Take Time To Dream...

Hello everyone and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is called Tape It Up and the DT are also showcasing Jane Davenport products within their projects which you don't have to use to play along, but if you have them ~ we'd love for you to use them.

For my project, I took three of Jane's products which included, Tape Strips and Inkredible inks in my favourite blues and combined them with Tim Holtz items, to create a vintage style piece all about a boy with dreams and aspirations of becoming an artist.

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

To begin with I started to create the background on my canvas panel which measures approx 17 x 24cm. The panel is pre-gessoed, so I can start adding the mediums straightaway and applied a spritzing of Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain directly over the surface. Give it a blast of heat to dry the spray and then I applied two colours of Jane Davenport's Inkredible, Blueberry and Hydrangea to create the look of a splash across the central section of the canvas. Once you place the inner panel over the top, you can always go in and add more of the Inkredible if you need it but I was happy with how mine looked. I added a few splashes of Black Soot Distress Paint and then used Pumice Stone and Black Soot Distress Crayons around the edge of the panel.

At this stage, I also applied some tape strips, a combination of Tim Holtz and Jane Davenport to the bottom left and right hand corners of the panel ~ these will sit underneath the main layer once it's complete.

Setting aside the canvas, I began work on the inner panel and cut a piece of watercolour card, slightly smaller than the canvas.

I then adhered some offcuts of card to the surface, concentrating on the central area and attaching them vertically using Collage Medium. Once the strips are in place and thoroughly dry, I spritzed the surface with some more of the Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain, letting the stain run and puddle in places before heat drying the ink.

I love creating depth and dimension on my projects but I also love layering and at the base of the layering are some Jane Davenport tape strips from the Journal Strip Set. I placed these across the card strips and you can just see them in the photo below, sitting beneath the focal point of the image.

I then went in with the Inkredibles and added drops of the two colours that I previously used on the background canvas, giving them a mist of water and just allowing them to run, puddle and drip across the centre of the watercolour card....

For my next layer, I added some Tim Holtz Snippets Ephemera pieces and adhered these into place with Collage Medium before applying Grit Paste through the Stitches Layering Stencil and adding a splatter of Black Soot Distress Paint across the surface with a few doodles around the edges of the card.

I then attached two old paintbrushes, that I've used and abused and after attaching them together with some rusty wire, I placed these over the top of some cheesecloth and sisal fibres. This will form a base for my Paper Doll to sit on.

But I'm not done with the layers just yet and I wanted to add one more, that will sit behind the little boy, a 3D Flourish. I cut the flourish from Mixed Media Heavystock card and then applied Distress Paints to create a stone effect finish to the die cut. I attached the die cut to the brushes and then sat my coloured paper doll onto the flourish.

I matted my watercolour card onto a piece of paper from the Dapper Paper Stash and then mounted the artwork onto the canvas panel and just LOVED how the inky blue background became a continuation across the two backgrounds.

Moving onto the embellishments, I added some Melange Pebbles, painted with Sparks Mermaid Acrylic Paint and attached these around the arrangement that I have clustered in the centre. I also added a Index Clip to the card and hung a Story Stick from it.

To complete the background, I applied some three individual phrases from the Tape Set ~ 'learning, dreaming and painting', inked them with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then, placed them onto the background...

...before wrapping some twine around the bottom section of the panel and placing a final phrase, 'Take time to dream' in the left hand corner.

I really hope you've enjoyed the process of how I put this project together and below you'll find a list of items I used to bring this canvas to life ~ happy shopping!

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:

Jane Davenport Products: Hydrangea Inkredible, Blueberry Inkredible, Strips and Phrases Journal Tape Strips
Tim Holtz/Sizzix 3D Impresslits Die: Flourish

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Stitches
Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen

Distress Paint: Black Soot
Distress Marker Pens
Distress Crayons: Pumice Stone, Black Soot

Idea-ology: Snippets, Index Clip, Story Stick, 

Prima Marketing: Unicorn's Hair and Mermaid Sparkle Sparks Acrylic Paint, Melange Pebbles

Mediums: Grit Paste, Matte Collage Medium
Surfaces: Canvas Board, Mixed Media Heavystock Cardstock, Watercolour Card, Dapper Paper Stash

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Heat Gun
Splatter Brush
Tim Holtz Collage Brushes
Hemptique Twine
Sisal Fibres, rusty wire, cheesecloth and paintbrushes from my own stash