Simon Says: Monochrome

This week on the Simon Says Monday Challenge the challenge is Monochrome.

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $50 voucher to shop at their store.

I've been having a great time being the Guest Designer for October.  It's hard to believe this is already the 4th week and there is only one left.

I chose the color brown and I've created a card this week.

On a 5" square piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavy Stock I created a background with layers of Distress Oxide Ink - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, and Vintage Photo.

Using the Tim Holtz Platform I stamped the Wendy Vecchi Circle Collage a few times with her Archival Ink Potting Soil....

...and then I stamped it with Embossing Ink, removed it from the Platform, and embossed it with Wendy's Potting Soil Embossing Powder.  The background was not as dry as I thought and some powder stuck in other places.  I used a small brush to remove most of what was outside the circle but left some areas inside the circle with powder.  It actually worked really well since it is a collage stamp. 

Using a paint brush, I applied water to the whole inside of the circle, blotted it with a paper towel, dried it, and then repeated again.  I wanted to lighten the inside of the circle as I was going to stamp a quote in there.

Using the Polka Dotty Stencil I added Texture Paste Transparent Gloss to the right side of the paper on the outside of the circle.  This picture shows the paste while it was still wet and white. 

After letting the paste dry completely, I used a Mini Ink Blending tool to apply Antique Linen Distress Ink to the inside of the circle.  Using the Ground Espresso Distress Marker I added shading around the circle.

Again using the Tim Holtz Platform I stamped the quote from Wendy's Forever Art set into the circle with Archival Ink Jet Black several times.  I decided to run the quote parallel with the lines in the the circle.  If I had thought about it I would have been more careful to stamp the Circle Collage so that those lines were parallel with the edges of the panel and even considered starting over but I came up with a different idea.

I decided I would add another layer offsetting it at an angle.  I inked the edges of both my main panel and another 5" square panel cut from cream cardstock with Distress Ink Walnut Stain and then I distressed the edges with the Tim Holtz/Tonic Paper Distresser.

I colored lace from Tim's Trimmings pack with Distress Ink and wrapped it and brown Craft Thread around the main panel.

After putting my layers together with Foam Tape and then attaching them flat to the folded brown card (5 1/2" square), I cut three flowers from the Wildflowers 2 set from the same dark brown cardstock as the card base and attached them to the card leaving the tops of the flowers and leaves curled up from the panel. 

I hope you've enjoyed today's card and are inspired to play along with this Monochrome theme!!!!

Hugs, Wanda