Simon Says: A Walk on the Dark Side

Hello There!!!!!  I'm absolutely thrilled to have been asked to be this months Spotlight Designer for the Simon Says Monday Challenge.  I could hardly believe my eyes when the email came from Lols.

Wow!!  Thanks so much, Lols and Simon Says Stamp, for this opportunity!!

This week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge we have A Walk on the Dark Side.  The challenge is to use Dark Colors or to go with a Halloween theme.  As always, the first week of the month also showcases a product and this week it is Tim Holtz products so if you have some we'd love to see how you use them.  If you don't have any, it's all good, you can still create something for the theme and enter the challenge.

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

For my project I went with Dark Colors, and actually one dark color, black.   

I knew for this project that I would use dark colors and had decided maybe I'd stick with black but beyond that I had nothing.  So as I do when there is a deadline and I've got no plan, I just started something.  I took a piece of black cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") and brayered on some Distress Oxide Reinkers (Black Soot and Walnut Stain).  Shake the reinker bottles and put just a little bit on the craft sheet, run the brayer through the ink a couple times lightly and then onto the card a couple times lightly.  Pick up the rest of the ink and brayer in the opposite direction on the card. 

After drying the ink, I used the Flourish Embossing Folder and then inked over the high spots with Distress Ink Black Soot.  This gave a nice contrast to the Oxide.

The panel was edged with Distress Paint Tarnished Brass, dried well, the edges distressed, and then Tarnished Brass splattered on using Tim's Brush.  

I love to use flowers including the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wildflower dies so I cut them from black card and sprayed them with Distress Mica Spray Tarnished Brass.

I'd chosen a picture from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Photobooth pack and I had left the picture and all the black flowers just laying on the panel for awhile as I wasn't really sure where I was going next with it and while doing other things as I walked past it the thought "Hope Springs Forth" popped in and I thought, "Oh, that would be cool" and I cut one flower from the Wildflowers 2 set from yellow card and spritzed it with Distress Mica Spray Tarnished Brass.  

I pulled out the Small Talk Sticker Book and Metallic Stickers Book and the Quote Chips hoping to put that phrase together.  I found Hope Is Never Lost and decided that would work just as well.  I could have used a Dymo or the computer to create the first phrase, but I like this.  I cut the Quote Chip between Hope and Is, nipped the corners of the Hope piece, inked both pieces with Distress Ink Mustard Seed, dried them, and added Distress Paint Tarnished Brass to the edges.  The whole time I was working on this panel I was planning to make a card.  Once I was this far, I think because I liked it so much, I decided it needed to become a canvas.

I got out a 6" x 8" canvas panel and put both Black Soot and Tarnished Brass Distress Paint onto the panel, sprayed it with lots of water and moved it around a bit.  I was concerned that I'd used too much Brass but, nope, the back overtook it.  I thought about a second layer but chose to just move on.  I knew the center area would be completely covered.

I used the Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous stencil Mesh along with Wendy's Black Embossing Paste and after removing the stencil added Clear Embossing Powder and then heated it all.  Fun stuff..... 

And then I forgot to take any more process pictures.  

I put some Tarnished Brass paint on my Craft Sheet and using a dry paint brush, brushed it on the canvas panel.  Sprayed the paint on my craft sheet with a little water and then used the Splatter Brush to splatter all over the canvas.  Next I stenciled through the Bubble stencil with Distress Paint Black Soot using a Stencil Brush.  When you have a more fluid something that you want to stencil, it can really help to get a nicer image if you use a stencil brush.  The very edges of the canvas are painted with Black Soot.  I die cut another set of Wildflowers from black card and used them without spraying or inking them.  The black flowers and main panel are attached to the canvas as shown.  Finally I added a Metallic Sticker at the bottom.

I do hope you like my project.  Thanks so much for following along!!

Hugs, Wanda