Blessed

Hi everyone!

Today, I'm sharing a project that I've made for the Tim Holtz Media Team, using a combination of stamps, dies and stencils to create a layered, dimensional project with plenty of texture, and all inspired by one of my favourite seasons ~ autumn! For me, there's nothing better than when the leaves start changing from the fleshy green of summer to the rich and vibrant colours of autumn and I wanted to encapsulate this in my seasonal wallhanging.

To begin with, I wanted this piece to be quite rustic and earthy in it's appearance, so for the background I used some corrugated card that I ripped from the side of a box and cut the card to measure, 5.25" x 8". I peeled away random areas of the top section of card to reveal some of the corrugation before painting it with a layer of Gesso and leaving to dry.

Once the paint was dry, I then added just a faint wash of colour over the top using Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Paint.

You can leave the paint to dry, or if you're like me and eager to move onto the next stage, then you can use a heat tool. I then inked up the Cracks stamp with black Archival Ink and stamped over the top of the painted area of corrugated card to give a crackled effect.

You can set this aside whilst you move onto the next stage and for this, I wanted to add even more texture to the piece and started this process by taking a size 8 Manila tag and adding a wash of Antique Linen Distress Stain over the top. I misted the tag with water to soften the colour and then heat dried it.

To add the woodgrain effect onto the tag, I used the Woodgrain Layering Stencil, Texture Paste and Walnut Stain Distress Paint. I placed the Layering Stencil over the top of my tag and taped it into position so that it wouldn't move around when I was applying the paste.

Using a palette knife, I took a small amount of paste and mixed this with some Distress Paint. At this stage, less is more and if at first, you're not happy with colour then you can always add more paint until you achieve a rich dark chocolate brown ~ which is exactly what I did. I applied the coloured texture paste through the stencil, using my palette knife and once the tag was evenly covered, I carefully removed the stencil and placed it in warm soapy water immediately. You do need to make sure that you remove the paste straightaway before it sets on your stencil. Once the paste is completely dry, I pounced some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink over the top of the tag and then gave the entire surface a spritz of Biscotti Perfect Pearls to give the most wonderful shimmery effect.

For the next step, stamp the pumpkin from the Halloween Blueprints 2 stamp set onto watercolour card and using Distress Marker Pens and a waterbrush, water-coloured the image, blending the colours together to give light and shade.

Cut around the outline of the pumpkin and set aside.

Using the Autumn Gatherings die, die cut a selection of leaves and twigs using various Autumnal colours of Core'dinations cardstock.

Sandpaper each of the tiny leaves and ink the edges before applying a layer of Distress Clear Rock Candy Crackle paint over the top. You only need to crackle a handful of leaves, not all of them as it's nice to give a difference in texture between the plain and crackled. Leave the leaves to crackle.

Whilst waiting for the cracks to appear, die cut a piece of chipboard using the Chevron Frameworks die and paint with Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress Paint. Set aside.

Cut a strip of Crinkle Ribbon and add small amounts of Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw Distress Stain to your craft sheet. Mist the stain with water and add the ribbon to the stain to pick up all the colour.

Scrunch up the ribbon tightly in your hand and gently heat dry. Thread the ribbon through the hole in the top of your textured tag and tie into a bow.

Attach the tag to the painted corrugated card background. Attach the hand painted pumpkin at the bottom of your tag, placing it in the centre using foam pads for dimension. Arrange and attach some of the leaves around the pumpkin.

Take the Chevron Framework and place this over the top of your pumpkin and leaves arrangement, attaching it with a hot glue gun. Tuck the remainder of the leaves into the open lattice work and attach them. At this stage, I also added some moss and cheesecloth from my stash.

I then added a piece of Ephemera from the Collectables pack and tucked this behind the pumpkin.

Stamp the "Blessed" hashtag wording from the Hashtag set onto a piece of kraft card, ink the edges and doodle a border around the outside using a white gel pen. Attach the kraft card to a memo pin and tuck the pin into the leaf arrangement.

To complete the wallhanging, I added some Remnant Rubs from the Botanical set and applied these directly onto the corrugated card background. I then attached an enameled tag to the bow, using a wire pin and added a further Remnant Rub.

At this stage, I also started to tear and roll back some more of the card, to give a really distressed feel to the project.

The main part of this project is now complete but I felt it needed one last thing and as I looked across at the remainder of the torn box, I decided to tear another piece of corrugated card from the side but this time I didn't cut straight edges, I just left it completely natural looking ~ I just love how the edges aren't even, giving the whole project another dimension and another detail. I attached the decorated panel to the jagged edged corrugated card, rolling back the card on the base section, curling it around my panel to give even more detail.

To complete the wallhanging section, I attached some jump rings to a couple of Hinge Clips that I coated with Picket Fence Distress Paint and clipped these to the top of my project, before threading a bamboo stick through the holes and tying a piece of jute string to create the hanger.

And there you go...

My seasonal wallhanging that I hope will inspire you to create one of your own and have as much fun creating as I did making this!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I look forward to hearing all your comments.

See you very soon ~ Emma xx

Supply List:

Stamps: Halloween Blueprint 2, Hashtags, Cracks and Specks

Sizzix Alterations Dies: Autumn Gatherings Decorative Strip Die, Chevron Frameworks Die

Paint: Distress Paints: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Pumice Stone, Picket Fence, Walnut Stain; Rock Candy Crackle Paint; Gesso

Embellishments: Idea-Ology Enameled Tag, Wire Pin, Memo Pin, Thrift Shop Ephemera Pack, Botanical Remnant Rubs, Crinkle Ribbon, Hinge Clips, Jump Rings, Jute String.

Ink and Stains: Walnut Stain Distress Ink; Barn Door, Scattered Straw, Antique Linen and Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain; Black Archival Ink

Medium: Ranger Multi Medium; Ranger Texture Paste; Distress Marker Pens: Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint

Layering Stencil: Woodgrain

Surfaces: Manila Tag, Kraft Card, Core'dinations Ranger Distress Collection

Tools: Vagabond, Sanding Grip

Added supplies from my own stash: Chipboard, Cheesecloth and Moss