Together ~ It's A Wonderful Life...

Hello everyone...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and you're ready to join us for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is all about being MOVIE INSPIRATION and whatever movie you choose as your inspiration, the DT can't wait to see what you make!

For my project I was in the mood for Christmas and when it comes to Christmas, I think we all know and most of us love, this movie classic ~ IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE...a film that I watch every single year, curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and some of my favourite cookies!

So with this in mind, I wanted to recreate the storyline of this film and I created an Etcetera Tag using Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous products inspired by the famous line from George's daughter, "every time a bell rings, an angel get's his wings".

...and here's how I created this movie inspired project!

To begin with I created the background for my Mini Etcetera Tag and decided to use the Sketch Greenery stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous. I cut a panel of Heavystock Mixed Media Card using the tag as a template and then inked the holly stamp with Black Soot Archival Ink, stamping the image to create a random pattern over the entire panel of card.

Once I was happy, I watercolored the stamped images using Peeled Paint, Forest Moss and Festive Berries Distress Inks. I allowed for the panel to dry before inking the background with Old Paper and Pumice Stone Distress Inks before flicking some Ground Espresso Distress Paint across the surface.

After applying the green Christmas Design Trim around the edge of the stamped panel, I machine stitched a border and then attached the panel onto my Etcetera Tag, using Matte Collage Medium. To complete the background I added some Grit Paste through the Sparkle Layering Stencil and set it to one side to dry. I also applied a small amount of Crackle Paste to the edges of the tag, and once it was dry, I applied some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top.

Whilst that is happening, I moved onto my frame and used the second largest Vignette Frame, together with a Halloween Baseboard Frame that I had in my stash from last year and a final layer of a Lace Baseboard Frame. I painted the wooden vignette frame with a coat of Ground Espresso Distress Paint, allowed it to dry before dry brushing Antiqued Bronze over the top. Again I allowed for this to dry and then added a touch of Gilding Wax to the frame to accentuate the beading detail.

I layered and attached both Baseboard frames to the painted wooden frame and then adhered a piece of inked card behind the aperture section before attaching my layered frames onto the tag. 

I also placed some gold metallic droplets around the edge of the inner frame, together with three small gold stars in the top left hand corner of the aperture ~ these stars are die cuts that are left over from a previous project and I keep for these little embellishments.

Underneath the frames I added a ledge for the Christmas tree and my little girl to stand on and for this I used two of the medium sized Bracket Etcetera Trims, in various widths. I painted the trims with Picket Fence Distress Paint before adding a layer of Crackle Paste over the top.

Once the paste has done it's thing and the crackles appear I then attached the narrower trim directly onto the tag, placing it underneath the frame and then attaching the wider trim above it, placing it at a 90 degree angle so that it forms a ledge.

It's now time to have some fun and tell the story of the movie...

I started by using the image of the little girl which I took from Tim's Christmas Paper Doll set and coloured her with Distress Crayons in Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs for her hair and boots and a touch of Aged Mahogany on her cheeks.

You'll notice that the little girl is carrying a bell and this is because in the movie, George's youngest daughter explains to him how every time a bell rings, an angel earns it's wings, so I decided this would be a sweet touch to my little girl and used one of the Tiny Bells, painted with a touch of Picket Fence Distress Paint. I then tied the bell to her hand by piercing a hole through the Paper Doll and attaching the bell with a strand of cotton which I threaded through the hole.

The next stage is the angel wings and I used the Winged 3D Impresslits Die to die cut Distress Watercolor Card. Once I'd cut the embossed wings, I then spritzed them with a light misting of water, followed by Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain.

Heat dry the inks and then to create the shimmer I dry brushed some gold watercolour paint over the top, just catching the detail of the embossing.

Using 3D foam, I attached the wings to the back of the paper doll and then stood her on the ledge, again using foam to support her.

You can see from the image below how much dimension is in this project and that's all thanks to 3D foam!

Now for the tree...

I used the medium sized tree from the Woodlands set and dyed it with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain, just misting the stain onto the tree, dabbing away the excess and then letting it dry before applying Matte Collage Medium to the branches and sprinkling Mica Flakes over the top. Tap away the excess.

I placed the tree inside a Thimble that I altered with a little Mushroom and Gilded Alloy Alcohol Ink and attached it to the ledge with Matte Collage Medium....

....before placing a Vintage Flair Badge next to it. These Flair badges are amazing and I've actually bought a couple of packets because I just love them so much and want to keep one just to look at...lol!

To complete the ledge, I added some Baubles, yes the famous baubles that I will admit to stockpiling for all year round because I love them so much ~ I coloured with Mushroom, Sherbet, Moss and Aqua Alcohol Inks. I then just piled and attached all those baubles onto the shelf, brushed a good coverage of Matte Collage Medium over the top and sprinkled Mica Flakes, allowing the flakes to just randomly fall like snow onto the ledge.

At the top of the frames, I attached a Special Delivery Snippets Ephemera piece, together with a Mini Hardware Pull that I altered with more of the Gilded Alloy and Mushroom Alcohol Inks. I wanted to add some more texture to the top of the frame and for this I used a few more of those baubles which I coloured with the same alcohol inks as before and then applied more collage medium and sprinkled some mica flakes over the top.

To complete the pull, I added two Hardware Heads on either side of the metal embellishment and I also painted two of the larger heads red and placed these in the top left and right hand corner of the tag.

We're nearly there and all that's left is to add the title...'Together, It's A Wonderful Life" and I took these tiny quotes from the Christmas Sticker Book and placed them in the bottom right hand corner, adding some black pen to shadow around each of them.

I hope you've loved this project and the film inspiration that I used to bring the story to life ~ it was so much fun to search through my stash finding all the elements that I could use and it all came together so well!

As always, if you use any of my ideas or projects as your inspiration, then I always love seeing your makes ~ so, just tag me on social media or leave me a message and I'll be sure to pop by as soon as I see it!

Don't forget that 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....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today ~ stay safe and well, and see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Stampers Anonymous: Bracket Etcetera Trims, Sketch Greenery, Sparkle Layering Stencil, Mini Etcetera Tag

Sizzix: Winged 3D Impresslits Cut and Emboss
Distress Paint: Antiqued Bronze, Ground Espresso

Spray Stain: Peeled Paint, Antique Linen

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Mini Hardware Pulls, Vintage Christmas Flair, Christmas Paper Dolls, Tiny Bells, Baubles, Woodlands, Thimbles, Christmas Snippets, Christmas Trim Tape, Lace Baseboard Frame, Vignette Frame, Halloween Baseboards and Layers, Metallic Droplets

Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain

Distress Spray Stains: Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap

Alcohol Inks: Gilded Alloy, Mushroom, Sherbet, Aqua, Moss

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Grit Paste, Crackle Paste, Mica Flakes, Barn Door Archival Kit 1, Black Soot Archival Ink Kit 3, Distress Crayons

Glass Media Mat

Alcohol Ink Mini Applicator and Felt

Big Shot

Heat Gun

Gold Paint and Gilding wax from my own stash