That's Life: Great Things Are Ahead...

Happy Monday friends...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, it was definitely a busy one here and time has flown by ~ one minute it was Saturday morning and now, it's the start of a brand new week! But that means it's also the start of a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and of course, with it being September, we are celebrating STAMPtember at SSS and the DT are hoping you will join in the fun with our challenge theme~ USE YOUR FAVOURITE STAMP!

For my project, I combined a few of my favourite stamps to create background layers but I also chose to use one in particular ~ it might not be large but it comes from my all time favourite Simon Says Stamp, stamp set...Tiny Words Encouragement! This set is packed full of inspirational quotes and sentiments and I just LOVE it so much ~ time, and time again I will come back to it and use it as a feature on a project and this vintage style autumnal tag full was inspired by one of the sentiments in this set.

So let's get started, it's time to celebrate STAMPtember....

To begin with I created the background for my tag and for this I used a Size 8 Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media Heavystock Tag as my substrate.

I laid the Countdown Layering Stencil over the top of the tag and then spritzed Distress Resist Spray through the stencil. Remove the stencil and place into soapy water immediately to wash off any trace of the medium and then going back to the tag, I began layering the colour over the top. To be honest, I inked the tag a while ago and have had it in my stash of surfaces for when I need them, so saying that ~ I'm not quite sure about the stains I used but from memory, I believe it was Ground Espresso, Chipped Sapphire, Speckled Egg and Rusty Hinge Spray Stains, each of them layered over one another to reveal the design of the stencil where the Resist Spray has been misted. This is such a cool effect and creates some amazing backgrounds.

Once I was happy, I dried the tag, inked the edge with Ground Espresso DI and machine stitched a border around the edge.

To add some more interest to the background and create some layers, I used another of my favourite 'go-to' stamps ~ the script stamp from the Tiny Toadstools Stampers Anonymous set by Tim Holtz and stamped in Black Soot Archival Ink onto random areas of the background.

...and then used another trusty favourite, the postmark stamp taken from the Field Notes stamp set which I stamped in the bottom left hand corner.

To complete the background I ripped a piece of corrugated cardboard that I painted using Distress Paints and placed this across the bottom section of my tag before adhering the card tag to a more substantial Etcetera Tag as I will be adding quite a few layers

I then cut a strip of Mummy Cloth, dyed with Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain and wrapped this around the middle of the tag, tying it in a knot to secure it into place.

So I now have the background ready to embellish with that arrangement of leaves...

...and for this I started by using a beautiful die from the brand new Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release, the Etched Laurel Leaves which I coloured using a combination of Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain and Oxide Spray, Fossilized Amber, Barn Door and Frayed Burlap Spray Stain and the amazing new colour that's just been added to Tim Holtz's Distress Range, Crackling Campfire. I spritzed each of the inks onto Heavystock Mixed Media card, drying each layer before adding the next but it was Crackling Campfire that shone the brightest and gave the leaves that stunning autumnal richness!

After die cutting my leaves from the inked card, I then added some of the Crackling Campfire Embossing Glaze to add even more intensity of colour. To do this, I lightly kissed the leaves with the Embossing Dabber and then sprinkled some Crackling Campfire glaze over the top before heat embossing until molten. I then repeated the process but this time I used gold embossing powder, once again heated until molten.

After shaping each of the stems to create a more realistic look, I arranged the leaves to cascade down the right hand side of the tag, placing them so that they overlapped the edge of the tag and also had some height and dimension between each die cut.

I now moved onto to colouring the photo booth image. For this particular image I went with Distress Crayons, and applied the medium using a water brush which helps to blend the colour. I also always apply clear gesso to prime the surface of the photos before I add colour ~ this really gives a good foundation for adding any mediums over the top. For more information about colouring these images, then you can pop over to the very talented Paula Cheney's blog, she has so much inspiration and a detailed tutorial HERE ~ I know I'm always inspired by her beautiful work!

I mounted my coloured image onto some burlap, using the sewing machine to attach the image to the material.

I really wanted some dimension to this piece and to create this, I added foam pads to the back of the photo and built them up before attaching it over the top of my layering leaves.

For the sentiment that sits across the photo I cut a small banner strip, with an inverted 'v' at each end, from an off-cut of previously inked mixed media heavy stock card and taking one of the stamps from the Tiny Words Encouragement set, I stamped 'Great Things Are Ahead" onto the strip using Barn Door Archival Ink. I then inked the edge with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink before tying some cotton thread around either side of the strip. Attach the sentiment across the photo using foam pads on the back.

You might have noticed that in amongst the foliage, I've added some tiny flowers. I wanted these to be just a subtle touch, not to add colour and used Tim's Bouquet Findings which I spritzed with some more of that Crackling Campfire Distress Spray Stain. After carefully heat drying the flower heads, I snipped them to separate each individual flower and attached them with Matte Collage Medium, placing them amongst the leaves. As a finishing touch, I added Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue to the centres of each flower.

We're nearly there and it's just the details that need to be added...

...and started by adding a Mini Paperclip in the top right hand corner to the photo and an Heirloom Rose in the opposite corner.

I also attached some Hardware Heads and a Machinery Head embellishment down the right hand side of the tag which I altered with some Alcohol Inks ~ Rust, Pitch Black and Gold Mixative which create a rusty effect to the metal.

Finally, I added a Hinge Clip, painted and altered with Evergreen Bough, Antiqued Bronze and Pitch Black Distress Paint and clipped this to the top of the tag.

So, that completes this week's project and I hope you've enjoyed the creative process and all the techniques I've used to create all the dimension and layers I've added. It sure was a fun project to work on...

Don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and 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 Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....