Mayday! Mayday! Simon Says Show us your Hands...

Good Morning and goodness me...

Yes another Monday and unbelievably we're into May! Hope you've enjoyed all the fun of the fair, a splendiferous Royal Romance and the soul-soothing sun. Back at HQ it's time for the new challenge at Simon Says Stamp & Show and we say Show us Hands!!! Your hands, clock hands, handshakes, thumbs-up...what springs to your mind? I think hands are rather quirky and I decided to go full-out on a Steampunk canvas where I could be as weird and wonderful as I wanted.

I used Wild Honey Distress stain on my canvas followed by Vintage Photo Distress ink for variation. I stamped various images including 7 Gypsies Steampunk onto tissue paper and glued them onto the canvas with Matt Medium as it dries completely clear and also added some alphabet stencilling. Then it was a long job of creating the decoration but I had a really great time playing and creating...

I had the idea of a flying mannequin with handy wings! The hands were stamped onto a book page stuck to Grunge paper to make them stronger and more flexible. The corset was a B&W image from The Graphics Fairy which I painted by creating water-colours from my Distress pads. Just pound them on your craft mat, spritz with water and paint away...! I added a metal wire belt and tag, layered it up with some sequin waste and a "DIY metal finding thingy" both coloured with Alcohol inks.

  Balloons! These great stamps are by Artistic Outpost...stamped onto an old map, mounted on card and again coloured with the Distress inks. (What would we do without them?) I've attached them to the corset with two lengths of thick wire. Up, up and away...

 These two madams were such fun to create. I scanned some etchings from an old costume book and added the colours as before. Great to be able to tint anything! They are mounted on card and then sealed with Matt Medium for strength and clarity. Mrs Red is sporting a black lace and metal bustle clip whilst Mrs. Blue wears a rosette scrap frill. Both have chosen matching butterfly hats (for the wedding).

 As you can see they are having a good old gossip about who Prince Harry will marry, hence the pointy fingers and Do Not Disturb sign...

This Steampunk Diva is also from a costume book, water coloured as per usual and fitted with her own designer goggles which I made from metal scraps and a washer. I've stamped and stapled some torn Glassine paper squares with eyes who stare at an opticians chart! I was also incredibly lucky to get my hands on some original clock findings - a real treat and I couldn't wait to add them to my piece. Also added a couple of stamped and hand cut butterflies to flit among the cogs...

I thought Invention was just the perfect word to add. I glued a metal strip over ChipBlock die letters, refined them with a paper stump and then coloured them with random splashes of Alcohol inks. A little sanding makes them pop and then I glued them to a metal plate - raid your Dad's shed I say... Here you can see one of the eyes (Paper Artsy).

As it's all about Hands today, one more photograph showing a palm stamped on a scrap of a French map. I added two eyelets and also two wing nuts to the top canvas edge. I finished off with my ever faithful copper thread and lo and behold, I was done!

Are you still there or just going with the photos?!! Well, if you wanted the technical bit, you got it, otherwise just enjoy the shots. All taken outside my old Victorian toilet shed!

I really had a fantastic time working on my piece. Sometimes it goes really well and sometimes you just gotta battle on but I do so enjoy the creative journey. I really hope you will have a great time too. Hopefully you can find some inspiration in my piece to help get you started. Over at the Simon Says Blog there are some more amazing projects from the Design Team. Do take a look...

So, what are you waiting for? You could win a $50 spending spree or make our Top Three Selected Artists!!!

I'm looking forward to seeing creations from you all...Thanks very much for calling by. I love comments and seeing who has dropped by (who doesn't) so do say hello.

Enjoy and be yourselves,

Sarah.