I Should Be So Lucky....

Hello friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

This week our theme is all about A Bit O' Green and we would love for you to join us and play along with our fun challenge.

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I decided to embrace all things green with my Etcetera Panel decor piece and some of you might recognise this cheeky little leprechaun, because yes, The Count is back in his fancy dress costume, ready to celebrate the luck of the Irish!

So let's get started, and say hello to Mr O’Reilly, the Leprechaun.

For this make, I used the small Tim Holtz Rectangular Etcetera Panel and one of the Etcetera Facades both by Stampers Anonymous.

PANEL

We'll begin with the panel and after painting the edge of the panel with Black Soot Distress Paint, I then applied Design Tapes, two different tapes, around the edge.

To create the background for the panel, I cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock card and spritzed the card with a light misting of water before applying Distress Spray Stains and Oxide Sprays in the following colours:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN; Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, 

OXIDE SPRAY; Rustic Wilderness, Cracked Pistachio

I layered the colours to create the blend I was happy with, adding more water if needed before I allowed the inks to dry thoroughly. You can use a heat gun to set the inks before moving onto stamping the background.

For this I used the Polka Dot stamp from Mr Rabbit and inked up the stamp with Black Soot Archival before I randomly stamped all over the background.

After machine stitching a border around the outside, I then adhered the card onto my Etcetera Panel using Matte Collage Medium.

ETCETERA FACADE

Moving onto the Etcetera Facade and from the pack of 4, I chose the arched piece which I painted with Black Soot Distress Paint.

Once the surface was thoroughly dry, I then stamped onto the facade using the Shattered stamp.

This is a large stamp which covers the surface area perfectly and after inking it with clear embossing ink, I then sprinkled Fien Detail Gold Embossing Powder over the surface, heat embossed until molten.

Taking a paint brush, I used this to dry brush the surface with gold acrylic paint. You don't want a block coverage, just to knock back the black and still allow the embossing to show, so just allow the brush to gently kiss the surface. Set aside to dry.

Behind the facade, I placed a second panel of card, inked with the same sprays and oxides as I used on the background but this time I used the Sparkle Layering Stencil to create some texture.

I placed the stencil onto the panel, and applied Translucent Grit Paste through the design. I removed the stencil and working quickly I sprinkled Gold Embossing Powder over the paste. Set this to one side to dry and once the magic has happened, I then heat embossed the powder very gently to reveal the gold sparkles.

Cut the panel to fit behind the facade and then using the risers that come with the Facade pack, add these to the back of the frame and attach to the sparkle panel.

Attach the completed piece onto the Etcetera Panel using Matte Collage Medium and slightly overlapping the top edge of the panel itself. 

You can see in the photo below how much depth the risers add to this piece.

I finished by attaching two hardware heads to either side of the facade and then added a Flair Embellishment to the top, curved section.

MR O’REILLY ~ THE COUNT

Now for the star of St. Patrick's Day, The Count, or for one day only, Mr O’Reilly, and once I'd die cut all my pieces, (you'll notice for this make, I didn't use his lower body and legs, just from his waist up as I want him to appear as if he's in the frame), I then assembled the image, swapping out the classic black hair of The Count, and making it red instead.

COLOURS USED:

Face: Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot and White

Hair: Spiced Marmalade and Crackling Campfire

Suit and Shirt: Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, white

Waistcoat: A stamped offcut that I had in my stash

For his top hat, bow and hair ~ I used Winter Wardrobe Thinlits Die Set, which is a slightly older die set, sadly discontinued, that I have in my stash. 

If you don't have this set, then you can use alternatives ~ the Tailored Set for the hat, and there are plenty of Tim's dies that have bows and foliage that will be suitable for the remaining details.

I cut the hat from the same inked cardstock as I used on his suit, and the bow and hat band both cut from the same offcut as I used for the waistcoat.

Now comes his hair and can you think which die I might've used for this?!?!?

Answer: I used the tiny foliage die in the Winter Wardrobe and just cut multiple pieces that I layered behind the hat, to create the spiky hair that sticks out from underneath the rim.

To complete the hat, I added some tiny stitches that are from the Bunny Stitch Die set by Sizzix, and placed it into position on The Count's head.

Using foam pads, I attached The Count into position, inside the frame.

FOLIAGE

To complete the frame, I used the Funky Florals 3 die set to cut some leaves from inky green card, and arranged these with some moss.

I then placed some tiny idea-ology Bouquet Findings flowers into the arrangement. These flowers are white, but easy to colour with Distress Spray Stains and for this, I chose Shabby Shutters.

I also placed one flower in the hat, and in the centres of all the flowers, I added some gold Stickles Glitter from my stash.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the wording...

LUCKY

I used the Bold Alphanumeric Thinlits Die Set by Tim Holtz/Sizzix and cut three layers of the letters from Metallic Gold Kraft card, to spell the word "LUCKY', which I layered over the top of one another to create some depth.

I attached the letters directly to my panel, placing them underneath the facade and then to knock back the gold, I lightly sanded the surface and then painted them with a little Vintage Photo Distress Paint, wiping away any excess so that the gold still shines through.

Finally, I added some Large Fasteners to either side of the lettering.

I cut the legs off the fasteners, hammered them for a more worn, vintage look and then placed them directly onto my panel, attaching them with Collage Medium.

So that's my project finished and ready to display for St' Patrick's Day and I hope you've been inspired by the techniques and the the ideas I've used.

As always, if you make anything, or if you've 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 next Monday at 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...Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Etcetera Panel, Etcetera Facade, Mr Rabbit, Shattered, Sparkle Layering Stencil

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Tim Holtz Big Shot Foldaway, The Count, Funky Floral 3, Winter Wardrobe from my stash

Distress Paint: Black Soot

Distress Spray Stain: Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Cracklign Campfire, Spiced Marmalade

Oxide Spray: Rustic Wilderness, Cracked Pistachio

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Flair Embellishment, Large Fasteners Bouquet Findings, Design Tape

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Foam Pads, Gold Embossing Powder, Gold acrylic Paint, Versamark Ink, Translucent Grit Paste, Gold glitter

Glass Media Mat

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Hot Glue Gun

Moss from my own stash

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