KEEPING YOU IN STITCHES

Simon Says "SHOW SOME STITCHING" ... faux or otherwise.  

I have to admit, I love stitching on pieces but rarely do it.  I guess I just don't think of it.  But, it really does add so much; whether you hand stitch, machine stitch or just make some faux stitching marks.

Just wait until you see what my design teammates at SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW CHALLENGE have for you this week.  SO AMAZING!!  You just have to see their designs for yourself!  What a talented, creative group! 

I finally finished my "Patchwork Pandemonium" piece from my weekend of classes with Tim Holtz a few weekends ago.  I added some stitching to it and decided to share it as my Simon Says Challenge piece for this week.

I was fascinated with this creation from Tim the first time I saw it several years ago.  Then he quit teaching it.  But, he decided to "revive" it again.  I am so glad and happy that I had the opportunity to go to Stampers Ink in Shawnee, KS and take this class from "THE MASTER HIMSELF".

Patchwork Pandemonium is a technique rich piece.  It is a conglomeration of Grungeboard.  Some is embossed with a variety of Tim's wonderful Texture Fades.  Some is left plain to either colorize with Crackle Paints, Distress Stains, Paint Dabbers, Alcohol Inks, Perfect Pearls Mists, Distress Stickles or cover with Tissue Tape.  

Techniques incorporated into this piece include Shabby Chic/Industrial Grunge, Distress Crackle Grunge, Distress Stain and Stamped Grunge and Double Distressed Grunge.  

The pandemonium part is that you literally just have a bunch of rectangles and squares of Grungeboard in front of you.  You just start using the different techniques to finish off the Grungeboard shapes, not having any idea how they will lay out on your finished design.  But, that is also the FUN of it!!!  It's AMAZING how it all works out!  Once you've finished all your pieces, there is a pattern that you need to follow to lay them all out and be sure that they end up in a 12 x 12 square.  Then you attach them to a 12x12 piece of Grungepaper as the backing by using Wonder Double Sided Tape.

After you have everything in place, you can begin embellishing it, leaving a slight space around the perimeter so that it will fit in a frame.  We embellished using Tim's wonderful stamps, pieces from his Ideaology line, Grungeblocks and whatever else we wanted to add.

We were also given some wax thread and a needle to stitch our piece if we wanted to.  I think the stitching adds so much!  

If you want uniform stitching, it is so much easier if you use Tim's Design Ruler to punch the holes.  His ruler is designed with small holes that run the entire length of the ruler on one side.  Just lay the project on top of cork or a surface you can pierce.  I used my Tonic Craft Pick to punch the holes evenly where I wanted them.  Then I began on the backside and made my stitches.

 In this area, I used dark brown waxed thread to make a cross stitch pattern.

Here I chose a blue wax thread to make a few box stitches on one side and then a random weave stitch across the top of the dress form rectangle.

I chose to go with an eggshell colored wax thread in the center of my piece to add a bit of interest around the Admit One ticket.

Still more stitching.  This time I used some brick red wax thread to make a few straight stitches above my Grungeblock.

You can add as little or as much stitching as you choose.  Here, I elected to just make three little cross stitches with the dark brown wax thread.  And...if you'll notice over to the far left, "THE DUKE OF DISTRESS" autographed my piece....making it even MORE special to me!  Gee...I wonder if I should have asked him to STITCH it?!  (haha)

My "Patchwork Pandemonium" will have a permanent place on the wall of my studio.  I totally LOVE this piece and will treasure it always.

Now it's YOUR turn to stitch something!!  Then post it to our SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW CHALLENGE.  If you're out lucky random drawing winner, you will win our sponsor's most generous prize of .... (drum roll) ....

If you are chosen by our design team to be one of the TOP 3 projects entered for the week, you will receive special recognition for your amazing work by receiving our TOP 3 Blinkie Award to proudly be displayed on your blog.

So, whip out your needle and thread and add some stitching to your project!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!