Just saying! Just painting! Just hopping...

Well, a big hello and welcome to a very special post! Hooray, it's STAMPtember at Simon Says Stamp & Show which means a great blog hop full of creativity and prizes galore!!!! Now, there's a lot of stuff to read, but PLEASE DO hang in there as you're in with a fabulous chance to win a prize at my blog AND at the Simon Says Stamp store!!!
Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. Over the past 10 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a “STAMPtember” ™ event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrap-booking, mixed media and many forms of altering and expressing art.

We are helping kick off STAMPtember festivities with a Design Team Blog Hop! You have a chance along the way to win a $25 gift certificate for hopping onto my blog and entering our challenge. Winners will be announced at 8AM September 12. 

I'm celebrating STAMPtember with my Maya Road Binder. It had also been a while since playing with my Claudine Helmuth Studio paints. A plan was soon hatched...

A few years ago I did an on-line course with the brilliant Claudine Hellmuth and really got to know her paints and products. The fabulous paint pots are full of rich pigmented colour, have a wonderful consistency and are bursting with loads of potential.

I covered the binder with old dictionary pages using Matt Medium, let them dry well before ripping some off again for a distressed look. Then they were coloured with a wash of with Yellow Pastel with Fired Brick Distress ink on the edges.

I used Claudine's versatile Sticky Back Canvas to create the border. I added some subtle resist detailing by stamping Tim's spots with Matt Medium, drying and then adding a wash of Teal and Sky Blue paint. Then I over-stamped some Wendy Vecchi dots and letters, as well as inky rings made with a bottle top. A bit of stitching and ric-rac added more detail...

l'm a real sucker for Wendy's flutter-bys and blooms (Alphabetically Art and Live and Make Art stamp sets)so I went to town with lots of girly embellishments. I stuck a piece of canvas onto some Grungepaper, stamped the butterflies on the reverse side, cut them out and painted them in Teal. I only wanted their form (a good way to get more out of your stamps!)

l added two metal centres which are ribbon holders or something?! Dunno, they're from my stash! The flowers are cut from Grungepaper and painted with Dash of Red with old buttons for centres.

I thought it needed a bit more oomph! and reached for my Grungeboard letters. I painted them white and edged them with more Fired Brick before sticking them with matt medium. It's such a great adhesive as it dries clear yet also gives you time to adjust the positioning.... which I love. One must always tweak!

So apart from a touch of string, that was about it...Here's a close-up where you can see more of the stamping and lettering. I've just got to start on the inside now! Next time... onto the HOP!

Please hop to my team-mates' blogs. Each of them has a special handmade work of art to share with you and also more prizes along the way! Enter the "Read All About It!" Challenge and be sure to put a STAMP on it and you could be the lucky winner of our GRAND PRIZE $100 Simon Shopping Spree!

• Anna-Karin Evaldsson 
• Ashli Oliver 
• Candy Colwell 
• May Flaum
• Sandra Mouwen  
• Sarah Engels-Greer 
• Suzanne Czosek  
• Terry 
• Tracy Evans
  Final stop at the challenge blog: http://www.simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting! The next stop in the Simon Says STAMPtember Blog Hop is Suzanne Czosek . If while hopping, you encounter a broken link, you can go back to the beginning with links to everyone who is participating in the hop.
Happy hopping...! You have to be in it to win it!!!
See you soon,  Sarah.

*Tim Holtz Idea-ology 6 x 12 GRUNGEPAPER Grunge Paper TH92841	*Wendy Vecchi Cling Rubber Stamps LIVE AND MAKE ART Studio 490 lcs038	*Wendy Vecchi Cling Rubber Stamps ALPHABETICALLY ART Stampers Anonymous lcs017	*Claudine Hellmuth COMPLETE LOT 15 STUDIO PAINTS Ranger Paint
*Tim Holtz Idea-ology GRUNGEBOARD ALPHAS PLAIN Altered Art	*Claudine Hellmuth MULTI MEDIUM MATTE Paint Glue Ranger	*Claudine Hellmuth Studio PAINT DASH OF RED Ranger	*Claudine Hellmuth Studio PAINT TRADITIONAL TAN Ranger
*Claudine Hellmuth Studio PAINT SKY BLUE Light Ranger	*Claudine Hellmuth Studio PAINT CLASSIC TEAL Blue Green Ranger	*Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps 2012 MIXED MEDIA cms125	*Maya Road 5 x 5 CHIPBOARD BINDER Album C2036
*Claudine Hellmuth NATURAL STICKY BACK CANVAS 12"" by 12"" Studio Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD FIRED BRICK Red Ranger TIM20202	*Wendy Vecchi Rubber Stamp JUST FLY G2-1557 Studio 490 Stampers Anonymous

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