Focus On The Good....

Hello friends!

Hope you are all keeping safe and well and thank you so much for popping by to join us for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which this week is all about getting in the mood for Spring! If your looking for inspiration, then we have a Spring Mood Board below to get your creative juices flowing and while we all spending the time in our homes, for those lucky enough to be surrounded by nature, then you only need to look outside to be inspired.

For my project, I created a little whimsical piece for Easter, with the message to Focus On the Good and I hope this will make you smile. This piece was inspired by Alice In Wonderland and the White Rabbit but is my take on the story, because my bunny has had a little fur dye job to banish that grey, lol! So, get yourself a cup of tea and let's take a wander through my project...

So, let's get started because it's time to share all the details of my Spring project...

To begin with I took the second smallest and the smallest Vignette Boxes from the set of 4 and the second smallest panel which will fit on top of one of the boxes to form the lid.

To begin with I covered the top of the small box, which I turned upside down so that the base become the top, and the top of the vignette panel, (the lid) and adhered a panel of patterned paper that I took from the Etcetera Paper Stash onto each. I then applied some design tape around the top edges of the larger box and around the raw edges of the lid ~ this just gives the whole box a really nice finish.

Taking the boxes, I gave each of them a coverage of gesso and allowed them to dry. Whilst they're doing their thing, I took the Bouquet Thinlits Die and used it to die cut two panels of Mixed Media Heavystock card. I then cut the die cut card to create panels that would fit each of the four sides of my two vignette boxes and adhered the panels of die cut card into place with Matte Collage Medium.

Once the medium was dry, and the tape was in place, I dry brushed some Scattered Straw Distress Paint over the raised die cut surface. It doesn't matter if any of the paint settles onto the recessed areas, you can just wipe it away with a semi damp cloth. Once the paint was dry, I then applied a coat of Matte Collage Medium over each of the boxes and the lid.

Again allow for the paint to dry before moving onto the next stage, adding some Crackle Paste to the edges of the boxes. After letting the paste dry and crackle, I then applied some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon to the crackled areas and used a water brush to move the colour over the surface of the crackle paste to accentuate the cracks.

I also applied some of the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon along the edges of the box so that it creates more of a vintage feel to this piece.

So we now have all the boxes prepped and taking the small one, I attached this to the centre of the lid and attached it with Matte Collage Medium.

I then added a Theories Quote Chip, 'Focus On The Good' which I thought was perfect for our current situation and I gave the chip more of a vintage feel by applying the Walnut Stain Distress crayon to the surface and then just using my finger to blend it over the chip. I then added some Hardware Heads to either side of the chip...

...and I also added a clock face to the front of the small box. I had this piece in my stash, it was clean and white but I added some Distress Paints to make it look worn and old.

To complete the larger box, I added small pearls to the base as little feet.

So the box is ready to decorate and of course, you can create any scene you want but I chose to use one of the brand new Bunny Hop dies.

I took the die and cut three separate layers of thin chipboard which I layered together to create one substantial die cut. I then cut a fourth layer from Heavystock Mixed Media card which I'd inked with a combination of Distress Inks ~ Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap and Gathered Twigs, paying attention to the edges to create more definition around the bunny. I then attached this die cut over the top of the chipboard piece and added a little cottontail, a Darice Pom Pom.

For my bunny bow, I used a piece of Mummy Cloth, dyed with Faded Jeans Distress Spray Stain and then tied around his neck. I also added a little pink flower, a bouquet finding dyed with Tattered Rose Distress Spray Stain.

Attach the bunny die cut onto the top of the small upturned box using a dab of hot glue to hold it in place and allow for the glue to set.

...and while that's setting, I took two different sized Woodland Trees, and dyed them with a combination of Evergreen Bough and Crushed Olive Distress Spray Stain. I gently heat dried the trees to set the colour before attaching each of them to my scene, bending the tops to give a quirky feel to the piece. I then added small dried flowers into the trees and a little butterfly taken from the Snippets Ephemera set.

Around the bunny's feet I added some moss and some more of the Bouquet Findings flowers, that I snipped away from the main stalk and just attached the individual flowers into the moss.

Finally, I added my pearls to the lid! Now those regular visitors to my blog will know that I love these pearls and have used them in so many ways but what I really love about them is that they add instant colour and dimension to a project and these really did create that pop of spring once I'd added alcohol ink to them. I used various sizes of Bauble Findings and coloured them with four colours of Alcohol Inks ~ Alchemy, Cloudy Blue, Cool Peri and Mushroom.

I then took each of the coloured pearls and just attached them in clusters to my box lid, popping pieces of moss in between the pearls.

...and that completes my little box that can now be filled with chocolate eggs and sent to someone to say hello and let them know you're thinking of them or you can just use it as a display piece.

As you may know the lovely Heidi, and all the people working behind the scenes at the Simon Says Stamp Store are running on limited operations ~ they are still accepting orders but due to the current Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation, shipping times are going to be slightly longer than usual!

But due to the outbreak we have made the very difficult decision to suspend the $50 vouchers for now but we know that many people are staying safe at home and we would love it if you would continue to enter the challenges and have fun! We are all in this together!

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and see you again soon.

Stay safe everyone and take care of yourselves and your loved ones...

....love, care, believe ~ Emma

xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Bunny Hop, Bouquet
Distress Paint: Scattered Straw
Distress Spray Stain: Evergreen Bough, Crushed Olive, Faded Jeans, Scattered Straw
Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain
Alcohol Inks: Alchemy, Cloudy Blue, Cool Peri, Mushroom

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Baubles Findings, Theories Quote Chips, Woodland Trees, Bouquet Findings, Snippets, Design Tape, mummy Cloth, Vignette Box, Vignette Panels

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Paste
Darice Pom Poms
Natural Moss and Green Moss

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Graphic 45 Chipboard, Etcetera Paper Stash

Glass Media Mat

Big Shot

Heat Gun
Clock face from my own stash