My Other Creations: Halloween Notebook using IO's Witch Line and Tim Holtz's Artful Dwellings

STAMPtember is wrapping up and oh what fun it's been!  This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is heavy metal.  I love using the Cinch machine and binding notebooks with metal coils.  I decided to make a Halloween notebook this time with a witch-topped bookmark.

The components of the cover consist of a house cut with Tim Holtz's Artful Dwellings die, some stars from Neat and Tangled's Seeing Stars die, and a moon outlined with Seth Apter's Coffee Ring die.  The house is covered with fabric scraps and patterned paper.

All the pages in this notebook are 3" x 4" and were cut with a Project Life card die.  For the cover, I painted a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper with Prima's Impasto paints and a couple of spritzes of Dylusions Black Marble ink spray.  I glued everything onto my background, then glued the background to chipboard to give it some strength.  I added a "fly" sticker to the house.

Because I'm a tab fanatic, I also added some tabs up the side that I punched out with a We R Memory Keepers tab punch.  I covered them with fabric scraps and some stamps (Simon's Tiny Alphabet Background).

I made a witch bookmark to go along with my notebook.  The witch is from an Impression Obsession die called Witch Line.

I finished off the notebook by binding the whole thing together with my beloved Cinch machine and a metal coil.

Here are the supplies I used, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Tim Holtz Sizzix die: Artful Dwellings	Impression Obsession Witch Line die	File Tab Punch-We R Memory Keepers	Neat and Tangled Seeing Stars die	Sizzix Big Shot
Becky Higgins Project Life die set	Seth Apter Spellbinders Coffe Ring die	Tim Holtz Big Chat Stickers	Cinch - We R Memory Keepers	Pink and Main Beach Babe 6x6 Paper
Tim Holtz 12 x 12 Correspondence Paper Pack	Simon Says Stamp Tiny Alphabet Background Stamp	Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Prima Impasto paint, Crimson	Prima Impasto paint, Raspberry Pink
Dina Wakley Black Heavy Body Acrylic Paint	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Dylusions Ink Sprays - Black Marble	Timber Brown StazOn

I can't wait to see how you interpret our heavy metal theme this week.  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

My Cards and Tags: Cards using Tim Holtz's Noble Gent and Dina Wakley's Text and Scribbles Stamp Sets

The month of September rages on and Simon Says Stamp has really nailed STAMPtember! So many fun things to see and buy!  

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is "Shimmer and Shine."  I added a shiny silver-embossed edge to my trio of cards that pay homage to clever adventurous women.

I started by stamping images from Tim Holtz's Pathwork and Mixed Media 2 stamp sets onto Strathmore Mixed media paper.

Next I smeared on acrylic paint. 

I wanted some texture, so I cut some panels out of an old book and Tim Holtz's Crosshatch die.  I glued them on to my backgrounds.

This was a little TOO much texture/patterning, so I toned it down with more paint.  When the paint dried, I stamped on a circle from Dina Wakley's Text Scribbles stamp set.  I then stamped and fussy-cut the elements I wanted to add to the front.

I didn't want to lose all sense of the plus-sign design, so I outlined some of them in black. All of the women are from Tim Holtz's Photobooth Vintage Photo set and the words are from his Noble Gents set.

I heat-embossed the edges with silver embossing powder before I glued everything down.  I left the embossing a bit "texturey" rather than blending it completely.

At this point, you may notice that none of my original stamping is even visible.  Why bother stamping stuff that I end up painting over?  I've asked myself the same question.  I think it just gets the old gears turning-- I stamp something to start the process even if that stamping disappears later on.  To me, it's a starting point that is much less intimidating than white paper.

I do love images from the past and I hope these cards give a little bit of the spotlight to these women and what their stories may have been.

These are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous NOBLE GENT	Dina Wakley Text and Scribbles Cling Stamps	Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 Cling Stamps	Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Patchwork	Tim Holtz Photobooth Vintage Photos
Sizzix Tim Holtz Crosshatch frameworks die	Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Sizzix Big Shot	Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint Set	Ranger Archival Ink, Chrome Yellow
Ranger Archival Ink, Vibrant Fuchsia	Ranger Archival Ink, Vivid Chartreuse	Ranger Archival Aquamarine Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Ink Forget Me Not	Ranger Archival Violet Ink Pad
Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Simon Says Stamp Silver Embossing Powder	Ranger HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL

I'm excited to see how you add some shimmer and shine this week, so don't forget to upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  You'll inspire others and will be eligible to score that sweet $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!