Sunday 17 March 2024

Hello Spring DIY Gift Boxes for Simon Says Stamp

Happy Sunday everyone and if you celebrate, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Today, I'm so happy to be back on the Simon Says Stamp Store blog to share my latest Halloween project with you all and if you love the sneak peek below and would love to see more of this piece, then you can head over to their blog, CLICK HERE to check out the step by step process of how I created my make!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and see you soon with some more creative inspirations!
Have a great Sunday!
xx


Monday 11 March 2024

I Should Be So Lucky....

Hello friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

This week our theme is all about A Bit O' Green and we would love for you to join us and play along with our fun challenge.

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I decided to embrace all things green with my Etcetera Panel decor piece and some of you might recognise this cheeky little leprechaun, because yes, The Count is back in his fancy dress costume, ready to celebrate the luck of the Irish!

So let's get started, and say hello to Mr O’Reilly, the Leprechaun.

For this make, I used the small Tim Holtz Rectangular Etcetera Panel and one of the Etcetera Facades both by Stampers Anonymous.

PANEL

We'll begin with the panel and after painting the edge of the panel with Black Soot Distress Paint, I then applied Design Tapes, two different tapes, around the edge.

To create the background for the panel, I cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock card and spritzed the card with a light misting of water before applying Distress Spray Stains and Oxide Sprays in the following colours:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN; Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, 

OXIDE SPRAY; Rustic Wilderness, Cracked Pistachio

I layered the colours to create the blend I was happy with, adding more water if needed before I allowed the inks to dry thoroughly. You can use a heat gun to set the inks before moving onto stamping the background.

For this I used the Polka Dot stamp from Mr Rabbit and inked up the stamp with Black Soot Archival before I randomly stamped all over the background.

After machine stitching a border around the outside, I then adhered the card onto my Etcetera Panel using Matte Collage Medium.

ETCETERA FACADE

Moving onto the Etcetera Facade and from the pack of 4, I chose the arched piece which I painted with Black Soot Distress Paint.

Once the surface was thoroughly dry, I then stamped onto the facade using the Shattered stamp.

This is a large stamp which covers the surface area perfectly and after inking it with clear embossing ink, I then sprinkled Fien Detail Gold Embossing Powder over the surface, heat embossed until molten.

Taking a paint brush, I used this to dry brush the surface with gold acrylic paint. You don't want a block coverage, just to knock back the black and still allow the embossing to show, so just allow the brush to gently kiss the surface. Set aside to dry.

Behind the facade, I placed a second panel of card, inked with the same sprays and oxides as I used on the background but this time I used the Sparkle Layering Stencil to create some texture.

I placed the stencil onto the panel, and applied Translucent Grit Paste through the design. I removed the stencil and working quickly I sprinkled Gold Embossing Powder over the paste. Set this to one side to dry and once the magic has happened, I then heat embossed the powder very gently to reveal the gold sparkles.

Cut the panel to fit behind the facade and then using the risers that come with the Facade pack, add these to the back of the frame and attach to the sparkle panel.

Attach the completed piece onto the Etcetera Panel using Matte Collage Medium and slightly overlapping the top edge of the panel itself. 

You can see in the photo below how much depth the risers add to this piece.

I finished by attaching two hardware heads to either side of the facade and then added a Flair Embellishment to the top, curved section.

MR O’REILLY ~ THE COUNT

Now for the star of St. Patrick's Day, The Count, or for one day only, Mr O’Reilly, and once I'd die cut all my pieces, (you'll notice for this make, I didn't use his lower body and legs, just from his waist up as I want him to appear as if he's in the frame), I then assembled the image, swapping out the classic black hair of The Count, and making it red instead.

COLOURS USED:

Face: Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot and White

Hair: Spiced Marmalade and Crackling Campfire

Suit and Shirt: Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, white

Waistcoat: A stamped offcut that I had in my stash

For his top hat, bow and hair ~ I used Winter Wardrobe Thinlits Die Set, which is a slightly older die set, sadly discontinued, that I have in my stash. 


