That's Life

Monday, 2 November 2026

Remember The Time...

Hello everyone and Happy Monday...

Today is the start of a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our challenge theme is called "THINKING OF YOU". We'd love for you to join us and play along, and hope you'll have fun with this theme. The DT are showcasing the products of AALL & Create.

For my project and because it's something I like to do every year, I created a tag and with Remembrance Day on the 8the November here in the UK, and Armistice Day on the 11 November, what better time than to say thank you and remember all those who have lost their lives in battle, and for those who fought in previous wars and those who are still fighting now, to give the world peace. So, with the theme in mind, I decided to make this project, dedicated to all service men and women around the world...

So, let's get started, it's time to get for me to share all the details of this tag....

BACKGROUND

We'll start with the background for this tag, and I began by applying Distress Inks over the surface. I wanted to create the look of a poppy field, so I created the sky and grass onto the surface of my tag by blending Stormy Sky and Uncharted Mariner Distress Inks onto the top section and then approx 1/4 of the way from the bottom, I applied Rustic Wilderness and Peeled Paint. All the inks were applied using a blending tool.

I then spritzed the tag with a light misting of water to blend the inks and also add some tiny splatters. Once dry, I then added some torn pieces of the AALL & Create Twine 15 Washi Tape. I placed these about two thirds of the way down, applying these torn pieces where the sky meets the land and highlighting certain words on the tape ~ you can just see Courage to the right of the young boy.

At the top of the tag, I stamped some branches using the stamp from the Mr Frostie Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz stamp set. I stamped the branches in black but then used a brown pencil over the top. For the tiny little autumn leaves, I used an embossing stylus, which I dipped in Rusty Hinge Distress Paint and then just dabbed onto the branches to look like the tiny leaves. I allowed for the paint to dry before I stamped some text just around the edges.

With the background finished, I machine stitched around the edge and then mounted the tag onto a Size 8 Etcetera Tag using Matte Collage Medium to adhere it into position.

In the top right hand corner, I added a Snippets Ephemera piece, '5 for" and attached this with Matte Collage Medium.

TELLING THE STORY

Now to bring this tag to life and tell the story....

I chose this particular image from the idea-ology Paper Doll Poses pack because I just thought it works so well with the background.

I colour tinted the image with some Distress Crayons, I chose a selection of blues and browns for his clothes but you can select any colour of your choosing. I then scribble the crayon onto my craft sheet and using a paint brush, applied the colour direct to the image. Once dry, I then carefully cut around his glove so that I could place the Palette Snippets Ephemera piece into his hand.

I attached the figure to my tag using foam pads.

MAKING THE POPPIES

To create the poppies, I used Candied Apple and Lumberjack Plaid Distress Spray Stains to add colour to to a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock Card. Mist water over the top to blend the colours and then heat dry the card.

Using the Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Side Order Floristry Dies, I cut ten of the smaller flowers from the card.

After shaping each die cut, I then layered them to create five separate flowers. For the stamens in the centre of each flower, I used one of the smaller, spiky flower dies to cut black card. Again, I cut two layers for each flower and placed them in the centre of the poppies.

To complete the flower, I added a black pearl to each centre.

I then arranged the flowers across the base of the tag, adding some die cut leaves and foliage into the arrangement. These are all cut using Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies and I always have a selection on my desk.

Falling down around the boy, are some poppy petals. These are just more of the die cut flowers but this time I snipped into them and cut away individual petals. I attached each petal with Matte Collage Medium.

To complete the tag, I added the word "Remember" which I cut from one of the sayings int he Metallic Sticker Book. I stuck this in the bottom right hand corner.

So, that's my tag finished and all that's left is to add some rope through the hole at the top and secure it with a mini pin.

Hope you love the piece I've made and love the inspiration behind it.

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 win. You 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:

AALL and Create Twine 15 Washi Tape

Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz: Size 8 Etcetera Tag, Mr Frostie

Sizzix: Big Shot, Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Side Order Floristry Dies, Small Tattered Florals

Distress Spray Stain: Candied Apple, Lumberjack Plaid

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Distress Paint: Rusty Hinge

Distress Crayons

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Mini Pin, Paper Dolls Poses, Palette Snippets Ephemera, Snippets Ephemera, Metallic Sticker Book

Mediums: Black Soot Archival Ink, Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads

Surfaces: Size 8 Mixed Media Heavystock Tag, Mixed Media Heavystock Card

Glass Media Mat

Embossing Stylus

Heat Gun

Rope from my own stash

Monday, 19 October 2026

Ghosts....

