A Christmas Story...

Hello friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week our theme is called TAPE IT UP and to join in with this fun challenge, all we want you to do is use some tape within your project. It can be washi tape, design tape from Tim Holtz or even tape that you stamp yourself and add onto your project ~ it's entirely up to you but we hope you will play along and show us how you tape it up!

For my project, I used Tim Holtz's Christmas Design Tape and created a vintage style tag all about Christmas memories ~ yes, I've been watching those Christmas movies that are currently being shown every day on TV and these are what inspired me to make this piece all about Betsy, and her Christmas Story!

So let's begin and here's how I created this tag...

I started by covering the edges of my medium Etcetera Tag using the Christmas Design tape, starting with the darker coloured tape and adhering it around the edges of the tag. I always apply a little Collage Medium to ensure that the tape is well and truly stuck. I then took a lighter coloured tape and attached this onto the inside of darker tape, to create a decorative, patterned border around the edge of the tag. Once both tapes are secure, I added some Crackle Paste along the top section of the tag ~ this section won't be covered by the paper but the paste gives a really nice vintage feel to the project. 

After allowing the paste to dry and the crackle to appear I cut a panel of the music score patterned paper from Tim's Christmas Paper Stash to measure, 12 x 20cm. I then machine stitched a border around the outside before adhering the paper onto my tag.

To create more texture around the edges of the paper, I randomly applied some more Crackle Paste down the sides and onto the corners. Again allow the paste to crackle and then to accentuate the crackles, I applied the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top and using a damp paint brush, blended the colour over the top of the texture paste, allowing it to seep into the crackles.

I now have my covered tag ready to embellish but as the finishing detail, I covered the reinforcer piece with some more of the music score paper and after inking the edges, I attached it over the hole...

I then painted one of the Mini Hardware Findings with Candied Apple Distress Paint and once it was dry, I attached the metal handle. 

...starting with the book cover. The base of this is taken from the Christmas Layers and Baseboard Frames Pack and I just backed it with some chipboard to make it a bit thicker as I wanted to use foam pads to adhere it to my tag.

I added some red twine around the 'spine' of the book cover and attached a snowflake adornment to the twine before attaching the cover to my tag. I then added a Parcel Post Ephemera piece just above the book cover.

For the photo, I called her Betsy, I started by colour tinting a Found Relative image using Distress marker Pens and placed it behind one of the Baseboard Frames before attaching the frame to the cover of the book. I then finished the photo by adding some Clippings Stickers ~ Betsy and Christmas Story.

Now for the ledge and this is made up using two different lengths of Scalloped Etcetera Trims. After assembling the trims to create the ledge, I primed the surface with gesso, allowed the medium to dry and then added some Crackle Paste over the surface. When the paste is dry, I attached the ledge to my tag, placing it just beneath the memory book cover.

To fill the ledge, I dyed some Mummy Cloth with Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain and arranged the dry cloth along the ledge before moving onto creating the Christmas Tree ~ this is a Small Woodland Tree that I spritzed with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain. Once the stain is completely dry, I then smeared a small amount of Matte Medium over the tips of the tree before sprinkling the entire tree with Rock Candy Distress Glitter. After tapping away the excess glitter and allowing to dry thoroughly, I placed the glittery tree into a thimble, which I painted with Candied Apple Distress Paint.

I attached the tree to my ledge and placed the holly sprig Ephemera piece behind, allowing it to curve around the bottom left hand corner of the frame.

Next to the tree, I added a Floral Adornment. I coloured this with a combination of Mushroom Alcohol Ink and Deception Alcohol Pearls and then added some Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue to the centre of the flower. I attached the flower to lean against the tree, adding some sprigs of die cut foliage which I had left over from a previous project.

Finally I coloured some Bauble Adornments with various shades of blue, green and neutral coloured Alcohol Inks and then attached the baubles along the ledge.

It's now just about those finishing touches to bring this piece to life and after attaching the 'It's A Wonderful Life' quote chip beneath the ledge, I added some Metallic Droplets to either side of the chip.

