Summer Fun...

Hi Everyone...hey it's Monday and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's "Try To Contain Yourself" challenge...we hope you can come and play along with us this week too...

and the theme for this week is...

SUMMER FUN

the weather in my little northern corner of the UK this Summer hasn't exactly been fun...in fact you could say it's been a total washout so thank goodness I signed up for something guaranteed to be fun...Summer of Creative Chemistry with Tim Holtz...running from June to August finishing off with a week of fabulous inspiration in the Creative Chemistry 103 classroom but where was I going to store my homework...the 30 odd technique tags that I created were desperate for a home. So I decided to make a binder file to keep them within easy reach for future reference...

I started off by cutting chipboard to size to make the outer covers and five insert pages...rounded off the covers with my corner chomper and gave them all a coat of Gesso.

followed by a coat of Distress Paint in Summery colours...Broken China...Scattered Straw...Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint. I lightened and softened the colours slightly by adding some White Gesso...

I used the black side of Cut 'n Dry foam to create a soft scratched look...one it doesn't absorb the paint like the foam side so you use less paint and is certainly more economical than using a brush

then it was time for a little bit of a stamping marathon using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Wildflowers but I have to say my trusty Misti made it a whole lot easier...

I stamped each page with Distress Ink to match the colour of the paint

and over-stamped with more Wildflower images using Black Archival Ink...

I used Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Half Tone/Rings and a sentiment stamp inked with Black Archival Ink and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to create some background interest

and punched the holes for the book rings using the Crop-a-dile

decorated the front cover with Passport Design Tape...an Idea-ology Monocle with Label Letters and a Chit Chat Sticker and used Alpha Cards...Alpha Tiles and Label Letters to create the title.

I applied Ranger Transparent Gloss Texture Paste through the Mini Splotches Stencil from Set 9 but 1...it doesn't show up in the photo and 2...it didn't really achieve the result I was looking for so we'll just GLOSS OVER...forgive the pun...that bit. Once it was dry I applied a coat of Distress Collage Medium Matte on the front and covers to seal everything in place and give a protective layer.

I created an acetate page for each technique tag...staggered the placement of the tags to reduce bulk and fixed the technique label on the reverse of the acetate sheet to hide the adhesive.

A little bit of a marathon but I now have a go-to reference library and a wonderful keepsake to reminder me of fun times in the Creative Chemistry 103 classroom.

You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Happy Crafting and Have Fun

Hugs Kath xxx

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