That's Life: rubber stamping

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Monday, 24 November 2025

Happy Holidays....

Hello everyone...

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and you're now ready for a brand new week and a new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week, our theme is all about a Matching Set and we can't wait to see how you'll interpret the challenge.

For my make, I created a matching pair of Christmas cards that are also a match made in heaven because these cards celebrate a very cute couple, Mickey and Minnie Mouse who are all dressed up and ready for the holidays. I also made these cards with another special couple in mind, my beloved Mum and Dad ~ they were, and always will be, the perfect match!

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

CARD BLANKS

To begin with I created two card blanks from Kraft card, measuring 19 x 10.5cm.

For each card, I cut a panel of black card, 18.5 x 10cm and then these with a layer of matted a panel of gold metallic Kraft card, followed by a panel of black card, that I splattered with white paint, before adding a machine stitched border and each time, I left a narrow border around the outside. I then mounted these layers onto my card blanks.

Along the bottom of the final card panel, I added a film strip which I cut from black card using the Sizzix Vault Picture Show Die Set by Tim Holtz. Before I attached the strip, I applied an application of Lisa Horton Copper Metallic wax, and then adhered the strip into position.

For the final layer on these cards, I cut a panel of black card and then applied Translucent Grit Paste through the Falling Stars Layering Stencil.

After removing the stencil, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top and set this to one side for the paste to dry. Once it is touch dry, I used my heat tool to melt the powder ~ do not overheat the paste as this will cause it to bubble, heat areas slowly and once molten, move on.

I then used Mica Stain Sprays in the following colours to add that touch of sparkle to the background:

Crooked Broomstick, Unravelled, Iron Gate

Leave this to dry and then cut the card into two panels, each measuring 12.5 x 7cm, add machine stitching detail around the outside edge and then matt them onto gold metalllic cardstock before mounting them onto the card blanks using foam pads.

ROSETTES

For each rosette, I used the following dies:

Sizzix Seal Dies and Switchlits Embossing Folder to cut metallic gold Kraft card

Simon Says Stamp Basic Circles Wafer Dies to cut two black circles and one gold circle

Spellbinders Flags and Banners Die to cut the pieces to make the rosette that sits in the centre

With all my shapes cut, I layered them to form two rosettes and attached these to my cards.

In the centres of each rosette, I inked up one of the stamps from the Tim Holtz Holiday Postmarks Stampers Anonymous stamp set and stamped each one onto a piece of black card. I sprinkled them with gold embossing powder and then used the coordinating Simon Says Stamp die sets to die cut them.

I then attached them with foam pads to the rosettes.

To complete the rosettes I added a hint of Snowflake Paste, sprinkled with some Mica Flakes over the top and then painted some Hardware Heads with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Paint and added them around the outside edge of each of the circles.

MICKEY AND MINNIE

We're now ready for the stars of the show, Mickey and Minnie and for these I used the Spellbinders Steamboat Willie Duo Die Set and began by colouring some cardstock. I inked 4 separate pieces of Mixed Media Card using the following Distress Inks; Fossilised Amber, Lumberjack Plaid and Antique Linen and the final piece of card with Black Soot Distress Spray for the black card. Once happy with the colours, I applied double sided adhesive sheets to the back of the card and then cut all my pieces to create Mickey and Minnie before assembling each character.

Mickey and Minnie are now ready for their Christmas embellishments and using the die set that has been released by Spellbinders to accompany the original Classic Mouse Steamboat Willie die set for the holidays, I cut all my pieces to create the Santa hats, the holly leaves, the bauble, scarves and the mistletoe from inked cardstock. I always keep scraps of card that have been inked for previous projects and these dies are perfect to use up all those tiny offcuts.

Once I'd assembled my pieces, I dressed Mickey and Minnie on all their holiday refinery before I attached them into position on my card fronts, using foam pads to add some dimension to the cards.

To ground each of the characters, I applied some Glossy Accents beneath their feet, and then sprinkled some Mica Flakes over the medium before tapping away the excess.

