A Ray of Sunshine...

Hello everyone...

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and wherever you are in the world, I hope the sun has shone for you!

Today we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for you all and this week our theme is called BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL COLOURS! Now, I will admit I do tend to run a mile when bright colours are mentioned, it's not my obvious choice ~ I love the softer side of the colour palette but with the theme in mind, I thought I'd combine my softer side with the bright colours and created a card with a burst of sunshine in those beautiful yellow blooms and a few other little hints and touches of colour here and there.

So, let's get started and here's how I created this card...

To begin with I'll start with the enamelled floral background and for this I used the Flowery Thinlits Die and cut a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card. I then used Tim's Embossing Dabber and dabbed this over the die cut before sprinkling Speckled Egg Distress Glaze over the top and after tapping away the excess, I heat embossed the die cut until the glaze became molten. To build up the glaze, I once again used the embossing dabber but this time applied it to random areas of the die cut. I then sprinkled Walnut Stain Distress Glaze onto these areas, tapped away the excess and heat embossed. I followed this another layer applied in the same way as the Walnut Stain but this time using gold embossing powder and then a final layer of white embossing powder, again applied in the same way onto random areas.

I mounted the panel onto a piece of mixed media heavystock cut slightly larger than the die cut panel, and I inked this with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain and stamped with the calligraphy stamp from The Poinsettia stamp set using Hickory Smoke Archival Ink.

After machine stitching a border around the outside and inking the edges with a touch of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I used foam pads to mount the enamelled panel over the top of the inked background.

To add a touch of opulence to the panel, I used Prima Marketing Vintage Metallic Gilding Flakes. I only wanted a small amount of gold showing and didn't want to obliterate the background, so I took a fine detail brush to apply the glue very randomly directly onto the inked background, through the die cut areas. Once the glue becomes tacky, I then applied small amounts of the Metallic Flakes over the top of the glue, and using a soft brush, I brushed away the excess flakes. It was an impossible task to get a really good photo of this but I hope you can see the flakes on the background.

I matted the layered panel onto a piece of Distress Watercolour card, inked with shades of green Distress Spray Stains and at this stage, I also inked a second strip of card using the same colours. I matted the 12.5 x 15cm panel onto a piece of burlap before mounting this onto my 14 x 19cm card blank which has a border of Design Tape running around the outside to create a final layer.

Along the bottom of the card blank I used the second inky green strip of Distress Watercolour card and again, matted this onto burlap before machine stitching a border around the outside. I punched a hole into either side of the strip and taking a piece of twine, I coloured this yellow using Mustard Seed Distress Spray Stain. I threaded the yellow twine through the holes, wrapping it around the edges of the of border strip before mounting the strip onto my card blank, placing it beneath the main panel.

To cover the holes on the strip, I added a vintage eyelet piece to either side. These are from my stash but alternative eyelets can be found at Simon Says Stamp.

To complete the strip, I added a Tiny Text Remnant Rub ~ EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER!

Now for those beautiful flowers, buds and leaves, and for this I started by colouring some Distress Watercolour Card and the Bloom Colorize Die...

Flowers and buds: I used a combination of Crackling Campfire and Mustard Seed Distress Inks which I applied to my Glass Mat. I spritzed the Distress Watercolor card with a light misting of water before dipping it into the inks to pick up the colour. I want to create a watercolour effect to the blooms so the more patchy the ink, the better.

Leaves and stems: I used Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage and Iced Spruce Distress Inks to colour the watercolour card for the leaves and for the stems I used Ground Espresso, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain.

Once my inked card was dry, I cut my blooms, the tiny buds and the leaves and assembled each piece to create the gorgeous layered die cuts.

I arranged the flowers in a cluster, attaching them with foam pads to add dimension and height and then attached all my leaves and buds around them, forming a cascade down the card.

On each of the centres of the blooms, I added a touch of Dry Rock Candy Distress Glitter, applied over the top of some Matte Collage Medium.

To complete the card, I added some Vintage Melange Pebbles which are placed around the floral arrangement....

...and as the finishing touch, I nested a bee into the flowers. This is a metal piece from Tim's Entomology Adornments set and I coloured it with alcohol inks.

Finally, I added a Metallic Sticker, 'Shine Brightly', placing this in the top right hand corner of the embossed panel.

So that completes my card for this week's challenge and I hope you love it and been inspired by my ideas.

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: Flowery Thinlits, Bloom Colorize

Stampers Anonymous: The Poinsettia

Distress Inks: Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce Crackling Campfire, Mustard Seed, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso

Distress Spray Stains; Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce, Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Antique Linen, Mustard Seed

Distress Paints: Mustard Seed

Distress Embossing Glaze: Speckled Egg, Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Metallic Quote Stickers, Entomology Adornments, Tiny Text Remnant Rubs

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Gold Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder, Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Distress Watercolour Card, Burlap

Prima Marketing: Vintage Melange Pebbles, Vintage Metallic Flakes, Gilding Glue

Glass Media Mat

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

Twine from my own stash