Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make Your Own Bakground

Hi Everyone! Today's challenge at Simon Says Stamp is all about making your own background. We're featuring Darkroom Door Stamps, which are amazing, and they allow you to make some amazing backgrounds! It can be challenging but trust me, if you stick with it, you will create something beautiful. Adding layers upon layers of ink, paint, stencils and stamps will result not only in a spectacular background, but an original one. There have been many times when I've wanted to throw in the towel as my background seems to get worse and worse but then all of a sudden, something ignites and a beautiful background emerges. When you begin your background, promise me you won't give up half way through and that you will keep going to experience the magic that will happen. I know you can see that garbage can in the corner of your eye, but DON'T DO IT!  Stick with it and you will be amazed!

I have to admit I have a ton of stamps for mixed media but not one of them is a Darkroom Door stamp. I used them for the first time on my project and I can't tell you how impressed I was with them. The stamps are top quality red rubber and have deep etchings. Why does this matter, you may say? Well, for mixed media projects, this mean a lot! You can stamp through any type of medium you chose and get a clean, clear image and because of that I'm going to be adding more to my collection! Now join us and get out those stamps, stencils and inks and let's have some fun!

Remember, your entry could win a $50 gift voucher  for Simon Says Stamp!

Here's my project for this week's challenge;

I started with an 8x8 canvas and covered it with gesso and allowed it to completely dry.

I randomly covered the canvas with Distress Crayons in Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade which are all included in Set 1.

After completely covering the canvas, I misted it with water and blended the colors together using my fingertip.

I continued with my background by stamping the Darkroom Door Postcard stamp onto tissue paper in a random pattern. 

I tore the tissue paper into several different size pieces after the ink was dry and then adhered the pieces to the canvas.

I applied the pieces with Ranger Multi Medium Matte to my canvas.

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I allowed the pieces to overlap and didn't care if the tissue paper creased or crumpled because it added texture to the surface.

After applying the last piece of tissue, I set the canvas aside to completely dry.

I wanted to soften the colors so I went over the canvas with a gesso wash. (A gesso wash is gesso mixed with water.)

I set my canvas aside to dry and began working on the second background piece for my project. First, I smudged some Distress Crayons onto my craft sheet in a random pattern. I made sure to carefully allow small chunks to break off from the Picked Raspberry Distress Crayon and then spritzed all of them with water.

I took a 8"x 5-3/4"piece of watercolor paper and dipped and smudged it into the Distress Crayon mixture. See how the Distress Crayon chunks leave behind splotches. I thought this was very cool! When the chunks dry, they will not move or come off your paper.

Next, I stamped the Darkroom Door Flourish stamp in a random pattern and also dipped an old gift card in Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini Dye Ink mixed with water and used that to put lines of interest on the background.

I continued to add more of the flourish stamp in Simon Says Stamp Jellybean Dye Ink in a random pattern where the grass would fall on my project.

I set both backgrounds aside and began putting together the other pieces to my project. First, I created the bunny with the Tim Holtz Easter Elements die.  I went over the surface of the bunny lightly with Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini dye ink using an ink blending tool.

I covered the entire bunny with a thick layer of Ranger Multi Medium in Matte and sprinkled it with Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter. 

I removed the excess glitter.  Before the glue was dry, I rubbed over the bunny with my fingertip so some of the glitter would clump together with the glue, giving the bunny a furry look. I immediately reapplied a second coat of glitter and turned it over so the excess glitter from the second application would fall off the bunny and then set it aside to completely dry.

For my Easter eggs, I cut two of the smaller size ovals from the Tim Holtz Ovals Movers & Shapers Die Set. For the larger egg, I applied Simon Says Stamp Duckling Dye Ink with a blending tool. 

I applied Lawn Fawn Mermaid Dye Ink with a blending tool to the smaller egg.

Next, I stamped both eggs with the Darkroom Door Flourish Stamp.

I added some decorations to the eggs using the Tim Holtz Trellis and Courtyard frameworks dies. I cut them out of white cardstock and trimmed them down to one layer of the design. I went over them with Lawn Fawn Mermaid Dye Ink and Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini Dye Ink.

I took the cutouts from the inner parts of the designs and adhered them with a tape runner so they would stick to a lined sheet of paper and not move as I stamped them with my Misti tool. To get the images straight, I lined up the points of the shapes with the lines on the paper and stamped them with the Wendy Vecchi Tiles Background Stamp.

While the shapes were still adhered to the lined paper, I applied Hero Arts Clear Embossing powder and then hit them with a heat gun.

When the embossing powder was cooled after heating, I left them adhered to the lined paper and applied Simon Says Stamp Jellybean Dye Ink with a blending tool. Leaving them adhered to the lined paper throughout the entire process makes it much easier to work with these tiny shapes.

