From London, With Love...

Happy Monday friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is called CITYSCAPE and we can't wait to see how you interpret this fun theme!

For my project, I was inspired by vintage travel posters, which are something I collect and love and I with this in mind, I chose to create what is probably my last but one Christmas project ~ oh my, where did that time go since all those amazing Christmas products were released and the excitement and anticipation of Christmas crafting began?!?! It doesn't seem a minute, does it!?!

So back to my project and a couple of weeks ago when I made this ~ I decided to bring together a few of Tim Holtz's older dies from Sizzix and combine them with some of the newer dies, to create a canvas panel all about the night before Christmas in London...when the last few remaining people are heading home but one special person is making his journey, yep...you better watch out because Santa Claus is coming to town!

So, here we go and here's how I created this project...

To begin with I took Dina Wakely's Media Board and cut it down to measure 24 x18cm. I wanted the panel to have a really oldy worldy, vintage feel and applied a combination of Antique Linen and Picket Fence Distress Paint onto the panel. Once the surface was dry, I then dry brushed Pumice Stone over the top and again dried it thoroughly. To add texture around the outside of the panel, I added a smear of Crackle Paste, I usually use my finger or a palette knife and once the crackles appeared and the paste was dry, I then took the Embossing Dabber and ran it around the panel, just randomly catching the edges as I went. I then sprinkled Emerald Creek Marshmallow Rock Embossing Powder over the top, and heat embossed.

For the final touch, I used the Pumice Stone Distress Crayon and applied it to the edges, blending out the colour with a damp fingertip.

Now the base panel is ready, I'm moving onto the background and I created this by cutting a piece of Heavystock Mixed Media card and using a die cut circle, I placed this onto the card to act as a mask to create the moon. I then inked the entire card using Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans Distress Inks and added a little Black Soot around the edges. After lightly spritzing the card with water and dabbing away the beads, I removed the mask and heat dried the card to set the inks and remove any moisture.

I then inked the moon with a little Antique Linen, adding darker shading around the edges.

For the stars I used the snowy stars stamp from the Great Outdoors set, inked with clear embossing ink, stamped twice across the moon and then added white embossing powder before heat embossing.

The background is ready and after machine stitching a border, I matted onto silver metallic kraft stash, followed by grey pearl card, a layer of champagne metallic kraft stash and final layer of red Classic Kraft card.

I then mounted the layered panels onto the canvas.

Moving on I started to create the scene and to begin with I wanted to add a ledge for my scene to sit on and I used one of the strips that comes with the Web Trims which I painted white before applying a layer of Grit Paste over the top. Whilst the paste is still wet, I sprinkled with Rock Candy Dry glitter and Mica Flakes. After allowing the paste to dry, I attached the ledge along the base of my moonlit background.

Next, using the Village Christmastime die set, I cut Santa and his reindeers from black card and then cut another layer from gold metallic kraft stash. I layered the black die cut over the top of the card, slightly offsetting it to add a glistening shadow.

I repeated this technique on the cityscape scene, cutting the city from Blackout Kraft Stash, but this time I used silver metallic kraft stash behind the city die cuts. I also applied a touch of Old Silver Alchemy Wax to the edges of the die cuts, to create more of a moonlit shadow.

I attached the Cityscape to the ledge, using foam pads to add some dimension between the two die cuts....

...and placed Santa onto more foam pads and attached him onto the background, placing them across the moon.

Now to personalise the panel and of course, this scene had to be set in London and I added the little red Routemaster bus. I cut the bus using the Globe die set and then placed it onto the ledge.

We're nearly there and I just added a selection of stars in the sky that I had left over from a previous project but added gold gems to the centres and now all that's left to do, is to add the banner across the bottom.

For this I cut the letters ~ 'From London, With Love" from red kraft card using the Alphanumeric die and placed them onto a piece of card inked with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks.

I added a few die cut red stars to the banner and then matted it onto a layer of red card, before mounting it across the panel, placing it beneath the scene.

Finally, I placed two Hardware Heads either side of the panel ~ all of which had a frosting of white embossing powder over the top.

So, that's it from me for this week and I hope you've loved this project and the ideas and inspiration...it was such a fun piece to create and of course, you can make it for any city you choose ~ the world is your oyster and if you don't have any of Tim's dies in your stash, there are alternatives that can be used, Paper Rose Cityscape Border and the Moda Scrap Santa Claus Die and these are all available from Simon Says Stamp!

