You Are Loved...

Hello friends!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and now refreshed and ready for a brand new week and of course, with Monday upon us once again it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our MASCULINE theme is all about the boys and men in our lives and whether you want to create something for Father's Day or even if it's just because you want to tell that special person you love them, we want to see how you interpret this theme and hope you'll join us!

For my project, I took the opportunity to create a card for my Dad for Father's Day and as a couple of the new 3D Texture Fades from Tim Holtz and Sizzix had landed on my craft desk, how could I possibly resist them for this special card for a special Dad!

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

To begin I just had to try out those 3D Texture Fades and *hand on heart*...YOU NEED THESE, they are amazing and just look at the depth of the embossing ~ WOW, what a game changer!

So back to the project and I started by covering two pieces of card with some metal foil tape and then running the card through my Big Shot to emboss it using Mechanics and then the Foundry Texture Fades. Then after much touching and gazing in total awe at what had been produced I started to age the metal on both panels by applying some Gunmetal Alcohol Ink over the surface and then a layer of Black Soot Distress Paint. I let the paint dry slightly and then started wiping it away with a soft cloth, allowing some of the mediums to sit in the recesses of the embossed areas. Once I was happy, I then used a Sanding Tool to just accentuate the raised areas.

I then cut a piece of paper from the Dapper Paper Stash, stitched around the outside and then matted it onto silver metallic kraft card. I mounted the layers onto a black card blank and then taking the Foundry embossed metal sheet, I attached this panel horizontally across the centre of my covered card blank. I matted the Mechanical metal panel onto a further piece of silver metallic kraft card and then used foam pads to mount this panel onto the right hand side of the card.

I now have the base of my card and moved onto the gears ~ for this I used the Industrial die and die cut a selection of gears from chipboard primed with some gesso. I then painted each of the die cut gears together with some wooden gears from Kaisercraft and using a blend of Alchemy Acrylic paints ~ Steampunk Copper, Metallic Gold Amber, Gold Rush and Rustic, together with a touch of Black Soot Distress Paint, I painted each gear to create a rusty finish to the surface.

Once the painted gears are dry, I attached them down the left hand side of the card, tucking some underneath the embossed panel and adding some to overlap. I also placed some of the die cut nuts and bolts onto the right hand side of the card ~ you can just see them behind the paper doll.

Moving onto the next stage and creating the banner, I used the Sentiments Word die and die cut the word Father's Day into a piece of silver metallic kraft stash coloured with Mushroom, Espresso and Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink. Keeping all the letters that you've die cut, I matted the banner strip onto a piece of gold metallic card, followed by a piece of Black Soot Kraft Card, each time leaving a border showing. I then placed all the silver letters back into the die cut lettering to create a contrast.

I attached the banner across the centre of my metal panel using foam pads for dimension and added a metallic quote sticker below.

I then placed a paper doll to appear as if he was leaning on the banner and clipped a Hinge Clip to the edge of the card, complete with a star from the Souvenir Adornments set, painted with Barn Door Distress Paint and a Typed Token. I also added an Index Clip.

I then adhered a small mirrored heart, altered with Mushroom Alcohol Ink onto the jacket of the paper doll.

For the final embellishments, I added a Foundry Adornment and added Hex Fasteners...

...and painted some Mini Hardware pieces with Barn Door Distress Paint before attaching them to each corner of the card.

And here's the finished card, ready to write and give to my Dad!

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/Sizzix Dies: Sentiments Words, Industrial
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Texture Fades: Foundry, Mechanics

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Barn Door
Distress Marker Pens

Alcohol Ink: Gunmetal, Mushroom, Gold Mixative, Espresso

Idea-ology: Paper Dolls, Metallic Quotations Stickers, Foundry Adornments, Typed Tokens, Hex Fasteners, Mirrored Hearts, Souvenir Adornments, Index clip

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Gesso

Surfaces: Classic kraft stash, Metallic kraft stash, Dapper Paper Stash, Metal Foil Tape
Alchemy Paints: Gold Amber, Rustic, Steampunk Copper, Gold Rush
Prima Marketing Mechanical Mini Hardware

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat
Big Shot Plus
Sanding Tool

Heat Gun