Shining Star...

Hello everyone and welcome to another brand new challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog where this week our theme is all about LUCKY STARS! Whether you're inspired by St Patrick's Day, and want to include the luck of the Irish in your project or maybe you have a lucky star that you want to feature, then we can't wait to see what you create and look forward to you playing along with us!

For my project, I was inspired by this beautiful image of the little girl in Tim Holtz's Found Relatives vintage photo pack and I just knew that she would be my little star of this piece and created a burlap panel where I sat her on a glittery moon, surrounded by stars but holding one very special lucky star! I was so happy with this panel and I think it's one of my favourite makes to date...I'm over the moon (pardon the pun) with how it turned out!

So, without further hesitation....

...and this is how I created my project!

To begin with I took the 7 x 5 burlap panel and added some gesso around the edges. Once the gesso was dry, I then added some sparkle with a mixture of 3D gel, micro beads and glass glitter. I usually mix these together on my craft sheet and then apply them to the edge of my panel using a palette knife. If you think you need more sparkle, then just sprinkle a little more over the top and tap away the excess.

To create the background for my scene, I cut a panel of watercolour card, slightly smaller in size than the burlap panel and spritzed it with water, don't oversaturate the card but make it really damp. Once this is done, I then applied small amounts of Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Broken China Distress Stain to the background, using a brush and just swiping the colour across the card to create an ombre effect.

Heat dry the stained card and then distress the edges before inking using Black Soot and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

Give a spritz of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain onto the background, heat dry again and then matt onto silver metallic kraft core cardstock.

Now to create my little scene and for this I started by die cutting the moon and the stars from really good quality thick white card. You can also use chipboard for this but you will need to gesso the pieces before adding paint or mediums.

I then painted my moon with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, dried it off before applying a layer of Glossy Accents. Sprinkle Pumice Stone Distress Glitter over the top and tap away the excess before leaving to dry before inking the edge with Black Soot Distress Ink.

For the stars, I did exactly the same as the moon but used Antique Linen Distress Paint and Rock Candy Distress Glitter. I inked around the edge with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

Attach the die cut pieces to your panel using foam pads and I also added some die cut clouds, cut from the gold Deco Sheets.

Now for the beautiful image and this is fussy cut from one of the photos and attached with foam pads, to appear as she is sitting on the moon.

I added an alcohol inked star which she's holding in her hands and popped some sequins around the background.

For the bow, I used crinkle ribbon which is dyed with Brushed Pewter Distress Stain. I popped a vintage mother of pearl button in the centre, added a piece of cheesecloth for texture and attached a wishbone to the arrangement.

Finally, I added my Letterpress blocks to spell out the word Lucky. The letterpress blocks are painted with Picket Fence Distress Paint and have a layer of Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the top for some extra shimmer. I attached the blocks over the top of some metallic fibres using Glossy Accents to hold them securely in place.

...and that completes my panel! I just wish you could see the shimmer and sparkle that this has in real life but the camera just can't pick that up but it really does shine and I hope you love my project and enjoyed the creative process!

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:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Crescent Moon and Stars, Airplane and Clouds

Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot

Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Brushed Pewter, Antique Linen

Distress Spray Stains: Brushed Pewter

Distress Stains: Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Broken China

Distress Glitter: Rock Candy, Pumice Stone

Mediums: Gesso, Prima Art Basic Matte 3D Gel, Glossy Accents, Mushroom Alcohol Ink

Idea-ology: Found Relatives, Mirrored Stars, Letterpress, Wishbones, Crinkle Ribbon

Surfaces:Metallic Kraft Core Core'dinations Card, Deco Sheets, Burlap Panel, Watercolour Card

Embellishments: Gold Rush Glass Glitter, Silver Micro Beads, Gold Sequins

Ranger Craft Sheet

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Foam Squares

Palette Knife

Good quality white card, metallic fibres and button from my own stash