That's Life: Distress Ink

Showing posts with label Distress Ink. Show all posts

Monday, 18 May 2026

Flight of the Bumblebee...

Hello everyone and Happy Monday...

Today, we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our theme is called TAG IT! We'd love for you to join us and play along and all the details for the challenge are at the end of this post...so, good luck!

For my make, I chose to create an Etcetera Tag and used some older Sizzix dies by Tim Holtz including the Funky Insects and the beautiful Wildflowers die sets. These dies are such classics and it's always nice to revisit some of the old favourites and make something new ~ I don't think I will ever tire of using these dies because they really do create such an impact on any project.

So, let's get started and it's time to share all the details of how I made this week's project!

For this make, I used a Size 8 Etcetera Tag and a Mixed Media Heavystock Tag.

TAG BACKGROUND

To create the background on the Heavystock Tag, I used a combination of Distress spray Stains, Oxide Sprays and Mica Sprays. I spritzed the tag with a light mist of water before applying the sprays in the following colours:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN: Crackling Campfire, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

OXIDE SPRAY: Speckled Egg

MICA SPRAY: Crooked Broomsticks, Unravelled

Firstly, I applied each of the Distress Spray Stains to the tag building up the colour and then misted the surface with water to blend. Once I was happy, I applied the remaining Oxide and Mica Sprays to add some different tones.

After heat drying the tag, I then moved onto adding some texture and applied Translucent Texture Paste though the Halftone Mini Layering Stencil from Set 48. I added the paste to the majority of the tag, only leaving some of the background untouched, allowing that to shine through.

Once I'd removed the stencil, I worked quickly to add Rusty Hinge Distress Glaze over the pasted areas and tapped away the excess before setting the tag to one side, so that the paste sets.

When the paste is touch dry, I used my heat gun to melt the powder and create a molten, enamelled effect to the stencilled areas.

I machine stitched a border round the edge of the tag before attaching it to a Size 8 Etcetera Tag with Matte Collage Medium.

To add some more texture and layers to my tag, I cut one of the film strips from the Picture Show die set by Sizzix/Tim Holtz. I cut the strip twice from black card and then layered one of the die cuts over the top of the other. Once dry, I added some gilding wax from my stash to the surface before attaching this across my tag, snipping away the excess.

To complete the tag, I added the letter 'b' Type Chip in the top right hand corner, which I stapled before attaching to the tag itself...

...and then adhered a Curator Ephemera piece to the right hand side of the tag.

BOUQUET OF WILDFLOWERS

Moving onto the flowers and for this I cut a selection of stems from Distress Watercolour Card using the Sizzix Wildflowers Die Sets, 1, 2 and 3, all by Tim Holtz.

I then watercolored each stem using Distress Inks. You can use the pencils if you prefer, but I went for the inks on this one, as I wanted a little more intensity of colour. I used a combination of colours, and went for a glorious vintage colour palette in pinks, blues, lilac and apricot, with some green foliage behind and some bursts of gold.

Once all my stems were painted and dry, I arranged them into a bouquet and stuck them to the tag, placing some foam pads behind the stems to add dimension to the arrangement.

I then cut a few of the stems from Kraft card and after inking them with clear embossing ink, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top, tapped away the excess and heat embossed the powder until molten. I then tucked 3 of these stems into the arrangement.

The floral arrangement is now ready for it's busy little visitor....

FUNKY INSECT

Once again, the bee is a die cut and taken from the Sizzix Funky Insects Die Set by Tim.

For the tutorial of how to create the faux enamelling effect that I used on the bee, created with Distress Glazes, just click HERE.

Once all the pieces of the bee were layered, I attached it to my stems using hot glue to hold it in place.

We're nearly there and all that's left is some finishing touches....

I added a quote sentiment, "Explore, Dream, Discover" from the Metallic Sticker book and attached this to the tag with foam pads....

...before completing the tag with some rope threaded through the hole at the top, and secured with a mini pin.

So that's my tag complete and I hope you love what 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 win. You 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...

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Size 8 Etcetera Tag, Mini Layering Stencil Set 48

Sizzix: Big Shot, Funky Insects, Picture Show, Wildflowers Stems 1, Wildflowers Stems 2, Wildflowers 3,

Distress Glaze Embossing Powder

Distress Ink ~ various colours for the greenery and florals

Oxide Ink: Speckled Egg

Distress Spray Stain: Crackling Campfire, Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

Mica Spray: Unravelled, Crooked Broomsticks, Fallen Acorn

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Type Chips, Metallic Sticker Book, Mini Pins, Curator Ephemera

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Translucent Texture Paste, Versamark Clear Pad, Antique Gold Embossing Powder,

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Tag, Watercolour Card

Glass Media Mat

Waterbrush

Heat Gun

Monday, 9 March 2026

Lucky Man...

Hello everyone...

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and as we head into a new week, it's time for the new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to begin. This week our theme is all about adding A Bit O' Green to your projects and we hope you'll join us and play along.

