A RED LETTER DAY

Happy Monday everybody!  I hope this first week of the New Year has been good to you!

This week, SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW'S challenge theme is "A RED LETTER DAY".  A red letter day is a date that is important either to you personally or globally.  It is a day that made a significant difference in the course of your life or in the course of history.  I chose a red letter day that impacted the world.  September 2nd, 1945 better known as "VJ Day" is the day that Japan formally signed surrender documents, ending World War II.  My challenge piece depicts that time.

I started with a 6x6 piece of chipboard.  The background is a 6x6 piece of Metal Foil Tape Sheet.  It is adhesive backed already, which makes it even that much easier to use!  I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS STUFF!!  It is so versatile.  I used Claudine Hellmuth's transfer to metal technique to transfer vintage picture of the celebrating soldiers onto the Metal Foil Tape Sheet.  Then I lightly distressed it with Gathered Twig Distress Ink.  Love the rich, vintage feel that the Gathered Twig adds.  I sliced the background behind part of the soldiers so that I could later insert that famous picture of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square at the announcement that the war had ended.  I had all of my elements made and ready to lay down BEFORE I adhered the Metal Foil Sheet to the chipboard.  That way, as I was laying the adhesive metal piece down, I could insert my picture underneath part of the soldiers.  I liked that look.

Here are all of my elements and how I made them:

I found the vintage pictures on the Internet and sized them to fit my project.  I printed them out, used a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink to age the pictures and then a little Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges to age them even more.

The bunting at the top is cut from blue and light tan cardstock with a vintage red cardstock center.  I used Tim Holtz' medium size rosette from his Mini Paper Rosettes Strip.  I laid the tan strip on top of the blue strip and taped them together before folding them.  Then I made the rosettes the way you normally make them and glued them together using hot glue.  When dry, I distressed the edges of the rosettes with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and cut the rosettes in half.  I used the halves to make the bunting.  The middle rosette is pop dotted high enough to clear the two side rosettes and then hot glued in place to overlap.  I left the bunting in this state until all of the other elements had been added.  The last thing I did was to finish out the bunting with the more elaborate cardstock and ribbon finishing touches.  I'll go into more detail about that later ....

See the little film reel above the newpaper?  That is two of the larger gears in Tim Holtz' Mini Gears set cut out of Grungeboard with the little gear ends cut off.  Then I heat embossed them with Silver Embossing Powder.  Then I rubbed over them with Black Soot Distress Ink to make it look more vintage.  The center piece that holds the Film Strip Ribbon is a little piece of dowel rod that I cut and distressed with Black Soot then hot glued to the centers of the Mini Gears.  I hot glued the Film Strip Ribbon to the dowel rod and rolled the "film reel" to completely cover it in the Film Strip Ribbon.  The I hot glued the film reel in place and carried the other end of the ribbon behind the pocket watch.  But before I did the pocket watch, I used a piece of 1/4" Wonder Double Sided Tape to adhere the bottom of the newspaper in front of the film reel and added just a dot of hot glue on the back of the newspaper where it is touching the reel (to hold it in place).

Tim Holtz' Pocket Watch features "1945" from his Newsprint Alpha Parts.  I used Glossy Accents on top of the numbers to give them even more dimension.  While they were drying, I chose a little map of the Pacific Rim from Tim Holtz' Crowded Attic Paper Stash.  Tim is such a smart guy!  One of the pages in his paper stash is sized in 2 inch squares.  These are PERFECT for using on the interior of his Pocket Watch!  Then I added a little waving American Flag image I found on the Internet.  When "1945" was dry, I glued it on top of the map and flag using Glossy Accents.  I added a few red and blue little confetti stars, sealed up the Pocket Watch and hot glued it into place.

The little "September 2nd" banner across the bottom is the medium size banner from Tim Holtz' Tattered Banners.  It is cut out of manila cardstock and distressed with Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Inks. 

Going up the left side is more of the Film Strip Ribbon that is attached to the chipboard base with Tim Holtz' Tiny Attacher.  I have to admit, I didn't think of adding that until everything else was already glued on.  So, the tiny attacher was perfect for adding the filmstrip without showing hot glue.  The little gadget has really come in handy for me!

The Mini Gadget Heart attached to the famous picture was cut from Grungeboard and painted with Fired Brick Distress Crackle Paint.  Once dry, I stamped "V J Day" in the center and embossed the heart with Clear Embossing Powder and hot glued it in place.  



Finally, I finished out the elaborate bunting by adding a piece of the vintage red cardstock (edges distressed with Faded Jeans Distress Ink) along the top edge of the 6x6 chipboard and to hide the rough edges of the cut in half rosettes. I took some white Hug Snug Seam Binding and sprayed it with my own concoctions of Fired Brick Reinker/Perfect Pearl/Water in a Mini Mister and Faded Jeans Reinker/Blue Patina Perfect Pearls/Water in a Mini Mister.  I loved the vintage red and blue ribbon those sprays created.  Next, I added a piece of Wonder Tape to the top of the cardstock and loosely ruffled the ribbon onto the top of the cardstock.  The edges were gently swept to the back of the chipboard and hot glued.  Finally, I tied double knots in the left over ribbon and cut the loose ends to resemble little bows.  I hot glued them in place between the rosettes and the elaborate bunting was complete.

Why don't you join us at Simon Says Stamp and Show's Challenge?  It's so simple!  Just create a Red Letter Day piece and include it on our blog.  You could be the winner of our random drawing for a .....

Your entry could also be voted on by our Design Team as one of the Top 3 entries.  This is quite an honor and you will receive our TOP THREE BLINKIE to proudly display on your blog! 


Speaking of the Design Team...check out their Red Letter Day pieces on the blog this week!!  I am so proud to be a part of this team!  Their work is always so good and this week is no different!  Check out the wonderful artistic pieces that are there just for you!


Thanks for stopping by and remember to take time out to PLAY!!  It's SOUL FOOD!!