Simon Says...Whatever The Weather

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

and the theme for this week is...

WHATEVER THE WEATHER

and the weather sure has been the topic of conversation this week with freezing temperatures, crazy winds and snowstorms causing havoc in the UK and Europe, airports closed, flights cancelled, no trains and motorists stranded for hours on motorways.

It's the first challenge of the month and the Design Team are showcasing Tim Holtz products, you don't have to use them to join in the challenge but we would love to see them used and I doubt there are many of you without at least one or two of Tim's products in your stash.

We are also welcoming the lovely and super talented Bonnie aka My Stuff My Life as our March Designer In The Spotlight, if you're not familiar with Bonnie's Blog, please pop over and say hi.

I created an Art Journal Page in my Dylusions Creative Journal inspired by the saying...Raining Cats and Dogs...

which had me wondering where this strange saying came from. Apparently in medieval times, homes had thatched roofs which the domestic animals such as cats and dogs liked to hide in. In heavy rain, they would either be washed out of the thatch or rapidly abandon it for better shelter so it would seem to be raining cats and dogs.

I started off by applying a light patchy coat of Antique Linen and Hickory Smoke Distress Paints using a brayer.

and then went back over the pages with the same colours of Distress Oxide inks using a mini round blending tool.

I applied Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste through the Studio 490 Rainy Day Stencil and sprinkled with Ranger Superfine Detail White Embossing Powder. Once the embossing paste was dry, I heat set. (it is important to wait until the paste is dry or it will bubble and distort with the heat). I then stamped some old favourite friends, Crazy Cats and Dogs with Black Soot Archival on the pages to get an idea of placement. I knew there was little chance of getting perfect images on such an uneven surface...

so I stamped them again several times on to Distress Watercolor Card using the Tim Holtz/Tonic Stamp Platform and set aside.

I inked the Halftone stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Halftone and Rings with Black Soot Archival and stamped randomly on the background.

I applied Black Soot, Hickory Smoke and Ground Espresso Archival inks through the umbrella stencil from Rainy Day using a mini round blending tool.

I coloured the cat and dog images with Distress Markers, die cut with the matching Sizzix Framelits and fixed to the pages with Distress Collage Medium Matte.

and then applied Distress Collage Medium over the whole page

and used a Black Soot Distress Crayon to create shadows around the cats, dogs, clouds and raindrops using the Detailer Brush to smudge it out.

I die cut the saying using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Thinlits. This is a very versatile set of multiple letters which means you can die cut words with repeating letters in one pass.

but I felt something was needed to balance out the stark white of the letters and I wasn't going to chance stamping on the background, making a hash of it and having to start over so I stamped the Rings background on to Idea-ology Tissue Wrap using Versamark Ink, sprinkled with Superfine White Embossing powder and heat set.

I cut around the individual circles and added them to the background using Distress Collage Medium Matte

created splatters with White Gesso

and added Idea-ology Label Letters to complete the saying

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

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