THE HOUSE THAT WENDY BUILT

This week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show is all about showcasing the wonderful talent and imaginative products of Studio 490's Wendy Vecchi.

And...as an added bonus, THE Wendy Vecchi is gracing us with her presence this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show as our guest artist! She is sharing two exclusive techniques with us this week!  One today and stay tuned for the other one, later this week!

Without further adieu, here is my piece honoring our guest artist, Wendy Vecchi....

Do you ever get a song that sticks in your head?  Well, that was the inspiration for my creation this week; a steampunk house complete with a love triangle. If you have not already guessed the song that kept playing over and over again in my head, it's Carly Rae Jepsen's hit, "Call Me Maybe". 

The house is a combination of many Wendy Vecchi stamps, Art Parts and some pouty Blossom Bucket Mini Lips coupled with some Tim Holtz stamps, texture fades and pieces from his Ideaology line.

  It started off as a 9 1/2" x 5 1/2" plain wooden house that I bought on sale at a local craft store.  I thought is had some great potential.

I began by painting the entire house black and then dry brushing over it with some gray paint.  Then I further distressed it by adding some half pearls (painted black) to make "rivets" on the front door.  I wanted the house to have a bit more of a "metallic" feeling to the wood, so I added another coat of dry brushed gold metallic paint to the areas that I knew would be exposed on the front of the box.  
 (You will see the rivets and dry brushed exterior in future pictures.)

  Next, I took some foil metal sheets and embossed them with Tim Holtz' Subway Texture Fade.  Then I painted the metal black and dabbed off excess paint (with a paper towel) until I achieved the grungy distressed silver metal look I wanted.  Next, I randomly wiped (using my index finger) some gold from a Gold Paint Dabber over the raised areas of the lettering embossed on the metal sheet.  I followed the gold with some teal-ish paint from a Juniper Paint Dabber.  

That gave me the grungy metallic, patina look I was going for.  Then I laid the foil over the roof and the sides of the house and lined up one edge along the edge of the wood.  I folded the other side over the other edge of the roof or the house side to give me a nice clean edge.  Then I cut along the folded line to create the panels for the roof and sides.  Since the metal foil sheets are already adhesive backed, it was a snap to put them in place.

Here is a closer look at the roof and the side of the house.  I really love embossing and grunging Tim's texture fades on metal foil sheets.  They look so cool!

I stamped several of Wendy's wonderful stamps on kraft paper (using Jet Black Archival Ink) and then measured them to fit the interior panels of my box.  I used her polka dot from "All About Art" for the top peak in my house.  On top of the ledge is Wendy's random splatter design from "Ticket To Art".  The lower area of the interior is repeated stamping with Wendy's conglomeration of cool numbers from Art Parts.  I inked all of the edges with a black cats eye ink pad and glued them all into place.

Let's talk about all of the pieces on the interior first. 

  The Steampunk gentlemen are from Tim Holtz' Steampunk stamp set.  They are colorized using various Distress Markers and a Small Sakura Water Brush.  I left a "tab" of cardstock underneath them so that I could fold that back and attach the trio to the ledge using 1/4" Scor Tape.  This also gave them dimension as they are not plastered against the back wall.

The same applies for the coloring of the two hanging fish from Wendy Vecchi's "Art For Men" stamp set.  After I finished coloring and blending the inks, I sprayed the fish with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist to give them that sheen that real fish seem to have when the sun shines on their scales.  The sign "here fishy fishy..." is from Wendy's "Call It Art" stamp set.  I stamped it onto manila cardstock, cut it out and inked the edges with a chestnut roan cats eye ink pad.  They hare hung on hook with Making Memories Vintage Findings Garment Pins then just hung on hooks at the back of the house.

The stacked 1" wooden blocks are colorized using Gathered Twig Distress Ink and edged with a black cats eye ink pad.  All of the images on the blocks are Wendy Vecchi's.  "Art" is from "Art Inspiration" stamp set.  The portion of the face in the center is from "It's Face Art".  The shoe print on the bottom block is from "For The Arts" stamp set.  The Alpha Card laying on the floor is from Tim Holtz and is distressed using the chest nut roan cats eye ink pad.

The interior door features one of Wendy Vecchi's Steampunk Gears Art Parts.  It has been colored using a pouncing method (to create a little more raised texture) with a Silver then Gold Paint Dabber.  I have wired one of Tim Holtz' Time Pieces transformed from antique silver to a shabby gold by applying paint from a Gold Paint Dabber to it with my finger.  I have added a Tim Holtz Sprocket Gear topped with a Mini Gear to the top of the Time Piece.  Then I added some antique gold wire that I curled to make it look like main springs.  I added another Mini Gear and "hands" from Tim Holtz' Mini Labels stamp set.  I ran the wire back through the time piece and secured it to the back.  Then I hot glued it all into place on the Art Parts Gear.  The background behind the time piece is from Wendy's "Art Rules" stamp set and it stamped with Jet Black Archival onto kraft paper.  "Specimen 2b" is from Wendy's "A Form Of Art" stamp set and is stamped on manila cardstock.  It is torn on the edges and distressed with a chestnut roan cats eye.  I added Tim's Ideaology Snap and adhered the strip to the background using 1/4" Scor Tape.

