Hello everyone and Happy Easter Monday!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and the Easter Bunny stopped by to leave you some treats! As always, a brand new week brings a new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week our theme is all about WHATEVER THE WEATHER and the DT are showcasing the fabulous products of our very own Simon Says Stamp within their makes!
For my card, I chose to combine the Sunburst Die from SSS, with Tim Holtz and Sizzix products to make this card all about a couple of love cats. This piece is actually inspired by the song, Come Rain or Come Shine and as a child, it was a track that was always being played in our house, and to this day my Dad still loves it, whether it's by Sinatra, Streisand or Ray Charles, when I hear it, I have such happy memories and I thought it was perfect for our challenge theme!
So let's get started, it's time for me to introduce you to these two mischievous love cats, who are gonna love each other, come rain, or come shine!
SUNBURST BACKGROUND
To begin with I'll start with how I created the background and for this, I used the Sunburst Die from SSS to die cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock card. I then snipped away the edges of the card panel so that it would leave me with just the rays.
To add colour to the rays, I began by inking the card using a Blending Tool, with a combination of Distress Inks, Scattered Straw, Fossililzed Amber, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed.
I then spritzed the card with a light misting of water, allowing the inks to blend and little puddles to appear before heat drying the die cut.
Once dry, I inked the edges with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.
Behind the rays, I wanted to add a blue background and for this I cut a panel of Distress Watercolor Card, the same size as the rays. I smooshed a combination of Speckled Egg, and Broken China Distress Inks onto my glass mat and then spritzed with water before dipping the card in and out of the inks, picking up the colour and droplets of ink.
I always heat dry in-between each inky application, and then continue to pick up colour as I go along.
Once happy, I heat dried the background and when this was completely dry, I adhered the sunburst die cut over the blue background, using Matte Collage Medium to secure it into position.
I inked the edges of the panel with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, mounted it onto some black kraft cardstock, and then attached this to the top section of my card blank using foam pads to add some dimension and height.
At the base of the sunburst, I added a Milk Cap, to follow the outline of the round sun. I cut a small piece of the bottom of the Milk Cap and then inked the edges before attaching it with foam pads.
Around the edge of the milk cap, I added small torn pieces of Mummy Cloth, hand dyed with Frayed Burlap distress Spray Stain and some Bouquet Findings flowers which are coloured with Scattered Straw and Fossilized Amber spray stains. Once the flowers were dry, I arranged them around the milk cap, tucking them in between the mummy cloth.
To complete the cap, I added two Hardware Heads, painted with gold acrylic paint and attached these to the cap itself.
COME RAIN OR SHINE QUOTE PLAQUE
Underneath the sunburst, I added the quote ~ "Come Rain or Shine", and for this I inked a piece of watercolour card with the same blue inks as I used on the background.
I then cut each of the individual letters from black kraft card using the Sizzix Alphanumeric Label die set by Tim Holtz. Top Tip: When die cutting any letters and small die cuts, I always use double sided adhesive sheets on the back of the card, it really does make life so much easier.
I attached the letters onto my inked strip before I matted the plaque onto black kraft stock, sanding around the edges to reveal the kraft core of the cardstock. I then mounted the plaque underneath the sunburst using foam pads.
Now the card is ready for the love cats...
LOVE CATS AND UMBRELLA
For these cats I used the Sizzix Mischievous Die Set by Tim and after choosing the images from the set, I cut three layers for each cat, which I then attached over one another to form a really substantial die cut.
In this die set, you also get the heads separate and I cut each of the corresponding heads that I attached using foam pads.
I used a white gel pen to add the facial detail and then a pink stardust Sakura Gel pen to add their little noses.
I then wanted a little quirky detail for the larger cat and thought the glasses would be perfect. These are cut from metallic cardstock using a die from an older, and sadly discontinued die set by Tim, called Crazy Things but if you want larger glasses, then you can always use the ones that are in the Vault Bunny and chick set.
I placed the glasses onto his face and the kitties are now ready to be placed onto my background, sitting them on top of the milk cap, using foam pads to secure them into position.
For the umbrella, I used the die from The Park die set and cut the pieces from more of the black card, again cutting multiple layers to form a substantial die cut.
I added pencil and white gel pen details to the umbrella and then attached it to my kitties tail.
FINISHING DETAILS
To complete the card, I cut two clouds from Distress Watercolour Cardstock, inked the edges and added some shading to each piece and then attached them to my background with foam pads.
I finished the piece with red hearts, cut from red inky card that I had in my offcut box, and used the Tim Holtz Falling Hearts die by Sizzix. I attached three hearts around the kitties using matte collage medium.
Finally, I applied the No.14 remnant rub in the top left hand corner.
So that's my card complete and I hope you love what I've created and it's made you smile ~ I know I can't help but smile when I see these two sitting together.
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....
Recipe for project:
What lovely inspiration for your piece Emma. There are so many songs that remind me or my dad and I love that this was your inspiration. The background is gorgeous and the dimensional cats too! So many cute details, the whiskers, their glasses, so fab hun, love it all. Hugs, Wends xoxo
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