Hello everyone, and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week, our theme is all about Halloween and something spooky. So, with my favourite time of year, well and truly underway, I had no problem deciding what to create and chose to make a panel, using Tim Holtz idea-ology.

This panel tells the story of the man with a haunted look in his eyes! No-one knows why but could it be to do with the three women and the mystery of what happened to them on October 31st....

So, let's get started because it's time to share all the details of this panel...

I used the larger sized Stampers Anonymous Rectangular Etcetera Panel for this project and covered each of the four edges with Tim Holtz Design Tape.

COVERING THE PANEL

To cover my panel, I chose paper from the Halloween Backdrops paper pack, and some photos and various other pieces from the Halloween Collage Pack.

I began by cutting my patterned paper choice, which is going to be adhered to the left hand side off the panel. I added some rips and tears around the three outside edges, but not on the right hand side of the paper, before I machine stitched a border around these three edges. I adhered the stitched paper to my etcetera panel, leaving the corners slightly crumpled and folded back to show the panel underneath.

On the right hand side of the panel, I chose a selection of strips from the Halloween Collage Pack and cut these to fit down the right hand side of my panel.

I machine stitched around the top, bottom and right hand side of the strip and then added some more machine stitched detail around the photo of the three women, which will sit near the top of the panel.

Adhere this to the Etcetera Panel and then apply a coat of Collage Medium over the top to seal the paper.

To add more layers of interest to the background, I attached an ephemera piece in the top left corner. The October 31 piece is from the Halloween Ephemera Pack and I distressed the edges before adhering it directly onto the panel, using Matte Collage Medium. I then ran the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon around all the edges, blending out any harsh lines of colour with my finger tip. I then hammered a Nail Tack into the ephemera piece.

Other embellishments that I added to the panel were some strips of Cello Sticker Tape and a Mini Pin to the stitching on the photo.

Along the bottom of the panel, I added the longest length Bat Etcetera Trim from the Bat Webs Trim pack and painted this black, before attaching it to my panel using Matte Collage Medium. I then sanded the edges of the trim before adding some Hardware Heads to the trim, together with two on either side of the panel itself.

Each of these Hardware Heads are altered with the following Distress Paints to add more of a rusty look ot the metal; Black Soot, Crackling Campfire and Antiqued Bronze

EMBELLISHMENTS to tell the story

Now we can begin to bring the story to life.

The layers and image of the man are all from the Halloween Layers and Paper Dolls pack and include the tape measure, roses and the moon. I also used some of the smaller images of the roses from the Halloween Ephemera Pack.

I attached all my pieces using foam pads and started by placing the moon onto the panel, attaching it to the left hand side. I had some small die cut bats on my desk ~ sorry, I'm not sure which die this is from, but it's definitely a Tim Holtz/Sizzix Die, lol and using these two tiny bats, I just placed them onto the moon.

I then added the photo of the man, which I colour tinted using Distress Crayons, and again attached him with another layer of foam pads.

To ground the bottom edge of the image, I added the ruler piece from the Layers pack and attached this with foam pads, placing this directly underneath the image, before then, adding the skull sticker border which I took from the Halloween Sticker Book.

Finally, I placed the quote chip, "A Strange Thing Happened". This chip is from the Halloween Baseboards pack, and I aligned it with the bottom edge of the man, attaching it with more foam pads.

The four layers of roses were then arranged around the man, layering them for more height and dimension using foam pads.

At this stage, I added some moss, which I tucked behind the rose layers.

In amongst the roses, you might see a deathly beetle just crawling away.

For this I used an Entomology Adornment and painted the metal surface with Black Soot Distress Paint. I allowed for the paint to dry before then dry brushing some Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint over the top, just catching the raised areas and details of the metal piece. Once dry, I attached it to my panel.

We're nearly there and all that's left is those finishing touches...

FINISHING DETAILS

To complete the project, I added a Type Chip, which is attached to the left hand side, and tucked underneath the ruler ledge. And finally, I took the quote ~ "with a haunted look in his eyes" from the Collage Strips pack, cut this down to size and then in half, and placed the two pieces onto my panel, in the bottom left hand corner.

