FLOWERS ARE PROOF THAT MIRACLES ARE REAL

From the long days of summer to a beautiful sunset, butter to golden yellow hues, Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog challenge this week is an ode to sunshine. We are all embracing the summer season this week and we would love you to join in the fun.

When I think of summer I always think of my garden; I spend many hours looking around my garden at flowers, birds, butterflies and nature in general. Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar Distress Paints give a wonderful summery feel to my piece and really lift my spirits. Flowers, birds, sunshine, nature all capture summer for me, created here with Wendy Vecchi's From Nature, Bugs and Butterflies and Wildflowers Art Parts. All these capture the essence of summer in my garden, my own little piece of paradise.

Inspiration began with Wendy Vecchi's Arched Frames Art Part.

I applied white embossing paste through the Wildflowers stencil, adding flowers to both sides of the Arched Frame.

Paint the Arched Frame with a coat of Gesso.

Cut a piece of cardstock to fit the central aperture and colour with picked raspberry and spiced marmalade distress inks, applying the inks to a non-stick craft sheet, spritzing with water and then mopping up the beads of ink with the card. Blend spiced marmalade Distress Ink around the edges of the card and then flick with water, leave for a few seconds and then dab with kitchen towel.

Paint the Arched Frame with Distress Paints and then apply Treasure Silver wax to the raised areas to highlight.

Paint all the Art Parts with Gesso and then paint with Distress Paints. I applied Distress Paints to my non-stick craft sheet, spritzed with water and then dabbed each piece into the paint and dried with my heat tool.

Melt Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel into a metal dish (I used a cake dish) or use your melt pot. I used this option just for quickness as I was only creating one piece.

Place the wallpaper background stamp uppermost onto a flat surface, place a metal heart cutter onto the stamp and pour the hot enamel into the cutter. Allow to cool slightly and then remove from the stamp.

Highlight the texture on the UTEE piece with Treasure Silver wax.

Colour all the Art Parts with Distress Paints.

Using the background stamp from the Classics 9 stamp set stamp randomly onto the the Art Part pieces. Do not add the stamp to an acrylic block use the stamp as is, this gives a more random effect.

Stamping with coffee Archival Ink adds a subtle touch of stamping to the dimensional pieces.

Apply silver Paint Dabber to the edges of all the Art Part pieces. Add twine so that the heart appears to be dangling from the birds beak.

Add Chitchat stickers to the flower stem for added interest, colouring the edges with spiced marmalade Distress Ink.

I have also added a touch of stamping to the outside of the frame.

I added a Sentiment Spot Art Part to the top of my frame stamped with the sentiment from the Sentimental Art stamp set using black Archival Ink. I also added a butterfly, adding a pen nib for added dimension, colouring with black soot Distress Paint.

To complete I added a small coordinated button threaded with twin for the bird's eye along with more Chitchat stickers for added interest.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.

 Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x 

 Products Used:

Wendy Vecchi Art Parts From Nature
Wendy Vecchi Art Parts Bugs and Butterflies
Wendy Vecchi Art Parts Wildflowers
Wendy Vecchi Art Parts Arched Frames
Wendy Vecchio Art Parts Sentiment Spots
Wendy Vecchi Sentimental Art Stamp Set
Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste
Wendy Vecchi Stencils For Art Wildflowers and A Bird

Tim Holtz Wallpaper and Wood Stamp Set
Tim Holtz Classics 9 Stamp Set
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Seasonal Chitchat Stickers, Pen Nibs
Claudine Hellmuth Gesso
Distress Paints - Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Spun Sugar, Forest Moss, Black Soot
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade
Archival Inks - Coffee, Black
Silver Paint Dabber
Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Ink Blending Tool
PaperArtsy Treasure Silver Gilding Wax
Heat Tool
Black Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel
Melt Pot
Twine