Love Of Beauty...

Hello everyone and hope you had a great weekend!

As you all know, Monday means that we have a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week our theme is Make Your Own Background, together with showcasing products from Darkroom Door ! If you would like to play along with our challenge, then you don't have to use their products in your creation but we would love to see what you create and hope you'll join us!

For my project, I was inspired by a wonderful Darkroom Door quote stamp and created a card based around the theme of art! This card has lots of wonderful layers and texture and I combined the stamp with plenty of gorgeous Tim Holtz products.

So, to begin with I created a 18 x 20cm kraft card blank as my base.

I then cut a panel of black card, 14 x 16cm and started to layer my paints in a fairly free and random fashion. For this I used a fairly good weight of card from Crafters Companion which I know takes my mediums well, but if you haven't got any of this card, then just have a play to see what works for you! 

I began by laying down a good amount of gesso, drying thoroughly and then adding a layer of Salty Ocean Distress Paint over the top, before using some Picked Raspberry. For this, I didn't use a paintbrush, I just added the paint using my fingertips to blend the colours together. Once I dried those layers, I then added some gesso over the top, again using my fingers and leaving it quite messy and thick to create some texture. Dry the layers once again and if you need some more colour, just add until you're happy.

Once the layering is complete, I added some more texture with Texture Paste through the Dot Fade Layering Stencil before flicking Black Soot and Picked Raspberry paint splatters across the entire background. To complete this section, I matted it onto some copper Metallic Kraft Core Core'Dinations, wrapped twine around the centre of the matted layers and then set it aside to move onto creating my second matted layer.

For the next layer, I wanted a continuation of the background across the entire card, (as you can see in the photo below) and used a second piece of black card and once again, added gesso across the central area of the card before adding my colours of Distress Paints and texture paste.

After a few more splats of gesso, I added Picket Fence around the edge of the card and matted it onto more copper metallic card before mounting it onto my card base.

I then used foam pads to attach my second layer, ensuring that it was central and that the paint on the previous layer, lined up perfectly with the top layer.

For the quote, I added gesso and paint to a further piece of black card, dried the painted card before stamping the quote in Jet Black Archival Ink. I matted this onto metallic kraft core card, followed by a layer of kraft card, which had more paint added around the edges.

I attached the quote to the front of my card with more foam pads for dimension.

To complete the card, I added a paint brush, which I painted the handle of in a co-ordinating colour and added a gilt remnant rub. 

I also dipped the brush into paint to match the little paint pot corked vial, which I had poured Picked Raspberry Distress Paint into.

As a finishing touch, I added a vial label to my little paint pot, complete with Remnant Rub and attached the glass pot to my card, using Glossy Accents, which holds it in place perfectly.

Finally, I used Enamel Accents to add a few raised dots around the quote and that completes my card for this week, which I hope you love and has inspired you with some of the techniques!

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....

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:

Darkroom Door Stamp: Beauty Quote

Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Dot Fade

Mediums: Gesso, Enamel Accents, Texture Paste, Glossy Accents

Idea-ology: Corked Vials, Accents Gilded Remnant Rubs, Vial Labels, Words Remnant Rubs

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Core Core'dinations Card, Kraft Card

Ranger Craft Sheet

Palette Knife

Heat Gun

Paint Brush and Black Card from my own stash