....and applying some Snowfall paste to their little Santa hats.

SENTIMENTS

On each card, I added a sentiment. These are both stamped and then embossed with white embossing powder using stamps from the Cartoons stamp set.

I matted the sentiment to a piece of gold card, then attached it to my card blank using foam pads.

I then added two tiny die cut holly leaf embellishments to either side of the sentiment.

FINISHING DETAILS

I stamped and die cut another of the postmarks using the same Holiday Postmarks stamp and die set as before, and then attached the "Approved" postmark to each card, placing a holly leaf on Minnie's postmark as a finishing touch.

...and to complete the Mickey card, I painted a tiny clip with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Paint, then clipped this to the top of my card, attaching a label with the number 25.

So that's my Matching Pair project complete and I hope you love the cards I've made and you'll be inspired by some of the techniques.

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:

Stampers Anonymous: Falling Stars Layering Stencil, Cartoons Stamp set

Sizzix: Big Shot Die Cutting Machine, Vault Picture Show Thinlits Die

SSS Dies: Basic Shapes Circles Dies, Tim Holtz Holiday Postmarks Stamps and Die Bundle

Spellbinders Dies: Steamboat Willie Minnie and Mickey Mouse Duo and Embellishments Bundle, Flags and Banners

Distress Paint: Lumberjack Plaid

Mica Spray Stain: Crooked Broomstick, Unravelled, Iron Gate

Distress Spray Stains: Black Soot, Antique Linen, Lumberjack Plaid, Fossilised Amber, Peeled Paint and Bundled Moss, Tumbled Glass,

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Tiny Clips

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Ultrafine Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Ink, Mica Flakes, Snowflake Paste, White Embossing Powder, Lisa Horton Metallic Wax

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Metallic Kraft Stash, Black Card

Glass Media Mat

Splatter Brush

Heat Gun

****These are not affiliate links****

Saturday, 11 October 2025

Simon Says Stamp Sugar and Spice Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 2 of the Sugar and Spice Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop!

I'm so excited to be joining this hop, and you might have arrived here from Lisa Addesa'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 and if you would like to see the entire product release , then pop on over to HERE.

For my card, I used the beautiful Narrow Holly Cluster die set and the Christmas Stamps and Dies Label Slides to create a vintage style Christmas card, which I hope you love.

So, here's how I created this project...

To begin with I made a 18.5 x 14cm (7¼" x 5.5") card base from Tim Holtz's Heavystock Kraft card.

I matted a layer of Midnight Green card over the top, cutting it slightly smaller than the card blank.

BACKGROUND

Moving onto the background and I began by cutting a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card, 16.5 x 11cm and inked up the Sparkles stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Sparkles and Christmas stamp set using Frayed Burlap Archival Ink and stamped the design in the centre of the panel.

To add more layering to the background, I then stamped again, this time with Vintage Photo Archival Ink, using the music score stamp from the Department Store Stamp Set. I didn't want a solid stamped image, just hints of the score here and there, so with this in mind I rolled the stamp across the surface, just catching the cardstock where it touches.

I inked the card using Old Paper Distress Ink, and Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges, before adding splatters of Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and Gold Acrylic Paint, across the surface.

Once dry, I used the SA/Tim Holtz Post Card stamp set to stamp the Post Card wording at the top of the panel in Black Soot Archival Ink.

I added a frame of Design Tape around the edge of the stamped panel and then machine stitched a border around the outside.

With the background complete, I matted it onto gold metallic cardstock, followed by a layer of red Kraft card from the Warm Kraft Stash by Tim, each time leaving a narrow border of the previous card layer showing.

In the top right hand corner of the card panel, I added some Ephemera and a postmark. This piece is from the 2025 Christmas Ephemera pack, and I attached it with Matte Collage Medium. I then added the postmark ~ I used a Christmas Remnant Rub from my stash, which is now sadly retired but you can use the postmarks from the Holiday Postmarks stamp set.

Set this to one side to work on the die cutting.

HOLLY CLUSTER

The background is now ready for the Narrow Holly Cluster die.

