Add Some Texture - Simon Says Stamp Guest Designer

This may be my favourite theme of all the October posts for which I've been in the Designer Spotlight at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month... let's Add Some Texture.  And with Halloween fast approaching, my texture definitely has a spooky quality to it!

As always, it's been a delight to be part of the inspiration team at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month, even as a temporary member!  

I'm so grateful to the team for inviting me, and it's been a joy playing alongside the fabulous creatives and crafters on the regular Design Team, especially this week as we Add Some Texture!

As ever, Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring the challenge, with a lucky prize draw to win a voucher for a shopping spree in their fabulous online store.

I love adding texture to journal pages, especially when I'm working in one of my altered hardback books. 

There aren't really any making-of photos in this post - though of course I'll talk you through what I did with some close-ups... but you'll be able to watch the whole process over on my YouTube channel from Wednesday.  (I'll come back and add a link here when it's live.)

So make a note in your diary, and you'll be able to see the layers of texture building on this page spread in all the detail you could possibly want!

For now, let me share some of the steps and the products I used to achieve them.

It all started with a layer of gesso to soften the book text and prepare the pages for the wet media to come.  I glued in some scraps of my PaperArtsy Printed Tissue PT08, leaving plenty of wrinkles, plus bits hanging over the edges of the page... lots of texture already.

Next, I used the Tim Holtz Shatter stencil to ink some cobwebs into the corners using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  The little spider comes from the Mini Halloween 3 stamp set - though he had migrated onto my Apothecary set!  And the little bits of script detail are the text stamp from Apothecary, one of my all-time favourite script stamps.

I glued down some frayed linen ribbon and strips of Idea-ology Mummy Cloth next to Shakespeare (!), and used a spatula to add Ranger Distress Opaque Crackle Paste in various places.

Obviously, you need to leave that to crackle and do its thing.  Once it was dry, I added Pumice Stone DI and Distress Crayon over it to highlight the cracks.

Time for some collaging...  I had some snippets left over from the Add Some Text project in week two... typewriter letters made with the large Typewriter Embossing Folder and Black Kraft Stock.  I thought they would be great elements within the collaging, and also add some more dimension and texture.

Otherwise, I grabbed bits and bobs from various packets of Idea-ology Halloween ephemera that I've collected over the years - both paper and metal ephemera.  

I can't say for certain what came from which edition, but you can find this year's collection here (and of course you can also buy the packs individually).

And there's one of the Halloween Paper Dolls too, of course.  (Again, she's from a while back.)

She's the fortune teller who might take a hand in how your fate unfolds by using one of her poisonous potions on you.  You'll hear more about all that in the video when it comes out on Wednesday.

Once again, there are a few of the Curator Snippets labels in the mix... I don't know where I would be without them!

I think that's about your lot!  It's certainly my lot for this month in the Designer Spotlight for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  Head over there to see what the Design Team have got in store for you - it's bound to be inspiring.

They'll pick out a few favourite projects at the end of the week, and one randomly-drawn winner will go shopping at Simon Says Stamp with a prize voucher.  All you need to do is Add Some Texture!

I hope you've enjoyed this spooky little detour into the pages of my altered book journal.  And don't forget to pop back on Wednesday to get the direct link for the process video.  Of course, if you already follow my Words and Pictures YouTube channel, then you'll spot it when it pops up anyway!!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll have a wonderful week adding texture to whatever you are making.  Happy crafting, all!

There are poisons that blind you, and poisons that open your eyes.
August Strindberg

BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
Ambrose Bierce, from The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Think Pink - Simon Says Stamp Guest Designer

Hello all - I'm thrilled to be back in the Designer Spotlight over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for October, and we're starting the month with Think Pink.

It's always a huge honour to be invited to be part of the fun over on Simon Says Stamp (though I probably need to look at my calendar more carefully next time before saying yes... it's a busy month ahead!).

