I Say "Why Not?"

Hello all!  I'm delighted to be basking for one final time in the Designer Spotlight at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

It's been such a delight and an honour to create alongside the fantastic Design Team for the month of May, and they've got some cracking inspiration for you this week again.

The new theme we've been playing with is Masculine, and I've been having a wonderful time with plenty of Tim Holtz goodies, my favourite colours, blue + brown, plus lots of different textures and materials.  So without more ado, take a look at the 12 x 12 inverted canvas full of inventions that I'd like to share with you.

I'll confess I get a bit cross when these ingredients are regarded as "masculine".  I love them all, and I'm not a man.  Why am I supposed to be stuck with pink and princesses and unicorns when there's all this beautiful stuff out there?!







It's only about a hundred years since gentle blue was regarded as the colour for little girls, and martial pink and red were for boys.












And let me do woodwork and metalwork over sewing any day.  I'm so bad at sewing that I've been known to put hems up with double-sided sticky tape!

Rant over... let's take a closer look at some of the details.














At the heart of this inverted canvas are the inky tags with Tim's Inventor stamp images on them.














The wrinkle-free distress backgrounds are a combination of Distress Inks and Distress Oxides.












And the stamping is done in Jet Black with clear embossing.  I "lifted" some of the ink inside the bulbs with a water brush, so that they would have a pale glow to them.

(If you look closely, you'll see there's even a silvery touch of Pewter Treasure Gold on the filaments.)










I did the same lifting of colour for the extraordinary goggles on the other tag, but it's less obvious.

I'm really not sure what this extraordinary contraption is good for!














This recycled light bulb pretty much kicked off the whole piece.  I knew I had to pair it with the fabulous vintage bulb stamp.

The light bulb is the realisation of the blueprint on the first tag...











... but I didn't have any antique goggles to go with the second tag.

It seems they haven't quite completed the goggle prototype... they've only got as far as experimenting with the lenses.










Here are our two inventors and engineers, father and son...

The frame supports the son, but the father needed a little extra help, so there's a used sponge dauber glued behind him to keep him in the foreground.














He founded the company exploring the possibilities and innovations of the new industrial age, and his son has now joined him in the enterprise.












In the far background is some paper from the Idea-ology Dapper Paper Stash, and over that are some panels made with the brilliant new Foundry 3D Texture Fade.













I had a wonderful time creating my faux metal, and the timeworn distressed look of it.















I started with plain white card, and gave it a couple of coats of Brushed Pewter Distress Paint before spritzing it with water and running it through the BigShot the recommended three times for the depth of embossing.













The brush strokes of the paint just add to the texture already in the folder - the amazing pits and dents amidst the layered riveted panels.

To highlight all that amazing texture I painted and knocked back a couple of layers - Ground Espresso Distress Paint first, then Little Black Dress Fresco Acrylic.











And I wanted a blue sheen to echo the blue of the tags, so I also swept on some Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink in places and wiped it back with paper towel, so you end up with just a hint of blue steel.











The final touch, once the panels were stuck in position, was to add tiny touches of Pewter Treasure Gold in a few places.  This gives a wonderful burnished look to those areas, as though they've been rubbed a lot, so that the dirt of ages is worn away to reveal the gleaming metal underneath.












I'm pretty happy with the overall result.   Of course, you have to screw the metal panels down once they're in place, so that was pretty hard work.  (I'm kidding - it's a brad... an Idea-ology Hex Fastener, to be precise!)











Around the edges of the frame, there's some of my much-loved crackle effect.  I used the PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze between layers of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic paint.

Over that I used my acetate stamping plate to add inky blotches and spots in blue tones to match the central tags.












And of course there's plenty of brown inking around the edges, and more accents of the Pewter Treasure Gold to create a metallic echo.













There are plenty of Idea-ology metal goodies.  Countdown Brads to number the invention patents...














... cogs and gears, both actual and metaphorical, reflecting the whirring cogs and gears in the brains of the inventors.














All the metalwork has had a touch of Mushroom Alcohol Ink for a slightly more vintage look.















What will they come up with next?  Imaginations at the ready!













And with all the creativity, imagination and invention going on, I couldn't resist adding one of my own quote stamps from PaperArtsy.














This is a George Bernard Shaw quote from my PaperArtsy Eclectica EAB07 plate, Dreaming & Doing.  I love how it captures the eternal cry of the creative mind!








Do hop over to see the amazing Masculine works created by the regular Simon Says Stamp Monday team.  As always, there's a $50 gift voucher on offer, and the chance to have your work highlighted by the team.

At the foot of this post, you'll find links to the products I've used here, so if you're tempted to go shopping, I'm making it very easy for you!

Huge thanks to Lols and the team, and to Simon Says Stamp, for inviting me to create alongside them this month and for the warm welcome.  I've had a wonderful time with the themes, and it's been an honour to be along for the ride.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I'll see you again soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

I find out what the world needs, then I go ahead and invent it.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
All quotes from Thomas Alva Edison

I'd like to share my faux metal panels at Stamps and Stencils where the challenge this month is Let's Fake It!
And at Emerald Creek Dares they are looking for Guy Style, so that works out well in terms of timing.

Find these products at Simon Says Stamp:

Tim Holtz Inventor 2 by Stampers Anonymous
Foundry 3D Texture Fade
Idea-ology metal - Gadget Gears, Foundry Adornments, Countdown Brads, Monocle, Philosophy Tags, Hex Fasteners
Idea-ology Paperie - Paper Dolls, Dapper Paper Stash
PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Chalk Paints - French Roast, Chalk, Snowflake, Little Black Dress
Distress Inks - Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs
Distress Oxides - Vintage Photo, Blueprint Sketch
Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter, Ground Espresso
Archival Ink - Coffee, Jet Black
Alcohol Ink - Mushroom
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
Inkssentials #8 Manila Tags