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

Grow & Bloom

I've used the Tattered Lace Doily Die this week for my DT piece for Creative Expressions.

I have added the doily to my background and then painted with antique linen and salty ocean Distress Paints. Machine stitching has been added for further interest.

White Embossing Paste has been added through Wendy Vecchi's 3 Fresh Flowers Stencil adding further dimension to my card. I also went around my flowres with a touch of charcoal to define the edges of the flower against my background. Black pen has been used around the Tattered Lace Doily die to highlight.

A Tim Holtz Enameled Tag has been added to the top along with a Remnant Rubs Word and touches of Distress Paint to blend with my backdrop.

From this picutre you can see the wonderful dimension from the paste and the fantastic detail from the Tattered Lace Doily Die.

Alpha Parts have been added for further dimension and interest.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

NOEL

I've used the SNOWY WOODS plate from Artistic Outpost this week to get a head start on my Christmas cards.

The background of my card has been embossed and sanded to highlight the texture and I have added gilding wax to the edges.

I die cut three stars from white card and coloured with Distress Inks broken china, chipped sapphire and touches of brushed pewter Distress Stain.

Wooden stars have been added for touches of dimension and texture and I have added touches of white to the images with a white pencil crayon. I have die cut a poinsettia from white card and added to the top of my card for further interest.

"joyeux noel" has been added to the smaller star again colouring with Distress Inks and brushed pewter Distress Stain.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

TIME TO CELEBRATE

Nearly three years ago Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog put out the call for a Design Team for an all new challenge blog. To celebrate, we are having a birthday inspired challenge. From balloons to cake, parties in general to birthdays in particular. The theme is one of celebration and we would love you to join in the fun.

I decided that the celebrate challenge was not only the perfect time to celebrate Simon Says Stamp and Show birthday but the ideal opportunity to create a piece for my teenage Nephew's birthday. The sentiment "Time To Celebrate" kept running through my mind and my idea was born, combining the time element with the Weathered Clock die and the celebration element with the Tim Holtz Birthday Sketch stamp. I also love to add texture to my pieces and Wendy Vecchi's White Embossing Paste came to my aid. This piece was a joy to create!

I began my canvas by applying Embossing Paste through the Crafter's Workshop Mini Tile Texture template.

I die cut six Weathered Clocks from thick white card.

Added hardware findings to the top of the canvas cut from greyboard for added dimension.

Colour each of the Weathered Clocks with salty ocean Distress Ink.

On the top Weathered Clock I also blended a touch of mowed lawn Distress Ink along with the salty ocean. Adhere all the Weathered Clocks together, giving wonderful dimension to the clock. Decide on the placement of the clock and then die cut "TIME TO CELEBRATE" from greyboard using the Block Talk Alphabet and adhere to the canvas. Remove the clock and then paint the canvas.

Apply salty ocean and mowed lawn Distress Ink to a non stick craft sheet and spritz with water.

Mop of the beads of ink with white card, continue this process until you are happy with the coverage and then stamp the Birthday Sketch image onto the card using black Archival Ink and cut out.

Apply Clear Rock Candy to the Weathered Clock, add a good thick coat.

Spritz the canvas with water and then paint with mowed lawn and salty ocean Distress Paints. Dry the paint with a heat tool to set and then apply more paint if necessary.

I would normally recomment a melt pot for melting Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, however, on this occasion as I was only adding Ultra Thick to one piece I melted my enamel into an aluminium foil cake dish.

Add the hot enamel to the bottle cap, I used tweezers to hold the HOT dish.

I coloured the bottle cap with black soot and salty ocean Distress Paint so that it blended with my canvas.

I added the cake image to the centre of my clock adding the clock fingers to the centre of the cake. I also added a metal tag again painted with Distress Paints and added celebrate using label letters. For added interest and texture I also included some tiny clock parts which I coloured with Treasure Silver wax.

I added the wax over all the raised areas to highlight and also added a hitch fastener and ball chain, again to make my canvas more tactile. To raise the cake away from the Weathered Clock I added a piece of wood to the back of the cake painted with Distress Paint.

Treasure Silver wax has also been added to all the lettering adding a further layer of interest to my canvas.

To add definition to my canvas I added black soot Distress Paint to all the edges.

The Clear Rock Candy also adds wonderful texture to my Weathered Clock.

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:

Tim Holtz Alterations - Weathered Clock Die, Hardware Findings, Block Talk Alphabet
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Label Letters, Hitch Fasteners, Ball Chain
Tim Holtz Birthday Sketch Stamp
Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste
Crafter's Workshop Mini Tile Texture Template
Distress Inks - Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean
Distress Paint - Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean , Black Soot
Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy
Ink Blending Tool
Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Claudine Hellmuth Multi Matt Medium
Heat Tool
Clear Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel
Melt Pot
Bottle Cap
Prima Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets
Prima Flowers Clock Parts Tiny Junkyard Findings
Paper Artsy Treasure Silver Wax









 

WISH

For this weeks DT creation for Creative Expressions I have used Royal Gold Texture Paste and the Couture Creations Tattered Lace Doily Die.

The background card has been coloured with antique linen and frayed burlap Distress Paint.

The doily is die cut from wax paper which I had used for cutting all my die cut doily's so rather than waste the wax paper die cut I used it here in the background prior to painting with the Distress Paint.

I added the Royal Gold Texture Paste through Wendy Vecchi's Lovely Leaves Stencil and the Wildflowers and Bird stencil. A touch of colour has been added to the paste using black soot Distress Ink.

A dimensional flower has been added to the top of the card, coloured with walnut stain and black soot Distress Inks.  I have also added birds on a wire, again coloured with Distress Paint and black soot added to the edges of each bird.

The doily die cut has been coloured with Cast Bronze and Golden Light Gilding Waxes to highlight all the ornate detail. I have also added WISH using Alpha Parts.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy the weekend. Tracy x x