Discover Beauty ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (Anything Goes)

Hello everyone...

Another busy week has flown by and another weekend is over but that means it's the start of a new week, new adventures and a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, and this week ~ ANYTHING GOES!!

Yes, you can create anything you want and we can't wait to see what you make!

For my project, I created a little mini album inspired by my love of my garden. I absolutely adore making these little albums as keepsakes and as soon as I saw the new Layered Bee from Tim Holtz, I just knew that it would be perfect for this project and for once, it turned out exactly how I envisaged it in my head!!

So, here's how I made it...

To begin with, I took a couple of chipboard covers from We R Memory Keepers and covered both of these with some gorgeous burlap paper from DCWV. I gave the front cover a coat of Gesso and dried it with a heat tool before layering a piece of Tissue Wrap over the top, attaching it with Multi Medium. Once this layer was dry, I added a wash of Distress Paints and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I loved how the edges frayed a little to give that really shabby look to the cover. To complete the basic cover, I then added some Idea-Ology Mini Corners to the front cover.

Now it's time to decorate and for this, I started by using the Honeycomb Framework die and die cut a piece of Grungeboard. I painted the Grungeboard with Distress Paints to give the look of verdigris and then threaded a piece of hand dyed crinkle ribbon through and attached it to my cover, using the mini attacher. I added a bow and then then hung a monocle from a wire pin, which you will see that I added a little Remnant Rub too, then attached the monocle to the centre of the bow and added some decorative pins.

The next step was to create the bee, which is die cut from Grungeboard, then embossed with the Texture Fade. 

I used Distress Paints to colour the bee and then used Black Soot Distress Ink to highlight the embossed areas of the die cut.

I then added the bee to my album cover, slightly shaped the wings to give dimension.

The final touch for the cover was to add some Alpha Parts, Remnant Rubs and a Idea-Ology word band, which I added some colour to using Antique Bronze Distress Paint and attached using Prima Mini Brads.

For the inside, I used some of the papers from the Wallflower Paper Stash and distressed them around the edge using a sanding tool. 

To complete the album, I used DCWV woven paper cardstock to create my pages, kraft tags for me to journal on and added a Stencil Mark Clip to bookmark my pages. I then punched holes into the covers and added eyelets before holding the album together with book rings, aged with Antique Bronze Distress Paint.

So now, all I need to do is fill the album with my precious garden photos and I'm going to have such a wonderful time choosing which ones to feature.

I really hope you've enjoyed this week's tutorial and I've inspired you with my mini album. As always, if you're looking for some 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....

Thank you so much for all your visits today, I really do appreciate them all and love reading all your comments!!

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

 Tim Holtz Sizzix Layered Bee Bigz Die

Tim Holtz Sizzix Frameworks Die ~ Honeycomb

Distress Ink ~ Walnut Stain and Black Soot

Distress Paint ~ Mustard Seed, Picket Fence, Brushed Pewter, Black Soot, Evergreen Bough, Antique Bronze

Distress Stain ~ Shabby Shutters, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen used to hand dye the ribbon

Idea-Ology ~ Grungepaper, Signmaker Alpha Parts, Remnant Rubs, Stencil Mark Metal Clips, Observations Word Band, Wire Pin, Wallflower Paper Stash, Mini Corners and Crinkle Ribbon

Ranger Size 8 Manila Tags

DCWV Burlap Paper

DCWV Woven Paper Stack

WRM Keepers Chipboard Covers

WRM Keepers Eyelets

Prima Mini Brads Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets

Ranger Craft Sheet

Big Shot

Ranger Blending Tool