To complete the tag, I added the Hinge Clip and a small ephemera piece complete with the date of the 25th!

So, that completes my project for this week and I hope it's given you some ideas of how to use Design Tape within your projects and how you can use products to create vintage effects.

Have fun creating your projects and 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 $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 taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Stampers Anonymous: Scalloped Trims, Medium Etcetera Tag
Distress Inks: Candied Apple
Distress Spray Stain: Peeled Paint
Distress Crayon: Walnut Stain
Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Christmas Design Tape, Christmas Layers and Baseboard Frames, Bauble Findings, Thimbles, Woodland Trees, Metallic Droplets, Ephemera Christmas Pack, Ephemera Christmas Snippets, Christmas Quote Chips, Christmas Clippings Stickers, Snowflake Adornment, Floral Adornments, Mummy cloth, Mini hardware Findings, Found Relatives

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Rock Candy Glitter, Crackle Paste, Gesso, Platinum Stickles
Alcohol Ink: Mushroom, Various alcohol ink colours, 
Surfaces: Foam Pads, Tim Holtz Christmas Paper Stash, Black Chipboard, acetate
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun
Big Shot

The Palm Reader...

Hello friends...

Today, I'm sharing another of the projects that I created for the Tim Holtz idea-ology FB Live ~ I will be sharing all of the projects that I made for Tim's Lives, which will include the Christmas Chapter 3 Sizzix projects, together with the idea-ology samples and many more, so if there's a project that you've seen of mine, then please just keep checking back here as they will be shared, asap!

So, back to today's project and this one was all about the Palm Reader. I instantly fell in love with this paper doll as soon as I saw her and when I looked at the Quote Chips and some of the ephemera pieces, they were a match made in heaven and I knew exactly what I wanted to create and here it is...a piece of home decor that can be displayed for Halloween.

So let's get started and here's how I created this project...

To begin with I took a medium sized Etcetera Tag and covered it with paper from the Abandoned Paper Stash. This one is actually my favourite design from the stash, if I could get multiple sheets, I would ~ I just love it so much!

The size of paper doesn't actually fit the size of tag but the way around this was to cover the top section with one section of the paper and then with the offcut, place that along the bottom section of the tag and once everything is added to this piece, you won't even notice the join ~ it will be seamless!

Now to add some texture and for this I used Grit Paste and applied the paste with a palette knife around the edges of the covered tag. Once the paste is dry, I took the Black Soot and the Rusty Hinge Distress Crayons and applied the crayon to the paste, blending out the colour with a water brush and my fingertip.

Moving onto the frame, and I used one of the Mini Framed Panels and took just the frame, setting aside the back panel which will be perfect for using in another project. After prepping the frame with gesso, I then applied my paint layers starting with Ground Espresso Distress Paint, which I carefully heat dried before dry brushing Antiqued Bronze over the surface and then a layer of Black Soot, each time drying the previous layer of paint. When you use the dry brush technique, always use a separate brush for each colour of paint and after picking up the paint from the craft sheet, wipe away the majority onto a kitchen towel or cloth, leaving you with the minimal amount of paint on the brush before applying it to the surface and if you need to add more of any colour, just apply more to the areas you think needs it. Once I was happy, I dried the painted frame thoroughly and then added some Aged Brass Alchemy Wax directly onto the surface to accentuate the beadwork on the frame.

To build up the scene and create a background for the little gypsy girl, I took one of the Baseboard Frames from the Baseboard Frames and Layers set. The frame that I used, sits perfectly inside the larger wooden frame and after distressing the baseboard frame slightly to create more of a vintage, worn feel, I adhered it to my wooden frame using Matte Collage Medium and clamping it into place until it was attached.

Attach the layered frame with collage Medium, adhering it onto the tag and once again, clamping it into place so that you ensure it really does hold and whilst this is drying I took the Gypsy Fortune Telling Card from the Halloween ephemera pieces, mounted this onto a piece of gold metallic kraft stash card, leaving a narrow border of gold showing around the outside. After adding Mini Fasteners to each corner of the ephemera piece, I then placed this inside the framed panels, attaching it directly onto the tag on the right hand side of the frame. 

