Toil & Trouble...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a great weekend and thank you so much for all the lovely comments I received on the projects I shared with you all last week ~ I really was blown away with all the kind words and I'm thrilled you loved them all!

Today we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge starting and this week our theme is called Starry Night and as the title suggests, we want you to create a project that features stars!

For my project, I felt the magic in the air and decided to create a tag that featured one of my favourite ever Halloween dies from Tim Holtz ~ Witchcraft. This project was in my head from the very first time I saw the brand new Swirling Stars die and I've just been waiting to share it with you all because I knew from that moment, I wanted to combine these two beautiful dies with this challenge theme and create a magical scene that I hope you love....

So, it's time for the brand new challenge to begin and here's how I created this piece...

 

To begin with I started with my witch and used the Witchcraft die to die cut three pieces of really thick card, the thickest card that can be cut using a thinlit die. I cut away the witches broomstick from the original image and then layered the die cuts together, using Matte Collage Medium to secure them into place and painted the card black with Black Soot Distress Paint. Once dry, I added a thin layer of Matte Collage Medium over the top and sprinkled the surface with Black Soot Distress Glitter. Tap away the excess and set aside to dry.

Moving onto the background, I used a piece of watercolour card, cut to the same size as the Mini Etcetera Tag. I then applied the following colours of Distress Oxide Inks to my glass mat ~ Faded Jeans, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Hickory Smoke, Antique Linen and Stormy Sky. I then spritzed the inks and my card very lightly with a mist of water before swooshing the card through the inks, picking up the colour. If you need more colour to a particular area, just heat dry the surface and then go back in and pick up some more until you're happy with your background.

Once I had the colour I wanted, I then spritzed with Brushed Pewter Distress Mica Spray, heat dried the card and inked the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

To die cut the stars into the card, I placed my witch, which should be dry by now and popped her into the position on the background, placing her where she would finally be standing on the finished project. I then placed the swirl of stars die, from the Swirling Stars die set to appear as if they would be coming from the wand in her hand. Attach the die with some low tack masking tape and then die cut the card. Place a piece of gold metallic card behind the die cut stars, so that it shows through and attach the gold card into place.

Mount the watercolour background onto your tag, adhering it into place with Matte Collage Medium and trim away any excess card overlapping the tag.

To create a really nice edge to the covered tag, I used the Sanding Tool and just sand away any stray pieces of card.

Around the edge of the tag, I used the Black Soot Distress Crayon, blending out any harsh lines with my fingertips.

To complete the background of the tag, I inked up the Tangled Webs stamp with Jet Black Archival Ink and stamped the image across the top section before adding some texture using Grit Paste through  the Speckles Layering Stencil. Add a final splatter of Picket Fence Distress Paint across the background and allow to dry.

Taking my glittered witch, I placed her onto some foam pads to add dimension and then attached her to the tags slightly overlapping the edge, adding a piece of wood beneath her feet, so that she was standing on something and not floating in mid air. At this stage, I also added a little wand which is from the Tim Holtz idea-ology Treasure's Adornments set and placed this in her hand.

I then placed moss around the base of her feet, attaching it with the Collage Medium.

Using the single dies from the Swirling Stars die set, die cut the stars from gold metallic kraft card and attach three of them around the witch. I also added a couple of spiders from the Halloween Remnant Rubs to complete this section of the background.

For the little spooky arrangement by the side of her, I used some of the Pumpkins, that I sliced in half and just made a bit dirtier by rubbing the Black Soot Distress Crayon over the top. I attached these to the tag, together with a grinning skull and some more moss, tucking some Boneyard Findings into the moss.

Finally, I added my wording and for this I used a Quote Chip, 'toil & trouble' and a Clippings Sticker, 'in the dead of the night' and attached these to the left of the witch.

To complete my tag, I added some hand dyed crinkle ribbon, dyed using Black Soot and Hickory Smoke Distress Spray Stain and threaded it thought the hole at the top.

Finally, I placed a hinge clip onto the side of the tag and attached a Halloween Story Stick, 'spells' which I altered with a little Picket Fence Distress Paint to accentuate the wording and wrapped some chain around a Halloween Key, again altered with some Picket Fence...

...and that completes this week's project and my magical tag and hope you've enjoyed the creative process! I just wish you could all see this project in real life as it does really sparkle and shine but cut to the good old British weather and the fact it was so dark due to a storm, I just couldn't capture it quite as much as I wanted to but hope I managed to show you some of that starry night shimmer!

 Don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I'll see you very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Witchcraft, Swirling Stars

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Tangled Webs

Distress Oxide Ink Pads: Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Antique Linen, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky

Distress Crayons: Black Soot

Distress Glitter: Black Soot

Distress Spray Stain: Hickory Smoke, Black Soot

Layering Stencil: Speckles

Idea-ology: Halloween Quote Chips, Boneyard Finding, Clippings Sticker, Treasures Adornments, Halloween Remnant Rubs, Halloween Word Keys, Halloween story Stick, Skulls, Pumpkin Pieces, Hinge Clip, Swivel Clasp

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Grit Paste, Brushed Pewter Mica Spray

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Card, Watercolour Card, Mini Etcetera Tag

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Tim Holtz Guillotine

Heat Gun

Moss, chain and crinkle ribbon from my own stash