Altered Scrabble Board with Seth Apter & Bozzy Bear

It's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and our hostess Jennie has chosen the theme  Crazy for Autumn Colours.  She says, "Choose a bold, colourful, autumn palette this month for your vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project. Let's see those wonderful autumn colours in all their glory!"

How ironic is it to say that I'm just not into autumn quite yet?  Ha, I know!  In my neck of the woods, it is still 90 degrees outside and some leaves have fallen from the hurricane winds, but are falling green!  No sight of color just yet.  I cannot get in the mood for fall, but I hear that we have a colder weekend coming.  Perhaps that will change my opinion...  Anyway, I decided to just get crazy with my mediums and play in a fall palette.  It's been a while since I altered one of my Scrabble boards, so I grabbed one of the few remaining and went to work.  Before now, I have only altered the printed side.  This time I decided to use the back because it has a lovely texture.  I gessoed it (and it bled pink) and then added a few Seth Apter die cuts my friend Bonnie shared with me.  Thank you Bonnie!  I layered two for extra dimension in then laid them in a random pattern.  I adhered them with Mod Podge, then Mod Podged the rest of the panel to seal the bleeding pink.  While wet, I added some hymnal pages and let them dry slightly to peel away.  Finally, I scraped on some texture paste here and there.

I layered with acrylic paint, then added some stenciling and spray inks.  I partially embossed the die cut areas with both copper and a brown/gold mix of EP and splashed with black gesso.  Oh yeah!  I was in the groove!  I could have stopped here (perhaps I should have...)

But I raided the chipboard stash and found this amazing Steampunk Cameo chippie by Bozzy Bear.  I won this prize pack and have been hoarding it!  I gave her a coat of crackle paste, then inked with VP DI.

I liked the contrast between the white crackle and the oozing colors.

I stained and embossed some wooden gears that Sara Emily gave me when we met at the beach.  Thanks sweetie!  I thought the smaller one mimicked eye lashes so I added it to her face.  I layered some naked ones on top, with a little sponging to grunge them slightly.

I decided to give the panel a galaxy feel and added glass glitter and splashes of gold ink, even sprayed it with gold Glimmer Mist.  What fun!  I really hope you're inspired and will play along with our Crazy for Autumn Colour challenge.  :)  As you see, the sky's the limit as long as you use autumn colors.

I went through my studio and pulled together most of my altered Scrabble boards.  I've given one away, but here they are all lined up...

From Left to Right:

1. Hope

2. Never Give Up

3. Spring Rain

4. Love That Will Not Let Me Go

5. We Are All The Same

Not Shown: Little Girls' Adventures

I think I shall frame them.  Would you like to win some awesome chippies yourself?  Why not play along with our current challenge for a chance to win a wonderful autumnal bundle from our sponsor, Calico Craft Parts?  

I'm also sharing this panel with:

Wow! Embossing Powder: Anything Goes w/Embossing Powder
STAMPlorations: Anything Mixed Media Goes w/Stencil

SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk: Anything Goes Steampunk/Industrial
Country View Crafts: Mixed Media w/Autumn Hues
Simon Says Stamp: A Walk on the Dark Side
Sisterhood of Crafters: Use Your Dies

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Altered Scrabble Board Mixed Media Collage for Simon Says Stamp

Welcome to my week 2 post for my guest stint at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  This week's challenge theme is Be Square.  I chose my favorite square substrate from my tutorial HERE on making a handmade book from an old Scrabble board game.

I am enjoying working alongside of the talented team at the Monday Challenge so much!  Thanks again for the offer.  Please check out the other designers blogs for more inspiration.

First I gessoed the printed tile side of my Scrabble board section.  Next, I used Distress Inks and Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays to add some color.  I stamped Tim's hexagon stamps randomly with various Archival inks.  I lightly coated a smaller square of corrugated board with gesso, then colored it with sprays and my blue Distress Crayon.  I laid it onto the other board and used my black Distress Crayon to give it an outline or shadow.

I layered a found relative with some basket filler over the cardboard, tucking in some bundled string, linen ribbon, and die cut doilies.  I use Beacon 3-in-1 adhesive for these types of projects.  Here you see a small section of tissue tape added over the background.

I tucked a snipet of an old library card from my friend Mimi in there for fun, thanks Mimi!  The book title was The Snow Princess.  The silver medallion is by Finnabair for Prima.  The gold snowflake is part of a costume jewelry necklace that broke off.  I found it later on my art room floor (shocker!) and thought it would now become a neat piece of ephemera.

I based my collage around this verse, which I cling to, "And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."  Romans 5:5 (NIV)  My "hope" plaque is a variation on Brenda's awesome antique enameled number plates found HERE.  I used Tim's Celebration die set.  Next time I would cut out the word before embossing, because some of the EP flaked off - but let's just say that adds to the vintage look.  ;0

I decided to add some sparkle for contrast to tie in with the charm.  I added a couple of brass star brads and flecks of gold Color Bloom spray.  I mixed glitter with Mod Podge and brushed it randomly around the panel.  A final addition of the stamped stitching from the patchwork stamp set and some white gesso splatters completed the project.  I hope it is an inspiration to you!

Join in this week's challenge for a chance to win a $50 Simon Says Stamp gift voucher!

Idea-ology - Found Relatives	Tim Holtz Sizzix DOILY Thinlits Die 661497	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon CHIPPED SAPPHIRE	Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps 2016 PATCHWORK PIECES	Lindys Stamp Gang Milk Chocolate Brown
Lindys Stamp Gange Tibetan Poppy Teal	Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Distress Pumice Stone Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Ink in Coffee	ranger archival jet black ink pad
Ranger Archival Cornflower Blue Ink Pad	dina wakley white gesso	Prima Marketing GOLD FOIL Color Bloom Spray Mist	Tim Holtz Sizzix Words Block Celebration	Ranger embossing powder White
Idea-ology Linen ribbon	Beacon′s 3 in 1 Craft Glue