Summer Fun at Simon Says Stamp!

This is my third time in the Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp Blog - Monday Challenge! - I can't believe how quickly the month is whizzing by!
At last here in the North West of England we now have some sunny warm weather!  

The new challenge is Summer Fun and I have used Tim Holtz's set -Crazy Birds to make something for my grandchildren to use (or rather give me a few minutes break!)

I had some lolly(popsicle)sticks, some already coloured, and I used Distress Inks to colour some more so that each one was a different colour. 
You can choose any number of hot colours for outdoor activities or cool colours for those wet or cool days when it's best to stay indoors! 

The chosen birds were stamped and embossed with Ranger Embossing Powder

I then used my Derwent Inktense Pencils to colour them and intensified the colour by using a Sakura water brush. 

I added Distress Crayons to them too. They blend well together as they are both so rich in pigment. They were then fussy cut.

One this was done I matched them up with a backing card and cut around again before mounting onto a stick using super strong Ranger Glossy Accents

I needed something to stand them up in and after trying several options decided to use the old coffee jar that holds some of my smaller buttons - I decorated it by making a Gelli Print.
I use old cellophane packaging to run my Speedball brayer onto...

I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paints and added some Drying Retarder to keep the paint wetter for a while longer

I used Tim's Harlequin Layering Stencil onto plain old copy paper.
I got so into using my Gelli Plate that I forgot to take any more photos so here is the jar..

As you can see I used some stamps from the SSS Cone Building stamp set(I used this set here too) 
The idea behind these birds is that the bottom of their sticks will be hidden so that during the holidays they can choose an activity - some for cool wet days some for sunny warm days(hence the colour difference)

You can put your own ideas on to your sticks - these work for me - and are computer generated. If you don't have ideas of your own there are plenty on Pinterest. Just remember to have the resources you need at hand!!

We used the scavenger hunt one last week while away with my grandsons. I made a list for each of them to take out with us on a walk - that had some fun trying to get the best specimens! 

Of course I haven't just stopped there - I sometimes need a bit of motivation myself so I used Tim's Chit Chat Word stickers and Seasonal words stickers on the back of the birds to give me some ideas for my own art - mainly art journalling!

So as well as being a bit of Summer Fun these birds will be with me all year round!

Don't forget when you enter the challenge you are in with the chance of winning a 50$ voucher to spend in the Simon Says Stamp shop! 

 

I do hope you will join with the new challenge and have a little bit of Summer Fun!

Thanks for looking, Chris