Don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 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 and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Tiny Travel Globe, Alphanumeric Label, 
The Cityscape and Village Christmastime die sets are both from my stash
Stampers Anonymous: Great Outdoors, Web Trims
Distress Paint: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Picket Fence
Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Frayed Burlap

Idea-ology: Hardware Heads

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Grit Paste, Rock Candy Glitter, Crackle Paste, Mica Flakes, Emerald Creek Marshmallow Rock Embossing Powder, SSS White Fine Detail Embossing Powder, Old Silver Alchemy Wax, Emboss It Dabber
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Blackout Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash 3, Classic Kraft Stash, Media Board, Pewter Card
Sprayer
Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun
Big Shot

Let's Be Royal ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hello everyone!

It's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week we are celebrating all things Royal! From princesses to crowns, royal colours to jewels ~ we can't wait to see how you will be inspired by all things regal!

When it comes to all things royal, then there was no doubt in my mind of how I would approach this challenge ~ I'm a Londoner, been here most of my life and I love this beautiful city! So, in celebration of all these things and with The Clash's London Calling playing on a loop my head ~ I started work on this week's project...

...and here's how I made it:

To begin with I stamped used Chipped Sapphire and Festive Berries Marker Pens to colour the individual areas of the Union Jack stamp. You can do this with the Mini Distress Ink Pads but I find using the brush end of the Marker Pens really gets into all the small detailed areas of the stamp. I then stamped the union jack onto a piece of card but I didn't want the first generation image, I wanted a worn feel to my image and therefore with a lot of ink left on the stamp, I stamped once again onto a separate piece of card and created a second generation stamped image ~ a little more faded and worn in appearance!

I inked up the stamp again using the pens and repeated the process to create a second flag. I cut each of the flags down to size, leaving a narrow border around the outside and lightly inked over the top and around the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

I then matted both stamped images onto black card and machine stitched around the outside and across the join of the flags.

Next, I used the Block Talk die to die cut all my letters from chipboard. I painted each letter with Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and once dry, applied a layer of Glossy Accents over the top before sprinkling some Rock Candy Distress Glitter over each individual letter.

While the letters are drying I started work on the background and for this I took a piece of chipboard, 9" x 6.5" and applied a coat of gesso onto the surface. Once dry, I attached torn pieces of Tissue Tape onto the background and then applied Texture Paste through the Flourish Layering Stencil onto random areas of the board before painting the entire surface with PaperArtsy Chalk Paint. A quick blast of a heat tool to dry everything thoroughly and then I stamped the London CityScape across the bottom of the panel using Jet Black Archival Ink. I used Distress Markers to colour the image and gave them another blast of heat to set the ink before dry brushing the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Paint.

To complete the background I added flicks of Barn Door and Black Soot Distress Paint and added a border sticker underneath the bottom of the city scape stamped image.

Next, I mounted the stitched flags onto the background panel, attached a crown from the Regal Adornments set and attached all the glittered letters top and bottom.

Add a small amount of Treasure Gold to the metal crown to give a tarnished appearance and pop a few sparkly gems onto the crown.

Finally, I added a Hinge Clip to the top of the smaller panel, some metal studs to the four corners of the panel and some twine which I threaded through the Hinge Clip.

I really hope you've enjoyed how I created my textured panel celebrating my beautiful hometown of London. If you need any further inspiration for this challenge, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. Good luck....

Thank you so much for all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Tim Holtz Stamps: London CityScape, Union Jack

Tim Holtz Dies: Block Talk

Distress Marker Pens: Chipped Sapphire, Festive Berries, Pumice Stone and Cracked Pistachio

Distress Paint: Antiqued Bronze, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot, Barn Door

Paint: PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk

Tim Holtz Flourish Layering Stencil

Mediums: Glossy Accents, Ranger Texture Paste, jet Black Archival Ink

Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Idea-Ology: Symphonie, Correspondence and Laboratorie Tissue Tape, Hinge Clip, Airmail Paper String, Regal Adornments, Industrious Stickers

Embellishments: Metal Studs, Crystals

Treasure Gold: White Fire

Surfaces: White Card, Black Card, Chipboard

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Blending Tool

Guard Of Honour...

