No Rain, No Flowers...

Hello there...

Hope you've all had a good weekend and ready for the brand new week and the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, which this week is called WHATEVER THE WEATHER. So, whether it's summer, winter, rain or shine ~ we can't wait to see all your weather themed projects and hope you'll join us and play along.

For my projects, I chose to create a tag inspired a few of my favourite things ~ my love of umbrellas, something that I've collected since childhood, the quote, "No Rain, No Flowers" and finally the colour palette of one of my favourite artists, Claude Monet. So with this in mind, I tried to replicate his beautiful colour palettes using Distress Inks and combined this with Tim Holtz, Sizzix and Stampers Anonymous products to add texture, dimension and detail to this piece.

So, let's get started and here's how I created this project!

To begin with I prepped a Small Etcetera Tag by applying a coat of gesso over the surface. Once dry, I then added a good layer of Crackle Paste to the areas that will be on show, mainly around the edges and across the top section of the tag.

I allowed for the paste to dry and crackle before applying a light wash of Speckled Egg Distress Paint over the top. Again, I allowed this to dry before using the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon, scribbled over the surface and then blended into the cracks using a semi dry baby wipe.

Moving onto the background panel...

For this I used a piece of White Mixed Media Heavystock card, 21.5 x 13cm and a combination of Oxide Inks, Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Antique Linen and Distress Inks, Speckled Egg, Faded jeans, Peeled Paint and Peacock Feathers.

I applied the inks to my glass mat, spritzed them with water and then dipped my card panel in and out of the inks. Once happy with the inked background, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added some stamped script using the stamp from The Poinsettia stamp set.

Now to add the texture and for this I used the Bouquet mini Layering Stencil from Set 25. I placed the stencil onto the right hand side of my inked card panel and then applied Translucent Grit Paste. I then sprinkled the wet paste with Distress Embossing Glazes, Speckled Egg for the flowers and Peeled Paint for the foliage. To create the spray of flowers down that left hand side, I moved the stencil around building up the design and each time applied the paste and then the glazes.

When the pattern was complete, I set the panel to one side for the paste to dry and once that happened, I then heat embossed the glaze. Be very gentle when doing this as too much heat will cause the paste to bubble and you might not achieve the beautiful glassy effect.

After cutting the panel into two, one measuring 17 x 13cm and the second, 4.5 x 13cm, I machine stitched around the edge of each panel, and then adhered them onto my tag.

So, we now have the background and I can start creating the umbrella for my little girl to sit on.

Using the umbrella die from The Gent die set, I cut the pieces from Distress Cracked Leather card stock, including cutting the main body of the umbrella a further couple of times and then layering them to create a really thick die cut. I then painted the main section of the die cut umbrella using a combination of Candied Apple and Black Soot Distress Paints to achieve a beautiful rich red colour before applying the embossing dabber along the stick section and applying Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder over the top. Heat emboss the powder until molten and then repeat this process to add the powder to the spike, and to the tips of the umbrella. I then layered each of the individual pieces, including the handle which I cut from black card, to create my one die cut umbrella.

I attach this to the tag, using foam pads for a little height and then added the paper doll, which I colour tinted with Distress Crayons, using a watercoloring technique.

For the foliage around the little girl, I used some inked green card that I had left over from a previous project and which was inked with Distress Inks, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Rustic Wilderness. I then cut my foliage using one of the dies from the Funky Florals 3 die set and after I'd assembled the pieces, I arranged the foliage in and around the umbrella, adding small pieces of moss.

For the flowers, I used the Floral Adornments and coloured these by painting them with Alcohol Inks. I used a combination of Mushroom, Bubblegum and Gilded Inks to add the colour. I then attached these to my umbrella arrangement using Matte Collage Medium.

For the wording, I created a metallic plaque and used a strip of champagne coloured metallic kraft card from stash 3 and then die cut the wording from gold metallic kraft stash using the Label Alphanumeric Thinlits Die set.

Once all my letting was in place, I added a rusty tone to the metal and for this I applied a layer of Black Soot Distress Paint across the surface. Allow the paint to slightly dry but not completely dry before wiping away the excess with a semi dry baby wipe. The black paint will cling around the letting and also dull down the shiny metallic look to the card but leave this gorgeous vintage look to the metal. To finish the plaque, I ran Vintage Photo Crayon over the top and wiped away the excess.

I then machine stitched each side of the metal plaque before attaching it across the bottom section of my tag.

Now for all those tiny details which I always think make the project...

On the right hand side, I added a little grouping of a Field Notes Ephemera piece ~ the stamp, an Index Clip complete with Hardware Head that I rusted with a little Rust and Pitch Black Alcohol ink and a Mini Flair Pin.

In the top left hand corner, I added a Junk Drawer Baseboard piece, the number 15 and complete this with two tiny Hardware Heads to give the effect this was pinned to the tag. At this stage, I also added some Clippings Stickers, 'see the beauty of this life".

Finally, I attached the hole reinforcer piece to the top of the tag which I crackled and coloured to match the background and threaded some Mummy Cloth, that I dyed with Spun Sugar and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains, through the hole.

So, that's my project finished and I hope you've enjoyed the process and how I created this piece.

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 keep well.

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Funky Florals 3, Label Alphanumeric Thinlits, The Gent

Stampers Anonymous: Mini Layering Stencil 25, small Etcetera Tag, The Poinsettia

Distress Inks: Walnut Stain, Speckled Egg, Faded jeans, Peeled Paint and Peacock Feathers.

Distress Oxide Ink: Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Antique Linen

Distress Embossing Glaze: Speckeld Egg, Peeled Paint

Distress Paint: Speckled Egg, Candied Apple and Black Soot

Distress Crayon: Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Floral Adornments, Hardware Heads, Field Notes Ephemera, Junk Drawer, Paper Dolls Solo, Index Clips, Mini Flair Pin, Clippings Sticker Book

Mediums: Snowflake Stazon Pigment Ink, Matte Collage Medium, Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue, Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder, Embossing Dabber, crackle Paste

Surfaces: White Mixed Media Heavystock, Distress Cracked Leather Card stock, Metallic Kraft, Metallic Kraft 3

Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun

Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

Crinkle Ribbon from my own stash