A Ray Of Sunshine ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hello friends...

Today is the start of a brand new challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week's theme has been chosen by the very talented Anna-Karin and is called...NOT SO MELLOW YELLOW! So basically, whether we're talking about soft butterfy yellow to electric neon, the challenge is inspired by the colour yellow and I really hope you'll join us.

For my piece, I created an Artist's Journal. I absolutely adore stationery of all kind and from a very young age, I've bought every quirky notebook, journal and stationery set that has ever been sold but what can be more satisfying than making your own...and here it is!! As always, I hope you love it...

To begin with I took the WRMK chipboard and gave it a good coating of gesso, back and front. I then started the fun part of adding the paint, first I gave it a covering of Nougat Fresco Finish, mixed with a touch of Snowflake and then once that was dry, I started adding Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw Distress Paint along the top section of the front and back covers. I then gave it a good spritz of water and let that paint drip down. Once I was happy with those gorgeous drips, I then dry brushed some of the Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw paint all over the covers until the desired colour was achieved.

I now needed to add some interest onto the covers and for this I chose to use the Dot Fade, (my all time favourite Layering Stencil...so far) and the PaperArtsy Lin Brown Eclectica 3 stencil and applied Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste through the stencils onto random areas of the front cover but leaving a central section clear for the bird which I will stamp later. 

Once the paste was dry, I added some colour over the top with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then, used the same ink and applied it through the Dot Fade stencil onto the cover. I added gentle flicks of Black Soot Distress Paint, some torn Tissue Tape and a few inked lines before attaching the Idea-Ology corners onto the book cover to complete it.

Next, I stamped the swallow from the Bird Feather Stamp set by Tim Holtz into the central section that I left clear using black Archival Ink and then coloured it with Distress Marker Pens.

I then used the Honeycomb Frameworks Sizzix die from Tim Holtz, to die cut Grungepaper and painted the surface of the honeycomb with Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain Distress Paint before attaching it to the right hand side of my book cover.

To create the flower, I used the Tattered Florals die, coloured the petals with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and layered them together to create the dimensional bloom. I used an old snowflake punch from my collection to create the stamens in the flowers and added a pearl. I attached the flower onto the bottom corner of my cover, together with a piece of driftwood from my stash, some Crinkle Ribbon, dyed with Bundled Sage Distress Stain, foliage which was die cut from the Garden Greens die and painted with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Paints and last but not least, a couple of decorative pins. 

 

The next stage was to add a few Remnant Rubs from the Botanical set and I added these to the cover and also inside the cut out sections of the Frameworks die. One of which I added onto a piece of Grungeboard which was covered with Metal Foil tape.

To complete my cover, I added some Alpha Chip tiles and an Idea-Ology Arrow.

The final addition to creating the pages of this book was to stamp on the inside of the pages, which I'd cut to size from linen and watercolour paper and for this I used the Artist's Journal stamp from the Classic Stamp set by Tim Holtz.

So, now I've got all my pages and need to bind them together and for this, I used the The Cinch from We R Memory Keepers. As finishing touches, I added some twine onto the wires down the side and a Philosophy tag attached to a Swivel Clasp.

So, I really hope you've enjoyed the process of how I made this artist journal book and that you loved what I've shared today, just as much as I loved creating it. As always, for more great ideas and inspiration, then you need to look no further than the blog to see all the wonderful creations from my 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. Good luck....

Products used:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Die ~ Tattered Florals and Garden Greens

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps ~ Bird Feather and Classics 1

We R Memory Keepers The Cinch Book Binding Tool

We R Memory Keepers Chipboard ~ The Cinch Book Board

We R Memory Keepers ~ Binding Wires

PaperArtsy Lin Brown Eclectica 3 Stencil

Dot Fade Layering Stencil

Distress Marker Pens

Distress Stain ~ Bundled Sage

Distress Inks ~ Walnut Stain and Mustard Seed

Distress Paints ~ Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints ~ Nougat and Snowflake

Gesso

Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste

Ranger Archival Ink ~ Black

Idea-Ology ~ Alpha Chips, Crinkle Ribbon, Arrows, Botanical Remnant Rubs, Swivel Clasp, Philosophy Tags, Tissue Tape, Mini Corners

Grungepaper

Driftwood and decorative pins are from my stash

Thank you so much for all your visits today and I'll see you all very soon!!

Bye for now...love Emma xx