SIMON SAYS SHOW A HOUSE

Happy Monday Everybody!!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Did you see the BIG NEWS over at SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW?   We are so excited to now have 1,000 FOLLOWERS!!!  Yippee and Ya-Hoowee!!   Thank you to everyone who is a follower...and if you're not one, why not sign up?  We'd love to have you on join us!  While you're signing up...check out the Design Team's creations for you this week!!!  They will knock your socks off!  This week's challenge theme....."A HOUSE".

I decided to make that plural and make a vintage shabby chic row houses triptych. 
(Isn't THAT a fancy word for a three paneled something or other?)

Because of the length of the triptych, it is hard to get a really good picture showing all of the detail.  You can click on the picture to get a larger image.

I began with three plain chipboard houses.  Each house measures 5 1/2" x 4".  Each of the houses features a different dimensional window.  The chipboard windows are from an Australian company, ScrapFX.  Aren't they awesome?  In each window is a beautiful little vintage girl from a collage sheet I purchased from Dezinaworld.  Love them!! 

The first house was sprayed with some Snow Cap Diorama Paint I found on a clearance aisle at a local craft store.  The fact that it looked like stucco fascinated me, so I bought it.  I sprayed it right onto the chipboard and let it dry.  I love the texture it gave!  Then I distressed my "stucco" house with Scattered Straw followed by Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.  Next I heat embossed a Tim Holtz flourish from his French Market set using Ranger's Antiquities Verdigris.  I love the variation in color and texture you get with this embossing powder.  I then distressed around the edges of the house with my new favorite Tim Holtz brown, Gathered Twigs.  

Next I added the dimensional window.  There are two pieces to this window.  I pounced Silver and Gold Paint Dabbers onto the chipboard window to create a weathered metallic look.  The under piece has what I thought could be a "curtain".  So, I first painted that area with a cream base and then went over it with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.  Then I masked it off and heat embossed a script design from Tim Holtz' Mini Ornates stamp set using Ranger's Queens Gold Embossing Powder.  I used a piece of scrap paper as my background for the window and placed the beautiful little vintage girl, longingly looking out the window.  A silver Ideaology Corner that has been lightly touched with some paint from a Juniper Paint Dabber (for a more patina look) is at the top of the window.  

Isn't she a lovely little girl, looking out of the window?

Next I added a Grungeboard fence using Tim Holtz' Iron Gate On The Edge Die Cut across the bottom of this house.  It was also pounced using a Silver and Gold Paint Dabber and patina-ed with a Juniper Paint Dabber.  

Finally, I made a little hanging basket out of silver wire and added some delicate vines and flowers using Flower Soft's Sweet Pea for the flowers and a mixture of Shamrock and Christmas Green for the greenery.  The basket is hung in place on the chimney of the house using an Ideaology Sprocket, a Charm Clip and a "bling" brad.

The second of the row houses features a large window with moveable shutters.  I love the detail on this window frame!!  (More about that in a minute.)  The base of this house is white watercolor paper that was colored with a mixture of Picket Fence Distress Stain and Claudine Hellmuth's Painterly Pink Studio Paint.  I distressed the edges of the house with Gathered Twigs.  Then I lightly spritzed the front with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  Although it is mostly covered up, I stamped the house with the script text from Tim Holtz' Papillon stamp set using Sepia Archival Ink.  

A close up look at the Copper Paint added to the frame.

Next I added the dimensional window that was first inked with Gathered Twig.  Then I lightly brushed some Copper from a Paint Dabber onto the brown, using my finger.  I love the results of doing that.  The flower bough at the top of the window was also made with the Flower Soft products used on the first house.  However, making the bough was more detailed than making the hanging basket.  

First I fashioned the bough out of white wire.  Then I used Glossy Accents to glue the green Flower Soft particles onto the wire, making my leafy base.  I wanted the flowers to look more like bunches of lilac type hanging flowers, so instead of just adding some glue and sprinkling the flower particles on the greenery, I made individual bunches of flowers by gluing them onto white wires and then hot gluing them into the green bough.

The detail in the shutters of the window was done by heat embossing a design using Gold Embossing Powder on typing paper, then cut to fit the shutter and glued into place.  The shutters are held in place using medical tape that is colored with Gathered Twig Distress Ink.  The medical tape allows the shutters to open and close.  I love interactive, dimensional things!

Again, a lovely vintage girl is wistfully looking out of the window; up towards the Ideaology bird from Tim Holtz' Adornments that is making a nest in her chimney.  A copper Corner with some Juniper accents adorns the peak of this house.

The third and final row house is completely covered in various Tim Holtz Tissue Tapes that have been colored using Broken China and a touch of Scattered Straw Distress Inks.  The edges of this house are also inked with Gathered Twigs.  I used the larger of the Tim Holtz' Fabulous Flourishes to heat emboss the background of this house using Queen's Gold Embossing Powder.  There is also some gold heat embossed accents along some of the edges.  This house features an arched picture window that is colored using a Butterscotch Paint Dabber followed by heat embossing some Queens Gold Embossing Powder scattered on top.  Then I lightly added some Juniper paint.  

The window box is made from Grungeboard.  It is colored using the mixture of Painterly Pink and Picket Fence Distress Stain.  It is die cut using Tim Holtz' Plaque and Postage die for the top and bottom detail.  The hanging vines and flowers in the window box were made from the same Flower Soft products as the previous two houses.  

Since this window is not a dimensional window, I did the best I could to make it appear to be one.  I made a "curtain" out of a distressed piece of pink crepe paper and placed it behind the sweet vintage girl who is sitting at the window.  Then I pop dotted the window on top of the house and pop dotted the window box out even further to wrap around the window.  The peak of this house also has an antique gold Ideaology Corner that is lightly touched with Juniper paint.  There is also a little lion head door knocker to the right of the window that is holding a small metal key.  

The intricate ScrapFX Chipboard Gates have also been pounced with a silver and gold Paint Dabber and lightly touched with a Juniper Paint Dabber for that aged, worn and weathered shabby chic look.  The two gate handles (purchased at a local craft store) are an antique gold finish and also touched with Juniper paint for a patina look.       

            

The back of all the houses are covered in a scrap piece of Glitz Design paper that I had.  The "hinges" are actually one of Tim Holtz' Movers and Shapers Mini Labels that have been colored with the silver, gold and Juniper Paint Dabbers.

Houses....such fun!  Now it's YOUR turn to create something to do with houses and post it to SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW CHALLENGE.  You could win a

How cool is THAT?!?!  And ... you could be selected as one of our TOP THREE entries and receive our coveted BLINKIE for your blog!  Good luck!  I can't wait to see what you create!