Use Your Wings and Fly!

Hello friends!

Hope you've all had a great weekend and you're ready for the new week ahead! As always on a Monday, it's time for a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week we ask you to SPREAD YOUR WINGS! Whether you choose to create a piece using wings or maybe you want to spread your wings and try a new technique, whatever you choose we can't wait to see what you create and hope you'll play along with this fun challenge.

For my project, I was inspired by one of Tim's Small Talk Stickers, "Use Your Wings" and using various Tim Holtz dies by Sizzix, including the Feathered Wings die, I chose to create a 3D home decor project which would be perfect for Valentine's Day or just to tell someone you love them.

So here were go, it's time for a brand new challenge and here's how I created this piece...

 

To begin with I took a pine shadow box frame and coated it in gesso to prime the surface. Once the gesso was dry I then started to add my colour. For this I wanted to create a natural looking wooden effect and used Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso and Antiqued Bronze to build up the colour of the wood. Once I was happy with the colour, I dried it thoroughly before sanding back some of the paint to create a more vintage, shabby look. To complete the frame I then added a touch of White Fire Gilding Wax over the surface, which just brings out the natural feel to the wood.

Setting the frame aside, I started work on the background of my project and for this I cut a piece of canvas paper to the size of the aperture and then coated it with a layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint. Heat dry and then start to add some colour and for this, I used Victorian Velvet, Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress Crayons, scribbling a small amount of colour onto the surface and then blending it out using a wet wipe.

Blast the surface with heat just to make sure the colour is set and then I wanted to add some texture and for this I took some offcuts of card from my paper scraps box (I think we all have one of these, don't we?) and just laid them down onto the background, slightly offsetting each piece.

Dry brush a layer of gesso over the top and then I went in with the crayons I'd previously used on the background but this time, I wanted more intensity from them, so I added more colour in the areas that I wanted to highlight. To complete the background, I added some Black Soot Crayon around the card panels and around the outside edge before adding splashes of gold paint, Black Soot Distress Paint and gesso!

I then attached the background panel to the inside of the frame.

Now for the fun part, creating and building up that centre piece.

For this I used gold Metallic Kraft Core card and used the Feathered Wings die to die cut the wings. Scrunch the card and then open it out before adding some Vintage Photo Distress Crayon over the top, blending out the colour to create a more rose gold tone to the card.

I layered both sets of wings using foam pads.

Die cut the largest of the Dimensional Stars, again using gold Metallic Kraft Core card and fold along each of the scorelines to create the star shape. Splatter the star with a small amount of black paint and gesso and allow to dry.

Finally, you will need two different sized hearts, one larger than the other and for this, I used the Heartfelt die set and cut the hearts from chipboard. I then coloured them with Candied Apple Distress Paint and added Black Soot Distress Crayon around the edges.

I now had all my pieces to layer up and began by adding the wings over a bed of sisal fibres, which creates some movement to the pieces. Attach the wings directly to the background.

Then take the larger heart and attach the star over the top. Add the smaller heart to the centre of the arrangement and then wrap a piece of gold wire around the arrangement, entwining the heart and star.

Add the wire arrangement to the centre of the wings and use a hot glue gun to secure into place.

To complete this part, I added a quote from the Small Talk Stickers set, Use Your Wings and attached this across the heart.

Underneath the winged hearts, I then added some Letterpress blocks to spell out the word, FLY. The blocks are altered with a small amount of Picket Fence Distress Paint before I added some Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold (this is currently out of stock at the moment but you can use any colour of your choosing) over the top to create a burnished bronze look to the lettering.

Attach the blocks to the inside of your frame and then add some gold stars from the Gilded Remnant Rubs.

Finally, attach some Hex Fasteners to each corner of the frame. I just cut the legs off the fasteners and stuck them directly onto the wood.

 I finished the frame by using a Clock Key, which I attached to the top.

I really hope this project has given you some ideas of how you can create a similar piece and of course, you don't have to just use these ideas for a frame, they can easily be used on a card or a canvas!

 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:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies: Feathered Wings, Dimensional Stars, Heartfelt

Distress Paint: Antiqued Bronze, Picket Fence, Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Candied Apple

Distress Crayons: Set 3, 4 and 6

Idea-ology: Hex Fasteners, Small Talk Stickers, Clock Key, Letterpress, Gilded Accent Remnant Rubs

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash 

Mediums: Gesso, Collage Medium, White Fire Treasure Gold Wax, Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold

Palette Knife

Ranger Craft Sheet

Big Shot Plus

Heat Gun

Canvas Paper, wire and frame from my own stash