As always, you'll find oodles of inspiration from the amazing Design Team over on the Monday Challenge blog, and there's the usual generous prize on offer from Simon Says Stamp. 

This week's theme of Think Pink is in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Pink used to be a rare colour here at Words and Pictures, but lately it's been getting more common.  It started with a lot of wintry sunrises and sunsets in my work last winter, but lately it's definitely happening because of some of the floral stamps I've created for PaperArtsy in recent months.  So when I was asked to "Think Pink", my thoughts went immediately to my PaperArtsy EAB49 Coneflowers.  

I thought they'd look great with Tim Holtz's lovely daisy from the French Garden set, so I stamped lots of blooms in Olive Archival Ink onto some watercolour paper.

I used a combination of PaperArtsy Mattints and Dylusions sprays to tint my flowers.  Dylusions are the featured product this week.  I don't have many of the sprays - as you'll know, I have tended to prefer my colour palettes muted rather than in the vivid, vibrant Dylusions tones - but I have a few browns and greens and blues in most mediums (to try out), and Dylusions are no exception.

I put dots of Mattint and tiny spritzes of the sprays onto my craft mat to use as a palette, and layered them together to create fabulous variations and depth of colour.  As you can see from the photos, I used Mattints in Glow, Ladybug Squeezed and The Pink, and Dylusions Chopped Pesto, Dirty Martini and Melted Chocolate.  A touch of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Snowflake allowed me to create more opaque layers and pastels.  Any white acrylic will do for that.  I'm very happy with how they turned out... the Dylusions might be coming out more often from now on!  

I altered a cheap and simple wooden frame with a coat of white chalk paint and some Distress Opaque Crackle Paste.

And for my background, I used one of the wood effect Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fades.  I think this particular one has been discontinued now, but there are plenty of others to choose from, including the amazing new large size versions.

Once the crackle had done its thing, I grunged it up with some Pumice Stone Distress Crayon and Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stain, brushed on to highlight those fabulous cracks and crevices.

I chose one of the fabulous Idea-ology Photobooth snapshots to go at the heart of my garden of dancing flowers.  I love the energy and joy emanating from this woman.

And then it was simply a question of arranging the flowers around the edge of the frame and gluing them into position.

A few of my much-loved Curator Snippets labels add extra detailing, and it wouldn't be a Words and Pictures project without some words.

These are from the Coneflowers plate - the large word is one of three, especially selected by me to suit the mood of the stamp set, and the phrase is a poetry fragment from a poem by Lope de Vega.

If that isn't enough to inspire you to Think Pink this week, then do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for lots more glorious pink creativity from the Design Team there.

The team will be selecting projects to spotlight at the end of the week, and one lucky randomly-drawn winner will be going on a shopping spree at Simon Says Stamp.  

So dig out all your pink materials and have a play.  If I can go pink, you definitely can!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting all!

Pink is the colour of strength, a colour of conviction, a colour of decision making.
Angad Bedi

In a world that often lacks compassion, pink stands as a reminder to be kind.
Matthew Green

Advent Countdown (part 1)

Hello all!  I'm trying to create something daily during December so I'm here to share the first week's worth.  There are definitely some new wintry favourites among them for me...

I haven't always got as far as a finished tag - so some days are background-creating days, and some days have more than one tag.  Hopefully in the end it will all add up to 25!  Here's what we have so far...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Those silvery blue crackled stencilled backgrounds appearing were actually made back in the summer during one of my first playtime sessions with the (then) new Uncharted Mariner colour.  It's taken until now for them to get their chance to shine!

There are some of my own PaperArtsy EAB28 Juniper Edition berries and text in a couple of the others.  And I think my favourite maybe the layered stamping backgrounds from Day 6.  I'm looking forward to finishing those off. 

I hope you are having a gentle run up to the festive season, and I hope to be back with some more Advent Countdown creativity soon.  Happy crafting, all!

I pray this winter be gentle and kind--

a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.

John Geddes