Monday, 29 June 2026

Born In The USA...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a fabulous weekend and you're ready for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week, our theme is all about STARS AND/OR STRIPES and we hope you will join us and play along with our fun challenge theme.

For my make, I created a tag in celebration of the 4th of July and dedicate this to all my friends and followers in the USA. To make this tag, I used a combination of Tim Holtz products, including Sizzix dies, idea-ology and a Stampers Anonymous Etcetera Tag.

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

TAG

To begin with I covered the Mini Etcetera Tag with one of the papers from the Blue 8 x 8 Palette Paper Collection. After adhering the paper to the tag with Matte Collage Medium, I applied a coat of medium over the surface, allowed this to dry and then ran my Walnut Stain Distress Crayon around the edges.

To add layers on this tag, I chose to use a combination of Large Etcetera Tiles and Mosaic Tiles. These tile will fit around the outside of the tag, and you will be left with a small gap in the centre which you don't need to worry about as it will be covered.

I covered each tile in various papers from the Blue Palette Collection and sanded the edges back to give a neat finish. I then applied a coat of the medium over the top and as with the tag, I ran the Walnut Stain Crayon around the edges before attaching the tiles to the tag.

Set to one side to dry, and I would recommend putting something weighty on top to ensure the tiles are completely flat and adhered to the tag.

Approximately two thirds of the way down, I added a Scalloped Etcetera Trim that I covered in the same paper as I used on the tag. I cut the paper with the Decorative Trims die by Sizzix and then attached the covered trim across the tag.

PHOTO AND FRAME

The frame and the photo are both cut using the Marquee Sign Die Set. I began by cutting the background from Distress Watercolour Card inked with Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress Ink, and then cut the inner frame with the cut out circles from a piece of card painted with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Paint. After adhering this frame over the top of the solid piece, I then used the third die, the smallest in the set to cut the photo.

I use a photo from the Tim Holtz idea-ology Snapshots Vol 2 pack, I just adore this image and it was perfect for my tag. To cut the photo, I positioned the die on the area I wanted to use and then ran it through the die cutting machine.

Once cut, I colour tinted the image with Distress Crayons and once dry, I attached this to the centre of the frame.

I then mounted the frame onto my tag with foam pads.

In the bottom right hand corner of the photograph there is a date, July 4th and I cut this down to size to use. You can see it attached to one of the large Etcetera Tiles in the top right corner of the tag and then attached a screw head.

USA

For the USA plaque, I used Mini Stencil Chips and stuck these onto a piece of Palette Paper. I matted the chips onto a piece of mount board and then attached the plaque to my tag with foam pads. 

To add a touch more rusty goodness to the plaque, I adhered a Screwed in each of the four corners that I painted with a combination of the following Distress Paints; Black Soot, Crackling Campfire, Antique Bronze. I also stuck a small piece of Cello Sticker Tape to the plaque.


STARS

Now to cut the dimensional stars and I used the die in the Tim Holtz Vault Rosette set by Sizzix. I cut 3 pieces from Mixed Media Heavystock and then painted them red, white and blue using Distress Paints ~ Lumberjack Plaid, Uncharted Mariner and Picket Fence. You can use Distress Inks, but I wanted more of a solid coverage, so the paint worked better.

Once dry, I folded along the scorelines to create the dimensional stars. I then attached the stars to the tag, arranging them around the bottom of the photo frame...

...and adding some shredded Mummy Cloth, dyed with Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain, which I attached along the Etcetera Trim.

To accentuate the folds on each of the stars, I applied some metallic wax.

You can see how dimensional these beautiful stars are in the photo below...

FINISHING DETAILS

All that's left now is the finishing details and I began by adding the Decorative Clip at the top of the tag. You get three clips in the pack and I chose to use the narrower one. I attached a Star Adornment in the centre of the clip and once dry, I applied some Translucent Grit Paste over the surface.

Once again, I allowed this to dry before painting the surface of the metal with Uncharted Mariner Distress Paint. I used Gilding Wax to accentuate the pasted areas on the painted clip which I had left to dry completely before applying the wax.

