Citrus With A Twist ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hi everyone!

It's time for a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week we challenge you to use ~ Citrus With A Twist!

We are thinking all things citrus, neon and fresh. From orange to bright fresh colours, we want to see how you'll use citron...with your own twist!

For my project, I chose to make a card packed full of technique and dimension and focused on Tim Holtz's Twisted Citron colour, combining it with grey and black ~ I love this combination and LOVE how the beautiful lime green colour pops against the background! This card wasn't the easiest of tasks as I've been working with stitches in the palm of my hand for the last three challenges and doing the majority of things single handed but I was pretty amazed with what I achieved but so happy that they are now out and I'm back to full working order and two handed crafting!!

To begin with I cut a piece of watercolour card and spritzed the card with Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Spray Stain, moving the paper around to let the ink run and leave these wonderful drips.

I heat dried the card with a heat tool and then lightly flicked some Twisted Citron across the card. Once I was happy and everything was thoroughly dry, I added some Texture Paste through the Dot Fade stencil before machine stitching around the edge of the card, leaving some of the thread loose, which I loved! I then inked the edges with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and added some stamped layers using stamps from the Correspondence stamp set. Finally, I matted the card onto some Black Soot Core'Dinations card and mounted the layers onto a black card blank.

For the embellishments, I made some paper blooms. For this I used the Tattered Florals die and die cut some paper. This is a great technique for using up that old designer paper that you bought but won't use ever again and you don't see any of that paper on the finished flower.

For each bloom, you need six layers of paper. Layer up the die cuts, slightly offsetting the petals each time you add the next piece and add a brad through the centre. Spritz the flower lightly with water to soften the fibres of the paper and then tightly scrunch each layer up, one at a time. Open out the flower and shape the petals before heat drying.

Once the flower is completely dry, add a layer of Gesso over the entire bloom and dry thoroughly. The gesso will make the flower quite firm and robust. Spritz the flower with Twisted Citron Distress Stain Spray and dry. If you need more colour, just keep on spritzing. Once happy, ink the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

I added my flowers to the front of my card, together with a die cut Frameworks piece, again coloured with Twisted Citron, torn tissue tape and a coiled circle of wire thread. I used black wire thread but at the moment, there is only white available but this is easily remedied as all you have to do is use a black permanent marker pen and change the colour.

I added some torn cheesecloth and altered sprocket gears and finished with a small talk sticker and a scattering of sequins.

I hope you love this card and the technique that I used to create the flowers. It really makes fabulous blooms and I adore the dimension that they give.

As always, if you need any further inspiration for this challenge, 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. 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:

Tim Holtz Dies: Tattered Florals, Courtyard Frameworks Die

Tim Holtz Stamps: Correspondence

Distress Ink: Hickory Smoke, Gathered Twigs

Distress Spray Stain: Hickory Smoke, Twisted Citron, Black Soot

Mediums: Ranger Texture Paste, Gesso

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Dot Fade

Idea-ology: Sprocket Gears, Small Talk Stickers, Sketchbook Tissue Tape

Sequins

Wire Thread

Surfaces: WaterColour Card

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Palette Knife