For my make, and with St. Patrick's Day in mind, I chose to go full on green and used a combination of Tim Holtz products from Sizzix and Stampers Anonymous to create my project which features plenty of layers.

So, let's get started and it's time to share all the details of how I created this lucky man...

To begin with I used a Size 8 Stampers Anonymous Etcetera tag and a Facade which I twisted around to have the point at the bottom.

FACADE

The facade is covered with some of the Large Collage Strips from Tim's idea-ology range. I cut the strips down into smaller sections, so that they fit the facade perfectly and then attached them using Matte Collage Medium.

I applied a coat of the medium over the top, and once this was dry I used the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon to add a vintage touch, applying it around the edges of the facade and in between each of the joins of the collage strips.

At the bottom of the facade, I placed a Machinery Head which I painted green with Rustic Wilderness Distress Paint. I then added a touch of gold Gilding Wax over the top.

TAG

Moving onto the tag and for this I used a Size 8 Mixed Media Heavystock Tag and the size 8 Etcetera Tag.

To begin with I lightly misted water onto a Heavystock tag before applying the colour using the following Distress Stains and Oxide Spray.

Distress Spray Stains: Speckled Egg, Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot

Oxide Spray: Speckled Egg

Once I was happy, I heat dried the tag before inking the numbers strip stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Curiosity Shop Stamp Set by Tim with a Versamark Clear Embossing Pad. I stamped the numbers down the right hand side and then sprinkled the ink with gold embossing powder. Heat set the powder until molten.

To add more detail to the background, I used the Botanic Collage stamp set and used Black Soot Archival Ink to stamp the print from one of the stamps in this set down the left hand side.

After machine stitching a border around the outside edge, I mounted the tag onto the Etcetera Tag using Matte Collage Medium and then mounted this onto my covered Etcetera Facade using the risers from the facade pack to add height to this piece.

COLOUR WHEEL

Now to create the colour wheel and using the round viewfinder dies from the Picture Show Die Set, I cut the solid piece and the top layer, together with the smaller inner pieces that will become the shades of green that sit around the wheel.

I added colour to the main wheel with Old Paper and Frayed Burlap Spray Stains, and once these were dry, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Adhere the top layer to the bottom layer.

I inked the small die cut squares with shades of green Distress Inks. You can choose which colours of green you prefer for this.

I then inked the edges of each square with Walnut Stain DI before placing each one into the wheel.

To complete the wheel, I attached Screw Heads and altered these with Black Soot, Antique Bronze, Crackling Campfire to add a rusty finish to the metal.

With the colour wheel complete, I wanted to build up the central section and used the Sizzix Vintage Labels Die Set by Tim Holtz (unfortunately this is now retired and if you don't own it, then you can replace this layer with a circle cut from red card), and the SSS Basic Shapes Circle Die Set to cut 4 circles, 3 from Mixed Media Heavystock card and 1 from gold metallic Kraft stock. The size of the first circle needs to fit in the centre of the wheel and the remaining 3 circles are in descending order.

After inking each circle, I layered them and attached the completed layers to the centre of the picture wheel using foam pads.

Mount the wheel onto the tag using foam pads to add height and dimension.

TAILORED

In the centre of the colour wheel, I used the bowler hat and the suit and bow tie from the Tailored Die Set. I cut all my pieces from inked and stamped cardstock that I have in my scrap box. This is such a great way of using up these tiny pieces of scrap card, and of course you can choose to create unique designs to the clothing.

All the pieces were assembled them to create the two pieces of clothing.

After adding the button from my stash to the centre of the bow tie, I mounted each piece onto the layered circles, again using foam pads to add even more height.

I then placed the 13￠ piece from the Junk Drawer Baseboard pack in the centre before attaching a screw head to either side of the piece, again altered with the same colours of Distress Paint as used previously.

LUCKY CLOVER

For the clover leaves, I used the stamp from the Curiosity Shop stamp set, together with coordinating SSS die.

I stamped four separate images of the clove leaf with Versamark clear embossing ink onto card inked with Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink and then sprinkled the gold embossing powder over the top. Heat emboss until molten and glossy.

Die cut each of the four leaves and then layer them over one another, attaching them by the centres and shaping the leaves to create two dimensional pieces.

Attach the two leaves to the tag, placing them in the bottom left corner. In the centres of each leaf, I added a gold Metallic Droplet.

I had the Air Mail label, stamped and cut from the Correspondence stamp and die bundle leftover on my desk from a previous project and I thought it was perfect for this make. I attached this to the clover arrangement using foam pads.

FINISHING DETAILS

We're nearly there and all that's left is the finishing details...

I added a mini book ring through the hole at the top of the tag and a Mini Pin to the stitched section on the right hand side...

...before finally completing the project by adding a "Lucky" sticker to the top left hand corner of the tag.

So, that's my project finished and I hope you love the piece I've made and you've been inspired by some of the techniques I've used.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today...

