Lost In Paradise...

Hello friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our thoughts are turning to summer and our theme is called Let's Take A Vacation ~ as always, we would love you to join in and play along and we can't wait to see how you will interpret the challenge!

For my project, I thought of many different ways that I could interpret this challenge, there were planes, trains and automobiles or maybe a scrapbook layout of a previous holiday but the one thing that was really calling me and as a stationery lover and someone who can never have too many notebooks ~ I decided to create a travel journal, ready to fill with stories of adventures and wonderful memories. I loved the idea of old maps and wanted to incorporate these into my cover, so used one of the papers from the Memoranda Paper Stash to create rolls of maps that I layered underneath my 3D flowers and just loved how they look and the depth they created!

 

To begin with I primed the cover of my notebook with a coat of gesso and allowed the cover to dry thoroughly. Once dry, I started to layer my paints, starting with a blend of Antique Linen and Old Paper. I then dried the surface before adding the next layer of Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone, again blending the paints together using a semi dry baby wipe. I heat dried the surface before adding some depth to the paint using the same colours of Distress Crayons.

Once I was happy with the colour, I added some torn Tissue Tape to the central area of my book and then applied a small amount of gesso which I just scraped over the top of the paints and tape. I outlined the edges of the tape using the Black Soot Distress Crayon, blended it out with my finger to soften the harshness and then applied some Grit Paste through a combination of the Industrial, Speckles and Screwed Layering Stencil. 

Once the paste was dry, I dry brushed over the top with some Tumbled Glass Paint, allowed it to dry before using the Pumice Stone Crayon to lightly kissing the top of the paste, blending it out with my finger. To complete the background, I added some Black Soot Paint Splatters and used the Calligraphy stamp from the Etcetera set to randomly stamp onto areas of the background.

Finally I added some Black Soot Crayon around the outside edges and some Gold Rush paint scratches.

I can now set the book aside and move onto the map rolls and the flowers ~ for the paper rolls, I chose the 'map' paper from the Memoranda paper stash and cut 6 panels to measure approx 5 x 16cm.  I then misted the paper with water to break down the fibres before curling it around a pencil, securing the ends with a line of glue to hold it into place. Cut one of the rolls in half to create 7 rolls in total and then I actually wanted all different sizes, so I cut the rolls to give me the various heights. Tear both ends of each map roll to create a more vintage effect and then to complete the rolls I added a touch of Rich Copper Alchemy Wax around the edges.

I attached my rolls to the the cover of my book using Collage Medium to hold them in place and added a few Travel themed Snippet Ephemera pieces around them, again securing the ephemera with Collage Medium.

For the flowers, I wanted three flowers, with a double layer of the larger petals and three palm fronds and cut enough pieces from card to make these up. Taking the petals, I painted each petal with Wild Fuchsia Acrylic Paint from Prima. The reason I wanted to paint them was because I wanted them to be quite robust and the layer of paint will create this for me. Whilst the pink paint is slightly tacky to touch, I then added a small amount of Spiced Marmalade Distress Paint over the top, just to take some of the pink away and create a real slice of paradise! I allowed them to dry and then dry brushed the ends of the petals with Gold Rush Alchemy Paint. 

Layer the flowers to create dimensional blooms and then colouring the stamen with Black Soot Distress Paint, attach to the centre by adding a small, domed amount of Glossy Accents. Then sprinkle black micro beads over the top and allow to dry. Once each flower is dry, you can tap away the excess beads.

Colour the fronds with Twisted Citron and Peeled Paint Distress Paints and then ink the edges with a little Potting Soil Archival Ink. I used a hot glue gun to attach the flowers and fronds over the top of some cut cheesecloth which I stained with Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stains.

For all the metal pieces that I used to embellish my project, I coloured them with a combination of Gold Rush and Steampunk Copper Paints, to create a lovely rusty finish. I added a hitch fastener and hung the Plane Souvenir Adornment from it...

...and then clipped a hinge clip to the side of the book.

I then stuck all my Stars Adornments around the central section, adding some paint around them to create the appearance they have gone rusty on the paper.

Finally, I added a metallic word sticker, "Travel" and attached the Typography Findings and a singular star to spell out the word "Jour*al" using Collage Medium. 

I painted each of the letters in a combination of Light Patina and Blue Gold Paint and then added the 'rusty' elements over the top with the Gold Rush and Steampunk Copper Paints.

I really hope you love the finished book cover and that you've been inspired by some of the ideas the I've used! Of course, all these ideas can be used individually on any given project, the flowers would look wonderful on a card and the maps would look great on a scrapbook layout...

As always, if you do need any further inspiration, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for stopping by today and see you again very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Die: Tropical
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamps: Etcetera

Distress Paints: Antique Linen, Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Tumbled Glass, Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron
Distress Spray Stains: Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone
Distress Marker Pen: Black Soot
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Screwed, Speckles, Industrial 
Distress Crayons: Set 3, Set 4, Set 5
Tim Holtz idea-ology: Star Adornments, Hinge Clip, Souvenir Adornments, Hitch Fastener, Typography Findings, Symphony Tissue Tape, Metallic Stickers, Snippets
Mediums: Collage Medium, Glossy Accents, Grit Paste, Jet Black Archival Ink, Gesso
Prima Marketing Acrylic Paints: Gold Rush, Steampunk Copper, Wild Fuschia, Light Patina, Blue Gold
Black Micro Beads
Rich Copper Alchemy Wax
Surfaces: Memoranda Paper Stash

Ranger Craft Sheet

Big Shot

Heat Gun
Notebook and cheesecloth from my own stash