This Is Me...Believe In Yourself!

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week the DT are INSPIRED BY MUSIC, and we would love for you to join us and play along with this fun theme and create something that has you singing out loud!

For my project, I chose to create a double page journal layout inspired by The Greatest Showman and one song in particular ~ This Is Me! This song has such powerful lyrics and I chose to take a section of the song and interpret it through my page, using products and quotes from Tim Holtz.

Be kind, believe in yourself and just be who you were made to me!

So, let's get started because the new challenge has begun!

To begin with I cut a panel of cotton watercolour paper, 23.5 x 17cm to use as a base to create my background. I then added a wash of colour over the background using Tumbled Glass Distress Paint, slightly watered down. After heat drying the paint, I then used a brayer to add some white acrylic paint over the top. After heat drying the surface, I added some torn Tissue Tape strips, focusing on the central area of the paper and applied a coat of Matte Collage Medium over the top to seal the taped area. I then added some more layers using the Pumice Stone and Black Soot Distress crayon, running the crayon over the taped area and blending out any harsh lines with my slightly damp fingertip.

I also took some torn book paper and adhered this around the edges of the page using Matte Collage Medium.

Now to add some interest to the background and for this I started by adding some stamping using the Music Score Stamp from the  and the calligraphy stamp from the Toadstools stamp set. I inked both stamps with Black Soot Archival Ink and then stamped parts of the image onto the background. I then added some texture, spreading Crackle Paste onto the background and then once that was dry

, applying Grit Paste through the Falling Stars Layering Stencil. Allow for the paste to dry thoroughly and before using the Pumice Stone Distress Crayon to highlight and accentuate the crackle and pasted areas.

I now have my background complete and just added a few splatters of Black Soot over the top before machine stitching a border around the outside.

I mounted the page into my Dina Wakley Journal and then placed some torn pieces of Design Tape around the edges to give the look of it being attached with tape.

Right, we can now move onto tell the story...

...and I built up the layers in the centre of my page using some more of the torn book paper that I used as a base and then layered up with a Salvaged Tag complete with twine, a ticket from the Ticket Book and a Type Chip. 

I then took a photo strip from Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo Booth sets and used the image of three strong women, all different ages and after adding some machine stitching to the edges, inking with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then adding some rips and tears to the photo strip, I applied a bit of colour tinting to each photo using Distress Marker Pens. I then added a Tiny Clip, (LOVE THESE, they are my new obsession!!!) to the top of the photos

Before I attach the photo strip, I used the Radiant 3D die and embossing folder to cut four of the star bursts from gold metallic kraft stash. I then applied some Black Soot Distress Paint over each of the stars to tone down the brightness of the gold as I wanted more of a vintage feel before attaching the stars behind the photos.

I then added a Metallic Droplet to each of the stars, placing a silver one in the centre and also adding a few around the central layered section.

I completed the embellishments on this page with a metal hardware piece in the top left and bottom right hand corners.

All that's left for this page was to add the wording and these are both taken from the Tiny Text stamp set and stamped onto Collage Tissue with Black Soot Archival Ink. i then ran a damp brush around the outside of the quote, allowing me to easily tear the tissue. Attach the quotes, "Believe In Yourself" and "the world needs who you were made to be", to the page by applying Matte Collage Medium directly onto the background and then placing the quote over the top, lightly bruising some more medium over the top to seal it and create a seamless finish.

Now to bring the layout together...

...and I always love taking my design over the two pages of the journal and to do this, I added some Design Tape to the opposite page, starting along the spine and just applying torn pieces to the other side.

I then added some white acrylic paint over the tape before applying some more torn piece of book paper, attached with Matte Collage Medium. After adding a smear of Crackle paste to the taped area, I allowed it to dry before adding shading with the Pumice Stone Distress crayon. I then stamped the postmark onto the page and added a number at the top both of which are taken from the Field Notes Stamp Set.

For the lyrics to the song "This Is Me' I typed these onto a piece of handmade paper and just tore the paper to give me this uneven edge. I then attached the lyrics onto the page using collage medium and created shadow around the torn edges with the Pumice Stone Distress crayon.

To complete my layout, I used an older die, Witchcraft to die cut some gold stars which I just dotted around both pages and then finally, added a Snippets Ephemera piece in the top left hand corner of the opposite page.

So, I hope you've loved this layout and also felt inspired by the lyrics to this song...this song is so motivating and meaningful ~ we should all be proud of who we are and be kind to those around us!

Don't forget, if you would like to see 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 and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. 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: Field Notes, Toadstools, Music and Advert, Tiny Text, Falling Stars Layering Stencil
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Radiant 3D Impresslits Embossing and Die Cut folder
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Tumbled Glass
Distress Inks: Walnut Stain
Distress Marker Pens
Tim Holtz Archival Inks Set 1 and Set 3
Distress Crayons: Pumice Stone and Black Soot
Alcohol Inks: Rust, Gold Mixative

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Plain Collage Paper, Tiny Clips, PhotoBooth, Metallic Droplets, French Design Tape, Ticket Book, Salvaged Tags, Type Chip, Snippets

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Paste, Dina Wakley Night Acrylic Paint

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Media Journal, Cotton Watercolor paper

Glass Media Mat

Big Shot

Heat Gun

book pages, hardware heads, tissue tape and twine from my own stash