Monday, 25 May 2026

Love & Marriage...

Hello everyone and Happy Monday...

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and the sun has been shining wherever you are. As always, on a Monday, we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, the DT are feeling some love in the air because our theme is all about WEDDINGS/ANNIVERSARIES. So, if you would love to join us and share your makes, then all the details are at the end of this post.

For my make, I chose to make something with a wedding theme using products from Tim Holtz, including idea-ology and Sizzix and even though I used a paper doll couple on this piece, it would be wonderful to personalise it with a precious photo and create a special gift for someone getting married, or a memory of someone who is now celebrating an anniversary of many happy years together.

So, let's get started because it's time to share how I created my tag...

TAG

To begin with I used a Mini Etcetera Tag and flipped it upside down, so the shorter edge is on the bottom.

I then covered my tag using a selection of pinks and blues from the Large Collage Strip pack. I cut these down to size, to ensure that they fit the tag and then adhered them directly onto the tag using Matte Collage Medium.

I applied a coat of the medium over the top to seal the paper and once dry, I ran my Walnut Stain Distress Crayon around the edges, and blended out any harsh colour with my fingertip.

I then attached a couple of idea-ology Ephemera pieces from the Field Notes Snippets and the Memoirs pack, adhering these to the covered tag. You can see the snippet in the top left corner...

...and the date, which I placed in the top right corner, placed vertically down the side.

I splattered the surface with some white acrylic paint, allowed this to dry and then added some gilding flakes around the edges of the tag.

The gilding flakes create a beautiful distressed look to the tag and are adhered to the project using Prima Gilding Flakes Glue. 

I applied the glue by stippling it down the edges of the tag using a fairly stiff paint brush. Allow for the glue to become tacky before applying the gilding flakes. Ensure the flakes cover all the sticky areas and buff any excess flakes away.

The tag is now complete and ready for the next stage...

LEDGE

For the ledge, I used two Etcetera Trims, one Pinked Trim and one Bracket Trim. I covered the pinked trim with some paper in my scrap box, I believe this offcut was from Backdrops Vol 5 and used the co-ordinating Sizzix die to cut the paper before adhering it onto my trim. I then painted the bracket trim with Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Once the paint was dry, I attached the bracket trim to the pinked trim to form a 'L' shape which will become my ledge.

I adhered the ledge to the tag with Matte Collage Medium.

I chose the bride and groom, from the Group Pack of Paper Dolls and colour tinted it using Distress Crayons. I attached the couple to my tag using foam pads.

Now to colour those beautiful shiny baubles around their feet and for this I used various sized baubles from the Bauble pack. 

I wanted three separate colours and used Aqua, Sherbet and Mushroom Alcohol Inks. With the selection of baubles ready, I then placed them one, by one onto the ledge using Glossy Accents to adhere them and hold them into position.

Once all the baubles were added, I walked away, had a coffee and allowed the medium to set and make sure those baubles were not going anywhere.

After my break, I added some moss and dried flower stems in amongst the baubles.

idea-ology ADORNMENTS

With the focal point completed, I moved onto my embellishments and started with the quote, 'my whole heart'. The quote token is from the Typed Tags set and I mounted this over the top of two Foliage Adornment pieces.

To add the bronzed effect to the metal, I began by adding Statue Foundry Wax directly onto the surface of the token and the foliage pieces. I then heat set the wax before applying a light touch of Sterling Foundry Wax and again heat set the wax. Finally, I applied some of the Gilded Foundry Wax to the raised areas only and heat set this.

I attached the foliage pieces to the tag, placing them so they mirror one another and then attached the token using a foam pad on the back. To complete the arrangement, I hammered a Nail Tack through the hole of the tag.

Beneath the ledge, I added a Salvaged Heart. I painted the surface of the heart with Spun Sugar Distress Paint and then once it was dry, I rubbed some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top and added the word 'Love" from an older set of Tim's Remnant Rubs that I have in my stash.

I attached the heart to the tag with Matte Collage Medium and then added some Screw Heads to this bottom section, again altered with the same process as I altered the metal quote.

Finally I added some Cello Sticker Tape to the tag...

...and I completed the project by attaching a Hinge Clip complete with a Swivel Fastener and lock and key for the symbolism that he holds the key to her heart! All these metal pieces are altered with the Foundry Waxes as before.