If you don't have this set, then you can use alternatives ~ the Tailored Set for the hat, and there are plenty of Tim's dies that have bows and foliage that will be suitable for the remaining details.

I cut the hat from the same inked cardstock as I used on his suit, and the bow and hat band both cut from the same offcut as I used for the waistcoat.

Now comes his hair and can you think which die I might've used for this?!?!?

Answer: I used the tiny foliage die in the Winter Wardrobe and just cut multiple pieces that I layered behind the hat, to create the spiky hair that sticks out from underneath the rim.

To complete the hat, I added some tiny stitches that are from the Bunny Stitch Die set by Sizzix, and placed it into position on The Count's head.

Using foam pads, I attached The Count into position, inside the frame.

FOLIAGE

To complete the frame, I used the Funky Florals 3 die set to cut some leaves from inky green card, and arranged these with some moss.

I then placed some tiny idea-ology Bouquet Findings flowers into the arrangement. These flowers are white, but easy to colour with Distress Spray Stains and for this, I chose Shabby Shutters.

I also placed one flower in the hat, and in the centres of all the flowers, I added some gold Stickles Glitter from my stash.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the wording...

LUCKY

I used the Bold Alphanumeric Thinlits Die Set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix and cut three layers of the letters from Metallic Gold Kraft card, to spell the word "LUCKY', which I layered over the top of one another to create some depth.

I attached the letters directly to my panel, placing them underneath the facade and then to knock back the gold, I lightly sanded the surface and then painted them with a little Vintage Photo Distress Paint, wiping away any excess so that the gold still shines through.

Finally, I added some Large Fasteners to either side of the lettering.

I cut the legs off the fasteners, hammered them for a more worn, vintage look and then placed them directly onto my panel, attaching them with Collage Medium.

So that's my project finished and ready to display for St' Patrick's Day and I hope you've been inspired by the techniques and the the ideas I've used.

As always, if you make anything, or if you've been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to winYou have until next Monday at 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....






Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today...Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Tim Holtz Big Shot Foldaway, The Count, Funky Floral 3, Winter Wardrobe from my stash
Distress Paint: Black Soot
Distress Spray Stain: Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Cracklign Campfire, Spiced Marmalade
Oxide Spray: Rustic Wilderness, Cracked Pistachio
Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
Hot Glue Gun
Moss from my own stash

****These are not affiliate links****

Monday 4 March 2024

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This...

Hello everyone...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and as we head into the new week, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, we want you to be BRIGHT + CHEERFUL with your makes! As always, on the first Monday of every month, the DT are showcasing a brand and this month, it's the fabulous products of PaperArtsy!

So, let's get started and with all the colours of the rainbow at your fingertips, we hope you'll join us and can't wait to see what you will create and I hope you'll be inspired by my card, which combines a PaperArtsy stamp by Seth Apter with Tim Holtz and Sizzix products, including Distress Watercolour pencils that make that background pop!

It's time to share how I made my bright and cheerful card...

This white card blank is an "Emma Sized" card and measures, 21 x 12.5cm in size. It also features a Size 8 Tag in the centre.

BACKGROUND

To begin with I created the stamped background panels of Distress Watercolor Card and for this I cut one panel to measure, 19 x 10.5cm and a second smaller panel, 12.5 x 6.3cm.

Before stamping, and to knock back the whiteness of the card, I spritzed Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain over the surface, then wiped away the ink, to leave just a faint tint on the cardstock.

After inking up the PaperArtsy Eclectica3 Mini 73 stamp by Seth Apter with Black Soot Archival Ink, I stamped randomly onto my two panels to create the background.

I then used a waterbrush to watercolour the stamped images with Distress Watercolor Pencils in the following colours:

Peacock Feathers, Abandoned Coral, Wilted Violet, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Lumberjack Plaid.

Once I was happy, I heat dried the panel and then used the text stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Tiny Toadstools stamp set to stamp text, using Black Soot Archival Ink, onto the white areas in between, before inking with Pumice Stone Distress Ink around the edges.

I machine stitched a border around each panel and then taking the larger panel, I matted it onto a piece of black cardstock, and doodled some white dots around the edge to form a border.

