Wisdom...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ~ Mythology/Inspired By A Story. This week, we are challenging you to be inspired by a fable, myth or story and we hope you'll join us and play along this fun theme but please don't forget to mention on your post which myth, story or fable you are inspired by.

For my project, I was inspired by Greek mythology, a subject that I studied long and hard at school and which was always one of my favourite lessons. I remember doing an in-depth project on Ancient Greece, carefully drawing images of the Acropolis and ancient Gods and Godesses and to this day, I still love visiting the British Museum, where I’m fascinated by everything they exhibit. So when I saw this theme, I just knew what I wanted to create, a dimensional canvas panel telling the story of Athena's owl.

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

To begin with I created my background on a canvas board, 24 x 18cm ~ I wanted to keep the colours fairly neutral for this piece, creating the look of a stone coloured background, adding woody, earthy tones over the top and finishing the piece with touches of metallic bronze.

I applied some Tissue Tape directly to the background, placing it on the right hand side of the canvas, where I would be concentrating on my focal point. I scraped gesso over the top of the canvas and allowed this to dry before using Pumice Stone, Iced Spruce and Black Soot Distress Crayons over the top, blending them out with a semi dry baby wipe.

Once happy, with the colour and remember, you can always add more depth of colour by just adding more crayon to the areas you want darker, I then concentrated on texture and for this, I applied Grit Paste through the Crossed Layering Stencil.

When the paste is dry, I added some random stamping onto the background using the script stamp from the Entomology set.

To create the dripped effect on the central area of the background, I used the gold and black from the Prima Watercolour Metallic Paints palette and just allowed the paint to move around, creating drips and runs but what you can't see from the photo is the fabulous shimmer that these paints create. Heat dry the paint and then add some splatters using Black Soot Distress Paint.

I dry brushed some Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint around the edges and also applied Black Soot Distress Crayon.

Next, I attached one of the Baseboard Frames, placing it directly over the top of the drippy painted area on the canvas and adhering it with Matte Collage Medium.

I added some of Tim's Wood Slices which were available around Christmas time but if you haven't got these, Simon Says Stamp also sell a similar product HERE.

I attached the wood slices, together with a Mechanical Rustic Washer from Prima and arranged these across the bottom section of my baseboard frame with some more Collage Medium....

...and then using 3D gel, I added the gel around the slices before sprinkling Art Stones over the top. I allowed these to set and dry thoroughly before painting them with Dragon's Eye and Unicorn's Hair Sparks Acrylic Paint.

You can see the wonderful dimension that these wood slices create on this piece in the photo below and the owl is just suspended onto these pieces...

Now to move onto the subject of this piece, the owl and for this I used the Ornate Owl die and cut it twice from a piece of Mixed Media Heavyweight card. I then stuck these two pieces together to create a more substantial die cut.

I painted the image with Walnut Stain, Antiqued Bronze, Ground Espresso and Black Soot Distress Paints, blending the colours together to add light and dark shading. I also added some white paint to the eyes.

Once the image was dry, I added a touch of Alchemy Wax around the edges to accentuate the body.

To create the body and the backing to the die cut, I then placed the owl onto a piece of card from my stash that I'd previously inked with a few of the neutral Distress Oxide Inks and cut around the outline.

I attached my owl over the top of some sisal fibres, placing it in the centre of the frame and allowing the branch to sit on top of the wood slices.

For the foliage, I used the Garden Greens Thinlits die and die cut various pieces from green kraft card and gold metallic kraft card. I inked the edges of the green foliage and applied Hazelnut and Gunmetal Alcohol Ink to the gold pieces to create the look of bronze.

I then attached the foliage by tucking it in behind my owl, arranging it in a spray across the canvas.

At the top of the frame, I used a Vignette Accent which I inked with the Hazelnut and Gunmetal Alcohol Ink that I'd previously used and attached the metal piece to my frame with Collage Medium. I then placed another Finnabair Mechanical Rustic Washer piece which reads 'Create Magic' in the centre of the Accent and added a Star Adornment.

Below the frame, I wanted to add the word 'Wisdom' and used the Alphanumeric dies to cut the letters from silver card, which I then attached to a piece of gold metallic kraft stash, inked with the same alcohol inks as before. I matted the lettering onto black kraft stash card and then placed two hex fasteners into the plaque. I attached the plaque with foam pads directly beneath the frame.

Finally, I added some Clippings Stickers, one to the body of the owl ~ a wonderful creature and a number directly onto the canvas.

As a finishing touch, I used Nailhead Findings down the side of my canvas.

...and that completes this project which I hope you love! It was so much fun piece to create and I really did enjoy this week's theme ~ I just wish you could see the dimension, shimmer and shine on this project, which was really hard to capture in a photograph but I promise, I did try my best!

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/Sizzix Dies: Garden Greens, Ornate Owl, Alphanumeric
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Crossed

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Antiqued Bronze, Ground Espresso
Distress Crayons: Pumice Stone, Iced Spruce and Black Soot

Idea-ology: Clippings Stickers, Star Adornments, Baseboard Frames, Nailhead Findings, Hex Fasteners, Symphony tissue Tape

Prima Marketing: Rustic Washers, Unicorn's Hair and Dragon's Eye Sparks Acrylic Paint, Art Stones, Metallic Accents Watercolour Paint

Mediums: Gesso, Grit Paste, 3D Gel, Matte Collage Medium, Jet Black Archival Ink

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Mixed Media Heavyweight Card, Classic Kraft Stash, Canvas Board

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun


Just before I go, I wanted to let you all know that we're having a Design Team Call on our sister Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge . If you are interested in applying please CLICK HERE for more details.