The Little Bird of Hope....

Hello friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is all about ADDING SOME TEXTURE and the DT will be showcasing Stamperia products within their projects. Unfortunately, I didn't receive my goodies before lockdown happened and I haven't been able to use this amazing company on my project but do take a look at what's available, as they have some really cool stuff!

I chose to make a tag all about hope, something I think we all need to hold onto at the moment, and I just wanted to send my love to everyone around the world who might be struggling right now, or know someone who is and with this in mind, I was inspired to use one of the gorgeous little Feathered Friends from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 2 release, now available to buy and perch him on the Heartbeat Die, part of the Chapter 1 release! I also created a background using one of the really inspirational techniques that Tim shared in a recent Facebook Live using the new Distress Embossing Glazes and Distress Crayons to create an enamelled background.

So, let's get started because it's time to share all the details of how I added some texture...

To begin with I took a size 8 tag and using the technique that Tim shared with us all, I started work on the background and applied the Weathered Wood Distress Ink Pad directly onto the tag, swiping it over the surface so that it catches areas of the card but also leaves some areas untouched by the ink.

I then sprinkled some of the Weathered Wood Embossing Glaze over the top, tapping the back of the tag to remove any of the excess powder which I returned to the pot. Heat emboss the powder until molten and you can see the shine it creates. Now, I took my Walnut Stain and Gathered Twigs crayons and scribbled over the background, working in small areas at any one time and just blended the crayon into the background, especially concentrating on the areas that were left untouched by the glaze. This created the most gorgeous worn, textured effect to the surface of the tag.

I then stamped a label using the Stampers Anonymous Field Notes Stamp Set and added a number onto the centre before attaching it to the left hand side of my tag, adding a Remnant Rub "Fig 4" above it.

I machine stitched a border around the outside of my tag, and then mounted it onto a Stampers Anonymous Size 8 Etcetera Tag, adhering it with Matte Collage Medium.

Moving onto the next layer and I added a piece of corrugated card. To colour the card, I used a combination of Weathered Wood and Evergreen Bough Distress Paints and covered the surface. I then heat dried the paint before adding a rusty look to the corrugation using Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Crayons. Once I was happy, I then used the Embossing Dabber to apply the ink onto random areas of the card before sprinkling Rusty Hinge, Hickory Smoke and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Glaze over the top. After tapping away the excess, I heat embossed the powder before attaching the corrugated card along the bottom section of the tag.

To create the globe, I used the Sizzix Mini Globe Die by Tim Holtz from my stash. I cut the globe from Mixed Media Heavystock card. After giving the surface a coat of gesso, I applied some Translucent Texture Paste over areas of the die cut to create texture. Allowing for the paste to dry, I then painted the die cut with Black Soot Distress Paint. Again heat dry the surface.

To create the metallic look to the surface, I used some Prima Marketing Alchemy Gilding Waxes, Vintage Gold, Old Silver and Bronze Age and just gently rubbed these over the surface to accentuate the texture paste. I then mounted my globe onto a piece of gold metallic kraft stash, altered with a little Rust and Mushroom Alcohol Ink before placing foam pads on the back and attaching it to my tag. At the top of the globe, I attached a Tiny Clip.

Moving onto the heartbeat wave line...

Cut three separate layers of thin chipboard using the Heartbeat die and adhere the three pieces over the top of one another using Matte Collage Medium. You will also notice that there is a little heart left as waste in the die cut but oh no, this is precious and instead of throwing it, I cut it away from the waste and layered them over the top of one another to create a heart that would fit into the die cut wave. 

Going back to the heartbeat wave, I pounced the Embossing Dabber over the top of the die cut and sprinkled it with Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder. Heat emboss until molten, then repeat the process a further couple of times to create this enamelled heartbeat wave line. Attach the enamelled line across the globe die and then taking the small layered heart, I painted this with Candied Apple Distress Paint and then added a small amount of Black Soot Distress Paint over the top, using the dry brushing technique. I then placed the heart into my wave line.

For the little bluebird, I cut the smallest bird from Distress Watercolor Card, using the Feathered Friends die and then water coloured the layers with Distress Marker Pens, adding white, and black pen highlights.

Layer up the three pieces of the die and then attach the bird over the top of the world, perching it onto the wave line.

I added some foliage, that I had left over from a previous project ~ this was cut from card inked with green Distress Inks using the Funky Florals 3 die set.

Now for all the little details and first, I added Falling Hearts cut from gold metallic kraft stash onto the background, together with a Special Delivery ephemera piece from the Snippets Ephemera pack...

Beneath the arrangement, I added my wording and used the Label die from Sizzix to cut the word HOPE and attached this to my tag, together with one last small heart.

Finally, I added some string through the hole and tied it onto the tag.

So, that's my project for this week and I hope you've loved this piece and enjoyed the techniques I've used to create texture and dimension!

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: Feathered Friends, Heartbeat, Falling Hearts, Alphanumeric Label, Funky Florals 3, Mini Globe Die from my own stash
Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Field Notes, Size 8 Etcetera Tag
Distress Paint: Candied Apple, Black Soot, Evergreen Bough
Distress Ink: Weathered Wood
Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain, Gathered Twigs
Alcohol Inks: Rust, Mushroom

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Snippets, Tiny Clips, Specimen Remnant Rubs

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Gesso, Embossing Dabber, Transluscent Texture Paste
Tim Holtz Ranger Ink Embossing Glazes
Embossing Powder: Liquid Platinum
Prima Marketing Wax: Old Silver, Bronze Age, Vintage Gold

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Graphic 45 Chipboard, Metallic Kraft Stash, Distress Watercolor Card, Size 8 Tag

Glass Media Mat

Big Shot

Heat Gun
Clock face from my own stash