That's Life: Blog Hop featuring Tim Holtz stamps and Simon Says Stamp coordinating dies...

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 Barb Engler'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 project, I created a vintage style Etcetera Panel, and combined the Field Notes Co-Ordinating Dies and stamp set with the beautiful butterfly from an older release, Perspective.

So, let's get started and here's how I create this panel....

To begin with I used one of the smaller size of the Stampers Anonymous Rectangular Etcetera Panels from the pack of 4 and I painted it with Scorched Timber Distress Paint.

PANEL

To cover the panel, I used a piece of paper from Backdrops Vol 4, cut to the same size as the panel. I added rips and tears around the outside edge of the paper and machine stitched a border all the way around and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I then adhered the paper to the board with Matte Collage Medium, keeping the rips and tears in place and crumpling the corners for a touch of "oldy worldy vintage".

After adding some splatters of Burnt Sienna Acrylic Paint from my stash and flicked this across the covered panel, I set this to one side to move onto the tag.

TAG

For the background, I chose to use the Stampers Anonymous Roses Layering Stencil by Tim Holtz and using blending brushes, I inked through the design with the following colours of Distress inks:

Kitsch Flamingo, Peeled Paint and Rustic Wilderness

Once my inking was complete, I added some text using the script stamp from the Tiny Toadstools stamp set by Tim Holtz before I laid the stencil back over the areas that I had inked and applied Translucent Grit Paste over the inked areas. Remove the stencil and wash immediately and set the tag aside so the paste can dry.

When my paste was thoroughly set, I added a neutral colour to the background using Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain and Old Paper. I dabbed away any heavy areas of colour, gently heat dried the tag and then inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before adding a few splatters of the Burnt Sienna Acrylic Paint across the surface of the tag.

After machine stitching a border around the edge of the tag, I mounted this onto a piece of Kraft card, cut slightly larger than the tag itself with strips of Design Trim Tape placed around the edges of the Kraft card.

To complete the tag, I placed a Curator Snippet in the top right hand corner, and added some Cello Sticker Tape over the top.

I then placed a W R Makers Eyelet through the hole at the top of the tag and set it with the Crop A Dile.

Attach the tag to the covered board using foam pads to add dimension.

FIELD NOTES EPHEMERA

Now, it's time to create the ephemera pieces that sits down the left hand side and that's where we can use the Field Notes stamp set with this amazing new coordinating die set...

To begin with I chose the ephemera pieces I wanted to use ~ I chose 5 different pieces. I then used Tim's Archival Inks to stamp these onto Mixed Media Heavystock card inked with various shades of Distress Inks. Once I had the pieces stamped, I then used the coordinating dies to die cut the individual labels and ephemera.

After inking the edges, I attached them to my panel, placing four of them in a cluster on the left of the tag. I adhered some of the labels directly to the panel with Matte Collage Medium, but placed foam pads on the remaining labels to add some dimension...

I attached the last label, "This Side Up" in the top left hand corner.

BUTTERFLY

With my pieces in position, I stamped the image of the butterfly from the Perspective Stamp Set, and watercolored this with Tim's Distress Watercolour Pencils. I then used the coordinating die set to cut out the image.

After shaping the wings, and attaching the thorax to the centre, (which is a separate die cut), I attached the butterfly to a circular Sizzix Vintage Label Die Cut. I used the largest circle in the set.

Finally to complete the panel, I used the wording "Field Notes" from the Specimen Remnant Rubs and applied it to an off-cut of card before adding this to my panel, placing it just beneath the butterfly...

...and I attached to long fasteners to the panel, placing these in the bottom right hand corner and applying some gilding wax over the top to add some shine to the metal.

I finished this piece with a large Hinge Clip that I had in my stash, and clipped this to the top left hand side of the panel.

So, that's my project complete and I hope you love the piece I've created ~ it's so much fun to used these dies and saves so much time on fussy cutting each individual piece ~ which is something I never relish doing but now, don't need to! More time for crafting...