Monday 11 July 2016

Flora and Fauna...

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where this week, our theme is...Flora and Fauna!

For my project, I was inspired by vintage botanical prints and wallpapers and decided to create a card using stamps and dies from Tim Holtz!


...and here's how I created this piece.

To begin with I cut a panel of watercolour card to measure, 16 x 12cm and using one of the Flower Garden stamps, I stamped a pattern onto the card. I then gave a watercolor wash to each flower using Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans Distress Stains, picking out the stamens in the centres with Spiced Marmalade.

Once I was happy, I thoroughly dried the card before adding a wash of Old Paper to the background, creating a worn vintage look. I then flicked Gold Foil Spray Mist over the top to give the appearance of foxing on the card.

After adding a few paint scratches with gesso and some colour around the edge, with Vintage Photo Distress Crayon, I matted the card onto a piece of cream card, followed by kraft core Core'Dinations card and then wrapped some twine around the matted layers, securing the ends at the back of the card.
For the outer mount, I used a piece of canvas paper and applied a layer of gesso over the top to prime the paper for adding my mediums. Again, I wanted to create a worn vintage feel and started by applying a layer of Antique Linen Distress Paint and then dry brushed some Frayed Burlap over the top, blending the two paints together. Use an old credit card or ruler to add some layers of gesso to complete the background.

I then used Vintage Photo Distress Crayon around the outside blending with a wet wipe to create a soft diffused look. After a final inking of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I matted the card onto white card, followed by a final layer of blue card. (Tip: If you haven't got the exact match of coloured card for your project, then you can always take a piece of white card and apply Distress Paint around the edge, which is what I did for this project.)

To complete this section, I mounted the flowery wallpaper background over the top of my vintage mount, adding some Dapper Design Tape onto the mount section to appear as if they are around the outside of the matted background panels. I also added some metal embellishments from my own stash to each corner of the mount.
Now to move onto the embellishments and the wonderful, majestic dragonfly, which started life as a piece of gessoed card.
After die cutting and embossing the dragonfly, I then started to layer my paints. I started with a layer of Twisted Citron before moving onto Peeled Paint. I then added a dry brush of Gold Rush and Emerald Green Alchemy Paint over the top to give a shimmer to the wings before adding a further hint of colour with the Mustard Seed Distress Crayon.
I added some more shading to the body using Black Soot Distress Crayons before flicking Picket Fence and Mustard Seed Distress Paint over the wings. I added two seed beads for the eyes and then to give the dragonfly a little more movement, I die cut a second dragonfly but cut away the legs and tail to leave me with just the wing section and coloured these in a paler colour way before adding them underneath the whole dragonfly.
Attach the dragonfly over the top of some floristry fibres and some cheesecloth which I dyed with a combination of Squeezed Lemonade and Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stains. I also added a small Remnant Rub to the bottom left hand corner.
Finally, I stamped the quote onto a piece of painted card, coloured the wording with a Distress Marker Pen, before matting it onto a piece of Core'Dinations card. I then used foam pads to attach it to my background.
I really hope you've enjoyed this project and as you can see from the completed card, there is so much dimension to the dragonfly and by adding the second set of wings, it really does look as if it's taking off from the background.
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 StampYou 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 Stamps: Flower Garden, Beauty In Simplicity
Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies: Layered Dragonfly
Distress Paint: Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen
Distress Spray Stains: Squeezed Lemonade and Antiqued Bronze
Tim Holtz Distress Stain: Old PaperWeathered Wood and Faded Jeans
Distress Marker Pens: Chipped Sapphire, Spiced Marmalade
Distress Crayons: Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Black Soot
Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain
Prima Alchemy Paint: Gold Rush and Emerald Green
Blending Tool
Big Shot
Cheesecloth and canvas paper from my own stash

17 comments:

  1. Gorgeous card Emma, the flowers are so pretty and the dragonfly is stunning! I just love the whole design of this! Beautiful :-)

    hope you have a great week!
    luv
    Lols x x x

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  2. So beautiful, Emma! I love the dragonfly and his shadow ... such a great touch!

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  3. Love how you used the flowers as an all over design and the fact that you did them in blue - different and yet perfect!

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  4. Gorgeous Emma! Love your vintage colors and wonderful layering. That dragonfly is magnificent!!

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  5. No truer words spoken! Emma This is nothing short of being simply beautiful! As always designed and executed with the hands and eye of a real artist.
    Big hugs x

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  6. Beautiful, Emma! That is one of my all-time favorite TH stamps, love how you used it as a background.

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  7. Oh Emma, this is absolutely gorgeous. Seems like I say that every week and sound like a broken record but it's true, everything you create is a feast for the eyes! Love the floral background.

    Hugs,
    Cathie ♥

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  8. stunning as your usual. so much detail. lucky person who will receive it, hugs xxx

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  9. Such a stunning piece, Emma. I love the beautiful background pattern you created and the pretty colors. :)

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  10. so beautiful! a real work of art :)

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  11. just stunning. i love your creation of the dragonfly.

    Greets
    Alexa

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  12. Amazing piece, Emma! Love the dragonfly! And the background is gorgeous! Hugs, Sandra

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  13. Such a gorgeous work Emma! love the colors you used and as always your design is stunning! Barbara

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  14. this is such a pretty project Emma...love the Flower Garden background and that stunning dragonfly...enjoy what's left of the weekend...hugs kath xxx

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  15. AMAZING as always! The softiness of your background colors is totally adorable. Love the delicate coloring of the flowers and the fresh lime dragonfly against this pastels. Hugs, Marzena

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  16. Your twine skills are out of this world! I adore these layers so much and I think the sentiment is such a valuable philosophy to live by!

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Thank you for all your comments and messages, they are all appreciated and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon...
Emma ~xx

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