The final layer of this frame is the curtain and this is just one of the fabulous pieces you get in the Baseboard Frames and Layers set. I attached the curtain to the baseboard frame but wanted to create a bit of texture, so for this I then took some Mummy Cloth which I dyed with Pumice Stone and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains before arranging onto the top section of the red curtain. To complete the curtain, I added a Hitch Fastener on either side and wrapped the cloth around each fastener.

Now all you need to do before creating all those embellishments is create the shelf that you can see running along the bottom of the frame and for this I used one of the Bracket Etcetera Trims which i painted with the same colours of Distress Paint as the frame itself and then I attached it by adding a line of Matte Collage Medium to the back of the trim and attaching it directly along the bottom of the frame to create a ledge.

Now to make those embellishments which sit on the shelf, surrounded by some more of the dyed mummy cloth, tiny Hematite Quarry stones and moss.

...and we'll start with the Crystal Ball. For this I took the largest size of in the Bauble Adornments pack and coloured it with a combination of Smolder and Alcohol Pearls and Mushroom Alcohol Ink. I used a generous dome of Matte Collage Medium to attach the 'crystal ball' to an upturned thimble which I altered with a little Rust, Patina and Pitch Black Alcohol Inks to create a more vintage look to the thimble. I attached the Crystal Ball to the shelf, placing it next to the Gypsy Girl paper doll, that I colour tinted with Distress Marker Pens.

On the opposite side of the shelf, I added an egg timer...

I actually made this from two tiny different sizes of corked vials that I attached to one another using some Glossy Accents to seal them together, but before you do this, I began by crackling the corked vials, covering them with Matte Collage Medium which I allowed to dry. I then applied a good layer of Rock Candy Crackle over the top of each bottle and set them aside to do their thing. Once the medium is dry and the crackles have appeared, I dropped a blend of alcohol inks, gold mixative, smolder and mushroom, dribbling them over the top and allowing the ink to drip down the bottles. I attached one of the creepy eyes onto the larger sized bottle and then placed some glitter inside the bottle. Now, you can seal the bottles together to create the egg timer.

I placed the egg timer onto the shelf, attaching some more ephemera pieces, the palmistry hand and ticket stub behind it. I added some Bouquet Findings flowers to complete the arrangement.

At the top of the tag, I attached the gorgeous owl, again altered with a combination of the Rust, Pitch Black and Patina Alcohol Inks with just a touch of Mineral Alcohol Pearl. I attached the owl to the tag, placing it to slightly overlap the top edge and then added the Palm Reader Quote Chip underneath, adding a Hex Fastener to either side.

So, that's my tag finished and all that's left is to add the hanging spider on the side...

...which is just one of the amazing Spider Adornments but I coloured the pearl with Gold Mixative and Mushroom Alcohol Inks and then attached it to a Hinge Clip, altered with Evergreen Bough, Antiqued Bronze and Picket Fence Distress Paints.

Hope you've enjoyed today's post and all the techniques and ideas that I've shared for you to use as inspiration! Thank you so much for visiting today and see you again very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Stampers Anonymous: Bracket Etcetera Trims, Medium Etcetera Tag

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Ground Espresso, Evergreen Bough, Picket Fence

Distress Crayons: Rusty Hinge, Black Soot
Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone

Idea-ology: Bouquet Findings, Mummy Cloth, Thimbles, Paper Dolls, Spider Adornments,  Tiny Corked Vials, Halloween Baseboard Frames and Layers, Halloween Ephemera, Mini Fasteners Brads Screws Hardware, Halloween Accents, hitch Fasteners, Large Hinge Clip, Mini Framed Panels, Creepy Eyes
Alcohol Ink: Mushroom, Smolder, Mineral, Gold Mixative, Pitch Black, Rust, Patina

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Grit Paste, Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint
Surfaces: Abandoned Paper Stash
Hematite Quarry Gemstones
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun
Palette Knife
Moss

Flutter...

Happy Monday friends...

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and looking forward to the week ahead! Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's challenge, it was fun to look at all the entries and see what you've all been creating.

