Hope...

Hello friends and Happy Monday!

Thank you so much for all the visits to my blog last week and for all your lovely comments ~ they really are appreciated and mean the world to me! I also want to say thank you for the comments you leave me over on Instagram, I promise you I do read them all but they keep throwing me into Insta Jail every time I try to reply to everyone...so, I just wanted to let you know!

Now back to today's post and this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week our theme is ALL THINGS PINK and we are supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm sure that we have all been touched or know someone who has been affected by this horrible disease and it is something very dear to my heart. So we urge you to always check yourself and get yourself screened on a regular basis ~ don't be embarrassed, it's better to be safe, than sorry!

For my project, I wanted to make something from my heart, to yours ~ showing my support by designing a card that is all about the sentiment.

So, let's get started and here's how I made this project...

To begin with I created a kraft card blank measuring, 15.5 x 20cm and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink

To create the inky background of this card, I used a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock Card, 12.5 x 17cm. I then applied Pumice Stone Distress Ink to my glass mat, spritzed it with water and picked up the ink with the card panel. After heat drying the ink, I started to layer some more colour but this time used Old Paper Oxide Ink, again spritzed with water and once again, I dipped my card into the inks. I repeated this process with Pumice Stone Oxide Ink, followed by another dipping of Pumice Stone Distress Ink. Once I was happy, I dried my card panel thoroughly before moving onto the next layer ~ stamping!

For this I used the Stampers Anonymous Lace Background stamp and inked the stamp with Frayed Burlap Oxide Ink. I then stamped the lace onto random areas of my background ~ I didn't want the pattern to cover the entire card panel, just show hints of it here and there.

After giving it a blast of heat to set the ink, I then took the script stamp from the Ledger stamp set and inked it with Hickory Smoke Archival Ink and again, stamped randomly over the background.

To complete the background I used the Gradient Dot Mini Layering Stencil from Set 39 and using a blending tool, I applied Frayed Burlap Distress Ink through the stencil, again placing it onto random areas of the background. Now that I have my inky panel, I added a machine stitched border using pink thread around the outside before matting it onto a layer of Rose Gold Metallic Kraft Card.

I added some more layers by matting the inking panel onto a piece of card that I covered with a rose pattern Design Tape taken from the Remnants set and just place the tape along each of the four edges to create a patterned background layer. Finally, I matted the layered panels onto pink kraft card before mounting them onto my card blank.

In the corner of the card panel, I stamped the numbers in black ink using one of the stamps from the Correspondence Stamp Set.

Now we can start making that heart and I started by cutting the image using Faceted Heart die by Tim Holtz. I then painted the die cut with a combination of pink paint ~ Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar. Starting with the darker paint, followed by a dry brushed layer of the paler colour. Heat dry the surface and then assemble the heart to create the dimensional piece. To create the rusty effect along the edges of the heart, I used Vintage Photo Distress Crayon and just run it along each edge, blending out the harsh lines with my fingertip. I then applied a small touch of Black Soot Distress Crayon, focusing on the points of the heart and again blended out any harsh colour.

I added some Hex Fasteners to the heart before placing a Clippings Sticker 'courage strong' onto one of the facets and attached a star adornment beneath the wording.

Behind the heart, I created a circle and for this I used the Steampunk Parts and cut the circle from chipboard. I then painted the board with a combination of Distress Paints, layering the paints onto the surface starting with Walnut Stain, followed by Antiqued Bronze and heat drying the surface between each layer. Take a paint brush and add a touch of Black Soot Distress Paint, by dry brushing a minimal amount of paint over the surface. Heat dry once more and then add a final dry brushed layer of Antiqued Bronze paint. Matt the painted chipboard circle onto a layer of Rose Gold Metallic Kraft stash, leaving a narrow border of the gold showing and then mount the entire circle onto the top section of the card.

I cut a strip of Mummy Cloth and coloured it with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain, followed by Tattered Rose Oxide Spray. Once the cloth is thoroughly dry, I arranged it across the centre of the circle. Using foam pads, I placed the heart in the centre of the circle, over the top of the cloth and then ruched the ends of the cloth either side of the heart, attaching it with small dots of Matte Collage Medium.

At the top of the heart, I added a Memo Pin, securing it into the foam pads.

To create the HOPE wording, I used the AlphaNumeric Classic Upper die set and cut each individual letter four times from Mixed Media card. I then layered them over the top of one another to create thick chipboard style letters.

To colour them, I used the same paints as I used on the circle. Once the painted letters are dry, I attached them to my card front, using Matte Collage Medium and added a few gems around the outside.

Underneath the HOPE wording, I added a quote ~ this is taken from the Nature's Wonder Stamp Set and stamped onto a piece of card, inked in the same colours as the background. I then matted the card onto foam pads and mounted it onto my card, adding Hardware Heads to either side of the quote.

To complete the card, I added Tonic Dusty Rose Vintage Nuvo Drops to each corner of the stamped background panel.

So, that completes my project for this week and thank you so much for popping by to take a look! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and I hope my ideas have inspired you!

Have fun creating your projects and 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 taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Ledger Script, Ornate and Lace, Mini Layering Stencils Set 39, Nature's Wonder
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Faceted Heart, AlphaNumeric Upper, Steampunk Parts
Distress Ink: Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain
Distress Oxide Inks: Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap

Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen
Distress Oxide Spray: Tattered Rose

Idea-ology: Mummy Cloth, Hardware Heads, Remnants Design Tape, Star Adornments, Clippings Sticker, Hex Fasteners, Memo Pins

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Archival Ink Set 3, Tonic Nuvo Drops Dusty Rose
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Classic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash 2
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

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