Tuesday, August 18, 2026

The Rich Stuff - Halloween Idea-ology

 Inspired by a favorite childhood movie, The Goonies, where they go off in search of the rich stuff to save the Goondocks, I made this pirate treasure Display Dome for the Tim Holtz Halloween Idea-ology release. 
In 2023 I made a large pirate inspired, four-sided vignette piece. that you can see called Avast Me Hearties. It was a blast to make! However, since 2023, I have wanted to break that piece down into smaller, more manageable pirate inspired scenes. Thus my trio of domes for this Tim Holtz release. I am going to share these domes one at a time so they are more manageable. 

I did film myself making the domes so I have a video tutorial of each one, however, there are a few things I missed when filming because my phone either ran out of battery or storage. Hahahaha! But you get most of it, so I hope that what I did capture is helpful. 

One last thing, as we move along with Idea-ology video tutorials again, they will always be longer than most other tutorials. These projects take anywhere from a couple of days to a week in my studio and I try to edit them down so you see the important bits, but don't end up sitting for a marathon tutorial either. I would really appreciate if you would like and comment on my videos on YouTube. This really helps me as these free video tutorials take a lot of time to make. Thank you so much.

This blog is not a tutorial. I will post close ups and still photos of each piece so you can see the details. I always find that helpful when I am making. Sometimes an instructor will think their directions are clear but they just don't click with others. So photos will often be beneficial as you can see details and it will help it make sense.










 Thank you for stopping by. I hope the video and the still photos help inspire to make your own version of the rich stuff!

Have a creative day,

Tami

Below are my affiliate links: I'm incredibly grateful to each of you who shop through my links. I get a small percentage when you shop at no extra cost to you, and I truly appreciate your support! 

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop - Anatomy Chart Dies

 

Hello and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp blog Hop for the Halloween Coordinating dies with Tim Holtz Stamps. I hope you are ready for a ton of spooky fun and inspiration today.

If you started the hop at the Simon Says Stamp blog, then you just came from Jean Doeringsfeld and you will be going to Barb Engler

next. But I hope you will stick around to check out my card.

I chose to use the Anatomy Chart stamps and dies for this card.
I gathered my supplies that are listed at the end of this blog with my affiliate links.
I began by coloring so Distress Mixed Media Heavystock with Old Paper and Antique Linen Distress Sprays.
Next I cut a few pieces of Idea-ology Halloween Backdrops into A2 sized pieces and colored them with Aged Mahogany Distress Spray Stain and dried. I chose my favorite to be the background for todays card.
This is what they looked like after I had sprayed them with the Aged Mahogany and splattered them with Antique Linen Dsitress Spritz.
Next I stamped the skull and femur bones onto the paper I stained earlier with Old Paper and Antique Linen. I stamped the images in Distress Archival Ground Espresso.
Once the images were stamped and dried I colored them with a bit of Frayed Burlap and Old Paper Distress Inks with a water brush.
I decided the Antique Linen Spritz splatter I had done on the background wasn't gold enough for me, so I reached for my Pawsitively Gold Splatter from Simon Says Stamp and splattered with it and it was perfect! Then I machine stitched around the outside of the backdrop with gold metallic thread.
Before putting the backdrop on a card I wanted more gold, so I grabbed some gold cardstock and cut a piece on my Tonic Deckle Trimmer at 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 This gave the smallest little gold deckle mat around my backdrop that was cut to 5 1/4 x 4
To assemble the card I reached for my Pawsitievely glue and foam squares from Simon Says Stamp.
To finish it off I stamped a Halloween Tiny Text sentiment and cut it out with one of the Tiny Text Coordinating Dies. I also added a few little gold coins I made by cutting some small pieces of chipboard with a large hole punch and painting them with gold paint. I thought they went well with the sentiment.
Here you can see the dimension that the coordinating dies add. I made a card similar to this when these stamps were first released and I had to hand cut them all out. It wasn't fun, but die cutting them this time was a breeze! I'm so excited to have dies for these stamps now!

 For this sentiment I cut it out with a smaller die because I only wanted part of the Tiny Text sentiment for this card. I wanted it to suggest that all he ever loved was gold.

 

I don't know that this would be a card you would send to just anyone, but if you know someone who likes pirates or if you wanted to frame this and make a little decor piece out of it that would be great too!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop and get a lot of great inspiration for using these new dies. 

Have a creative day,

Tami

 

And here is a quick reminder of today's hop order:

 

Below are my affiliate links to the products I used for today's card.

 

Friday, August 7, 2026

Leaf Prints 2 Thank You Cards - Simon Says Stamp Dies

Exciting news! Simon Says Stamp has just released a new set of Halloween dies that coordinate with six Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Halloween stamp sets. These dies are exclusive to Simon Says Stamp. 
Today I am sharing a set of four bar thank you cards made with the Leaf Prints 2 stamps and coordinating dies. These little cards and envelopes can be boxed or tied together and gifted as a set. Who wouldn’t love to receive a box of beautiful handmade thank you cards? 





Thanks so much for looking at this set of Thank You Cards. I hope it inspires you to want to make a quick set of cards for a gift or a donation. These dies make it so much faster than fussy cutting everything and I love that the Simple Sayings sentiment fit on the Tiny Text die! How great is that?

Have a creative day,

Tami

Below are my affiliate links to the products I used for these cards as well as the other dies. 

Sunday, August 2, 2026

Boo to You - Whimsy Stamps

 

Hey Makers! It's the atart of a new Halloween season at Whimsy Stamps! For my first spooky make I ended up with two cards from the same design. It is amazing how just changing up the color scheme and papers really makes the card feel completely different!

https://youtu.be/LrNni0zFA1I 

Of course I made a process video as I was muddling through the design on this one. 

This first card uses the Wonky Frame 4 and papers from the Haunted Graveyards 6x6 paper pack. 
The ghosts and sentiment are from the Boo Die Set. 
I cut the ghosts and the Boo shadow from vellum and ran them through my Xyron
The Xyron makes them stick without the squiggely glue lines showing through.
I finished the sentiment with part of a phrase stamped from the You're My Jolly sentiment set.
This second card was a bit out of my Halloween wheel-house. I never reach for pink for Halloween but I had the Pink Autumn and Pink Plaid paper packs from Whimsy so I decided to give it a go.
The pink plaid ghosts are a fun, whimsical addition to this card.
I wanted to frame to be dark brown so I colored kraft paper with Scorched Timber Distress Stain and stamped the Farmhouse Shiplap Background stamp in Black Soot Archival. 
Then added some brown sequin to finish it. 

Thank you for stopping by to see the details of these simple cards as I kick off the Halloween season with Whimsy Stamps. I hope you will follow along from August 1st to October 31st with the team. 

Have a vreative Day!

Tami

 

Below are my affiliate links to the products I used to make today's cards. 

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Distress Micro Glaze Embossed Resist Technique

Hello Makers! I am excited to be able to share this technique with you. I have the written instructions and step-out photos on the Ranger Ink Blog here

 


But of course I also made a video tutorial for those who find it easier to watch a technique. 

Below are just some close up photos of the cards I made with this technique and at the very end is a list of the products I used with my affiliate links. 
Thank you so much for looking! 
Tami
 
Below are my affiliate links for the products I used in this tutorial.