Circle Of Life...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend and getting ready for the week ahead! As always on a Monday, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week the theme is ~ WE'RE GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES! As always, there's plenty of interpretation of this theme, you can use dies, stamps, stencils or even recycle circular objects such as tubes, jars or bottles! Whatever you choose to create, we can't wait to see your projects and hope you'll join us for our fun challenge!

For my project, I was inspired by the story of a family circle and decided to create a layout using Tim Holtz's Paper Dolls to tell the story of a circle of life...

So, it's time for a new challenge and here's how I created this project!

 

I used a 24 x 18cm canvas panel for this project but you could use canvas paper, chipboard or even designer papers. I then gave the panel a wash of Antique Linen Distress Paint before heat drying it and then adding Victorian Velvet which I dry brushed over the surface. I now wanted to add some texture and began by layering some offcuts of card that I had lying around and sticking them to my panel using Collage Medium. Gesso over the top of the offcuts and then start layering more Antique Linen and Victorian Velvet paint over the top.

I wanted to create a really soft vintage colour palette for the background but add lots of texture, so the next stage was to add some stamping and I used the Etcetera stamp set and just randomly stamped directly onto the background before adding Grit Paste through the Screwed and the Speckles Layering Stencils. Let the paste dry thoroughly before adding some more depth of colour over the top using Distress Crayons in Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone, Ground Espresso and Vintage Photo and just blended out the crayon with my fingers.

Create a few splatters with Black Soot and some gold paint before I machine stitched around the edge and added some torn pieces of designer tape to the top left and bottom right corners.

Now to move onto frames and for this, I used Seth Apter's Shield die and die cut some Heavystock Media Card by Tim Holtz, cutting each section three times before layering each die cut over the top of one another to create solid frames. I then painted them with a layer of gesso to prime them for the colour.

To create the wood effect, I painted each of the circular frames with Walnut Stain, heat dried the paint then added some Black Soot, again heat drying the layer before adding touches of Antiqued Bronze paint over the top. I found I needed a little more warmth to the wood effect and just used my fingertip to apply touches of Ground Espresso over the top before adding a touch of White Gold Metallique Wax around the edges. I also added some Hex Fasteners to the holes on the largest die.

For the photos, I chose three images to make up my "family" and framed each of them behind the die cut circles before attaching them over a bed of cheesecloth that I dyed using Brushed Corduroy and Victorian Velvet Distress Spray Stains.

To add even more texture, I used Micro Beads and sprinkled these onto 3D Matte Gel that I applied around the frames. To complete the embellishments I used Melange Pebbles coloured with Rich Turquoise Alchemy Paint and Unicorn's Hair Sparks Paint.

I also attached a Mechanical Metal Lotus Flower complete with Melange Pebble inside and a Adornment Arrow which I altered with Waxes and then tucked underneath one of the circular frames.

Finally, I used the Clippings Stickers to tell the story of their lifetime...

....before popping it onto a hanger to display!

I really hope you've been inspired by my project 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....

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

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz Stamps: Etcetera
Seth Apter Die: Shield
Distress Paints: Black Soot, Victorian Velvet, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Antiqued Bronze
Distress Spray Stains: Victorian Velvet, Brushed Corduroy
Layering Stencils: Screwed, Speckles
Distress Crayons: Set 3, Set 6, Ground Espresso, Pumice Stone, Hex Fasteners, Adornment Arrows
Idea-ology: Clippings Stickers, Paper Dolls
Mediums: Gesso, Collage Medium, Jet Black Archival Ink, Grit Paste
Prima Marketing Acrylic Paints: Unicorn's Hair Sparks, Rich Turquoise Alchemy Paint
Prima Marketing Products: Melange Pebbles, 3D Matte Gel, Copper Micro Beads, Metal Lotus Mechanicals, White Gold Metallique Wax
Surfaces: Heavyweight Media Card

Palette Knife
Paint Brushes

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun
Canvas panel and cheesecloth from my own stash