A Falling Leaf Is Autumn's Splendour...

Hello friends and welcome to a new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog! This week our challenge is ~ AUTUMN!

Autumn is such a beautiful time of year, the changing colors on the trees are fabulous, the air is cool and the crunch of leaves underfoot brings back lovely memories from childhood and we are really looking forward to seeing whatever autumn inspired creations you make!

For my project, I was inspired by early morning walks in the park and the beauty of nature and created a textured canvas panel using die cuts from Tim Holtz.

...and here's how I created this panel!

To begin with I took an 8" square panel and applied Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood Distress Paint over the surface, blending the paints together with my fingers. I then heat dried the surface until thoroughly dry and then started adding some texture using Grit Paste through the Herringbone Layering Stencil. Let the paste dry thoroughly before moving onto the next stage.

To add some depth and colour into my background, I used PaperArtsy Infusions. Warning: You only need a very small amount of these, they do go a long way!! I sprinkled The Sage and Sunset Beach over the top of the pasted area and then spritzed with water, letting the colour run and pool over the background.

Heat dry thoroughly and if you want to add more, just sprinkle more over the top and repeat until you're happy.

To add a little more depth of colour, I then dry brushed the stencilled area with some Gold Rush Metallique Paint, this creates a little shimmer but nothing sparkly which was just perfect for what I wanted. I also added some gold rush around the edges of the canvas.

Add a few splashes of the gold rush paint and Gesso and I also added some gesso around the edges and a few paint scratches. Heat dry the whole surface area and set aside.

Die cut the Dashing Deer from a piece of old packaging and then apply a coat of gesso over the top. When dry, I then added some colour using Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Paints. Adding shading to his little nose using a lighter colour.

Apply a layer of Glossy Accents over the antlers and then sprinkle with Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust and dry.

To complete my deer, I attached a small piece of twine around his neck, attaching it with Glossy Accents.

For the leaves I used two pieces of white card and spritzed the first piece with Candied Apple and Spiced Marmalade Distress Spray Stains and the second piece with Peeled Paint and Crushed Olive. Dry the card and then die cut a selection of leaves using the Fall Foliage die.

Ink the edges with Walnut Stain and then spritz over the top of the leaves with Mica Spray and once again, heat dry.

Attach the deer onto your canvas using foam pads for dimension and then together with some floristry sisal fibres, layer the leaves across the canvas, placing them beneath the die cut deer.

I also punched out a few laurel leaf pieces from gold metallic card and placed these amongst the leaves.

Cut a strip of crinkle ribbon and dye with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Spray Stains before tying into a scruffy bow. Attach the bow to the left hand side of the leaf arrangement. I then created two pinecones from kraft card, using Tim's Tattered Pinecone die and attached these to the centre of the bow.

To complete the canvas, I added a Small Talk sticker and an adornment arrow and finally attached some gorgeous little sparkly crystals and some studs in each corner.

I hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind this autumn inspired canvas and as always if you do need any further inspiration, 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....

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz Punches Dies: Fall Foliage, Tattered Pinecone, Dashing Deer, Laurel Punch

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Distress Paint: Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood

Distress Spray Stains: Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive

Idea-ology: Occasions Small Talk Stickers, Adornment Arrow, Crinkle Ribbon

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Core
Layering Stencil: Herringbone
Mediums: Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust, Gesso, Grit Paste, Alchemy Gold Rush Metallique Paint, glossy Accents

PaperArtsy Infusions: The Sage, Sunset Beach

Prima Flowers Esmeralda Gypsy Cord

Wendy Vecchi Mica Spray

Prima Sweet Peppermint Crystals

Ranger Craft Sheet

Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer

Heat Gun 

Floristry fibres, studs and canvas panel from my own stash