That's Life: dashing deer

Hello friends...

Is it me, or are the weeks flying by? I can't believe that another weekend is over and it's Monday again!! But the start of a brand new week does mean one thing...it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and we hope you'll play along with us this week! Our theme is called ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL and the team can't wait to see what you make!

This week, I was inspired by the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and with this in mind, I chose to use Tim Holtz's Dashing Deer which would stand majestically proud upon a nest of vignette boxes and is perfect for an autumnal decoration or even Christmas...

So, it's time for the new challenge to begin and here's how I created my home decor piece...

The first thing that I needed to do was prepare my boxes and for this I chose two of the Vignette boxes and one of the panels which would fit the larger of the two boxes.

These boxes have sanded edges on them where they expose the colour of the wood underneath, so to ensure that the edges matched the rest of my box, I used Ground Espresso Distress Paint and just ran the paint dabber around the edges to colour them.

Once the paint was dry, I placed the boxes and the panel in front of me but because of the way I want to stack the boxes, I turned the smaller of the two, upside down, so that it the flat surface on the top. I then covered each box, sides and the top of the smaller box, using the plaid paper from the Halloween Paper Stash, attaching the paper with Matte Collage Medium. I also covered the top of the vignette panel.

Allow the papers to be thoroughly dry before sanding the edges to create a worn look to the paper. At this stage, I also added a mini hardware finding to the larger box, which I coloured with Picket Fence Distress Paint before accentuating the raised areas of the metal with a little gold mixative alcohol ink.

Now that the boxes are complete, all that I needed to do is create the stack and for this, I attached the smaller upside down box directly onto the centre of the vignette panel, which now creates a decorative lid for the larger box.

To decorate the lid of the box, I started with the Dashing Deer which I die cut three times from chipboard and then adhered the layers together to create one solid image. I then gessoed the chipboard image to prep it for the next layer of Grit Paste. I just applied the grit paste to the body of the deer, not the antlers, using my finger and spreading it over the surface of the die cut. When the paste is dry, I then painted the body with Ground Espresso Distress Paint and the antlers with Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen Distress Paint.

Thoroughly dry the paint and then to highlight the texture and the antlers, I applied a small amount of Alchemy Wax.

I finished my deer with a bow of metallic ribbon, tied around his neck and added a couple of jingle bells, altered with Cranberry Alcohol Ink.

I attached my deer to the top of my box, adhering him with a line of hot glue and placing him on a bed of cheesecloth, dyed with Weathered Wood and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain.

I then used the Garden Greens die set to die cut a selection of foliage from the Classic Kraft Stash and splattered the greenery with Picket Fence paint before adding some Rock Candy Glitter to the tips of the individual pieces. I then attached my greenery around the base of the deer shaping each piece so that it looked natural.

At this stage, you also want to decorate the back of the box, behind the deer, as this is going to show too! I added some real pine cones, which I frosted with Picket Fence paint and glitter.

To complete the box, I added some metallic beads to the corners of the larger box.

I hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind this project and the idea I've given you have some inspired you to create your own home decor pieces ready for the festive season ahead.

As always, if you do need any further inspiration, then 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. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....