I then matted the layers onto a panel of grey card, slightly larger in size to create a border around the edge before mounting the panel onto a white card blank.

TAG

In the centre of the card, I used a tag and used the Framed Tag Thinlits die set to cut another piece of watercolor cardstock.

To create the gold debossed border around the edge of the tag, I picked up some Versamark Clear Ink directly from the ink pad using my brayer and gently rolled it over the raised edge of the die. Placing the panel of card over the top of the die, I then ran it through my machine.

After removing the tag from the die, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top and heat embossed the powder until molten.

I then spritzed the tag with a light misting of water and sprinkled some In The Navy Infusions over the surface. You only need the smallest amount of these crystals, as a little goes a long way and you can always add more if necessary. Spritz with a little more water to move the crystals around and create the bursts of colour.

I then heat dried the surface, inked the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and matted the tag onto a panel of grey cardstock.

In the top of the tag, I attached an eyelet using a Crop-A-Dile Tool and threaded through a strip of Tim's Velvet Ribbon Trim before mounting the completed tag onto the centre of my card, using foam pads.

I attached the smaller stamped panel onto the tag and then added a couple of Remnant Rubs in the corner.

BUTTERFLY

For the enamelled effect on the surface of the die cut, I used Distress Glaze Embossing Powders in the following colours:

Salvaged Patina, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Scorched Timer, Hickory Smoke

To create the butterfly, I used the Tim Holtz Vault Scribbly Butterfly die set by Sizzix and began by cutting two layers of the open butterfly. I also cut the solid layer from a piece of Backdrops paper that has script design on it.

Taking the first of the open butterfly die cuts, I started to add the glazes, using the darkest colour in the centre, a lighter shade around the edge and the coloured glazes on the wings.

To apply the glaze, I used the Embossing Dabber which I applied directly onto the die cut, applying one colour at a time, tapping away the excess. I then heat embossed the powders until molten. To build up the layers and create the look of faux enamel, I repeated this process a further two times.

I then sprinkled some gold embossing powder over the surface, just little hints here and there, and heat embossed again.

Repeat the process to add the glazes to the second layer and then attach the first die cut over the top of the second, attaching it by the body only and leaving the two layers of wings free. Shape the wings and then attach the enamelled butterfly to the solid layer.

Adhere the butterfly into position using Matte Collage Medium.

Finally I used a Metallic Quote Sticker, "Dreamer of Dreams" which I matted onto a strip of black card, and then mounted onto my tag, using foam pads, placing it just beneath the butterfly.

So that's my project finished and I hope you love what I've created and it inspires you with some of the ideas that I've used.

As always, if you make anything, or if you've been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to winYou have until next Monday at 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....






Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today...love Emma xxx

Monday 26 February 2024

Blackbird...

Happy Monday everyone...

How are these weeks going so fast?!?! I can't believe we're already at the end of February but a new week, means that we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is called FUR OR FEATHERS and I'm sure that so many of you will enjoy joining us for this challenge.

For my make, I chose to go with feathers and created a Size 8 Etcetera tag using a combination of Sizzix and Stampers Anonymous products, all by the amazing Tim Holtz. As a focal point, I chose to use the Funky Floral Wreath and Lovebirds Die Sets, which are back from the vault and I decided to create the whole tag using warm shades of brown and rust, with a hint of metallic glimmer shining through.

So let's get started and here's how I created my tag...

To begin with I used a Size 8 Heavystock Tag and a Size 8 Etcetera tag.

TAG BACKGROUND

Starting with the tag background, I applied Translucent Texture Paste through the Roses Mini Layering Stencil, concentrating on just a small section of the stencil, and applying the paste in the bottom right hand corner, twisting up the right hand side.

I allowed for the paste to dry thoroughly before moving onto the next step of adding the colour.

For this, I used a combination of Distress Spray Stains and Oxide Sprays in the following colours:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN; Ground Espresso, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

OXIDE SPRAY; Tumbled Glass

After spritzing the tag with a light mist of water, I spritzed each stain, drying in between layers and adding more water to blend the colours if necessary.