Place the clip at the top of the tag.

Finally, I added a Screwhead to the tile on the top left of my tag, and also some cello sticker tape, which completed my project for this week

I hope you love the tag I've made and if you're inspired by this project, I would love to see your makes. So, drop me a message on socials and I will pop on 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.
HAPPY 4TH JULY TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN THE USA!
Love Emma xxx





Sunday, 28 June 2026

Live To Tell...

Happy Sunday everyone...

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and if the sun is shining where you are, I hope it's not too hot and you're enjoying the weather.

Today, I'm excited to be sharing a project over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog.

Below is a little sneak peek but if you click HERE, then you can pop on over to the blog to take a look at the project in it's entirety.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll see you again tomorrow with my Monday project...
Love Emma xx



Monday, 22 June 2026

Rock Lobster....

Hello everyone and Happy Monday...

Today on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, we are getting ready for summer with our brand new challenge with is all about being AT THE BEACH and we hope you will join us and play along!

For my make, I was inspired by the new SSS Co-Ordinating dies and stamp sets by Tim Holtz and used the beautiful Sea Life set as the starting point for my card, which I combined with various other products from Tim, Stampers Anonymous and Sizzix. In the past, I've always used the octopus from this set but I challenged myself to try one of the other stamps for this make, and thought the lobster would be the perfect fit for my make...

So, let's get started, it's time to create!

To begin with I created an 'Emma sized card" measuring 15 x 20cm tent fold card blank using white card.

OUTER CARD LAYERS

This card has multiple layers to frame the focal point, and I began by creating the red stripy background.

I cut a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card, 12 x 17cm and after a light misting of water, I spritzed the card with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain to knock back the brightness of the card.

Using a paper towel, I dabbed away any excess stain before heat drying the card surface.

Next I stamped the red stripes onto the background using the Ticking and Grain stamp set which I inked with Fired Brick Archival Ink before stamping the stripes, horizontally across the card panel. You will need to re-ink and line the stamp up with the previous stripes to create the repeat pattern.

After inking the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I added some splatters of Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, before completing the panel with a machine stitched border around the outside edge.

I matted the background panel onto a piece of blue card from the Cool Kraft Cardstock pack and sanded the edges of this card layer, followed by a layer of ivory card.

I then cut a second layer of ivory card, 13.5 x 18.5cm and applied the scalloped edge Design Tape around the four sides before matting the background layers onto this piece.

Once I'd mounted these layers onto the card base, I added some strips of Cello Sticker Tape around the edges, before setting the card base to one side to move onto the focal point.

INNER CARD LAYERS

For the smaller layers on the front of the card, I cut a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card 9 x 12cm and once again, I misted the card with water, followed by Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain.

This time, I inked the Ticking and Grain stamp with Speckled Egg Oxide Ink and stamped this vertically onto the card panel.

After inking the edges with Walnut Stain and adding a few Frayed Burlap splatters, I stamped the Postcard mark across the top of the panel in Black Soot Archival Ink and then machine stitched a border around the outside.

I matted this panel onto a piece of Kraft card, followed by red card from the Warm Kraft Cardstock pack and then a piece of the blue card from the Cool Kraft Pack. Each time sanding the edges for a more distressed look.

After wrapping some rope around the centre of the panel, and tying a knot onto either side...

...I mounted this panel onto the card front using foam pads and used an idea-ology Tiny Clip, painted red with Candied Apple Distress Paint, which I then clip to the top left hand corner.

LOBSTER AND CIRCLE

To create the circle that the lobster is sitting on, I used the SSS Basic Circles Die Set and used the 7cm diameter die and placed the 5.5cm die set in the centre, to cut four layers of Mixed Media Heavystock card. I layered the circles over one another to form one solid piece and then painted the circle with Uncharted Mariner Distress Paint.

I then cut a 7cm circle of gold metallic card, followed by a 5cm circle of mixed media card which I matted in the centre before attaching the circular die cut frame over the top.