So, that's my make complete and I hope you love the piece I've created.

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, 18 May 2026

Flight of the Bumblebee...

Hello everyone and Happy Monday...

Today, we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our theme is called TAG IT! We'd love for you to join us and play along and all the details for the challenge are at the end of this post...so, good luck!

For my make, I chose to create an Etcetera Tag and used some older Sizzix dies by Tim Holtz including the Funky Insects and the beautiful Wildflowers die sets. These dies are such classics and it's always nice to revisit some of the old favourites and make something new ~ I don't think I will ever tire of using these dies because they really do create such an impact on any project.

 So, let's get started and it's time to share all the details of how I made this week's project!

For this make, I used a Size 8 Etcetera Tag and a Mixed Media Heavystock Tag.

TAG BACKGROUND

To create the background on the Heavystock Tag, I used a combination of Distress spray Stains, Oxide Sprays and Mica Sprays. I spritzed the tag with a light mist of water before applying the sprays in the following colours:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN: Crackling Campfire, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

OXIDE SPRAY: Speckled Egg

MICA SPRAY: Crooked Broomsticks, Unravelled

Firstly, I applied each of the Distress Spray Stains to the tag building up the colour and then misted the surface with water to blend. Once I was happy, I applied the remaining Oxide and Mica Sprays to add some different tones.

After heat drying the tag, I then moved onto adding some texture and applied Translucent Texture Paste though the Halftone Mini Layering Stencil from Set 48. I added the paste to the majority of the tag, only leaving some of the background untouched, allowing that to shine through.

Once I'd removed the stencil, I worked quickly to add Rusty Hinge Distress Glaze over the pasted areas and tapped away the excess before setting the tag to one side, so that the paste sets.

When the paste is touch dry, I used my heat gun to melt the powder and create a molten, enamelled effect to the stencilled areas.

I machine stitched a border round the edge of the tag before attaching it to a Size 8 Etcetera Tag with Matte Collage Medium.

To add some more texture and layers to my tag, I cut one of the film strips from the Picture Show die set by Sizzix/Tim Holtz. I cut the strip twice from black card and then layered one of the die cuts over the top of the other. Once dry, I added some gilding wax from my stash to the surface before attaching this across my tag, snipping away the excess.

To complete the tag, I added the letter 'b' Type Chip in the top right hand corner, which I stapled before attaching to the tag itself...

...and then adhered a Curator Ephemera piece to the right hand side of the tag.

BOUQUET OF WILDFLOWERS

Moving onto the flowers and for this I cut a selection of stems from Distress Watercolour Card using the Sizzix Wildflowers Die Sets, 1, 2 and 3, all by Tim Holtz.

I then watercolored each stem using Distress Inks. You can use the pencils if you prefer, but I went for the inks on this one, as I wanted a little more intensity of colour. I used a combination of colours, and went for a glorious vintage colour palette in pinks, blues, lilac and apricot, with some green foliage behind and some bursts of gold.

Once all my stems were painted and dry, I arranged them into a bouquet and stuck them to the tag, placing some foam pads behind the stems to add dimension to the arrangement.

I then cut a few of the stems from Kraft card and after inking them with clear embossing ink, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top, tapped away the excess and heat embossed the powder until molten. I then tucked 3 of these stems into the arrangement.

The floral arrangement is now ready for it's busy little visitor....

FUNKY INSECT

Once again, the bee is a die cut and taken from the Sizzix Funky Insects Die Set by Tim.

For the tutorial of how to create the faux enamelling effect that I used on the bee, created with Distress Glazes,  just click HERE.

Once all the pieces of the bee were layered, I attached it to my stems using hot glue to hold it in place.

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

I added a quote sentiment, "Explore, Dream, Discover" from the Metallic Sticker book and attached this to the tag with foam pads....

...before completing the tag with some rope threaded through the hole at the top, and secured with a mini pin.

So that's my tag complete and I hope you love what I've made.

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, 4 May 2026

More Than A Woman...

Happy Monday and for all those Star Wars fans out there ~ Happy Star Wars Day and May the 4th be with you!

So, as we begin a brand new week, it's time for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our theme is called Mother's Day/Feminine and we would love for you to join us and play along. The DT are also showcasing some of the amazing products from our very own Simon Says Stamp...