Onto the exterior...

The roof features more of Wendy's Art Part Gears painted with a Silver then Gold Paint Dabber.  One is located under the derby man and the other is located underneath the telephone.  It is hot glued to the tin roof with the support of a wooden spool.  The vintage telephone sitting atop the gear is from Wendy's "Call It Art" stamp set.  I stamped it two times onto manila cardstock so that I could separate the receiver from the base of the phone.  I could also cut out the dial and pop dot it onto the base, to add more dimension to the phone.  I covered the dial with Crackle Accents after slightly distressing it with a chestnut roan cat eye ink pad.  I backed both the base and the receiver of the phone with kraft paper to hide where I attached the phone cord using 1/4" Scor Tape.  The cord is wire that I painted black and then curled to resemble the old time phone cords.  Then I added the vintage light bulb stamp from Stampers Anonymous to the base of the phone.  It is stamped on manila cardstock and distressed with Gathered Twigs. 

The lovestruck man climbing up the roof to grab the phone is from Wendy's "Gentlemen's Art" stamp set.  He is colorized in the same method as the fish and attached to the roof by a kraft paper tab that has been slide underneath the roof via a slit (before placing that section of the roof in place).  I had a tab on his hand and on his foot that are touching the roof.  The manila cardstock hearts are colorized with Fired Brick Distress Marker and attached to a piece of wire using 1/4" Scor Tape.  Then I curled the end of the wire and attached it to the man's back, almost like a paper clip.

The derby man sitting on top of the gear was stamped onto manila cardstock and colorized in the same manner as the fish.  I added a Mini Gear to his derby and a keyhole and key from Tim Holtz' Locket Keys to his left side.  The key is dangling from a chain.  I also added one of Tim Holtz' Light Bulbs to the gear.  The derby man is saying "Here's my number" to the mysterious lady on the front of the door.  His number...."5-4-9" are Tim Holtz' Mini Numerals attached to the roof with black pop dots.  

The brick background behind the mysterious lady on the front of the door was created using Wendy Vecchi's brick stencil.  I rubbed white gesso over the top of the stencil on manila cardstock.  I probably could have done it on black but I didn't think of it at the time.  (smile) While it was wet, I sprinkled Tim Holtz' Distress Rock Candy Glitter onto the bricks.  When they were dry, I rubbed all over them with Fired Brick Distress Ink and created the rich, deep brick color.  The Distress Glitter took on the Fired Brick color and gave the bricks some added texture.  Then I colored all around the bricks with a Black Distress Marker in the areas that would be mortar.  That really made the bricks stand out.  

The mysterious lady was created out of a combination of Wendy's "Art Rules" and "An Eye For Art" stamp sets.  I stamped the eyes and "mask" surrounding them out twice so that I could cut out just the mask and pop it on top for more dimension.  Her eyes and face are colorized with Distress Markers and highlighted lightly with Lagoon Stickles on her eye lids.  I also added the white feathers. 

I outlined the mask in Lagoon Stickles and then added Stardust Stickles to all of the small dots going around the mask then let that dry.  

 

Then I added some Ideaology Foliage pieces to the top of the mask and Kaisercraft Rhinestones to each side of the mask.  Next I colored the phenology head underneath with the same method as of the other colorized items on this piece.  I added the Blossom Bucket Mini Lips  and coated them with Glossy Accents.  Then I placed the mask on top of the phrenology head stamp, creating this very interesting lady.  Her response to the derby man ... "Call Me Maybe." 

The steampunk house with the door shut.

The steampunk house with the door open.

  So there it is ... my steampunk "Call Me Maybe" house that Wendy (and Tim) built.  Stop by Simon Says Stamp and Show's blog and check out the really cool projects that my Design Teammates have waiting for you.  

Now it's your turn to create something fun using at least one of Wendy's products.  Then enter it into our challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  You could be the lucky winner of our weekly random drawing of 

You could also be selected as one of our TOP THREE entries for the week ... a very nice honor.  Stop by the blog and see what all of the Design Team has created for you this week.  There are some really amazing and creatively thought out pieces for your viewing pleasure!

Good luck!  I can't wait to see what you'll come up with!

Here are all of the products available at Simon Says Stamp that I have used in creating this piece:

InLinkz.com