Imagine...

Hello friends!

Hope you've all had a fabulous weekend and happy Monday everyone! Of course, the start of a brand new week means that it's the start of a brand new challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week, our theme is called...Let's Doodle!

Doodling isn't something I do very often...I draw, I create but I don't really doodle ~ maybe with the exception of when I'm on the phone in one of those never ending queues waiting for my call to be answered, I might then be tempted to pick up a pen and doodle over the odd magazine photo or scrap of paper. But today was the day and with this fun theme in mind, I thought now was the time to get those pens out and start doodling and I created a layout using an absolutely adorable photo from Tim Holtz's Found Relatives and adding plenty of doodles. I also wanted to create a panel that told a story of this adorable young boy and his dreams for the future and so I incorporate some doodled words ~ imagine, dream and explore into this piece.

So, let's get started because it's time for the new challenge!

To begin with I used the Tim Holtz Guillotine from Tonic to cut a piece of watercolour card, approx 18 x 24 in size and used low tack masking tape to create a rectangular panel on my card, that is slightly off centre.

I then applied a wash of watered down Antique Linen Distress Paint, heat dried it and then blended a small amount of Pumice Stone, again slightly watered down and applied this over the top. Once the paint is dry, I then removed my low tack tape to reveal the panel.

I added torn pieces of tissue tape over the top of the painted block, applying a layer of Matte Collage Medium to secure them into place and allowing the tape to go outside the box in some areas. I then applied colour using Pumice Stone, Black Soot and Weathered Wood Distress Crayons onto the taped areas, blending out the colour with a semi dry baby wipe.

Once happy, I added some gesso using an old credit card to scrape it over the tape and keeping the gesso quite thick in some areas to create texture. I randomly stamped some text using the Script stamp from the Entomology set and then applied Grit Paste through the Mini Stitched Layering stencil, allowed it to dry before dry brushing gold paint over the top ~ the brush catches some areas but leaves others white, which I love. I also added some flicks of navy blue and gold paint over the background.

Now for the doodling and for this, I used a black Dylusions Paint pen and just doodled a border around the painted block, adding wording ~ imagine and explore and just letting the pen do the work.

Now moving onto the photo and after sanding the edges of the image, I added some more doodling using the white pen from the set. I also added some Snippets Ephemera pieces to the image, a mirrored star to his hat and lightly coloured his adorable little cheeks and his shirt collar using Distress Marker Pens.

I layered the image over the top of some torn pieces of corrugated card, that I painted with a wash of gesso and inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before adding a highlight of gold paint to accentuate the corrugation.

I then attached the image with foam pads to create dimension.

To create the rusty look on the gears, I painted each gear with Finnabair's Steampunk Copper Alchemy paint and then dabbed small amounts of Rust paste over the top. I then used the Black Soot Distress Crayon to add some darker tones to the metal before attaching the gears with Collage Medium and placing them around the photo.

I also added a Numeric adornment, again giving it a rusty appearance and a Story Stick.

To complete the background, I added a Remnant Rub, a pointy finger and some Adornments Stars which I doodled around. I also added some tiny doodled circles before mounting the panel onto chipboard that I painted black.

As my finishing touch, I added a Quote Chip, aged with some Vintage Collage Medium and attached this to the photo and adhered some Nailhead Findings to the top left and bottom right hand corners...

I hope this project has inspired you on how you can incorporate some doodling into your project and hope you've enjoyed the creative process, it was such a fun piece to create and I can't help but smile every time I look at that little boy's face ~ he is just the cutest!

Don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog 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 I'll see you very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Stamp Sets: Entomology
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Mini Layering Stencil Set 33

Distress Paint: Pumice Stone and Antique Linen
Distress Crayons: Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood and Black Soot

Idea-ology: Star Adornments, Nailhead Findings, Symphony Tissue Tape, Special Delivery Remnant Rubs, Found Relatives, Quote Chips, Gadget Gears, Sprocket Gears, Story Stick, Numeric, Mirrored Star, Snippets Ephemera

Prima Marketing: Steampunk Copper Alchemy Paint

Mediums: Gesso, Grit Paste, Matte Collage Medium, Vintage Collage Medium, Jet Black Archival Ink, Dylusions Paint Pens, Rust Paste, Mushroom Alcohol Ink
Palette Knife, Brushes
Masking Tape

Surfaces: Watercolor Card, Textured Surfaces

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat
Tim Holtz Guillotine

Heat Gun