That's Life: The World Needs Who You Were Made To Be...

Hi friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

This week our theme is all about Sprays and Splashes and I'm sure you'll agree with me that there are so many interpretations of this fun theme and the DT can't wait to see what you create and how you'll feature the challenge theme within your projects.

With Father's Day in mind and as a way of celebrating an extremely special man in our life, I chose to create a canvas panel packed full of sprays, splashes, texture and layers and used one of my favourite Tim Holtz stamps, The Professor 2 as the focal point of this piece. I also couldn't help but be inspired by some of Tim's recent Q&A Demos on Facebook Live and have thrown in a few of the techniques that I learnt from him along the way.

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

To begin I created the canvas panel and the metallic background panel which I will eventually mount the artwork onto. I used a Media Panel, cut to measure 24 x 18cm and painted it with a combination of Antiqued Linen, Weathered Wood and a touch of PaperArtsy's Heavy Cream Chalk Paint which I brayed over the top to create more of weathered look.

Once the canvas panel was dry, I then added some Design Tape around the edge to create a lovely frame ~ I'm so sorry as I'm not sure which set this comes from, my tapes have all got a little muddled in the storage box but any tape will do, it's up to you which is your favourite.

For the metallic panels, I used silver metallic kraft stash card, cut it into two panels and then embossed these with the 3D Foundry Texture Fade. I then applied a layer of Black Soot Distress Paint over the top of the embossed card and after approx. 30 seconds...I used a paper towel or a soft cloth to wipe away the excess paint but allow for some of the paint to sit in the embossed areas, accentuating the design. If you want to add more paint, then just keep reapplying and wiping away but once I was happy with the look, I then started to add a little colour and used the Vintage Photo Distress Crayon, running it over the cardstock and blending out the harsh lines with my fingertip.

Now to create some rust and for this I used Distress Translucent Grit Paste and just applied the paste directly onto the embossed card, using my fingers. Whilst the paste was still moist, I sprinkled some Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Glaze over the top, tapped away the excess and then set the panels to one side to dry. This usually takes about 30 mins dependant on temperature and surroundings.

Once the paste has set, I then heat embossed the glaze ~ using the lowest setting on my heat gun and very gently heating it ~ if the paste starts to bubble, then don't worry, just move on and then go back to that area if the powder still needs more heat.

When you've done, you will have the most gorgeous pockets of rusty goodness and to complete this, I just added some Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot Distress crayon over the top, blending out the colour with a damp brush or fingertip.

So I now have my panels ready and pieced these together, mounting them onto Blackout Kraft stash card and a layer of old gold pearl card, to create a larger sized panel that would fit onto my canvas, which is exactly what I did ~ placing them centrally onto the panel, leaving a border around the outside.

Now to move onto the inner panel and firstly, I stamped and coloured the Professor 2 image, (this is the larger image) and fussy cut around the outline.

Moving onto the inked panel and for this I cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock card and then spritzed the card, which I lightly misted with water, using a combination of Ground Espresso, Speckled Egg and Shabby Shutters Distress Spray Stain. I then added a light misting of Speckled Egg Oxide Spray over the top. If you need to add more water, then just spritz over the top of the card and watch the inks blend together to create a perfect background.

After inking around the edge and adding some stamped layers using the Faded Type stamp set and stamping in Black Soot Archival Ink. I then wanted some texture to this layer and once again, I used the Translucent Paste but this time applied it through the Grunged Layering Stencil. As with the metallic background, I coloured the paste using Embossing Glazes, Vintage Photo and Broken China but this time I also added a touch of metallic in the form of Seth Apter's Embossing Powder Metalz set from Wow and used the Etched Platinum Embossing Powder. Once the paste has set, heat emboss.

In the top right hand corner, I added a small label complete with number both stamped using the Field Notes Stamp Set.

To complete the panel, I machine stitched a border, matted it onto more of the Blackout and gold card and then mounted it onto my canvas board using foam pads to add some height.

Now to put this together and I placed my Professor onto foam and mounted him onto the panel...

...and then added a border strip. This strip was an offcut from a previous project but coloured with Oxide and Spray Stains and just worked perfectly mounted across the bottom of the Professor panel on this project.

I then took the Heartbeat die set and using the cut the heartbeat wave line only, cut this four times and then layered each die cut over the top of one another. Apply Distress Embossing Dabber over the top and then sprinkle the Etched Platinum and the Crusty Copper powders from the Seth Apter set onto the layered die cut. Heat emboss until molten.

I repeated this step a further 3 times to create the enamelled look to the wave line before adding the heart into the centre, again layered up, using the waste that is taken from the die cut and then painted with a combination of Candied Apple and Black Soot Distress Paint.

I attached the heartbeat across the border strip, and added a Star Adornment in the centre, altered with a little Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink.

To complete the panel, I added my wording and used the Alphanumeric Tiny Type Upper die set to cut the word "dad" from gold metallic card, placing this beneath the heartbeat wave line.

I then added the finishing touch, a sentiment plaque. I love the look of metallic on metallic and have done this on quite a few projects in the past either with stamps or dies, but this time I used the Tiny Text stamp set, stamped the sentiment onto a strip of metallic card and after embossing with some more of Seth's powders, I inked over the top with a little Mushroom Alcohol Ink.

Mount the strip onto the panel and added two Hardware Heads either side.

Finally, I added a couple of metallic hardware pieces onto the panel and a Tiny Clip.

So that's it from me for today and my Father's Day gift is now ready to hand over to my Dad. I hope you've been inspired by the tips and techniques in this project and will try out a few of the ideas on projects of your own.

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 $25 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....