth and adhered these black florals instead of the pearly ones on the wedding side.

To make the funeral flowers gather the Hickory Smoke Distress Glaze, Distress Collage Medium, and some Heirloom Florals. I picked the blue ones for this technique because I felt it would be the best base color to get a funeral feel.

Attach the florals to chipboard or a wooden stirrer. Then brush some Collage medium onto each flower.

Once the flower is covered, cover the flower in Distress Embossing Glaze and let it dry.

Once it is dry, heat emboss it and there you have shiny funeral flowers. You can repeat this in areas where you want it to be a little darker.

And here they are in place. It is difficult to see but I have one on the gate, two on the left side and one on the right side of the mantle by the candle.

I wanted to add one more piece that would be kind of hidden even though it is prominent in the attic scene with Constance actually holding the hatchet.  

Here is a bit of trivia for you. When they reworked the attic scene in 2006 with this version of the attic bride, they supposedly took inspiration from the stretching portrait with the older woman sitting nicely in the photo and as it stretches it is revealed she is sitting on her husband's tombstone with a sculpture of him with a hatchet in his head. That is where this Constance Hatchaway story supposedly came from.

If you look at the base of the funeral urn you will see I made a little hatchet.

I just wanted something simple and understated to tie in the story.

I took and Index Clip and attached it to a toothpick, then I trimmed the end with my Tonic Scissors. I brushed a little bit of Transluscent Grit Paste onto it and then wiped some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over it to age it. Super simple, but it ties in the hatchet part of the story.

Then not to make it too prominent, I just tucked it behind the fence so that someone who is paying attention to details would see it.

That is the second and final version of this piece, but I sent the simpler version below, to Tim Holtz for the Halloween Ideaology reveal. I know not everyone is in to all the crazy details I am so I felt a more straight-forward storyline would be best for that setting. In the version below I only put candles on the mantle and centered the paper doll so she was most prominent.

If you look at her face, you can see just the hint of a smirk...I thought she was just perfect for Constance. You might notice that her dress is particularly shiny. The grey in it was not working for me with this piece, so I colored it with the Distress Embossing Pen and then covered it with Distress Embossing Glaze in Hickory Smoke. That gave it a great color and it also added to her sturdiness as I needed her to stand tall in the middle of this piece.

I think that is just about every detail I can share with you about this project.

Thank you for checking out the different parts of this piece. A lot went in to the making of it and I wanted to be sure I covered the different parts in case there were questions.

Feel free to contact me with the Blogger form at the right. I try to get back to everyone as quickly as I can. And as always I am so grateful for your comments, visits and support. 

Thank you!

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!