So, that's my project complete for this week, and I hope you love it...

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

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Rectangle Etcetera Panel, Bat Web Etcetera Trims

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Crackling Campfire, Antique Bronze

Distress Crayons

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Halloween Backdrops, Halloween Layers and Paper Dolls, Cello Sticker Tape, Screw Heads, Halloween Ephemera, Halloween Collage, Halloween Baseboards, Entomology Adornment, Type Chips, Mini Pin, Nail Tacks, Halloween Sticker Book

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads

Glass Media Mat

Waterbrush

Heat Gun

Moss from my own stash

Monday, 12 October 2026

Don't Stop Believing....

Hello everyone and Happy Monday!

As another week flies by, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, we want you to THINK PINK because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Now I'm not a pink girlie but I do love vintage pink and gold as a combination, and to honour all those strong women, and not forgetting all the men too ~ I've created a tag using my favourite colour combo with one word ~ HOPE because hope is never lost in this journey, because whether you are currently receiving treatment or the people who work so hard to find a cure, we always have to hope!

So, let's get started, it's time to get for me to share all the details of this tag....

This make uses a Size 8 Etcetera Tag and Mixed Media Heavystock Tag as a base.

TAG

To begin with I created my background, and for this I began by stamping some detail using the Stampers Anonymous Tiny Prints Stamp Set by Tim. I inked the stamp with Ground Espresso Distress Ink and randomly stamped the print directly onto the tag, just catching areas here and there as I didn't want a solid coverage.

I then spritzing the tag with a little water before spritzing the surface with Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains. I then added a very light misting of Tattered Rose.

Once happy with the blend, I heat dried the tag, inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then machine stitched a border around the outside.

Adhere the tag onto a Size 8 Etcetera Tag, using Matte Collage Medium.

To complete the tag, I threaded some inky ribbon through the hole at the top. The ribbon is dyed using Victorian Velvet and Antique Linen Sprays and whilst wet, I scrunched it up into a tight ball to create the wrinkled effect. Once dry, it can be looped onto the tag and secured into position with a mini pin...

LEAVES

With the background complete, it's time to move onto the focal point and start building the layers. I began by creating the leaves that frame the image and for this I used the SA Leaf Prints stamp set by Tim and the co-ordinating SSS die set.

I used the same Distress Sprays as I used on the background but this time I coloured some Distress Watercolour Card.

Once dry, I then stamped a selection of the smaller leaf print images onto the coloured card using Ground Espresso Distress Ink before die cutting the leaves with the co-ordinating die set. I used 5 leaves.

Now it's time to add some vintage sparkle to these and for this I used the brand new Liquid Tinsel. I chose the Fine Antiqued Liquid Tinsel and painted the medium onto my leaves, trying not to cover the stamped detail. Allow for this to dry.

PHOTO

Whilst the glitter is dry, I worked on the photo and used one of the images from the idea-ology Photo Booth pack. I used a water brush to colour tint the image with Distress Crayons and then added some rips and tears around the edges before machine stitching the photo onto a piece of felt that I cut with pinking shears.

I couldn't resist a little more of the Liquid Tinsel and added tiny dots of this to background.

A arranged the leaves around the photo and attach them to the tag, adding some curly moss tucked into the arrangement. I also attached a pink ephemera piece, from the Palette Ephemera Pack and placed this on the left of the photo.

Well at this point, we've added the sparkle to the photo and to the leaves, so why not add a little more!! Which is exactly what I did, and I brushed some of the Chunky Antiqued Liquid Tinsel onto the moss.

In the top right hand corner of the leaf arrangement, I added a 'hashtag' Type Chip. I cut this chip in half and then tucked the hashtag into the leaves.

To complete the arrangement, I added a couple of die cut hearts which I cut from the leftover scraps of card that I used for the leaves. The two hearts are die cut using the heart dies from the Sizzix Love Birds die set by Tim.

SENTIMENT

We're nearly there and all that's left to do is add the sentiment...

I used the letters from the Vault World Travel Die Set and cut them twice from gold metallic Kraft card. I layered the individual letters over one another to form more of a substantial letter and then attached them to my tag, placing the word HOPE in the bottom right hand corner.