The Haunted Mansion...

Hello friends ~ hope you're all having a great week!

Well, it's not often you see me here midweek but I've been working on something a little special for Halloween and today, I wanted to share it with you all and invite you to look around the haunted home of undertaker, Thomas F. Little and let your imagination take over!

Only the brave will walk up the moss covered steps and through the doors of this haunted mansion and take a look around...

...avoiding the bats that now live here, flying around to protect their property!

And then we have the back garden...hidden away behind the trees and who knows what might be buried amongst the falling leaves and mossy covered stones!

"For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the Thriller" ~ Michael Jackson

To create my manor house, I used the basic Village Die and the Village Manor die to die cut really strong card, approx 350gsm. The house is set upon a wooden base and the steps are created from driftwood, coloured with Distress Paint. 

Once all the pieces were die cut, I then covered the main house sections but not the roof sections, with Grit Paste and left them to air dry. Once the paste was dry, I then coloured it with a blend of Distress Paints ~ Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze and Hickory Smoke, using my fingers to blend the paints. Heat dry and then to create the mossy effect, I rubbed the Peeled Paint Distress Crayon over the surface.

For the main roof section of the house, I used a blend of the same coloured Distress Paints as on the house but created the look of wood.

The windows are die cut from textured card and coloured with Black Soot Distress Paint and then added onto the main house.

For the main tiled roof section, I used the Rooftops die to die cut sections of Woodgrain Card, which I then coloured by spritzing with Distress Spray Stains. Once again, heat dry the card and then layer the rooftop pieces onto your roof, trimming away the excess. Ink the edges of the roof sections and then attach the roof, the finials and the copper coloured chimney stacks to your main manor house.

I attached a skull and crossbones adornment to a memo pin, coloured it with Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and then poked the memo pin into the rooftop.

Finally, I added all my embellishments, including the trophy cup, with glittered pumpkins, the die cut bats and the woodland trees, coloured with Forest Moss Distress Spray Stain, together with floristry sisal and dried moss.

...and that completes Thomas F. Little's Haunted Mansion.

I had so much fun creating this wonderful Manor House and it will now become the centrepiece to all my Halloween decorations...thank you so much Tim Holtz and Sizzix for bringing these wonderful dies to us ~ they are just amazing!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and see you again soon....love Emma x

Good Times...

Hello friends and welcome to a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, where we are having some Summer Fun! As always, we hope you'll join in with our theme and whatever your favourite summer activity is, we hope you'll share it with us and we can't wait to see what you create!

For my project, I chose to use the Surf Shack die from Tim Holtz but instead of creating a surf shack, I went for an elegant coastal home, No.63 Coastal Drive ~ the home of my dreams and something you see in the movies or in the World of Interiors magazine ~ light and airy inside and set slightly back from the sea with nothing to see for miles except sun and sand!

To begin with, I used the the Village Dwelling die to die cut the base of my house. This is the die that you need if you are using most of Tim's add on dies to create the various styles of houses! I used this die to die cut the house from corrugated card and the roof from a piece of Core'Dinations Distress card stock.

I painted the corrugated card with gesso and lightly sanded the Core'Dinations card with a sanding tool to give a more worn effect to the roof.

After some light inking on both, I constructed the base of my house and then, set this aside to work on the add on sections. For this, I used the Surf Shack die and die cut the front roof section and the windows from a further piece of Core'Dinations card and once again, sanded each piece before adding them onto my house. You'll see that I also used a further piece of corrugated card, just under the peak of the roof, as I wanted this to remain white to match the house.

I added a door made from kraft card and used an idea-ology Hex Fastener as the door knob. For the doorstep, I used a piece of the Pumice Stone card from the Core'Dination stash and added this, yo my hour. I also die cut the main struts of the house from corrugated card and added a little welcome door mat created from the linen in the Textile Surfaces pack.

For the base of my house, I wanted to create the look of sand, so I die cut the base from Manila card and then added a good layer of Prima White Sand Texture Paste over the top. Let the paste dry thoroughly before adding Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress Paint to the surface to create the sandy colour.

Once happy with the base, I added my house over the top and place a mini plaquette onto the front of the house.

For the extra base of the house, I used a canvas board and applied a layer of Tumbled Glass Distress Paint over the top. When the paint is dry, I then added a small amount of Mermaid Lagoon Distress Crayon to create highlights on the water. Over the top of this, I then used my fingertip to add an extra layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint. This created the look of the sea and to complete the base, I added some shimmery highlights of blue Vintage Transfer Foil.

I then wanted to create the look of steps going up to the front door and for this I used pieces of driftwood.

I attached the driftwood to the canvas board to create a solid platform, added a small amount of Gathered Twigs Distress Crayon along the edges and then attached my house over the top.

Now for the fun part of adding all the little extras that bring this house to life.

The lifebelt is die cut from a small piece of chipboard, painted with Gesso and then I added red twine around it before inking the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

The palm is also die cut from chipboard and painted with Distress Paints. I attached the palm to the canvas base and added the surf board, die cut from white Core'Dinations card, leaving the central section white and painted the rest of the board with Candied Apple Distress Paint.

After adding moss and seashells around the house...

...I then added the finishing touch ~ a sign post and for this, I stamped my Hashtag wording, "good times" onto a piece of cream card, inked the edges and then attached the banner to a cocktail stick which I then attached to the front of my house.