Good morning everyone...

Thank you for all your lovely visits on Monday to see my current Simon Says Stamp post for our fun "Paint" challenge that runs all week. If you want to join in, then just click here for all the details.

As some of you might have noticed, last night there is a brand new Craftwork Cards Pick of the Day launched on Ideal World and Create and Craft. It's the most beautiful kit called The Art of Paper Floristry II and if you love Craftwork Cards products, then this is a must have kit...it's absolutely stunning. As well as the kit, they're also selling a couple of paper pads, Paris and London ~ my two favourite cities. Now, when I received these pads, I was instantly in love...they are gorgeous and I can tell you, you will need these and today, I thought I'd drop by to share one of my makes using the papers from....London!! As always, I hope you love what I've made.

For this project I created a shadowbox using Tim Holtz's Postage Stamp Frame die from Sizzix. The box is painted with PaperArtsy Snowflake Fresco Finish paint before I then covered the outside and the inside, with a polka dot paper from the pad.

...and covered the back with the chevron paper. I added Candi onto each side to look emulate the look of rivets. 

 The guardsman papers are just so adorable and definitely my favourite and I used these to line the back of my box.

I used the Tim's Movers and Shapers Vintage Telephone die from Sizzix to die cut multiple layers of chipboard to create my little dimensional phone and then painted it with Distress Paint. I added this inside the box, together with a little die cut crown, which I die cut from foil and then added alcohol ink to give a vintage look to it, and finally a small paper rose.

On the top of the box, I attached a cotton spool, painted white and covered with the guardsman paper. i added some dyed seam binding and a decorative pin as decoration.

 Finally, I used the Candi stamps and stamped my wording directly onto the Candi before adding a layer of Glossy Accents over the top.

 As a finishing touch, I added small gems to each corner and ta~dah....London is now calling!!!

So, I do hope you'll manage to catch some of the shows throughout the day on Ideal World and Create and Craft and watch my very talented friend, Julie Hickey demonstrate all the fabulous new products that they've bought you all today.

I'll be back tomorrow with some Father's Day projects and I also hope to share the rest of my makes for the Craftwork Cards shows very soon but until then ~ have a wonderful day and I'll see you tomorrow!!

Bye for now...love Emma xx

London in 2012

Well, the sun hasn't definitely visited us at last and here in London, all I can say is...Emma's a little hot...hot...hot!! lol!

If any of you have managed to see the September issue of Crafts Beautiful, you might have caught a glimpse of the latest card that I worked on for Barbara Gray, together with Barbara's fab card and another from my fellow teamie Paul Church! This is the second time I've been fortunate to work on this project and there will be a third, coming very soon but in the meantime...this is the first one that I created and because the Olympics is nearly here...I thought today would be an appropriate day to share it. I hope you like it....

The card features the London Framer Stamp, together with the London Icon set. I used a gorgeous Mica Mask, from That Special Touch to create my embossed background and a chipboard crown from Craftwork Cards, covered in gold paint and embossing powder.

Okey dokey, it's time for me to go and start creating again...I just wanted to say a quick hello between jobs but I will be back tomorrow with another project and I'll be visiting all your blogs later tonight to see what beautiful creations you've all been making!!

See you soon and for those of us who are baking in this heat...stay cool!!

Bye for now!

Love Emma xxx

London's Calling

Hi everyone!!

It's my turn to share my creation over on The Artistic Stamper Creative Team blog and here's a little peak at what you will find, if you head on over there!!

I would love to hear your comments and I really hope you like it!!

See you tomorrow and hope you all have a fabulous day!

Love Emma

xxx

It's Christmas!

Busy streets full of shoppers, twinkling lights and the smell of roasting chestnuts wafting from street corners...it really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and London is looking particularly wonderful this year. The lights in Oxford Street and Regent Street, depict "A Christmas Carol" and shop windows of the many department stores, sparkle and glitter, as children, and some adults, eagerly wait in turn to have their photos taken against them.

As for me? My favourite place to visit has to be South Molton Street, with it's neon blue decorations and the peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle of the main streets. It makes the most perfect place to escape, relax, drink hot coffee and maybe drop into Butler and Wilson for a Christmas treat.

It really is the most magical time of the year!