Simon Says… time to get crafty!
New week… new challenge!! Head over immediately (if you’ve not done so already) and visit Simon Says Stamp & Show – we’re inspired by rust/rusty junk aka “rustification” (is that even a word?!) this week! This means you can make *ANY* project with anything remotely related to rust (the color, or metal, or something rustic or..) and enter it by posting it to flickr, your blog, or whatever for a chance to win. JOIN US! The rules + post can be found over at the Stamp & Show blog. You want to enter because it is fun, plus Simon Says Stamp gives away (randomly) a $50 voucher each week to one lucky entrant!!! You can get all the details at the blog here.
For my project, I decided to do something that has been something I enjoy doing more these days – taking a super cheap (sometimes even ugly) “decoration” that I buy at a store and using my craft supplies to turn it into something that is cool, unique, and that I want on display. The advantage is that a) I can remove my cute crafty stuff and re-use if I want, b) it doesn’t take a lot of money if you’re using supplies you have on hand, and c) nobody else will have one like yours! I took a white (dense foam?) pumpkin and turned it into an aged treasure that is already up on display.
Coloring the pumpkin is easy. My trick is to layer on colors one at a time, let them dry, then try something else. Also – don’t be afraid to mix and match mediums! I started with alcohol ink on this one, then used some acrylic paints, then splattered some dylusion sprays. The colors are all listed in my supply list towards the end of this post.
Once I had my pumpkin colored, I decided I wanted to give it a bit of a ‘topper’. I’ve seen some of these (and they’re never cheap!) and I thought… a bit of paper, some leaves, some color mediums and I should be good to go! So I inked, painted, misted, and colored randomly and made a big mess. Then I took the extra leaves (all were die cut onto kraft paper) and used them to soak up the excess color… and those ended up being my favorites too.
I did let these dry for maybe five minutes, then I coated the ones I liked with Rock Candy (and let them dry) to add an aged, cracked layer to the leaves and I love the results! 
Once those leaves were dry it was hotglue time! I warmed up the gun while I grabbed some rusty bits from my stash, and stamped a banner with “fall” and prepared to assemble.
Just minutes and a bit of hot glue later – and this baby was on display!
Here are the supplies I used:
note: the linked metal rings you see (I’m pretty sure) are discontinued and by Tim Holtz. They’ve been sitting here in a drawer so long – glad to put them to use!
I wish you a fantastic week filled with seasonal crafting! Oh, and speaking of seasons… if you haven’t already be sure to check out Simon’s new limited edition holiday card kit! You can check it out + order it here.
I hope you join us this week in the challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show – it’s going to be a fun week!
PS: speaking of fun + Simon… check out this new limited edition kit that Simon Says Stamp just revealed:
It’s limited and on pre-order now! You can check it out here.
