Hi, I'm Cathie, and I'm so excited to share a project with you on the Sizzix Blog. It's no secret that I adore all things Tim Holtz and his vintage style, but there are times when one of his designs strikes a whimsical string in my heart. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and techniques I used to put together this sweet Mr. Snowman tag.
Step 1: Using a Small Tim Holtz Etcetera Thickboard tag, cover the entire front surface of the tag with white gesso and allow to completely dry.
Step 2: Take a 8-1/2" x 11" piece of Ranger Heavy Watercolor paper and place the thickboard tag on top of the paper. Using a pencil, trace around the edges of the tag and also the circle at the top of the tag. Remove the thickboard tag and cut out the tag shape following the pencil lines that were drawn. Cut out the circle at the top of the tag with an exacto knife.
Step 3: Ink the watercolor paper tag with Broken China Distress Oxide using a mini ink blending tool.
Step 4: Next, ink the edges of the watercolor paper tag with Broken China Distress Ink using a mini ink blending tool.
Step 5: Remove the nozzle of a Distress Sprayer and allow large drops of water to fall onto the inked watercolor paper tag in random areas. You will need to dip the nozzle into the water for each drop.
Step 6: When you are finished dropping water onto the tag, take a paper towel and lay it over the tag to remove the excess water from the droplets.
Step 7: Return the nozzle to the Distress Sprayer and spritz the entire surface of the tag with water. Allow large droplets to fall onto the tag as well as small droplets. This can be achieved by the amount of pressure you are using to squeeze the nozzle. When you are finished spritzing the surface with water, blot the entire tag with a paper towel before the droplets of water completely dry.
Step 8: Dry the tag completely with a heat tool.
Step 9: When the tag is completely dry, rub Distress Micro Glaze over the entire surface with a mini ink blending tool or your finger tips. Set the watercolor paper tag aside to dry.
Step 10: Take the thickboard tag, covered in white gesso, and make sure it is completely dry. Brush the entire surface with Distress Collage Matte Medium.
Step 11: Quickly, before the matte medium dries, place the watercolor tag over the thickboard tag to attach the two together. Make sure there are no air bubbles between the two layers. If you do find them, they can be removed with a craft squeegee. Next, apply a thin coat of Distress Collage Matte Medium to the entire top surface of the tag to seal it. Allow the tag to completely dry.
Step 12: When the tag is completely dry, apply a portion of the Tim Holtz Sparkle Mini Stencil onto the top right corner of the tag with white embossing paste. Allow to completely dry.
Step 13: Apply a portion of the Tim Holtz Sparkle full size stencil onto the left center of the tag with white embossing paste. Allow to completely dry.
Step 14: When the embossing paste is completely dry, ink the edges with Faded Jeans Archival Distress Ink. Set the tag aside.
Step 15: Begin creating the elements for the tag. For Mr. Snowman, lay out all the pieces in order of the color codes on the back of the dies.
Step 16: Cut out all the pieces of Mr. Snowman in the coordinating colors with the colors labeled on the dies.
Step 17: Ink all the edges of each piece very gently with Black Soot Distress Ink. I use a micro brush applicator to apply the ink.
Step 18: Attach all the pieces of the body of Mr. Snowman together.
Step 19: Next, attach all the facial features and small button onto the body of Mr. Snowman.
Step 20: Put all the accessories of Mr. Snowman together.
Step 21: To create the large snowflake behind Mr. Snowman, create both sizes of the snowflakes from the Fanciful Snowflakes Thinlits die set. Attach the small snowflake with 3D foam tape on top of the large snowflake making sure to offset them before attaching.
Step 22: Create the sentiment, "Let it Snow" by cutting "Let" and "it" from the Sizzix Alphanumeric Classic Upper and Lower case dies out of heavyweight white cardstock. Create the word, "Snow" from the Sizzix Handmade Alphabet Bigz die out of heavyweight cardstock. Ink each letter one at a time with embossing ink and sprinkle with Hero Arts White Puff embossing powder. Dry the powder with a heat tool. Complete this process until each letter is done.
Step 23: Ink the edges of each letter with Black Soot Distress Ink using a micro brush applicator.
Step 24: To create the shelf, cover three pieces of Tim Holtz Etcetera Thickboard Scallop Trims with white gesso. Make sure to cover all sides and edges.
Step 25: When the trims are completely dry, Stack the trims one on top of the other from largest to smallest and adhere them together using Ranger Multi Matte Medium.
Step 26: When the trims are securely attached and the glue is completely dry, cover the entire shelf piece with Distress Mica Flakes.
Step 27: To create the snowballs for the tag, gather a few different sizes of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Baubles and place them in a small disposable cup so they don't roll away. I made two kinds of snowballs, fluffy and sparkled. Fill one container with Epsom Salt and another container with Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter.
Step 28: Squirt some Glossy Accents glue into a small disposable cup.
Step 29: Drop one of the baubles into the glue. Move the cup around until all sides of the bauble are completely covered with Glossy Accents.
Step 30: Remove the bauble covered with Glossy Accents using a tweezer and drop it into the cup filled with Epsom Salt for a fluffy snowflake. Move the cup around in a circular motion so the bauble gets completely covered with the Epsom Salt.
Step 31: To create a sparkle snowflake, drop the bauble covered with glossy accents into the cup with Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter and swish the cup around in a circular motion making sure the bauble is completely covered with the glitter on all sides.
Step 32: When all sides of the bauble is covered with Epsom Salt or Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter, place it on a non-stick craft mat to completely dry.
As usual, a fantastic job!
I like the way you made the letters and the snowballs. Off to get the goods to try them.