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Etcetera Facades, Size 8 Etcetera Tag, Curiosity Shop stamp and die bundle, Botanic Collage

Sizzix: Tim Holtz Big Shot Foldaway, Picture Show, Tailored

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain and various shades of green inks

Distress Spray Stain: Speckled Egg, Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, Old Paper, Frayed Burlap

Oxide Spray Stain: Speckled Egg

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antique Bronze, Crackling Campfire, Rustic Wilderness

Distress Crayon

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Cello Sticker Tape, Screw Heads, Collage Strips, Junk Drawer Baseboard, Machinery Head, Metallic Sticker Book

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Versamark Clear Pad, Antique Gold Embossing Powder

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Tag, Metallic Kraft Stash, Distress Watercolour Card

SSS Basic Shapes Circle Die Set

Glass Media Mat

Waterbrush

Heat Gun

Monday, 2 February 2026

Let's Fall In Love....

Hello everyone...

Hope you all had a good weekend and you're ready for the week ahead, and a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is all about ADDING SOME TEXTURE and the DT are showcasing the products of AALL & Create. If you'd like to join us, then all the details are at the end of this post and we would love to see how you interpret this week's fun challenge...

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I couldn't help but feel that love is in the air and for my make, I chose to create a tag using AALL & Create Papers that add plenty of texture to the background, together with many layers of Tim Holtz products.

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

TAG

To begin with I used two separate designs from the AAll & Create Distressed Dreams Timber Tints paper pack and began by covering a Mini Etcetera Tag using one of the designs from the pack. I did add some stamping using one of Tim's stamps to some areas of the paper before machine stitching a border around the edge, and also added some stitching and texture to the patchwork design of the paper itself. After inking the edges, I adhered the paper to my Etcetera Tag using Matte Collage Medium, adding a coat of the medium over the top to seal the paper.

Using a second design from the paper pack, I created a size 8 tag. Once again, I machine stitched a border around the outside before inking the edges, and mounting it onto the centre of my larger Etcetera Tag using foam pads to add dimension.

CENTRAL FOCAL POINT

Now to start building a focal point to this piece and for this, I used Tim Holtz idea-ology products and built them up to create more texture and of course, create the focal point to this make.

I began with the metal pieces and chose to use a Photo Frame and the corner pieces from the Flourish Adornments pack. You will need two packs of these Flourishes to create this piece but with three pieces in each pack, it means you will have plenty of extras for future projects.

To alter all the metal pieces, I began by applying some Foundry Wax, and applied a layer of Statue Wax before heat setting it with a heat tool. I then applied a very thin layer of Sterling over the top, using my fingertip, or you can use a brush but just touching the raised areas, making sure that I didn't go too heavy with the medium. Once I'd heat set this layer, I then used Distress Paints directly onto the surface to add a little more colour and create the tarnished, rusty effect I wanted. I used the following colours:

Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Crackling Campfire and Vintage Photo

Build up the layers of paint, drying each layer before adding the next and always add the Black Soot sparingly.

Once I was happy with the finish, I allowed the paint to dry before applying Lisa Horton waxes with my fingertip, As with the paints, I build up the layers to achieve the finish I want.

To create the frame, I attached a piece of scrap paper from a Tim Holtz paper pack behind the aperture and then attached the flourishes at the top and the bottom, attaching them with Matte collage Medium. Set this to one side to dry completely whilst working on the remaining layers.

Behind the frame, I added some cotton calico which I have in my stash. After cutting two separate pieces that are slightly larger in size than my frame, I used Distress Spray Stains, Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap, to dye them. Spritz the fabric with water and heat dry the cotton before fraying the edges.

I machine stitched the two pieces together before adhering them to a mica tile from my stash and then mounting the layers onto the centre of tag, placing it onto the smaller tag. Attach the frame over the top of the fabric. In the photo below, you can see the dimension that I've created by building up these layers.

In the centre of the frame I chose one of the vintage images of a couple from the Photo Booth pack and distressed the edges of the photo, adding small tears to the corner. I then cut a piece of felt using pinking shears and machine stitched the image onto the felt. Once I'd attached the photo in the centre of the frame arrangement, I added a Labeled Remnant Rub in the top left and a piece of cello sticker tape over the top.

To add some detail and even more texture to the fabric, I ruffled it and then pinned it on either side using Mini Pins

Beneath the frame, I added a Theories Quote Chip. I wrapped red cotton around each end of the chip and then mounted this onto my tag using foam pads,

To complete the tag, I added some screwheads, altered with the same paints and waxes that I used on the frame.

CLIP

On this piece, I used one of Tim's Vintage clips, and created a rusty finish to the metal. This is so easy to achieve and you can see a tutorial on how I do this by clicking HERE.

To alter this clip, I used exactly the same process as I used in my earlier post, but I omitted the Salvaged Patina Paint on this particular piece.

In the centre of the clip, I attached a Heart Adornment that I altered with more of the same colours of Distress Paint as I've used throughout and painting the tiny heart with Lumberjack Plaid. I then added some twine around the clip before clipping it onto my tag.

To complete this project, I attached a swivel clasp to the clip and hung an idea-ology lock and key to the chain, again altered for a more rusty, vintage appearance.