That's Life: "Not All Treasure Is Silver & Gold"...

Hello friends...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and ready for a brand new week ahead and a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, which this week is called "A Day At The Beach"!

For my project, I wanted to have some fun and used a combination of new and old Tim Holtz dies to create a piece inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, and giving you my interpretation of the challenge theme but with a slight twist as this isn't going to be a typical day at the beach!

So, buckle up mateys and let's get started because the new challenge has begun and this pirate won't wait for anyone...

To begin with I'll start with the background and for this I used a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock Card, 12.5 x 15cm and swiped the Speckled Egg Distress Ink Pad over the surface of the card, leaving some areas of the card untouched by ink. I then heat dried the inked surface before adding some stamped imagery and layers ~ for this I used stamps from the Mini Glitch Set using Barn Door Archival Ink and the script stamp from the Entomology Stamp Set using Hickory Smoke Archival Ink.

Now for the fun bit and using the Speckled Egg Ink Pad, I once again very lightly swiped the ink over the panel and working quickly, I sprinkled Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze over the top. Tap away the excess and heat emboss the glaze until molten.

I then inked around the edges of the card panel with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before misting the card very lightly with water. Whilst the card is still damp, I applied Rusty Hinge DI to my glass mat, spritzed with water and dipped the card panel into the inks. I repeated this using Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Oxide Inks before finishing with a final dip of Rusty Hinge DI.

This created a really nice rusty feel around the edges of the card and after a final inking of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I machine stitched a border with black thread and matted the panel onto gold pearl card, followed by a layer of Blackout Kraft Stash.

Placing the mats of card layers to one side and wanting to add some texture to the final layers of card, I cut a panel of copper coloured card from the Metallic 2 Kraft Stash and embossed the card with the 3D Foundry Embossing Folder by Tim Holtz. You will have to do this in two separate passes, as the panel of metallic card is slightly larger than the folder but to do this, just place the embossing folder on the top half of the card, and pass through the machine before then removing the card, and carefully aligning the folder beneath the embossed area, on the bottom half of the card, to emboss this section.

After applying a layer of Black Soot over the entire metallic surface, I then took a soft cloth and wiped away the excess paint, leaving it to sit in the recesses of the embossed areas to accentuate the design. I then took some Old Silver Alchemy Wax and applied a touch of this over the top of card before matting the embossed panel onto bronze pearl card and a layer of black chipboard. Mount the previous inked card layer over the top, using foam pads to add some dimension.

At this stage, I also had some offcuts of the metallic card and I placed these underneath the raised inky glazed panel, placing them either side to create the look of brackets. Add a Hardware Head to each bracket.

Now to start bringing this panel to life and to begin I cut two of the Spider Webs and three spiders all from black card. After applying the embossing dabber to the die cuts, I sprinkled the webs with Bone Media Embossing Powder, tapped away the excess and heat embossed the powder. Attach the webs to the inky glazed background using Matte Collage Medium.

Emboss the spiders in the same way, using the Bone powder for the web and Black Embossing Powder for the bodies. To add a little extra creep, I used Nuvo Vintage Drops and placed a small dot on the back of each spider.

Set the spiders to one side and moving on, I started work on my lifebuoy ring and for this, I used the Steampunk Parts die to cut the large circles from chipboard. I cut four layers of chipboard for this particular piece and then layered them over the top of one another to create one substantial, chunky die cut. I then cut the smaller inner circle and attached this to the die cut.

After painting the entire piece with a coat of gesso, I then took some Candied Apple distress paint and applied the stripes around the lifebuoy. After allowing the paint to dry thoroughly I then took a dry brush and applied Frayed Burlap Distress Paint over the top of the die cut to create more of a vintage feel to the piece.

Once the lifebuoy was complete dry, I then took some twine and wrapped this around either side of the red painted areas on the die cut, securing the ends of the twine at the back. You can also see in the photo below how layering the chipboard creates a really lovely, substantial embellishment.

To finish this piece I threaded a long strip of the twine underneath each of the wrapped sections and allowed it to loop around the outer edge of the lifebuoy.

Moving onto my pirate and for this I used one of the oh so cute little Trick Or Treaters and cut all the pieces I needed from watercolour card to make him come to life before I watercolored him using Distress Marker Pens and a water brush:

Colour guide:

Face ~ Antique Linen, Spun Sugar

Hair ~ Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Gathered Twigs

Shirt ~ Chipped Sapphire, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap

Trousers ~ Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain

Boots and Eye Patch ~ Black Soot

Bandana ~ Candied Apple, Festive Berries

Eye ~ Mowed Lawn

To add some extra highlights and shading, I used Polychromos Pencils.

I assembled and layered all my painted parts of the pirate to create the image and then as a finishing touch, I added a little silver jump ring through his ear, as every pirate needs his silver swag.

Right, we're nearly there and I attached by two die cut elements to the background, using foam pads to add some more height and placing them over the top of the spider webs.

I then placed the spider die cuts around the images....

...and also added a stamped message, Hello Friend. This was stamped in Black Soot Archival Ink, onto an offcut of inked card using the Tiny Text Stamp Set. I attached the sentiment in the bottom right hand corner before adding a little die cut bat that I had left over from last week's project.

Now for the finishing touch, the pearls and the infamous black pearl...

For these I used Bauble Findings and coloured them with Alcohol Inks ~ Butterscotch, Mushroom and Pitch Black before arranging them to cascade out of the centre of the lifebuoy and down the panel. I attached each of these using Matte Collage Medium, placed some moss in amongst them and then set the whole piece to one side to dry.

...and that completes this week's fun project and I hope you've enjoyed how I took a die, the Steampunk Parts, and showed you how you can create something completely different to the original and also I hope you've been inspired with this fun piece, and my little pirate who's not only for Halloween!

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....