GOT THE BLUES?

Happy Monday and again, Happy New Year!

Have you got the "blues" after all of the joys of Christmas and ringing in the new year?  This time of year is sort of a "let down" to a lot of people.  The holidays are over and the cold of winter is upon us.  

So, at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, we're helping you beat the holiday blues by challenging you to create something using BLUE!

Now that the Christmas rush is through, I've had some time to pull out my new Tim Holtz Luminary die cut and have some wintry fun!

I've created this sweet little luminary, complete with tea light to give off the warmth of a candle's flame flickering through the "frosty" windows.

I began by cutting the pieces of the luminary out of manila cardstock that had been covered with metal foil sheets.  That not only gave them strength but also gave a bit of a metallic look peering out through the Fresco Finish paints I would later dab on top.

Next I ran all of the pieces through my Vagabond using one of Tim Holtz' Textured Fade designs.  I love the texture that it gave to the luminary frame.  I did not want this to be a metallic luminary frame but wanted bits of the silver to peek out.  So, I used my finger to lightly smear some of Wendy Vecchi's White Embossing Paste all over the pieces; not filling in the low areas but just giving a light covering of the paste.  This gave the frame some "tooth" so that the paints I would add on top would better stick and it also gave a bit of a pottery look to the finished piece. 

Next I dabbed a mixture of Fresco Finish Mermaid, Snowflake and a bit of water over all of the pieces to create a soft blue finish. When I had transformed all of the pieces into a wintry, frosty blue, I laid them to the side to dry while I created my frosty windows.  As a final touch on all of the blue pieces, I add some Silver Stickles around the windows and randomly smeared them lightly over the surface of each piece.  The addition of the shimmer those little silver glittery pieces from the Silver Stickles adds is amazing! 

I began with strip cut from a Wendy Vecchi's Clearly For Art Clear sheet.  Then I painted Glue 'N Seal over the strip.  It only took a few minutes for that to dry.  

Then I gave a generous coating of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint to the surface by dabbing the brush onto the surface.  I wanted the windows to have a fairly heavy "frosty" appearance and you can better achieve that by dabbing the brush over the surface rather than smoothly brushing it on.  When the windows were dry, it was time to add them to my luminary.

Here you can see that I added the windows using Glossy Accents to hold them in place. This also gives you a look at how using Glue 'N Seal followed by Rock Candy Distress Crackle creates that very cool frosty effect.  I'd love to take credit for this technique but the first time I actually saw it was from a very talented and creative Wendy Vecchi of Studio 490.

You can also see that I've added 1/8" Scor Tape to the "tabs" on the luminary to attach it together. I also added 1/4" Scor Tape on the inside of where those tabs would be placed, just for double "stickability" and holding everything together.

Each side of the luminary is scored so that you can fold it into its proper position before attaching them together. In this photo, you see a better look at the layers of texture, metal, color and stickles that create the exterior of my luminary.  I love the frosty windows, too!

Once my luminary was all put together, it was time to do some embellishing! 

I used Kraft cardstock to die cut several pinecones using Tim Holtz' Tattered Pinecone die cut.  It also has a wonderful pine branch that I used.  I die cut those out of Manila cardstock that was first painted with a Silver Paint Dabber.  I sprayed the Kraft pinecones with a Walnut Ink Spray.  If you don't have the spray, you can make your own using the Walnut Ink Crystals and mix them with a little bit of water.  Love the deep, rich pinecone brown!

I formed the pinecones and edged them with Silver Stickles.  Then I smeared Silver Stickles on the already painted silver pine branches to give them that extra sparkle when the light catches them. Finally, I had a little piece of white snowflake plastic trim that I transformed into silver by adding Silver Paint Dabber to it.  These piece would be all I needed to decorate my little luminary.

And here is a closer view of the assembled top; in all of it's glistening frosty goodness.

Now it's your turn to kick the post holiday blues and create something fun using BLUE!  Then enter our challenge.  You could be the lucky winner of our 

$50.00 credit voucher give away.  If your entry is voted one of the best of the week, you could be showcased in our 

Designer Spotlight ... a very nice recognition for all of your creativity and hard work!

So good luck and shake those blues with us!

Here is a list of all of the products I used available at Simon Says Stamp to create this sweet little snowy luminary:

• White Embossing Paste
• Fresco Finish - Mermaid
• Fresco Finish - Snowflake  
• Tsukineko Walnut Ink (made into a spray)  
• Tim Holtz Luminary
• Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone
• Metal Foil Sheet
• Manila Cardstock
• Silver Paint Dabber
• Silver Stickles
• White Opal Liquid Pearls
• Glossy Accents
• 1/4" Scor Tape
• 1/8" Scor Tape
• Clearly For Art
• Glue 'N Seal
• Distress Rock Candy Crackle Paint