I inserted the shapes back into the coordinating framework and carefully turned it over. I then placed a thin piece of 1/8" Double-Sided Scor-Tape to the back of the entire shape to keep the pieces together.

I placed this piece on top of the egg and cut away the edges along the side of the egg.

I did the same thing with the other framework die for the smaller egg.

To create the grass, I smushed some Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto my craft sheet and spritzed each color with water to create a color wash.

I used a large paint brush to brush the colors over watercolor paper.

When that was completely dry, I used an ink blending tool to edge the paper and add color to the water color wash so the grass would appear to have varying shades of color similar to real grass.

I cut the grass out using the Tim Holtz Tapered Fringe Decorative Strip die.

By setting the two pieces off, one from the other, the "grass" appears fuller. I placed the darker piece in front of the lighter piece.

I wanted the bunny to have a very colorful bow and decided to color some seam binding with Distress Markers. I used Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed, the same colors as the distress crayons I used for the two background pieces. I randomly applied streaks of marker on the seam binding and then spritzed it with water. 

I moved the ribbon around in the beads of water with my fingers until the colors blended together. When the ribbon was dry, I made a simple, single looped bow.

For the letters to spell out "Spring", I purposely blended Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso in circular motions so the circles were visible. This gave the letters a unique appearance with a variation in color with some lines. I then cut out the letters with the Tim Holtz Alphabetical Decorative Strip. 

I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals to create my flowers. Before shaping the flowers I colored them with Simon Says Stamp Duckling Dye Ink and then edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  

I shaped my flowers and then put everything in its place on the canvas. When I was finished, I saw a space that needed something but I didn't quite know what. Then it hit me! I had the perfect stencil to add some texture to one of the corners and applied Ranger Texture Paste through the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow Stencil.

When that was completely dry, I applied the same colors of Distress Crayons that I used on the rest of the project and blended them in with my fingertips.

My project is now complete and it really reminds me of springtime.  Here again is my canvas.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process I used to make this springtime canvas and how I created two background pieces with the amazing Darkroom Door Flourish and Postcard stamps. I can't wait to see what kinds of backgrounds you create!

For more inspiration, tips and tricks for all types of papercraft creations, follow Simon Says Stamp on:

          

You can find all the following supplies I used to create this project at Simon Says Stamp:

Darkroom Door Cling Stamp POSTCARDS Darkroom Door Cling Stamp FLOURISH Wendy Vecchi Background Cling Rubber Stamp TILES RESERVE Tim Holtz Idea-ology PLAIN TISSUE WRAP Paperie TH93275 Tim Holtz Sizzix EASTER ELEMENTS Die Bigz Tim Holtz Sizzix Die TAPERED FRINGE Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Sizzix ALPHABETICAL Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Sizzix Die BUTTERFLY FRENZY Decorative Strip Sizzlits Tim Holtz Sizzix BASE TRAY L Movers & Shapers Accessory Tim Holtz Sizzix Die SIZED OVALS Movers Shapers Tim Holtz Sizzix TRELLIS Frameworks Die Tim Holtz Sizzix COURTYARD Frameworks Die Tim Holtz Sizzix Die TATTERED FLORALS Tim Holtz Sizzix Die GARDEN GREENS Bigz Simon Says Stamp Stencil FALLING SNOW SSST121324 Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink TEENY BIKINI Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad JELLYBEAN Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad DUCKLING Lawn Fawn MERMAID Premium Dye Ink Pad Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TEA DYE Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad VINTAGE PHOTO Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad GROUND ESPRESSO Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SHABBY SHUTTERS Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MOWED LAWN Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEELED PAINT Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons SET 1 Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons Set 3 Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark Hero Arts EMBOSS CLEAR EMBOSSING POWDER Tim Holtz Distress Markers SPICED MARMALADE Tim Holtz Distress Markers PICKED RASPBERRY Tim Holtz Distress Markers MUSTARD SEED Tim Holtz Distress Glitter CLEAR ROCK CANDY Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS Ranger 4 Oz. MULTI MEDIUM MATTE Paint Glue INK41535 Ranger TEXTURE PASTE TRANSPARENT GLOSS INK44741 Scor-Tape 1/2 Inch Crafting Tape Scor-Tape 1 Inch Crafting Tape 3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White Sizzix 13 Inch DECORATIVE STRIP CUTTING PAD Tim Holtz Tonic Craft SCISSORS Micro Serrated Non Stick Lifestyle Crafts QUICKSTIK Precision Pickup and Placement Tool Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE Media MDA41771 Ranger MINI ROUND INK BLENDING TOOLS RESERVE MINI MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool Kit mistimini

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