Once I was happy, I gently heat dried the tag, avoiding the pasted area as much as possible and then dabbed away any ink that was on the texture paste, so that the pasted area would still remain ivory in colour.

To add more depth and layers to the background, I added some stamping using a selection of stamps from the EccentricField Notes, and Tiny Toadstools sets, using Black Archival Ink.

I added some text to the background using the text stamp in the Tiny Toadstools set and...

...in the top right hand corner, I added the Book No. 710 from Field Notes, and the stars from Eccentric.

After machine stitching a border around the outside of the tag, I inked the edges and then attached it with Matte Collage Medium onto my Size 8 Etcetera Tag. This isn't necessary but I like using these, and would recommend them, as they are more substantial for the layers that I will be adding.

FEATHER

We're now ready for the embellishments and I started with the feather that sits across the tag.

I cut this from black heavystock card, using the die in the Tim Holtz Vault Lovebirds die set by Sizzix, and then to achieve the metallic finish, I applied Foundry Wax. I added Statue to begin with, and used my fingertip to give a solid layer across the die cut feather. After heat setting the wax, I then applied a lighter layer and not a solid layer of Sterling, just applying it where my fingertip touched.

Heat set the wax again and if necessary, and you feel too much Sterling has been applied, just go back in with some Statue, remembering to heat set it.

I ran my Black Soot Distress Crayon around the edge of the feather, shaped it to create more dimension and then attached this across my tag, overhanging each of the sides.

WREATH AND BIRD

Now for the wreath and my little birdie....

To begin with I took a panel of black heavystock card and I spritzed the card with a combination of, Unravelled, Fallen Acorn, Decayed Mica Stains to add a touch of shimmer and a metallic finish to the cardstock. Heat dry the panel, or allow to dry naturally.

I then used this card panel for all my die cuts, cutting the wreath, the bird and the foliage and flowers.

I always cut two layers of the wreath which I then attach over the top of one another, slightly offsetting them to form more of a fluffy, layered look to the finished piece.

To add more depth and variant of colour to all my die cut pieces, I used Finnabair Waxes in Firebird and Patina Green, just using my fingertip to add a hint of this wax because the smallest amount goes a long way.

I attached the layered circular wreath to my tag using foam pads, strategically placed behind so that you can't see them from the front, and placed it so that it is positioned slightly over the top of the feather.

I then took all the tiny pieces of foliage and flowers and layered these onto the wreath. To stick these into position, I just add a dab of collage medium to the ends of then tuck each piece into the main wreath itself.

I then added the beautiful die cut flowers, layering them and shaping them to create more dimension, and once again just tucking them in and placing them amongst the foliage.

To complete the little bird's nest, I attached tiny clumps of moss.

Now for the main star of the piece, the little birdie who is sitting proudly in his/her nest.

Once again, I cut the bird twice and layered him so that he is more substantial and will be more supported, and to add a highlight around the edge, I used the Unravelled Pearl Crayon from the Halloween set no.5 and ran this around the edge of the die cut to create a subtle shadow.

After adding foam pads to the back, I placed him in the centre of the wreath.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the tiny details...

FINISHING DETAILS

For the sentiment, 'use your wings', I took the stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text stamp set and stamped it onto black card, using Versamark Clear Ink. I then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder before cutting it down to size and attaching it to my tag, adding a Tiny Clip to the end.

I added a stamp in the top left corner, which is from the Field Notes Snippets Ephemera set and finished with some rope, threaded through the hole at the top of the tag, adding a mini pin to complete it.

So, that's my tag for this week complete and I hope you love what I've made using feathers as my inspiration.

As always, if you make anything, or if you've been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to winYou have until next Monday at 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....






Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today...love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz Oxide Sprays: Tumbled Glass
Distress Spray StainsSpeckled Egg, Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen
Mica Stains: Unravelled, Fallen Acorn, Decayed
Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Tiny Clip, Field Notes Snippets
Finnabair Waxes: Firebird, Patina Green
Hot Glue Gun
Moss from my own stash

****These are not affiliate links****
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