Maura's Musings

Monday, February 18

Simon Says: Things with Wheels

Hello my lovely creative friends! We are back again this week with a new challenge for you at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - THINGS WITH WHEELS. I had a lot of different ideas for this week, but I knew I wanted to use my teamie Andrea's color wheel stamp for the challenge. Somewhere along the way as I was stamping images I came up with a whole new idea. I was looking at the color wheel and thought, "Could I make this into a flower"? So off I went...

AND AWAY SHE WENT...

I've been admiring the Prima oil pastels for awhile, and decided to get some to try. I do love the rich colors and how smoothly they blend.

I worked on the tag while the images were drying, starting with a layer of transparent paints that I spread on with a silicone brush. I pressed the excess onto a sheet of paper which created some texture.

Next, I used opaque paints with the stencil, and randomly added the design. (Note: in my links I added Sargasso Sea instead of the Magic Moss, very similar)

detail

I used some of the tiny mark making stamps to add another design layer. When I have stamps this small, I find it easiest to stick them on my finger and stamp.

I wanted to share the steps to make the color wheel flowers.

1 - cut out the wheel

2 - cut around each "petal" and be sure to cut down towards the words. Then cut a slit between two of them to the center.

3 - Now bring the two flaps next to the slit together, push up the center, overlap them and staple.

Closeup to show what I mean for the slit and stapling.

Here you can see how 3D they turned out. These just made me happy!

I added some sequins, stamped the flower stems, and some doodles. Then, I stapled three paint tubes together for my leaves, and adhered the "leaves" and flowers with foam tape.

Detail

I spritzed the images a bit, and the words before I cut them out and added them to the tag. It makes me happy when my muse takes me off in unexpected directions and I create something I love!

So, you might have been expecting something else with wheels, like a car or bicycle, but my wheels are color wheels. I hope I've inspired you to make something this week and join us! Our very generous friends at Simon Says Stamp are offering a $50 shopping voucher to one lucky participant.

SUPPLIES:

Inky Antics Color Wheel stamp set

Inky Antics Long Hair Flair Clear Stamps

Inky Antics Muse News Clear Stamps

Inky Antics The Queen′s Quips Clear Stamps

Darkroom Door Paint Tubes stamp

Simon Says Stamp Square Dance stencil

Ranger Dylusions Mixed Media Journaling Tags #10

Prima Flowers ARTIST QUALITY OIL PASTEL CRAYONS

Dylusions Ink Sprays - Squeezed Orange

Dylusions Ink Sprays - Fresh Lime

Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray BUBBLEGUM PINK Dyan Reaveley

Paper Artsy Fresco Chalk acrylic paint SOUTH PACIFIC

Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Black

Tim Holtz Grid Acrylic Blocks

3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

Tim Holtz Idea-ology TINY ATTACHER Stapler Tool Mini Staples

Paper Artsy Yellow Submarine Chalk Acrylic

Paper Artsy Limelight Chalk Acrylic

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish SARGASSO chalk acrylic paint

Craft Scissors - Tim Holtz

Tim Holtz Tonic Craft Stamp Platform

Simon Says Stamp CRAFT TACKY GLUE

Simon Says Stamp Treasure Chest Sequins

Prima Marketing MIXED MEDIA 1 INCH SILICONE BRUSH Art Basics

Canson XL WATERCOLOR PAPER

Medium WATERCOLOR BRUSH Pen

POSCA extra fine White Paint Marker

A GREAT place to shop!

Simon is on Instagram - use #sssmchallenge

The designers have their wheels out this week, so head on over to see how they interpreted this week's challenge.

Monday, February 11

Typography Love

Hello Monday my friends! So glad to have you back again, and we have a new challenge for you this week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - TYPOGRAPHY. All you have to do is use letters this week in your project.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I decided to dig in my stash and find different words and letters to use in a Valentine's themed project,, and I challenged myself to go outside my happy color zone and work with a different palette. I chose grey, black and pink.

TWO HEARTS

I laid my pieces out in my frame to get a basic idea of my layout. Of course, I changed my mind a bit, for example, I decided to choose letters relating to love, instead of this jumble. I had found some old grunge sheets to use, but you could easily cut cardboard, or use chipboard blocks.

I used texture paste and stenciled on some letters. Then I glued on my letters for the words "Hearts".

In order to get a cohesive look for my project, I painted everything with white gesso.

Then, I painted over it with grey once it had dried.

I used some distress oxide ink on the chipboard letters to begin to add in some pink.

And then, I just went kind of wild and forgot to take step photos. I rubbed on some black paint and stain, then some pink paint and stain. I added crackle to get more texture, and being the impatient crafter that I am, I started heating it too soon, so some areas are more flow than crack. Oh well, I can work with that. I also did some splattering.

I glued on the numbers, and hearts and added beads. I rubbed on some mica powder. Now, it's starting to come together!

Since this is all about love, I added a wedding photo, a word band and some hand dyed ribbon, plus a few drops of Nuvo (had to try it out!).

My final step was to glue on the XX and tiny heart at the top of the frame. I wanted to do XOXO, but had no O's, so this worked.

Lots of texture, black, grey and pink in my Two Hearts frame. I think this may be a gift to hubby on Valentine's Day.

I used lots of different type on my project, from chipboard to 3D letters, to word bands and dice. So join the fun with us this week and create a project using type! Our generous friends at Simon Says Stamp are offering a $50 voucher to shop at their fabulous store to one participant chosen at random.

SUPPLIES: