Home Is Where The Heart Is ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome to our brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. This week is all about "H Is For..." and with Valentine's Day next week, our minds turn to hearts but what else could this letter inspire in your crafting this week? From hexagons to heat embossing, Hero Arts to Heidi Swapp ~ there are plenty of ways to let this week's letter challenge inspire you!

For my canvas wallhanging, which was all about layering and dimension ~ I actually incorporated two H's and created a piece called "Home Is Where The Heart Is" because as Dorothy once said, there really is no place like home!

To begin with, I started out with an 8" x 8" canvas and painted the background with various colours of Distress Paint including Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Broken China, Peeled Paint and Black Soot and blended the paints together to give this dragged effect on my canvas. I then added gesso over the top using a discarded credit card to drag the paint down the canvas. I thoroughly dried my background before adding splashes of gesso, Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot Distress Paint to complete the background.

For the next stage I wanted to create a large heart and for this, I used Tim Holtz's Petal Drop die, die cutting two of the shapes from chipboard. I joined the Petal Drops together to form the heart shape and then covered the surface with Tissue Wrap, adhered with Multi Medium, before painting the joined heart with Festive Berries and Fired Brick Distress Paint, adding a touch of Black Soot around the edges to give a worn, aged look. 

Once the paint was dry, I attached the heart to my background, together with some torn Tissue Tape. At this stage so that I got the positioning correct for the layered pieces that I would be adding, I laid down some painted Letterpress Blocks and a piece of Ephemera over the top of my canvas. These will later be attached.

For the next stage of the canvas, I wanted to create the main focal point which will be the compass and heart and to begin with I used the Cameo Die to die cut a piece of chipboard. I painted the chipboard with a layer of gesso and then applied Antique Linen over the top, before heat drying it. When completely dry, I then stamped the image of the compass onto the centre of the die cut image. I stamped a second section of the compass image onto watercolour card, painted it with Distress Marker Pens and used the die in the pack to die cut this section. I layered this over the top of the image on the chipboard, using foam pads to add height.

For the smaller heart, I painted a chipboard heart, die cut using the Mini Hearts Movers and Shapers die and then applied a layer of Multi Medium over the top before covering with Distress Glitter. 

When the glitter has set, attach a Sprocket Gear to the centre of the glittered heart and using foam pads, attach to the centre of your compass. Add small touches of Distress Paint around the edge of the die cut shape to give a distressed and aged look to the piece.

Attach a Label Pull on the right of this completed section and add a Chit Chat sticker.

Using foam pads, adhere this section into place, layering it over the top of the background, the ephemera piece and the large heart.

Attach the Letterpress Blocks, which were previously painted with Broken China and Peeled Paint Distress Paints and stick these into place using a strong adhesive or hot glue and then add Chit Chat stickers to create the Home Is Where The Heart Is wording. 

As you can see from the photographs, I staggered my words across the canvas, so that it started with the Letterpress Blocks and followed through with Chit Chat stickers, to end with the blocks and the word, "is".

Finally, I added an Adornment Arrow, painted with Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint...

...more Ephemera pieces and some old buttons from my stash before adding Remnant Rubs onto the background.

And that completes my canvas, which I hope you will love, just as much as I loved creating it and sharing it with you all!

Don't forget that if you're looking for some more great ideas and inspiration for this challenge, then you need to look no further than the 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. Good luck....

Thank you so much for all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Distress Paint:  Black Soot, Broken China, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen and Antiqued Bronze, Fired Brick, Festive Berries

Sizzix Dies: Compass Blueprint Wafer Thin Die and Stamp Set, Cameo Bigz Die, Petal Drop Die, Mini Hearts Movers & Shapers

Mediums: Gesso

Inks: Jet Black Archival Ink

Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Ranger Ink Multi Medium

Distress Marker Pens

Idea-Ology ~ Ephemera Pack Expedition, Ephemera Pack Thrift Shop, Arrow Adornments, Sprocket Gears, Label Pulls, Letterpress, Chit Chat Stickers, Words Remnant Rubs

Surfaces: Symphony Tissue Tape, Postale Tissue Wrap, Watercolor Card

Ranger Craft Sheet

Hot Glue Gun, Foam Pads, Paint Brushes

Canvas board, chipboard and buttons from my own collection