Send In The Clowns...

Hello friends and Happy Monday!

It's time for the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to begin and this week, our theme is called STITCH IT and we want you to show some kind of stitching...so whether that will be a shout out to all you seamstresses out there who do some amazing makes, or maybe you're like me, and you like to add stitching to paper, whatever you make, the DT can't wait to see them!

For my make, I'm sharing a piece that I made using the amazing new 2021 Halloween idea-ology release from Tim Holtz. This has an abundance of stitching, plus plenty of texture, and one of my favourite ever ephemera pieces, that glorious moon which I instantly fell in love with, and a few more products that I'll show you throughout the post. 

To see all the amazing new products that Tim bought to us and also check out all the makes from makers, just click HERE for the replay of Tim's YouTube Live launch. All the products are available to order now at Simon Says Stamp but get them while you can as they are only going to around for a short time...

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

To begin with I started with the frame...

I took the larger Framed Panel, for those who haven't used this panel, it comes in two separate pieces, a frame and a backboard and for this particular piece, I stuck the frame to the backboard at the beginning. I then painted the entire frame, back and front with a generous coat of Black Soot Distress Paint and allowed them to dry. Whilst this was happening, I painted the additional pieces that I will be adding to the top and bottom of the frame ~ the web trims.

Using the largest sized trims from the pack, you will see they fit perfectly onto the frame ~ I covered random areas of the trims with Translucent Grit Paste, allowed this to dry and then painted them with Black Soot Distress Paint. Again allow the paint to dry and then attach the pieces to the top and bottom of the frame.

To add a touch of vintage to the frame, I used a combination of Old Silver and Matte White Gilding Wax from Prima Marketing and just applied this to accentuate the beadwork around the edge and the grit paste that I applied to the trims.

I completed the frame with some Hardware Heads that I adhered with Matte Collage Medium to each corner of the web trims and added a chain. This is from my own stash and I just attached it to the wooden part of the frame with screw eye fastenings.

Finally, I added a Creepy Eye to the centre of the Web Trim at the top. I just wiped some Black Soot Crayon over the surface of the eye to knock back the whiteness and then attached it with Collage Medium.

With my outer frame complete, I moved on to the next stage...the background!

For this I used one of the new Halloween Backdrops, the gorgeous marble effect paper and I cut the panel slightly larger than the aperture of the frame.

I then ripped and tore around the edges of the paper ~ some are quite deep tears and some are just tiny tears but these all add to the overall look and you can do as much or as little as you want. I then added some machine stitching, a straight stitched border and some zig zag stitching and as always, for those who know me well ~ I left some loose threads hanging. I then inked the edges of the paper with Walnut Stain Distress Inks

I adhered the torn and tattered paper panel onto the centre of my painted frame, allowing some of the corners to curl inwards and crumple.

If you find that some of the baseboard shows from behind, I just placed another piece of co-ordinating paper behind, attaching it to the board and just allowing it to look as if you have layers upon layers of paper.

I also tucked some moss into the corners and around the edges, leaving some to poke out from behind the papers.

The frame is now ready to decorate and embellish.

Taking the ephemera piece of the moon which is in the Halloween Layers set, I applied a coat of Collage Medium over the top and allowed this to dry before adding touches of colour to just add highlights to the moon, using Distress Crayons. I also applied some Matte Collage Medium over the Paper Doll image of those adorable pierrots and again once the medium was dry, I used a waterbrush to add colour to the image using Distress Crayons.

I then machine stitched a border around the outside of the ephemera piece and after adding some more rips and tears, I layered the ephemera piece onto kraft black card, leaving a tiny border showing around the outside. I placed the moon onto the background panel, placing it onto foam pads to add some height and attaching it towards the top section of the frame because underneath, I added a ledge for the boys to stand on and for all the other gorgeous Halloween products.

To complete the moon image, I hammered in two tacks from the Vignette Hardware Findings, leaving these slightly proud of the image.

The ledge is a pinked Etcetera Trim and you will find that you need to trim this so that it fits inside your frame. I usually cut it with my kraft knife. I then painted it with Black Soot Distress Paint and then attached it with Matte Collage Medium to create a ledge.

I attached the Paper Doll image to the ledge, again placing these on foam pads to add some more dimension to the piece.

Around the feet of the Paper Doll, I added some Mummy Cloth. I dyed the cloth with a combination of Speckled Egg and Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stains and once it was dry, arranged it to drape along the ledge and cascade down the two sides. Attach the cloth with Collage Medium.

On the left of the boys, I placed the Toadstools which I inked very lightly with Mushroom Alcohol Ink. I then attached these with a hot glue gun and placed little bunches of moss around the base, which helps to secure them and keep them solid.

Now for the bubbles and I used a selection of sizes and inked them with Aqua Alcohol Ink to create an icy blue colour.

I attached the bubbles with Glossy Accents, and again added little clumps of moss around the base. I then smeared a small amount to glossy accents over the tops and sprinkled Rock Candy Glitter over it.

After painting a spider adornment and attaching this to crawl up the photo, I completed the piece with one of the gorgeous new Quote Seals. I added Picket Fence Distress Crayon to the quote, rubbing the crayon over the top of the metal and then using a soft cloth buffing away the excess crayon to highlight the quote. I then painted the outside of the seal with a small amount of Candied Apple Distress Paint and once the paint was dry, I attached it to my panel.

Now for the finishing touches...

I added the October Clipping sticker to the bottom trim....

...and then because I wanted to make those stars shine around the moon, I had a few die cut silver stars left over from a previous project on my desk, so I adhered these directly onto the moon ephemera piece.

So that's it from me for today and I hope you've enjoyed this project, as much as I loved making it....

...as always, if you make anything, or been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

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:

Stampers Anonymous: Pinked Trims, Web Trims

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Distress Spray Stain: Pumice Stone, Speckled Egg

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Candied Apple

Distress Crayons

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Halloween Quote Seals, Bubbles, Creepy Eyes, Halloween Paper Dolls, Halloween Layers, Halloween Backdrops, Skulls and Spiders Adornments, Mummy Cloth Trimmings, Vignette Hardware, Toadstools, Halloween Stickers

Alcohol Ink: Aqua, Mushroom

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Translucent Grit Paste, Old Silver and Old White Alchemy Wax, Glossy Accents, Rock Candy Glitter

Surfaces: Blackout Kraft Stock, Framed Panel

Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun

Moss and chain from my own stash