Things Are Not What They Seem...

Happy Monday friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge...

Our challenge theme for this week is called ADD A PHOTO and all we want you to do is included an image somewhere in your project ~ so whether it be on a scrapbook layout or a mixed media piece, the choice is yours but as always, there's plenty of inspiration from the DT.

For my project, I chose to use a Tim Holtz Paper Doll ~ one of my favourite ways of including photos within my pieces and I created a Mini Etcetera Tag that is perfect to display for Halloween and I hope you'll read along to see how I combined Sizzix die cuts, Tim Holtz idea-ology and various products from Stampers Anonymous to create a story where things are not what they seem....

To begin with I took the mini sized Etcetera Tag and I covered the entire tag with two different designs of co-ordinating papers from the Departed Paper Stash, adhering them with Matte Collage Medium and adding a coat of the medium over the top to seal the papers. This stash is fabulous if you want to add texture to your projects and you'll see that I adhered one design to cover the majority of the tag but along the bottom section I added a different design.

I then added some of Tim's Design Trimmings Tape around the edges, the striped tape on three sides and along the bottom I used the pinked edge tape.

To add some texture to the background, I used a combination of Translucent Grit Paste and Crackle Paste, applying the grit paste first and then layering the crackle over the top. Allow for both pastes to dry before adding some colour. For this I chose to use Walnut Stain Distress Crayon, followed by layers of Distress Paint to build up the colour: Black Soot, Rusty Hinge, Antiqued Bronze and Ground Espresso. Once the paints were dry, I added some Gilding Wax over the top, something that I have in my stash.

My tag is now ready to embellish and I started by creating the frame in the centre and for this I used a Vignette Frame, the second largest in size and a baseboard frame from the Halloween Baseboard set.

I painted the wooden frame using a gold acrylic paint and then to just take the bright gold look away, I dry brushed a touch of Ground Espresso over the top to give more of a vintage feel.

I then attached a panel of Halloween Worn Wallpaper to the back of the frame before attaching it to my tag.

Taking the baseboard frame, I added some Mica pieces cut into shards and attached these to the back of the frame with collage medium, to create the look of shattered glass.

Once the mica is stuck, I attached the frame over the top of the wooden frame and added some more of the Translucent Grit Paste, Crackle Paste combination around the edges. I allowed for everything to dry before adding the same paint colours to the pastes as I used around the edges of the tag.

Moving on to the ledges that sit below the frame and for these I used a combination of the Web Trims and the Bracket Trims from Stampers Anonymous and a paper roll that I made from an offcuts of paper from the Departed Paper Stash and just rolled tightly around a pencil, securing the paper with some strong adhesive before attaching beneath my frame. This isn't a necessity but it just filled the gap I needed between the frame and the trims which I'm adding next and gave more support for when I add the paper doll.

On each of the trims, I added some more of the Translucent Grit Paste and once the paste was dry, I painted both pieces with Black Soot Distress Paint. Again allow the paint to dry before dry brushing some Antiqued Bronze Distress paint over the top to accentuate the rusty, crusty pasted areas. You can add more black paint if you need to, you only want a hint of the bronze showing. As a finishing touch, I used the Metallic Distress Crayons over the top and blended them with my fingertip.

Attach the bracket trim underneath the paper roll, in a 90 degree angle to the web trim that is placed flat and horizontal, directly onto the tag. Both of the trims and the paper roll overlap the sides of the tag.

Along the bottom of the tag, I created a second ledge using another couple of trims ~ these are two different sized straight edged trims that I took from the Web Trims set. I painted each of them black, and once the paint was dry, added some crackle paste before attaching them horizontally along the bottom of the tag, adding some moss to either side.

Now for the gates and for this I used the Gatekeeper Thinlits die from Sizzix to die cut black card, three separate times. Take each of the die cuts and layer them over one another and adhere to create a pair of gates, left and right.

To colour the gates I used embossing powder and dabbed each die cut with the Embossing Dabber before adding a combination of Seth Apter's powders; Wow Weathered Gold and Emerald Creek Rocky Road.

Heat the powders until molten and then attach the gates to either side of the Baseboard Frame. I placed them with the longest length to the outside but if you prefer they will go either way, so just play around with them and have fun.

Once the gates are securely adhered to the frame, because you've die cut them three times and applied embossing powder over the top, you'll find that they are really substantial and will hold their shape perfectly. They also bring some amazing dimension and depth to the project, which I hope you can see below.

We're nearly there and all that's left is details, details....details and the Paper Doll.

This adorable doll is taken from the Halloween Paper Doll set and I coloured her with Distress Crayons, Broken China, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Evergreen Bough. For her cheeks, just a touch of Aged Mahogany.

I attached the girl to my tag, building up some foam at the back so that she will be solid and supported and then added some moss around the base of her feet, at the top of the frame, inside the frame and along the trim.

I also cut up small shards of Mica to appear as if there is broken glass from the shattered background that has fallen around her feet.

Just beneath the bracket ledge, I added a spider hanging down and used one of the tiny spiders from Tim's Halloween Adornments set and painted it with Black Soot Distress paint, with a touch of Candied Apple on the body.

I added an Ephemera piece at the top, "FRAGILE, Do Not Drop" and placed a nail from the Vignette Hardware Findings set through the top of the piece.

No project of mine would be complete without some Hardware Heads and these are just added to the bottom of the tag and also onto the web trim.

I also added some bats that I die cut from more black card using the small bat dies from the Gatekeepers die set and attached them with Matte Collage Medium.

...and finally a Halloween Clippings Sticker, Things Are Not What They Seem which I added to the trims attached at the bottom of the tag.

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 Monday 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 ~ stay safe and well, and see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Mini Etcetera Tag, Web Trims, Bracket Trims
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Gate Keeper
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Halloween Ephemera, Halloween Adornments, Halloween Curiosities Sticker Book, Departed Paper Stash, Halloween Paper Dolls, Worn Wallpaper, Halloween Trim Tape, Halloween Base Board

Distress Crayons: Metallic, Walnut Stain

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Transluscent Grit Paste, Crackle Paste, Rocky Road Embossing Powder, Seth Apter Weathered Gold Embossing Powder, Vignette Hardware Findings, Vignette Frame

Black Card

Glass Media Mat

Big Shot

Heat Gun

Mica sheets, gold acrylic paint and moss from my own stash