THIS IS LIFE......

Whether you go acrylic or water, gesso or colourful, base layer or finishing touch, we all love a bit of paint in our creations! From stenciling to backgrounds there are so many techniques and so much that can be done with paint. The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge would love to see how you add paint to your designs this week.

This weeks creation is a card I created for my husbands birthday; he spends a great deal of time in London working and I thought the London Sights stamp was perfect for his birthday card. I love using the Distress Paints, perfect for creating mixed media backgrounds and this week I am showcasing Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Paints.

I applied a small amount of Walnut Stain Distress Paint to my non-stick craft sheet and then spritzed with water.

I mopped up the paint with my card stock and also spritzed the paint once again to dilute the colour further.

I love the grungy background this creates! I also cut a further panel for stamping and again coloured in the same way.

With the panel I cut for stamping I also added a further layer of interest by applying Walnut Stain Distress Ink through the Speckles Layering Stencil.

I stamped my focal image onto the panel and added a monocle for further interest, colouring the edges with Black Soot Distress Paint. The Distress Paint is perfect for colouring embellishments. I also dipped the top from the Distress Paint into the Black Soot Distress Paint and added random circles around the background.

I added THIS IS LIFE and an arrow from the Framed Alpha Parts to add dimension to my design. THIS IS LIFE is perfect for my husband's birthday card as working in London is part of his everyday life.

I tucked two smaller tags behind the focal image which I die cut from white card using the Tiny Tabs and Tags die. I added stamping to the smaller tags, adding part of the Union Jack Flag image and Big Ben to the tags, stamping the flag in Vermillion Archival Ink and Big Ben in Black Archival Ink. I also included Alpha Parts numbers to my design.

I stamped LONDON with Vermillion Archival Ink, coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and distressed all the edges on all my stamped pieces to add to the aged feel. I also included some Life Quotes Remnant Rubs for further interest. Background stamping has also been added using the background stamp from the Classics 9 stamp set and Vermillion Archival Ink.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and take a look at my fellow team members artwork, 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 and leaving a comment, much appreciated. Tracy x x

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous London Sights Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Classics 9 Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Speckles Layering Stencil

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Monocles

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Framed Alpha Parts

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Life Quotes Remnant Rubs

Tim Holtz Tiny Tabs and Tags Die

Walnut Stain Distress Paint

Black Soot Distress Paint 

Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Vermillion Archival Ink

Black Archival Ink

Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Tonic Paper Distresser