So, now it's time for a new challenge to begin and this week, on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, our theme is called Bright & Cheerful and we hope you will play along with our fun challenge.

Now, I must admit I do love my muted, tranquil colours and as you probably know by now, I love anything vintage ~ so...with the theme in mind I thought long and hard and in the end I decided to break out my Alcohol Pearls and Distress Paints to create a layered canvas panel that is definitely full of bright and cheerful colour.

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

To begin with I made my background and cut a canvas board to measure 18 x 22cm and painted it with a combination of Picket Fence and Antique Linen.

I then cut a panel of canvas paper, slightly smaller in size than the panel and started to layer my paints and add the colour. I started with a layer of Cracked Pistachio, followed by Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers. Each time I lay down my paint colour, I then heat dry before adding the next one, which is important as you don't want to make the colours become muddy, they need to be individual. Finally, I added some gesso over the top, using an old credit card to scrape the paint down over the surface before drying the background thoroughly.

Once it is dry, I adhered the panel to my canvas board and added some torn design tape around the outside edges to give a little more interest to the piece.

Moving onto the inner panel, I started by taking a piece of Yupo and applying my Alcohol Pearls ~ dripping a combo of Tranquil and Sublime. I then applied a little Blending Solution to my tool and just pounced the tool over the top of the colours to blend them over the background. Once I was happy, I then dropped some more of the inks over the top, a little more Sublime, a touch of Tranquil and all combined with Alchemy and Villainous. After applying some small drops of Blending Solution and allowing the inks to blend, I allowed them to dry.

To add some more interest to the background, I added some stamping and used the Mini Media Marks Stamp Set. I inked up one of the foliage stamps with the Versamark Ink Pad and then randomly stamped the image onto the alcohol inked background before sprinkling white embossing powder over the top and heat embossing until molten.

I machine stitched a border around the outside in black cotton and then flicked some Black Soot Distress Paint across the surface.

Once the paint was dry, I then took another of the Media Marks stamps and used these add some interest in the bottom left hand corner, stamping the circles in Jet Black Archival Ink.

After adding some doodling around the edges and stamping some numbers taken from the Correspondence stamp set, in the top right hand corner, I matted my background onto some black card, followed by some gold metallic kraft stash and mounted the layers onto the centre of my canvas panel.

Now to create the focal point and that gorgeous butterfly...

I stamped the butterfly from the Flutter stamp set in Jet Black Archival Ink, onto watercolour card and then watercolored the image with a selection of Distress Marker Pens and a water brush. I then took the corresponding die from the Sizzix set and cut out the image of the butterfly.

After cutting a twig from my garden, I placed the twig over a bed of cheesecloth that I dyed with a combination of Antique Linen and Crushed Olive Distress Spray Stains and attached both pieces with Matte Collage Medium. I then attached the butterfly to the twig using the collage medium and set the piece to one side for everything to set in position and be really secure.

You can see from the photo below that the butterfly is literally suspended in flight on the branch, which together with the cheesecloth, gives it the support.

For the finishing touches, I added some Hardware to the corners of the panel...

and then placed a Clippings Sticker along the bottom.

Finally, I added some sparkly gems around the butterfly, placing them directly onto the background.

So, that's my project for this week and I hope you've loved how I used colour to bring this piece to life!

Have fun creating your projects and don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog 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 taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Mini Media Marks, Flutter, Correspondence
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Flutter 
Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Black Soot, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron
Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen

Distress Crayons: Pumice Stone
Distress Spray Stains: Antique Linen, Crushed Olive
Distress Marker Pens
Alcohol Pearls: Villainous, Alchemy, Sublime and Tranquil

Idea-ology: Hex Fasteners, Clippings Stickers, Tim Holtz Merchant Design Tape

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Versamark Ink Pad, jet Black Archival Ink
SSS White Embossing Powder
Prima Marketing Hardware Accents
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Watercolour Card, Yupo Card, black Card, Metallic Kraft Stash, Media Board

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun
Palette Knife
Big Shot
Cheesecloth and twig from my own stash