Young At Heart (Valentines)

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's "Pets Corner" challenge...we hope you can join us this week too because...

and the theme for this week is...

YOUNG AT HEART

(VALENTINES)

It's the first Monday of the month and that means the Design Team are showcasing a specific company and we have chosen to showcase our very own Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Products. You can check out the latest "Hey Love" release...it's full of "Love-ly" stamps...dies...stencils and more. 

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I decided to go with a Heart theme and use one of my favourite Simon Says Stamp Dies...Stacked Hearts and some of the Tim Holtz products I LOVE...

I started off by covering 6"x6" chipboard with Ranger Sticky Back Canvas...spread on a thick uneven coat of Grit Paste with a palette knife and while it was still wet I die cut Simon Says Stamp Stacked Hearts and pushed the trimmed down die cuts into the texture with my fingers...yes very messy but fun and left it to dry for about 30 minutes. Ranger do not recommend drying Grit Paste with a heat tool...apparently it smells terrible and it's probably not a good idea to be breathing in the fumes so time to make a cuppa...be patient and wait it out.

Coffee break over it was time for some Worn Lipstick Spray...Spritz and Flick decoration and once dry...a coat of Distress Collage Medium...

which prepared the surface for a little bit of shading around the heart die cuts with Walnut Stain Distress Crayon. I won't lie this bit is a little bit scary because it goes on quite dark but I rubbed it in well with my fingers and then used a damp baby wipe to remove most of the crayon from the surface of the hearts...

and then highlighted them with the Picket Fence Distress Crayon.  This is the "what have I done...it looks a mess" stage but after another coffee break I was back in "just stick-with-it and see where it goes" mode...

I decided to lighten it up even more with a dusting of Stampendous Chunky White Embossing Powder...normally I would sprinkle it on and heat from underneath but that wasn't going to work through thick chipboard. Voila...Distress Collage Medium to the rescue...it held the granules in place while the heat tool worked it's magic. I stamped the script from Stampers Anonymous Ledger Script with Black Archival randomly over the background.

I die cut the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Thinlits Doily from white cardstock...the Sizzix Precision Base Plate makes light work of cutting such an intricate die and the Die Brush and Foam Pad get rid of the excess bits and pieces like magic...they are definitely two of my "can't craft without" tools.

I die cut hearts from the corrugated card in Tim Holtz Textured Surfaces pack using Sizzix Heartfelt Die...highlighted with Distress Picket Fence Paint and then rummaged around in my stash of Idea-ology...adding Photobooth images...Mirrored Hearts...a Key Adornment dabbed with Picket Fence Distress Paint...Small Talk Stickers and a twine bow.

the flowers came from my stash...they were a tad too bright so I dabbed them with Picket Fence Distress Paint which seemed to do the trick...I think they may be from Prima but there was no packaging so don't quote me on that one...

Finally I die cut the word Forever from white cardstock 4 times using Sizzix/Tim Holtz Thinlits Friendship Words Script and layered them to create dimension and added a few of the hearts from the Stacked Hearts Die.

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 our fabulous Guest Designer for the month of February...the lovely and very talented Nicola aka Paper Prrofusion. 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

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

InLinkz.com