Mount the frame onto the card using foam pads.

In the centre of the frame, I attached the lobster. This is stamped onto watercolour cardstock using the stamp from the Sea Life Set, watercolored with Distress Watercolour Pencils and then die cut with the co-ordinating SSS Sea Life Dies.

I inked the edges of the die cut with Antique Linen Distress Ink before using foam pads to attach the lobster to the centre of my circular frame, placing it on top of a bed of shredded Mummy Cloth that I had left over from a previous project.

To complete the frame, I attached gold metallic droplets around the edge.

DIE CUT WORDING

For the wording, I used the alpha dies from Tim's Vault World Travel die set by Sizzix.

I used Kraft Card for both sets of lettering and cut "Sea Life" from red card and "At The Beach" from black card.

I had a small strip of the blue striped background card that I trimmed away from the main piece and I mounted this onto a strip of blue Kraft card before attaching the lettering to the strip, slightly overlapping the top of the strip.

I then mounted the lettering strip onto the card front using foam pads and adhered a Screw Head to either side. I altered the metal of the screw heads with a combination of Distress Paints; Black Soot, Crackling Campfire, Antique Bronze.
Finally, I added "At The Beach" placing it below the main focal point.

So that's my card complete and I hope you love the card 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...see you soon!
Love Emma xxx

Friday, 12 June 2026

Tim Holtz stamps and Simon Says Stamp co-ordinating dies Blog Hop Details

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest Blog Hop featuring the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive co-ordinating dies that coordinate beautifully with some of Tim Holtz's best loved stamps.

I'm so excited to be joining this hop, and if you're hopping along, you might have arrived here via Nichol Spohr's blog but if not, and you want to catch up with everyone who is participating in this hop, then don't worry because you can head back to the beginning, by clicking HERE. Also, if you would like to see the entire product release and many more, then just pop on over to HERE.

For my make, I have used the gorgeous Moth Study stamp and co-ordinating die set and made a trio of specimens using a selection of the dies.

So, let's get started ~ it's time to begin this stop on the hop!





I began by cutting my bases for each of these pieces from Mixed Media Heavystock card, Kraft Heavystock and Metallic Kraft card.

 You will need to create:

1 x Collector Envelope using the Collector Thinlits Die Set by Tim Holtz ~ Mixed Media Heavystock

1 x Folder using the Vault Noteworthy Die Set ~ Mixed Media Heavystock

1 x Mini Clipboard using the Vault Noteworthy Die Set ~ Mixed Media and Kraft Heavystock

You will also need to stamp 6 of the moths using a selection of the moths from the Moth Study stamp, before I used dies from the co-ordinating die set to die cut each piece. I then coloured my moths using Distress Watercolour Pencils.

Once you have all your pieces cut, and assembled...it's time to start making each of these tiny projects.

COLLECTOR ENVELOPE

Before assembling the envelope, I added some vintage tones by spritzing the surface with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains. I wiped away any excess ink and then heat dried the surface. I then assembled the envelope and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I then covered the front of the envelope with some decorative papers. I used papers from the Tim Holtz Dapper Paper Pad which I have in my stash, but if you don't have this, Tim has plenty of similar papers in his idea-ology line of products.

I added some rips and tears around the edges of the paper and then matted the top sheet onto a second design before machine stitching a border around the outside edge.

I then mounted the layers onto the front of my envelope and added a couple of pieces of cello sticker tape to the edges. Finally, I inked the "Example 3" from the Tidbits, with Black Soot Archival Ink and stamped this to the flap on the envelope before adding a Remnant Rub On, Jun 9 to complete it.

For the circle, I used the SSS Basic Shapes Circle dies to cut a layer of idea-ology black kraft card, followed by a smaller circle of Mixed Media Heavystock card, inked with the same colours as the envelope itself.

