Hello Spring

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new week over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Our theme for this week is RECYCLING and we can't wait to see what you will create!

As with most homes, I have so much cardboard from packaging or from household waste and I will admit, I do always tend to keep some of this packaging, for those "just in case" moments! And here is that moment because for my project I finally got around to using some of that old chipboard packaging and a cardboard tube that I had leftover from the wrapping paper at Christmas and with some Distress Paint and die cuts, I turned it into a vintage cotton spool, which I then decorated using die cuts and papers from Tim Holtz.

...and here's how I made it!

To begin with, I cut down the long cardboard tube to a piece, approx 5". I then used the circle die cut to cut pieces of chipboard packaging which I layered to create a strong base and top for my faux spool. I punched a small hole in the centre of each of the circles and then attached them to my tube using Glossy Accents.

Once the "spool" was completely dry and there was no chance of it falling to bits, I added a coat of Gesso over the top, allowed this to dry before moving onto making it look like wood.

To create the wood grain effect, I chose to use Distress Paints and started with a layer of Walnut Stain, drying it with a heat gun and then adding another layer to create a good solid base. I then dry brushed and layered the following paints over the top ~ Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze and Ground Espresso. Once I was happy with the effect, I dried off the paint layers before adding a final light wash of Walnut Stain over the top of all the layers.

I dried the painted spool thoroughly before adding a touch of Gilding Wax and then coating the whole piece in Multi Medium.

Now for the fun part of decorating and for this, I wrapped a piece of my favourite striped paper from the Dapper paper stash around the column of the spool. I then dyed some crinkle dyed using Tumbled Glass Distress Spray Stain and vintaged it up a little with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I then tied the ribbon into a bow, placing it around the top section of the spool

I added a vintage Mother of Pearl button, a Typed Token and some chain to hang down from the bow.

For the arrangement on the top of the spool, I used the beautiful Detailed Butterflies die which is a must have piece in your die collection ~ it is stunning! The top section is die cut from black Kraft Core Core'dinations card and I dabbed small amounts of collage glue over the top of the wings before applying gold and blue Transfer Foil. The foil creates a beautiful twinkle effect but not overtly sparkly. I then used the solid section of the die to die cut three pieces of vellum which I layered, adding the cut out wings over the top.

I added coils of wire to each butterfly and attached popped them into the hole in the top of my spool.

For the flowers, I spritzed a piece of card with Tumbled Glass and Color Bloom Pearl Spray mists. Once the card is dry, I then used the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower Punch to punch out the singular layers of petals. I then layered these up, shaping and scrunching them to create the little blooms. For the centres of each flower I used the Spiky Flower punch and punched these pieces from a piece of card coloured with Fossilised Amber.

I added the flowers, together with dried moss and florist fibres to the top of my spool.

Finally I added the Hello Spring message, stamped with the Hero Arts Alphabet Stamps, onto a piece of inked card, die cut using the Labels dies and attached the message using a Memo Pin.

I really hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind this project and loved the finished piece.

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. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Just click on the link below to go shopping:

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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/Sizzix Dies: Detailed Butterflies, Labels Thinlits Die

Tim Holtz Punches: Large Tattered Flower, Daisy Flower

Hero Arts Printers Lowercase Alphabet Stamps

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso

Distress Paint: Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso, Antiqued Bronze, Black Soot, Fossilised Amber

Distress Spray Stains: Tumbled Glass, Fossilised Amber

Mediums: Jet Black Archival Ink, Ranger Multi Medium, Gesso, Collage Glue, Prima Flowers Color Bloom Pearl White Spray Mist

Idea-ology: Typed Tokens, Memo Pin

Surfaces: Kraft Core Core'Dinations Card Stock, Wallflower Vellum, Dapper Paper Stash, Ranger Vintage Foil Transfer Sheets

Prima Flowers Louviers Antique Chains

Treasure Gold White Fire Gilding Wax

Twine

Ranger Craft Sheet

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Recycled tube and chipboard, button, moss, wire and fibres from my own stash