That's Life: Take Me To The Beach....

Hello friends....

As always, a brand new week means we have a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week, our theme is all about being ON or UNDER THE SEA and we hope you'll join us and play along!

For my project, I created a framed panel all about calm and tranquility, with smooth waters and gentle ripples and used Tim Holtz products from Sizzix and Stampers Anonymous to tell the tale of a little fish, just swimming around in his happy place.

So, let's get started ~ it's time to make this week's project!

For this project I used an idea-ology Mini Framed Panel. I'm sure many Tim Holtz addicts have this older item in their stash but if not, you can use any frame that is available. The size is approx 6.5" x 4.5". You can also use these ideas for a card or tag...the choice is yours!

FRAME

I wanted to get a worn whitewash appearance to the frame and began by painting the sides and back of the backing panel, (you don't need to paint the front of the backing panel, as you'll be doing this in the next step), and the wooden frame with PaperArtsy Heavy Cream Chalk Paint.

I allowed the paint to dry before applying another layer of paint, this time Ground Espresso Distress Paint and picking up some paint with a dry brush, I lightly applied the paint over the surface, allowing the brush to just lightly touch. If you feel it's too heavy in places, you can always re-apply the paler colour to those areas.

Once I was happy with the colour of the frame, I applied a coat of Matte Collage Medium to seal the surface.

BACKGROUND

To create the background, I used the Sizzix Bubbling Die by Tim Holtz to cut a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock card.

I then adhered the die cut to the back panel of the frame with Matte Collage Medium.

Once the medium was dry, I painted the surface with Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Allow the paint to dry before grunging up the background. For this I scribbled Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the entire surface of the die cut, before wiping away any excess crayon with a semi dry baby wipe.

To assemble the framed panel, I attached some Design Tape Trim to the background panel, placing the tape so that it will form an inner layer to the wooden frame.

I then attached the frame over the top, sticking it into position with Matte Collage Medium.

The frame is now ready to create the scene....

MAKING THE SCENE

To create the scene, I used a stamp and co-ordinating die from the Sea Life Tim Holtz/SSS bundle, a selection of greenery from Funky Nature, and Wildflower Die Sets by Sizzix and the sign post, which is die cut using the Road Trip die set.

We'll start with the greenery, which is placed along the seabed. For this, I coloured three separate pieces of Distress Watercolour cardstock using various shades of green Distress Spray Stains and Distress Spritz:

DISTRESS SPRAY STAIN: Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness

DISTRESS SPRITZ: Rustic Wilderness, Bundled Sage

Once I'd blended the colours and heat dried the cardstock, I used the dies to cut a selection of the foliage and shaped the pieces to create curves and dimension. I then attached each piece of foliage along the bottom edge of the frame.

I also snipped into some pieces, so that they will create different heights. You can see the dimension in the photo below.

Using a hot glue gun, I attached some moss along the bottom of the frame to cover the joins of the foliage.

With the moss in place, I wanted to add some texture and for this I used a product called Meyer Cork Chips. I drizzled some Glossy Accents onto the places I wanted to add the texture and then sprinkled the chips over the top. Tap away the excess and allow to dry.

Once dry, I painted the chips with a layer of gold acrylic paint, allowed this to dry before adding Ground Espresso Distress Paint over the top.

To complete the seabed, I cut a signpost using the Road Trip die set by Sizzix/Tim Holtz.

I cut the pieces from Kraft card and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before assembling each die cut to make the post. I then added a tiny brad through the top section of the sign before applying a Tiny Text Remnant Rub ~ "my happy place".

I then attached the signpost to the right hand side, and added a little moss.

FISH

There's just one thing left to do now, and that's the fishy.

I inked the image of the fish with Black Soot Archival ink ands stamped this onto watercolour card. I then watercolored the image with Distress Watercolor Pencils before using the co-ordinating Sea Life Die Set from Simon Says Stamp to die cut the image.

After inking the edges, I attached the fishy to my project using foam pads.

We're nearly there and to complete this make, I added some Splash Droplets to represent the bubbles from the little fishy's mouth.

...and as the very final detail, I used foam pads to attach the banner flag, 'nature findings', which I shaped, creating a slight wave to the piece, which is from 49 & Market's Faded Memory Lane Ephemera Pack.

So, that's my project finished and I hope you love what I've created...

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....