Back To School...

Hi friends!

Hope you all had a great weekend ~ can you believe it's Monday again? Time is really flying this year but I can't wait for the next few months as Halloween and Christmas are in the house and there are going to be a lot of fun posts over the next few months, so watch this space.

In the meantime, this week over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, our theme is called BACK TO SCHOOL and we want you to create something school or study related and can't wait to see what you make.

For my project I chose to alter a mini clipboard and create a classroom, complete with these two adorable little girls, standing on a base of wood and surrounded by lots of Tim Holtz idea-ology pieces...

So, here we go...let the new challenge begin!

I decided to use the amazing Worn Wallpaper as a background for my clipboard, creating the look of wallpaper on the classroom walls. This paper is amazing, the texture is fabulous and it really does take whatever medium you throw at it ~ it's awesome and I love it!! I removed the clip from the board and covered the base with a piece of the paper adhered with Matte Collage Medium. I also added a layer over the surface of the paper to seal it.

Once it was dry, I lightly sanded the edges back before applying Gathered Twig Distress Crayon around the edge, blending it out with my finger.

To add a little more distressing to the paper, I scraped some gesso over the surface using an old credit card.

Moving onto the clip, I applied a coat of gesso over the metal before painting the clip with Weathered Wood Distress Paint. I allowed the paint to dry before applying a touch of Pumice Stone DP over the top. Once I was happy, I applied some Alchemy Gilding Wax to accentuate the raised areas and then attached the clip back onto the board.

Taking one of the Bow Adornment pieces from the Ribbon and Bows set, I coloured the metal with a mix of Mushroom and gold mixative alcohol ink and then attached the bow to the metal clip using Collage Medium.

Now to start building up those layers and to begin with, I added the wood base at the bottom of the clipboard. This is a piece of driftwood which I've coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain and then attached across the bottom of my clipboard using a hot glue gun.

I then took a Salvaged Baseboard, this couldn't be more appropriate for the back to school theme ~ it was perfect. I applied a small amount of Crackle Medium over the corner and then once dry, I aged the edges with Gathered Twigs Crayon and attached the board to my clipboard. I splattered a small amount of Black Soot Paint across the surface of the boards.

I wrapped a piece of measurement ribbon around both boards and placed an index clip onto the ribbon.

I attached some cheesecloth to the wood base using Collage Medium which had been dyed with a combination of Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stain.

The basic board is now complete and ready to create the scene and building up those embellishments.

Firstly, I attached my adorable girls taken from Tim's Paper Dolls set and coloured with Distress Marker Pens. These are attached with foam pads to create some dimension and layers.

I then added a clock, complete with Clock Hands and placed this onto foam pads before attaching it to my Salvaged Baseboard.

I added a Quote Chip above the girl's heads...

...and a Tiny Corked Vial bottle at their feet. The bottle had been crackled with Rock Candy Crackle Paint and coloured with Mushroom Alcohol Ink. I also placed a small flower into the arrangement and added a label to the bottle.

To complete the scene, I added a Milk Cap label (no classroom is complete without chocolate milk) and some Alpha Dice....

...and then placed some baubles into a Corked Dome ~ the baubles are coloured with Pink Sherbet and Mushroom Alcohol Ink. I then added a vial label and Remnant Rub to the dome.

That completes this week's project and I hope you loved how I bought this classroom to life using lots of Tim's wonderful products ~ it was such a fun piece to make!

As always, you can find more inspiration for this challenge theme 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:

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Weathered Wood

Distress Inks: Ground Espresso

Distress Crayons: Gathered Twigs
Distress Spray Stains: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone
Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Quote Chips, Mini Clipboard, Worn Wallpaper, Milk Caps, Clock Hands, Ribbons and Bows Adornments, Paper Dolls, Bouquet Findings, Measurement Ribbon, Alpha Dice, Baubles, Index Clips, Corked Domes, Tiny Corked Vials, Salvaged Baseboard, Snippets

Alcohol Inks: Mushroom, Pink Sherbet, Gold Mixative

Mediums: Gesso, Matte Collage Medium, Rock Candy Crackle Paint

Aged Brass Alchemy Wax

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Tim Holtz Guillotine

Heat Gun

Cheesecloth and driftwood from my own stash