I cut all my pieces, including extra singular leaves, from using Watercolor Cardstock and then inked the leaves and stem with Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Forest Moss Distess Inks before adding Candied Berries and Lumberjack Plaid DI to the berries.

After inking the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I attached the cluster by placing it across my stamped card panel, adding some shape and dimension, so that it doesn't sit flat to the card itself.

I then added some of the extra singular die cut holly leaves and the extra berries, tucking these pieces into the branch and layering others over the top of the previous lease to add more dimension.

Finally, I applied Glossy Accents to the berries, before adding some all important sparkle and frosting to the cluster. I used the Ranger Ink Snowflakes glitter which contains glitter and Mica Flakes which I adhered into place with Glossy Accents.

SENTIMENT

Moving onto the sentiment and I used the Stamps and Dies Label Slides Christmas Set to create this. I cut the largest label slide and then stamped the sentiment, Season's Greetings onto the centre of the slide, using Fired Brick Archival Ink.

I inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then attached some Christmas Jute String, so that I can wrap this around my background card panels, securing the ends at the back of the cardstock.

I then mounted the completed layered panels onto the front of my card blank using foam pads.

FINISHING DETAILS

I tied some more of the Jute Twine into a bow and attached this on the left hand side of the label slide, before attaching a Holiday Bell in the centre using a tiny safety pin. The bell was painted with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Paint, applying it directly onto the metal surface.

I added some pieces of Cello Sticker Tape on both sides of the panels....

...and to complete the card, I stamped the No.5 (from the Correspondence stamp set) in the bottom left hand corner and placed some Metallic Droplets around the cluster.

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the blog hop from the blog comment section! So, this means you can leave a comment here and on every stop along the way to increase your chances. Winners will be notified and they will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, 15 October and all winners will need to contact/email Simon Says Stamp to claim their prize.

Also, don't forget that you have until the 12th October at 11:59 EDT or whilst stocks last, to grab yourselves the exclusive and not yer release Warm Thoughts stamp set which will be automatically added to your cart.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and see you soon, love Emma x

HOP ORDER

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Click HERE to shop for products

Simon Says Stamp: Stamps and Dies Label Slides Christmas Set, Narrow Holly Cluster

Stampers Anonymous Stamp Sets: Sparkles and Christmas, Department Store, Postcards, Correspondence

Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap, Candied Berries, Lumberjack Plaid, Old Paper, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Forest Moss

Distress Paint: Lumberjack Plaid

Mediums and Adhesive: SSS Precision Glue, SSS Foam Squares, SSS Tape Runner, Black Soot Archival, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo Archival Ink, Glossy Accents, Snowflakes

Surfaces: Kraft Card, Distress Watercolour Card, Midnight Green Card, Metallic Kraft Stash

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Christmas Ephemera, Cello Stickers, Christmas Jute String, Metallic Droplets, Holiday Bells

Tools: Blending Brushes, Blending Tool

Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat

Sizzix Big Shot Foldaway Machine

Monday, 15 September 2025

I Want Candy...

Happy Monday everyone...

I can't believe how fast the last week has gone, it doesn't seem a minute since I was last here but as always, the start of the brand new week means we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is called ADD SOME METAL.

With so many products that either are metal or have a metallic finish, you will be spoilt for choice and we can't wait to see what you will be making and hope you'll join us and play along.

For my make, I chose to add metallic shimmer and shine, using papers, sprays and embossing powders and I used these together with a few metal embellishments to make this Halloween card featuring two of the cutest ghosts I've ever seen.

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

To begin with I used a metallic pewter coloured card to create my tent fold card blank, measuring, 15.5 x 19.5cm.

I then used some older Halloween idea-ology Design Tape from Tim Holtz and created a border around the edge of the card.

BACKGROUND

Moving onto creating the background and for this I cut 2 panels of black heavy stock card, the first panel measuring 12.5 x 16.5cm and the second one slightly larger in size, 13.5 x 17.5cm.

