Read All About It

Our challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is to use text in your art, that could be a favourite text stamp, a book you would like to alter or use a book as your inspiration or even a journal page. This week our challenge is all about words; play and have fun!

We also have something very special for you this week, it's also time for the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Blog Hop. 

"Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. Over the past 10 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a “STAMPtember” ™ event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media and many forms of altering and expressing art".

So an exciting week ahead and a fantastic way to kick off the STAMPtember ™  festivities with a Design Team Blog Hop. You also have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate for leaving a comment on my blog and entering this weeks challenge. Winners will be announced at 8am on September 12th.

I am celebrating  STAMPtember ™  with an altered book.  I was inspired by an old book which is destined to become an anniversary card for my husband.

I love altering books and creating a niche in the centre, the depth is fabulous and it creates so much interest; although my fingers were very stiff once I had torn my way through all the pages. Texture is something I always love to add to my creative pieces, I feel it adds so much more to a project and I love that my creation is so tactile.  Add into the mix plenty of Gesso and Claudine Hellmuth sky blue acrylic paint, along with vintage photo Distress Ink and my background is good to go.

I added plenty of Gesso in the background using a palette knife, spreading quite thickly. Once dry I applied a little sky blue paint rubbing a little vintage photo ink over the raised areas. To break up the blue a little I added rusty looking elements including my bird cut from white card using the caged bird die and embossing with Antiquities rust embossing powder. Fly has been added to the bird's wing from the Chitchat stickers to give a little more interest.

I added a heart to my niche cut from corrugated card and machine stitched for that hand made feel, adding a little coiled rusty wire for dimension. Chitchat stickers have been added along with two small rusty hearts. I added DREAM to memo pins adhered with Glossy Accents.

I cut bunting from white card, stamped each piece with the bunting acrylic stamp from Jenni Bowlin, using the dots on the stamp rather than the whole image to add dots to my smaller bunting to fit the size of my book a little better. Each piece of bunting was also embossed around the edges with the rust embossing powder. For further dimension I also added two bird veneers, coloured with vintage photo ink.

To add the ultimate dimension I included a huge dimensional flower cut using the tattered florals die, cut from Glassine paper and scrunching in my hands to give that great dimension.

Please hop to my teammates' blogs, each of them has a special handmade work of art to share with you and also more prizes along the way! Enter the "Read All About It" challenge and be sure to use a STAMP in your artwork and you could be the lucky winner of our GRAND PRIZE of $100 Simon Says Stamp SHOPPING SPREE!

If you arrived here from Terry's blog you are on the right track. I have also included a full list for the Blog Hop should you get lost along the way.

• Simon Says Stamp Blog
• Anna-Karin Evaldsson
• Ashli Oliver  
• Candy Colwell 
• May Flaum
• Sandra Mouwen 
• Sarah Engels-Greer
• Suzanne Czosek
• Terry
• Tracy Evans (ME)
  Final stop at the challenge blog: http://www.simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting! The next stop in the Simon Says STAMPtember ™  Blog Hop is http://www.simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/  If while hopping, you encounter a broken link, you can go back to the beginning with links to everyone who is participating in the hop.

Enjoy the BLOG HOP! Tracy x x

Products Used:

Claudine Hellmuth Gesso
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint - Sky Blue
Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Antiquities Rust Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Chitchat Stickers, Memo Pins, Glassine
Wire
Glossy Accents
Jenni Bowlin Bunting Clear Rubber Stamp
Studio Calico Bird Veneers
Tim Holtz Alterations Dies - Tattered Florals