Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Cityscape

Love the colours and layers of this one.

Um....I really hate to point this out but it appears to be Monday again....and actually, that is no bad thing because that means that the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is happening again! Have a look over on their blog for all of the happy details!

This week's theme for the challenge is Cityscape and that set me to wondering because it is not my go-to thing. But all that aside, it was fun stepping out of the comfort zone and having a go.

The one thing that gets me every time with these wonderful products is their versatility!

My inspiration this time came from the fact that the first time I lived in a city after being raised in country South Australia, I completely blew it. I simply did not know how to 'live' in a city. I stayed indoors, had no money and was too timid and shy to go out and do anything. So the whole experience left a pretty bad memory.

That car!

Well the do over will be when I return to that same city next year (more about that later).....for now, would you like to see how I made this card!

Well, as usual for me, there is a whole lot going on with this! I started with some design tape down the sides and I made a mat from blue kraft -core card stock and sanded it (you know me by now).

I love, love, LOVE stitching on my cards!

Next came the main panel. Just plain 250 gsm card and treated to a mixed bath of  Distress Oxides in Antique Linen and Old Paper first up then Frayed Burlap and Broken China to dress it up a bit.

I love the Frayed Burlap shadow of the trapeze man.

I came back in then with the lovely Stampers Anonymous stamp set 'theories' and used Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide to stamp some shadowy words and images.
Next it was time to consider the buildings which make the city...

No particular artistic talents necessary for this! But the results are really great for buildings.

Perfect for a slightly worn cityscape.

I covered a piece of plain black card stock with DecoArt Weathered Wood medium and when it was dry, I covered it in a 'city building' mixture of greys and whites, also from DecoArt. When it dried, it got a spritz of Antique Bronze Distress Spray Stain.

The Distress Spray Stain really makes it glow - better than a silver colour I think. That would have been too cold.

Perfect for cutting out the buildings using a Thinlits city die set from Sizzix.

I highlighted the buildings with a white gel marker and gave them some definition with a black marker too.

I actually cut the buildings out individually and attached the first row flat onto the background and the ones in front with some foam tape for dimension.

I like sanding things a little too much!

This needed some cars next so two of them from another die set from last year (Sizzix natch) and put them in front.

If you can find a card of mine WITHOUT stitching, it is possibly worth money!

At this point, I layered the background onto the sanded blue mat and stitched a couple of times around the edge with black thread, throwing in some zigzag stitches for good measure.

I did get rid of the tightrope though and draw it back in with black marker.

I stamped the trapeze man with black archival ink onto white card and fussy cut him to go into the top left hand corner.

My Art history lecturers from my first uni degree would be thrilled with the amount of meaningful imagery - or even the fact that I just said that!

I really like the way the shadow works well with the fussy cut.

Love that 3D Foundry folder! And the adhesive letters work perfectly underneath.

Words came next and I decided to experiment a bit. I use the Block Talk Bigz alphabet die and I had a piece of silver kraft-core card that I had run through the 3D embossing folder (Foundry) a bit ago. I also distressed it and then, as you do, put it in a box and forgot about it for ages. I wondered how it would work for the letters....it did flatten them a bit as expected but the result is still exactly what I wanted!

Layers are everything!

Well that's it folks! That is the birth of my city and the discoveries awaiting me next time I return. All of the items are Tim Holtz unless otherwise stated and I am pretty sure that you can swap things out rather successfully and use what you have in your stash.

Going to eagerly wait until next Monday now for the next one!


*********************UPDATE*************************
I just saw in the Challenge winners section that this card has caught the DT's attention too! I am as pleased as a pup with two tails!

I called this one Metro because I was super stuck but when I think of it, it could not be anything else!

Have a lovely week!
Debs
xx