Taking the smaller panel, I began by inking up the spider web stamp from the Life of the Party stamp set and stamped this in clear ink across the top section of the cardstock. I sprinkled white embossing powder over the top and then after tapping away the excess, I heat embossed the powder until molten and glossy.

Once the powder is cool, I added my metallic shimmer using the following Distress Mica Sprays: Empty Tomb, Crooked Broomsticks and Decayed. You can see the shimmer from the sprays in the photo below...

I misted these sprays very lightly over the embossed cardstock ~ the embossed web will resist the sprays.

Once happy with the background, I repeated the process on the larger piece of black heavystock card and then allowed both pieces to dry thoroughly.

When the mica sprays were dry, I machine stitched a border around the outside, and instead of having the perfect straight edged line, this time I decided to make it uneven and all "higgledy piggledy".

Across the bottom of the card, I added a sentiment banner. For the sentiment, 'candy made me do it", I've used an older STAMPtember Tim Holtz Exclusive stamp set from 2019. You might be fortunate enough to have this stamp set in your stash, but if not, any sentiment will do ~ I just loved the fun nature of this one. The sentiment was stamped onto a narrow strip of black card using clear ink, and then embossing in White Embossing Powder.

After spritzing the banner strip with the same colours of Mica Spray to match the background, I allowed them to dry and then matted the card onto a piece of silver Kraft metallic card.

I adhered the strip to the panel, securing it with some stitching down each side and then mounted this background panel onto the larger panel, followed by a panel of silver metallic Kraft card.

Mount the panels onto the card front using foam pads to add height and dimension.

I completed the sentiment banner by adding a mini clip to either end of the strip, which I painted with gold metallic paint.

I also added three Hardware Heads on the left hand side of the clip, again painting them gold.

GHOSTS

We're now ready to start bringing the scene to life and I began by stamping the ghosts from the Halloween Doodles stamp set.

Using Black Soot Archival Ink, I stamped one ghost directly onto the smooth side of watercolour card. I cleaned my stamp ensuring there was no residue of ink and then, placed some masking tape across the face of the ghost on the rubber stamp. I inked up the stamp once more, removed the tape and then stamped onto another piece of watercolour card. You now have two images, one with a face, one without.

I watercolored each of my images using Distress Watercolour Pencils, and kept the colours neutral. Once I was happy, I used the dies from the co-ordinating SSS die set to die cut the images of both ghosts and inked the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

ADDING DETAILS TO THE GHOSTS

I wanted each ghost to have its own personality, but come together to tell the story of the scene and that's why I chose to mask off the face of the second ghost, because I want it to look up to the other ghost. And the way that I did this was to draw my own face, adding the eyes and the tiny mouth using a black fine line pen.

On the second ghost, I added a tiny patch of calico cotton to his sheet, stitching this onto the card to look as if there had been a hole in the sheet.

Finally, the second ghost needed his witches hat and once again I used the Halloween Doodles stamp set and stamped the image onto watercolour card before watercoloring it with Distress Watercolour pencils and die cutting it with the die set. Ink the edges of the die cut with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

Attach the finished witches hat to the ghost's head and then using foam pads, I attached both ghosts to the background, slightly overlapping them and positioning the one ghost so it looks up towards the other, with a slight look of surprise ~ but in his defence, the candy made him do it!!!

FINISHING DETAILS

We're now ready for the finishing details and I stamped the twinkles from the same stamp set as I've used throughout and stamped these onto black heavy-stock card before I embossed them with gold embossing powder. I then used the dies to die cut them and attached them around the two ghosts, placing them on either side.

I cut some bats from more of the black card, using the die that is in the Sizzix Halloween Coffin Die Set by Tim Holtz and after mounting them onto silver card to create a shadow.

I attached each bat to my card using matte collage medium, ensuring the wings are free, so I can lift them and make them appear to be in flight.

Finally I adhered the number 31 into place. This is from the Halloween Ephemera Pack from 2024, I'm not sure if it's in the 2025 set but if not, then there are plenty of pieces in there that can be used. I adhered this with Matte Collage Medium.