Thoughts and Theories...

Hello friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and now ready for a brand new week and a new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!

This week our theme is called ~ Sprinkles and Splatters and we are looking forward to seeing how you will interpret it and can't wait to see what you create.

For my project, I was inspired by the theory of the butterfly effect and decided to use Alcohol Inks (sprinkled onto Yupo paper) and the amazing Alcohol Lift-Ink to create a layered inset panel that I added to an Etcetera Tag. Hope you enjoy the tutorial and all the up-close details of my Thoughts and Theories tag...

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

To begin with I covered my medium sized Etcetera tag with the Typography paper from the Dapper Paper Set, adhering the paper onto the tag using Matte Collage Medium. I also added a coat of the medium over the top to seal the paper before finishing the edges with some Black Soot Distress Crayon, blended out with my finger.

To complete the tag, I added the hole reinforcer piece, painted with Ground Espresso Distress Paint and then layered a sprocket gear over the top before placing a Faucet Knob, painted with Evergreen Bough Distress Paint, with a touch of gold and Antiqued Bronze paint over the top. I then attached it to the centre of the gear with some Collage Medium.

Set the tag aside to dry and for the metal pieces to be secure...

Moving onto the central section ~ let's start with the frame which is just the frame taken from the mini Framed Panel (I'll use the panel later for another project). For this I prepped the wood by applying a coat of gesso, allowing the medium to dry and then adding a combination of Ground Espresso, Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot Distress Paints, adding each layer one by one and ensuring they dry before dry brushing the next layer over the top.

Once happy I added some Alchemy Waxes over the top to accentuate the beading around the frame.

Now for that background and the fun part ~ Alcohol Inks, Yupo and the amazing new Alcohol Lift Ink. HERE, is where you can see a video from Tim himself which explains the process about these products so I won't go into that but for my background I used: Turquoise, Espresso, Sunset Orange, Patina, Teakwood and the Blending Solution and just sprinkled the inks onto the paper.

Once I'd got my background, I then went onto inking up my Inventor stamp with the Lift-Ink and then stamped directly onto the background before doing the dab, dab, dab, rub technique to reveal the image. I then re-stamped the second lift image onto a piece of Speciality Card Stock which I will be using for another project but for this project I wanted the x-ray image, which is my technical term for it!!!

I matted my background onto a piece of patterned paper which I then attached to the tag, adhering the painted frame over the top.

Moving onto the embellishments, I broke up some Ruler Pieces and inked them with Ground Espresso to make them more worn looking in appearance. I then attached these images onto the central area of the frame, using foam pads to add the dimension.

Taking the clock face, which I inked with some Rust and Sailboat Blue Alcohol Ink, I placed this over the top of a bed of sisal fibres, placing it in the centre of the rulers. You can see the dimension this piece has in the image below....

I then attached my metal butterfly to the centre of the clock face and painted just the thorax in gold ~ I purposely wanted to leave these metal pieces looking as natural as possible with no added colour on them.

As a finishing touch, I added my Thoughts And Theories Quote Chip and a couple of Nailhead Findings....

...and that completes my project for this week, which I hope has inspired you with all the different techniques that I've used.

And if you haven't tried the Lift-Ink, then you MUST ~ it's a game changer and you will have so much fun creating wonderful backgrounds for all your projects and I just want to say thank you Tim and Ranger Ink for allowing me to play with these products.

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 Stamps: Inventor 1

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Ground Espresso, Evergreen Bough

Distress Inks: Ground Espresso

Distress Crayons: Black Soot

Idea-ology: Butterflies Adornments, Quote Chips, Mini Framed Panel, Clock Face, Ruler Pieces, Faucet Knobs, Sprocket Gears, Nailhead Findings

Alcohol Inks: Rust, Sailboat Blue, Turquoise, Espresso, Sunset Orange, Patina, Teakwood and the Blending Solution 

Mediums: Gesso, Matte Collage Medium, Alcohol Lift-Ink

Surfaces: Etcetera Tag, Dapper Paper Stash, Yupo, 

Aged Brass Alchemy Wax

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Tim Holtz Guillotine

Heat Gun

Sisal Fibres from my own stash