Believe!

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "House Rules".  I took the opportunity to use a lot of Tim Holtz vintage Christmas imagery for this piece.

My Christmas memories of a 60s childhood in the USA feature imagery perfectly matched by Tim Holtz's seasonal stamps and papers.  Some of my tree decorations are even in the original Shiny Brite boxes that feature in his designs!  Wishing to echo that style, I decided to create a vintage themed Christmas house to display here at home each holiday. 

I started by painting the house with A Dash of Red paint, which I darkened a little with Gathered Twigs distress ink.  I stamped snowflakes from the Winter Sketchbook set on the sides with gesso.  The triangular panel was cut from a piece of Dear Mr Claus paper and it acted as a base for the stamped ticket and the "Believe" lettering, which I had cut on the Cricut.  The Twinkle Tone Santa was taken directly from the Seasonal paper stack, with added Rock Candy stickles to highlight his beard and white fur.  The numbers were metallic numerals coloured with Tarnished Brass distress Stain and sanded in parts for extra texture.

The two Santas at the bottom were stamped then coloured with Promarkers.  I used distressed copper brads to add interest to the wooden frame, first using a craft pick to create a hole for each one.

The roof tiles were cut on the Cricut, from a sheet of Retro Grunge card stock, and edged with a white pen for a snowy effect.  The icicles on the front and sides were given a liberal application of Rock Candy stickles for extra sparkle!

I'm really happy with how this turned out, now I just need to make sure that I pack it away securely each year so that it will last a good few years!

Supplies I used included:

InLinkz.com

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week, just make something for the challenge and you could the winner! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

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