Now I'm not really a pink girl which is the first thing you might associate with Mother's Day and feminine projects but I do love all things blue...so, for this make, I chose to use soft pastel blues and combined this with yellow, which was perfect for my background that uses a SSS stencil in readiness for the layers of Tim Holtz goodness to be added.

So, let's get started and it's time to share all the details of how I made this week's project!

TAG

To begin with I used a Size 8 Mixed Media Heavystock tag and began by creating my background jusign the Friendly Blossoms Stencil. This stencil is a layering stencil and comes in three parts and for my background, and because I'm using a tag which is slightly smaller in size than the stencil design, I used parts of the stencil.

I began by laying one of the larger blossoms over the top right hand corner. I then inked through the stencil using Speckled Egg and Stormy Sky Oxide Inks.

After flipping the stencil, I repeated the design in the bottom left hand corner using the same inks.

I then added another of the blossoms, one of the smaller sizes to the bottom right hand corner.

I went on to stencil the leaves into the spaces between the blossoms using Bundled Sage and Rustic Wilderness Oxide Inks.

Finally, I added the centres of the blossoms using Wild Honey and Fossilised Amber Oxides and the veins to the leaves were stencilled in Peeled Paint.

With the background complete, I inked the edges of the tag with a combination of Old Paper, Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, starting with the lightest colour and blending towards the centre and then reducing the ink each time, and applying the darkest colour to the edges.

I flicked some Walnut Stain Distress Ink across the surface of the tag, heat dried the ink and then flicked some white acrylic paint to add a few splatters and then added some stamped text in Black Soot Archival ink, using the script stamp from Tiny Toadstools.

Across the bottom of the tag, I added a border strip, which I think is from the Halloween Wallpaper pack that I had in my stash but don't quote me on that one, lol!

I added a machine stitched border around the edge and a cello sticker to the bottom right corner before mounting my tag onto a piece of burlap cardstock from my stash.

PHOTO BOOTH

We're now ready to embellish the tag and tell the story...

I chose this Photo Booth image because I thought it worked so well with the background and after trimming the photo down, I then added some rips and tears before colour tinting the image with Distress Crayons.

I added the date from the Specimen Remnant Rub Pack and then machine stitched the photo onto a piece of felt that I cut with pinking shears before placing a small piece of a Cello Sticker to the photo.

I matted the layered image onto some kraft cardstock and then mounted this onto the left hand side of my tag using foam pads,

I attached a ticket ephemera stub to the right of the photo and added the Handle With Care label, a stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Eccentric Stamp Set by Tim. I stamped this using Fired Brick Archival Ink and then fussy cut around the border before adhering to my tag.

I finally added the little roll of fabric. This is a Stitched Scrap that I rolled around a skewer and then secured the ends at the back. I then attached this to my tag with a Mini Pin and clipped a Tiny Clip to the top right of the image.

Finally, I added a small Specimen Remnant Rub No.1411 to just beneath the photo.

FLORALS

The florals are all die cut using a combination of dies. The leaves are from Brushstrokes 2 and the flowers from the Vault Side Order Floristry Die.

Both are cut from card inked with the following Distress Inks:

Leaves: Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage and Rustic Wilderness

Flowers: Fossilised Amber, Wild Honey

With my pieces die cut, I then arranged them onto the tag, placing them on either side of the photograph and shaping the leaves and petals to add some dimension.

FINISHING DETAILS

We're nearly there and all that's left are those all important finishing details....

I added some gold die cut stars that I had on my desk, which were left over from a previous project. I placed 3 of these around the focal point and then added some gold gems in the centres.

Finally, I attached a Clippings Sticker, 'her mother's heart' to the tag, placing it beneath the foliage on the right hand side...

...and completed the tag with some ribbon that I dyed with Scattered Straw and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain and then threaded through the hole at the top of the tag.

That's my tag complete and my project for this week finished....

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:

Simon Says Stamp: Friendly Blossoms Stencil
Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Eccentric, Tiny Toadstools
Distress InkWalnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Old Paper
Oxide Ink: Wild Honey, Fossilised Amber, Speckled Egg, Stormy Sky, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness
Distress Spray Stain: Scattered Straw, Antique Linen
Distress Crayon: Colours of your choice for the vintage photo
Burlap from my own stash
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