Be Square...

Hey everyone and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is ~ BE SQUARE and we can't wait to see how you interpret this challenge!

For my project, I created a card celebrating friendship with layer upon layer of squares! From the matting and layering to the layering stencil creating the texture on the background ~ it's all about squares!

So, come and play along...it's time for a new challenge and here's how I created this card...

 

To begin with, I created my background and cut a piece of canvas paper from my stash to measure, 13.5cm square. I then added some colour using Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky Distress Paints and gesso, allowing the paint to dry thoroughly before adding torn strips of Tissue Tape onto the central section of the panel. I then applied Grit Paste and some more squares over the top of the torn tape, using the Linen Layering Stencil.

Once the paste was dry, I applied some more paint over the top and then used my Distress Crayons, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge and Stormy Sky to add a little more colour and depth. I also added some flicks of Black Soot Distress Paint and let some Antiqued Bronze paint dribble over the top of the paste. Finally I added some shadowing around the edge using the Black Soot Distress Crayon.

To add even more texture, I used torn pieces of corrugated card, altered with gesso and Distress Crayons to create a more grungy effect and stuck these vertically and horizontally onto my background.

For the main focal point, I cut the gorgeous Photo Booth image to create a square and distressed it around the edges. I then cut a square piece of corrugated card, again distressed with the gesso and crayons, layered it onto a square of kraft core core'dinations card, wrapped some twine around it and attached this to my canvas background panel, placing it over the top of some threads, using foam pads to secure it into place and add some dimension.

Attach the image to the centre of the corrugated panel and then add a small Finnabair metal star to the corner.

I applied some Remnant Rubs around the central area.

Matt the finished panel onto a piece of blue core'dinations card.

Cut another square of card, 17cm square and colour with Old Paper Distress Paint. To age the paper even further, I used some gesso and the Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. Machine stitch around the outside of the panel and then matt onto gold metallic kraft core cardstock, followed by a layer of Pumice Stone kraft core card. 

Mount the matted layers onto a square black card blank and then mount your completed artwork centrally onto the card.

To complete the card, I used one of the Small Talk Stickers and attached it to the bottom left hand corner.

I hope you love the card I created and can see how many squares I've actually packed into this project...it's amazing how many layers you can get onto one card!!!

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....

Thank you so much for stopping by today and see you again very soon!

Recipe for project:

Distress Paint: Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Old Paper, Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze 

Distress Crayons: Set 4, 5 and 7 and Rusty Hinge

Idea-ology: Vintage PhotoBooth, Special Delivery Remnant Rubs, Gilded Remnant Rubs, Small Talk Occasions Stickers

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Linen

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Core, Textured Surfaces, Nostalgic Kraft Core Card

Mediums: Gesso, Collage Medium, Grit Paste

Palette Knife

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun

Twine

Canvas Paper are from my own stash