Insects of Doom for Simon Says Stamp

Hello all.  It's my final week in the Designer Spotlight over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  It really has been an honour and a delight to create alongside the brilliant team there, so many thanks to Lols, SSS and the team for having me.

I'll admit the theme for this week slightly stumped me at first... we are playing Movie Inspiration.  But then I had a brainwave about some tag backgrounds which I had brought back with me from the Czech Republic, not having found anything in my travelling stash that worked with them, and everything followed from there.

So here are my tags inspired by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  It's not my favourite of the Indiana Jones films, but even then it's still head and shoulders above so many other adventure films, and I'm always happy to watch it if I happen to catch it when it's on.

To be honest, I'll happily watch Harrison Ford in pretty much anything, but Indy probably makes me happiest (with Han Solo vying for a tied first... oh, and the policeman hiding out with the Amish community in Witness - and The Fugitive - and Blade Runner, of course - okay, I love Harrison Ford... back to the crafting!).

These were the backgrounds which kicked the whole thing off... they looked to me like ancient stone walls, with cryptic inscriptions and plenty of blood spattered around the place.

I'd been going for a rusted look, but it works equally well as blood stains!  

And when I got back from CZ (where I'd been to liaise with the builders ready for my upcoming move), one of the parcels awaiting me was Tim's new Specimen stamp set.  As soon as I saw the giant insects, a huge lightbulb went on in my brain.

I suddenly remembered that scene where Indy and the boy are stuck in a rocky chamber underground... and poor Willie Scott (played by Kate Capshaw) has to gird her loins to deal with the huge bugs and centipedes crawling all over her...

... whilst putting her hand into a cavity heaving with even more of the creatures to pull a lever to save them...

... with the cogs and gears representing the machinery of the mechanism which she has to operate before the spikes on the walls closing in run right through Indy and Short Round...

... and all the while from the huge cavern beyond you can hear the chanting accompanying a blood magic ritual where the high priest pulls the heart out of a man's chest while he's still alive - hence the blood!

It really is one of the darkest of the films, with child slave labour, extreme poverty and starvation balanced against ridiculous wealth, torture and cruelty, black magic and the dark arts all playing a part.

But it still has all the usual Indiana Jones delights... solving historical mysteries which have bamboozled others for centuries...

... searching for ancient artefacts...

... while evading all sorts of weird and wonderful mechanisms designed to protect those artefacts from looters...

... and seeking the key to cryptic puzzles.

It's a rollicking ride from beginning to end and, of course, there's always the fabulous theme music to get the blood pumping too (sorry, more blood!).  I think it's probably pretty clear what I've used here - various Distress Inks and Oxides, including the vivid new Crackling Campfire colour playing blood, and Pumice Stone in the role of the rocky cavern walls. 

        

The insects are of course from the Specimen stamp set; the Faded Type stamp set provides the ancient inscriptions; while the Halloween Word Bands add a few reminders of the ingredients in an Indiana Jones script.  I hope you like them and I hope you'll be inspired to come and play along, letting us know the Movie Inspiration behind your creation.

Of course there's lots more inspiration from the amazing Simon Says Stamp Monday team over at the challenge blog, and as always they'll be highlighting some of their favourite entries at the end of the week. And one lucky randomly-generated winner will receive a Simon Says Stamp gift voucher and enjoy a little shopping spree.  

I hope you've enjoyed this month of projects for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as much as I have.  I had to take a deep breath when saying yes, knowing I'd be in the midst of packing up to move while it was happening - but I thought it would be good to have something to force me to stay creative, and not let the moving stress take over my life completely, and so far that's exactly how it's been.  I've had a ball!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you're also finding ways to stay creative no matter what other stresses life is throwing at us all right now.  Stay safe, stay well, and I'll see you again soon.

"Look at this. It’s worthless — ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless."

"We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and X never, ever marks the spot."

"It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage."

Professor Indiana Jones

At Tag Tuesday they are playing All Hallow's Eve as the theme - well, I've no ghoulies or ghosties, but I do have some long-legged beasties, as well as plenty of gory bloodstains, so I hope these will fit in

And the same hope goes for Halloween Time over at Try It On Tuesday

#newbloggersucks