I then stamped the "Corresponding Order, No 7859" from the Field Notes stamp set and used the co-ordinating die from the SSS Bundle to cut the circle. I mounted this onto a piece of mica tile from my stash and used foam pads to mount the circle in the centre before attaching the completed layers to the front of my envelope.

I dyed some Mummy Cloth with Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain, ripped the cloth into threads and then attached the moth over the top of the cloth, placing it in the centre of the circle.

Beneath the mounted image, I added a tiny ephemera label from the Moth Study stamp set which I stamped in Fired Brick Archival Ink. I used the co-ordinating die to die cut the label and after inking the edges, I attached it to the envelope using foam pads.

FOLDER

Moving onto the folder and after inking the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I covered the inside and outside of the folder with papers from the Dapper Pad and papers from Backdrops Vol 4.

I then added some Cello Sticker Tape to the front of the folder before attaching 2 of my watercolored moths to the cover, lifting the wings of each, to give them movement. Underneath each moth, I attached the No. 1 and No.2 labels which are stamped and die cut using the Moth Study stamps and dies.

On the inside, I placed a ruler strip, again cut from paper in the paper stash, and placed this down the left hand side. I then attached my moth and a stamped and die cut label, which I placed in the centre of the ruler strip.

I also stamped the "Finest In The World"quote from the Eccentric stamp set and stamped this in black archival ink. 

On the opposite side, I attached a torn piece of paper from Backdrops Vol.4, complete with stamped detail and a moth placed over the top of some more of the Mummy Cloth threads. I then added a mini paper, the stamped no.3  before attaching this paper piece to my folder using Cello Sticker Tape. 

To complete the folder, I added a date from the Labeled Remnant Rubs and a Type Chip.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the third and final piece, the Mini Clipboard...

MINI CLIPBOARD

For this I cut the main base of the clipboard from Kraft Heavystock, cutting it a couple of times and layering these over the top of one another to form a solid piece.

I then cut the clip piece from silver metallic Kraft card and attached that to my clipboard before painting the surface with a combination of Crackling Campfire, Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot Distress Paints. In the centre I added an oval die cut, which is from the same set ~ Vault Noteworthy and added a Labeled Remnant Rub '401' to the centre.

I cut a couple of piece of the paper which will be clipped to the board, from Backdrops Vol. 4 and inked the edges before adding small rips and tears. I attached these, tucking them underneath the clip and adhering them to the board with Matte Collage Medium.

I then stamped and die cut a label using the co-ordinating stamps and dies from the Field Notes bundle before matting it onto gold metallic card and mounting it onto my clipboard.

The final stamped and die cut moth was placed over a bed of mummy cloth threads and then attached to the label before I added the 'type slide' die cut beneath it ~ which was once again stamped and die cut using the Moth Study bundle.

To complete the mini clipboard, I added some Hardware Heads to either side of the clip and a tiny piece of cello sticker tape to complete the project.

I hope you love these pieces and it's inspired you to create something similar because it's so much fun to make and with the new co-ordinating dies, it makes life so much simpler and yay to no more fussy cutting!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and now it's onto the next stop of this hop...
See you again soon, love Emma xxx


HOP ORDER:


Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Nina-Marie Trapani

Cheiron Brandon

Heather Hoffman

Nichol Spohr

Emma Williams

Barbara Tarayao

Kath Stewart

Tina Smith

Mindy Eggen

Tami Bastiaans

Barb Engler


RECIPE FOR PROJECT


CLICK HERE to shop all products used to make this card

Tim Holtz/Simon Says Stamp Co-ordinating Dies and Stamps: Field Notes Bundle, Moth Study Bundle
Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Tidbits, Eccentric
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Sizzix Big Shot Collector, Vault Noteworthy
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Crackling Campfire, Antique Bronze
Distress Spray Stains: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap
Tim Holtz idea_ology: Screw HeadsCello StickersLabelled Remnant Rubs, Backdrops Volume 4, Type Chips, Mini Paper Clip, Mummy Cloth, Dapper 8" x 8" Paper Stash from my stash
Mica Tiles from my stash


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