I really hope you love my interpretation of Tim's Surf Shack die and I can't wait to use this die to now go and create a proper little surf shack to go with alongside this one!

As always, if you need any further inspiration for this challenge, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members 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 all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies: Village Dwelling Die, Surf Shack Die
Tim Holtz Stamps: Hashtag

Distress Paint: Tumbled Glass, Candied Apple, Picket Fence, Ground Espresso, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap
Distress Spray Stains: Antique Linen

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
Distress Crayons: Mermaid Lagoon, Hickory Smoke

Idea-ology: Mini Plaquettes, Hex Fasteners

Surfaces: Kraft Card, Textile Surfaces, Textured Surfaces, Distress Core'Dinations Card, Manila Card, Canvas Media Board, Vintage Foil Transfer Sheets

Mediums: Collage Medium, Prima White Sand Texture Paste, Jet Black Archival Ink, Gesso

Red Twine

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun

Blending Tool
Collage Brushes
Big Shot
Moss, driftwood, shells and chipboard from my own stash

Happily Ever After...

Hello friends and Happy Leap Year!

Today, as always on a Monday, it's time for a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week, our theme is...Take A Leap Into The Unknown! You can choose to use a new technique or it can mean a new way of life ~ getting married, engaged, having a baby or maybe even a new job! The possibilities are endless and we can't wait to see what you will create...

For my project, I leapt at the opportunity to use my Tim Holtz Village Dwelling dies for the very first time and when I saw the word "marriage", I just knew that I wanted to create a fairytale church which would be ideal for a table setting, a cake topper or maybe, how much fun would it be to pop an engagement ring inside the church and take advantage of it being a leap year with a proposal!! It's just such a fun piece to create and I'm sure it will be the start of me making so many more village pieces...

So, here's how I created it...

To begin with I took the Village Dwelling Die and used this to die cut some woodgrain card stock to create the sides of my little church.  I then used Kraft Core'Dinations card stock to make the roof and embossed this with the Mesh Texture Fade to create a tiled effect. 

After cutting all my pieces, I inked around the edges of each to create a more worn look before constructing the dwelling.

If you need any help at this stage to construct the house, then Tim has got a wonderful YouTube video which you can follow.

For the next stage, I took the Bell Tower die and using the woodgrain card stock, I created the main section of the tower using this and then added the little conical roof created from the Core'dinations card. At this point, I also added a tiny rusty bell in the tower.

Once you've attached the tower to the main section of the dwelling, you can then start to add the door and the window frames, which are die cut from the woodgrain card stock and then coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Paint before being lightly inked around the edges. Attach all these pieces to your dwelling and I also attached a small brad, (cutting the legs off so that it didn't show on the other side) to the door.

For the doorstep, I die cut this from a piece of manila cardstock and added a coat of Pumice Stone Distress Paint over the surface. I dried this paint layer thoroughly before using my fingertip to dab a small amount of Hickory Smoke Distress Paint over the top to create the look of stone. Construct the doorstep and attach to your house, together with some woodgrain struts.

To complete the house, I cut the base from chipboard, coated it in gesso and then painted it with a blend of Gathered Twigs and Peeled Paint Distress Paints.

You now have your completed church and to decorate around the outside of the church, I used dried moss together with dried grasses and added tiny tattered florals, die cut from pink core'dinations card.

I even added some moss to the roof of the church for an extra little detail.

For the base of the church, I used a wooden frame that I upturned to give me a solid base. I coated the frame in gesso before adding a layer of Pumice Stone Distress Paint. Dry the paint thoroughly.

To create the look of marble, I scrunched up a kitchen towel and used the towel to pick up small amounts of Hickory Smoke, Picket Fence and Antique Linen Distress Ink which I then dabbed onto the frame, building up the colour and creating the look of stone. Once I was happy, I dried the whole thing off, coated it in Multi Medium and added a beautiful Gilded Remnant Rub.

As a finishing touch to my base, I added a small amount of Treasure Gold Gilding Wax along each of the edges for a touch of opulence and to create a beautiful shimmer.

Place your dwelling onto your painted "stone" base and for the final touches, I added a scattering of sequins to look like confetti and two small rose studs from the Prima Butterfly Crystals, which I popped onto each of the corners....

...before matting a Small Talk Sticker, 'Happily Ever After' onto gold card stock and mounting it onto my base. I also added some woodland trees to my project, which I dyed using Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn Distress Spray Stains ~ these make a wonderful addition to the scene!

Now of course, no wedding would be complete without the bride and groom and for a little bit of added fun, I couldn't resist adding my vintage Mickey and Minnie as the perfect couple!

As always, if you need any further inspiration for this challenge, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members 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 all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Village Dwelling, Bell Tower, Tiny Tattered Florals

Texture Fade: Mesh

Distress Ink: Ground Espresso, Pumice Stone

Distress Paint: Hickory Smoke, Pumice Stone, Picket Fence, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen

Distress Spray Stains: Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn

Mediums: Ranger Multi Medium, Gesso

Idea-ology: Small Talk Stickers, Woodland Trees, Accents Gilded Remnant Rubs

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Core Core'dinations Card, White Woodgrain Card, Kraft Core'Dinations Card, Manila Card

Embellishments: Moonshine Sequins, Prima Butterfly Say It With Crystals

Treasure Gold White Fire Gilding Wax

Ranger Craft Sheet

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Dried Moss, grasses and bell from my own stash