Daydreams In Paper: 2016

Hi Friends! Are you ready for Christmas? I have a little more shopping and some goodies to make but other than that, I'm ready. I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful time of year and have time to squeeze in one more Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for 2016. Our theme is Party Time and for my last project of the year, I decided to do something colorful, fun and whimsical. I've included a full tutorial below, as always, and hope you find some inspiration to create something for our challenge. Enjoy!

I cut a piece of 6" x 8" white chipboard and covered the entire surface with Ranger Multi Matte Medium. (I just recently purchased the Distress Collage Brush Set and I have to tell you they are fantastic! I had previously used whatever paintbrush I had on hand in the size I thought appropriate but these are a game changer for me so I can't recommend them enough for this type of application.) I set the panel aside to completely air dry but you could speed up the process with a heat tool.

To create the curly streamers for the panel, I cover a piece of 8-1/2" x 11 sheet of Neenah Solar White 110 lb. card stock with Simon Says Stamp Lemon Zing. High Dive and Jellybean dye inks using a mini ink blending tool.

I cut out several curly streamer pieces from the Simon Says Stamp Curly Streamers wafer die.

I play around with the placement of the streamers on my panel until I'm happy with how it looks.

I glue the curly streamers onto the panel with multi matte medium making sure to cover all areas of the streamers. This is important because I will be using Faber Castell Gelatos and Big Brush Pens. By applying the multi matte medium this will allow the pigment and inks to blend beautifully.

When the curly streamers are completely dry, I cut the excess streamers from around the edges of the panel.

To add color to my panel, I apply Colbalt Green, Cadmium Yellow and Light Green Big Brush Pen Indian inks. I color the panel with the inks and then blend the colors together using my fingertips.

Here is a look at the panel when I'm finished coloring it with the Faber Castell Big Brush Pens. I set the panel aside to completely dry.

To create the birds for the panel, I ink three of the birds from the Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds stamp set onto Simon Says Stamp Vintage Paper using Ranger Archival Black Soot Ink. To create an archival ink pad with Archival Black Soot ink you will need to purchase an Archival DIY Custom Ink Pad and fill it with the archival black soot ink. (Note: this is different than regular Black Soot Distress ink.)

When the ink is dry, I cover the entire piece of stamped vintage paper with multi matte medium. I'm doing this because I want to color the birds with Faber Castell Gelatos and blend the colors together.

I adhere the birds to the panel using multi matte medium and let that completely dry.

I color the birds with Mango, Cotton Candy, Lemon and Bubble Gum Gelatos blending the colors in with my fingertips.

To add more interest to the background of the panel, I add a stamp from Simon Says Stamp Look for the Miracles stamp set that looks like confetti in Garden Patina and Orange Blossom Archival inks.

I complete the background by stenciling on the Simon Says Stamp Stars & Dots stencil with Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste in random areas.

Here is a close-up of the completed background. I set it aside so the embossing paste can completely air dry.

A party wouldn't be complete without a party hat, right? I decide to create some fun party hats for the birds and cut little hats out of scrap patterned paper where the colors will complement the colors of the panel.

I add some pom tiny pom trim to the hats for texture, interest and of course because it's just fun! :)

I create some balloons from the same left over scraps of patterned paper and punch a hole in the bottom of the balloons so I can add some twine.

I adhere the balloons onto the panel using multi matte medium.

I adhere the balloons to the birds with multi matte medium and blend in Mango and Black Licorice Gelatos around the images to make them pop and add the look of dimension. I ink the edges with Jet Black Archival Ink.

To complete the panel, I stamp add a couple of sentiments from Tim Holtz Crazy Talk stamp set onto black card stock with embossing ink and sprinkle on white embossing powder. I set that on with a heat tool and when it's completely dry, I cut around the edges of the words following the outline of the letters. I adhere that to the panel with 3d foam tape. This completes the panel and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It's fun and festive and makes me want to join their party! :)

I hoped you enjoyed seeing the process I used to create my Party Time mixed media panel. Please join us in all the fun and add your project to Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 gift voucher to their amazing store.