The Power of Three...

Hi everyone...

Hope you're all having a wonderful Easter and not to full from all those sweet treats and choccie eggs! It's hard to believe that another week has flown by and that it's Monday already but the good news is, it's time for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is called ~ A TRIO OF SOMETHING and as the title suggests, we want you to use three things on your project! The DT are also showcasing Dyan Reaveley products within in their creations but to join in, you don't have to do this!

For my project, I used Dyan's Journal to create pages representing three generations of women in a family. I've also used quite a few products and embellishments within these pages and all of these come in threes ~ the stars, the photos, the clippings stickers,  the Distress Crayons on the background, the bees and the pebbles...it's all a trio of products.

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

To begin with I added some torn Tissue Tape from the Symphony set and placed these directly onto my pages, focusing mainly on the right hand side. I then applied a layer of Collage Medium over the top which will allow me to effortlessly blend my crayons.

I wanted these pages to look really vintage and to create the colour on the background, I used three colours of Distress Crayons ~ Vintage Photo, Stormy Sky and Evergreen Bough which I applied by scribbling directly onto the pages, adding it over the top of the tissue tape and then just blending out the colour with my finger and a semi dry baby wipe. If you need areas to be more intense, just add more crayon for darker shading.

Once I was happy with the blend, I applied gesso over the top of the colour, applying a small amount of the medium directly onto the background and using an old credit card to scrape the gesso down the page.

Heat dry to set the paint and then I took some Crackle Paste and just scraped small amounts down my pages using a palette knife ~ adjusting the thickness, depending on how much crackle you want.

Once the lovely crackles have appeared and the paste is thoroughly dry, I then added some more crayon over the top, using a damp paint brush to blend the colour into the cracks and wiping away any excess with the baby wipe.

To complete the background, I then stamped some text onto random areas using Jet Black Archival Ink and splattered Black Soot Distress Paint across the surface.

I now have my background and can start working on the story these pages will tell...

First, I created the die cuts that sit behind the images and for this I used Seth Apter's Strands die and cut the three pieces from heavyweight card stock. I then inked the surface by dabbing a Versamark Ink pad directly over the top and sprinkled Rose Gold Embossing Powder over the ink. Heat emboss the die cuts and then repeat to create a beautiful enamelled look.

Using three beautiful images from Tim's Vintage Photo Booth set and ensuring that these were there women of different ages, I cut them to size, lightly distressed and sanded the edges and then matted them onto gold metallic kraft card, leaving a border showing around the outside. For the image that is on the left hand side page, I added a further matted layer of paper from the Memoranda Stash. Attach each of the photos by layering them over the top of the three enamelled die cuts and some threads, placing the largest image on the left page and the other two images on the right hand page. I added a Clip to the top corner of the image on the left hand page and then added three Clippings stickers, one to each of the photos.

Now to add my three bees, and for this I stamped the images from the Entomology set onto Plain Collage Paper and then coloured the back of the stamped image with Distress Paints ~ Mustard Seed for the body and Tumbled Glass for the wings. Once the paint was dry, I took a fine paint brush and painted a line of water around the outline of the bee, before very gently pulling away the tissue paper. This technique will give you a seamless finish when you attach the stamped image onto the background and you'll have no harsh cut edges to your tissue paper.

Adhere the three tissue paper bees to the background using Matte Collage Medium. I also apply the medium over the top of the stamped image to seal it.

To complete these pages, I added my quote using Big Chat and Small Talk Stickers. I applied Vintage Collage Medium to colour the white stickers and attached these to my pages with Collage Medium before adding shading around the outside with Black Soot Distress Marker Pen.

I added three Star Adornments, some torn Design Tape and a No.5 Remnant Rub to the pages.

To complete the pages, I used some Melange Pebbles coloured with Prima's Gold Rush and Unicorn's Hair acrylic paints and attached these to my pages.

I hope you've enjoyed the creative process of these pages and I hope it will inspire you with some ideas of your own on how you can incorporate three things into your projects...

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:

Dyan Reaveley Creative Journal

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Stamp Sets: Entomology

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed
Distress Crayons: Vintage Photo, Evergreen Bough, Stormy Sky

Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Clippings Stickers, Big Chat Stickers, Small Talk Stickers, Star Adornments, Vintage Photo Booth, Plain Collage Paper, Special Delivery Remnant Rubs, Elementary Design Tape

Spellbinders Die: Strands by Seth Apter
Prima Marketing: Melange Pebbles, Gold Rush Paint, Unicorn's Hair Sparks Acrylic Paint

Mediums: Gesso, Matte Collage Medium, Vintage Collage Medium, Jet Black Archival Ink, Rose Gold Embossing Powder, Crackle Paste, Versamark Ink Pad

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Mixed Media Heavyweight Card

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun