That's Life: spring

Hello friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and now ready for the week ahead and a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week our theme is all about Easter and Spring and we hope you'll join us and can't wait to see what you create.

For my project, I created a burlap panel full of the joys of spring, building up the layers and creating handmade blooms to tell the story of my enchanting little girl who's surrounded by the beauty of nature.

So, let's get started because it's time for the new challenge and here's how I created this piece!

To begin with I took my burlap panel and applied some gesso around the edges. Once the medium was dry, I then spritzed the panel with Frayed Burlap Distress Spray to darken the areas that aren't touched by the gesso. Heat dry and set aside until later.

For the next stage, I cut a panel of worn wallpaper and stitched around a border around the outside. I then matted my patterned paper onto some classic kraft card in tones of blue and green and finally a layer of brown. I then mounted the layers onto my panel.

For the next layer, I used one of the new Baseboard frames which I sanded around the edge to create a more distressed, worn look before adding a touch of Vintage Collage Medium over the top. I allowed the medium to dry before placing a panel of backing paper from the Etcetera Paper Stash behind the frame aperture. I then applied some more of the vintage collage medium around the edges of the aperture, creating a more antiqued look. Splatter with Black Soot Distress Paint and then attach to the mounted layers on the burlap panel.

I then used 3D foam to attach my little girl who is lightly coloured with Distress Marker Pens and placed her over a bed of sisal fibres.

To complete the inside of the frame, I added a key and a Clippings Sticker, 'being enchanted'.

Now for those flowers and to create these, I used the brand new Funky Florals 3 die set. This set is available at the end of April but is already on pre-order, so don't miss out!

To start, I took a piece of ivory coloured lightweight card and applied a layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint over the top. Once dry, I then used one of the larger dies to die cut the my layers for the larger blooms. For each flower I used two layers and then two layers to create the middles, which are coloured with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I inked the tips of each die cut piece before layering them, slightly offsetting each section. The centres of the larger flowers are the second smallest pearls from the Baubles Findings and I just coloured these with Mushroom Alcohol Ink before attaching them in the centre of the flowers with a dot of Matte Collage Medium.

Take one of the smaller dies to create the smaller blooms, again using two layers for each flower. Ink the centre of the flower with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and then colour a smaller Bauble with Sunshine Yellow and attach to the centre.

I then went onto die cut some of the greenery from Classic Kraft Card, using a selection of the dies from the die set. I shaped each piece of the greenery and then attached all the flowers onto the panel.

Alcohol ink one of the new Quote Tokens (I absolutely love these and another must have product from Tim's recent release) and then apply Picket Fence Distress Paint to accentuate the wording. Allow the paint to become slightly tacky, not dry and then wipe away the excess with a soft cloth to reveal the quote.

Add some twine through the hole and then attach the quote to the panel using foam pads.

For the final embellishments, add some butterflies from the Botanical Layers set, shaping the wings to create movement.

To complete the panel, I added some Design Tape in the top left hand corner and a couple of nailhead findings.

I hope you've enjoyed today's project and the creative process behind this piece ~ those flowers are so much fun to create and can be used to decorate so many projects.

Don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog, together with a mood board that the lovely Zoey has created.

Also, 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....