Vintage Flower ATCs

Hello friends! I hope your weekend was a good one. I was busy organising our new place, and things are now starting to look better, although it will take awhile before I get used to where everything is placed and won't have to look for things. Our frying pan is mysteriously missing and must have been thrown away accidentally. I also can't find a bunch of background stamps and my craft hammer, but I think they will turn up eventually.

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have an Artist Trading Card challenge. ATCs are 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and if you have never tried out this fun size, I hope you will.

Don't miss the gorgeous ATC by our August guest designer Alison Bomber. 

I love working on the small space of an ATC and I should be doing so more often. This week, I made two vintage flower ATCs with soft colors and lots of texture. They are very easy to make, much easier that what it might look like. 

Start by cutting four ATCs (2.5 x 3.5 in) from Heavystock paper. Die cut flower designs from two of the cards, using Tim Holtz's Mixed Media 5 set.

Glue the die cut cards on top of the solid ones with Matte Medium. When dry, give them a coating of gesso.

When the gesso is dry, paint the cards with watered down Distress Paint. Start with Antique Linen, and drop in darker colors. Mist more water on the cards if you want the colors to blend more. The darker paint will collect in the recessed areas.

I had my Prismacolor pencils on my desk, after having worked on another project, and got the idea of coloring the flowers with pencils. It worked really well and gave a soft look. This morning, I finally found the box in which I had placed all my pencil sharpeners.

Stamp the cards randomly with the script stamp from Tim's Entomology set.

Dry brush some dark brown paint around the edges and here and there on the flowers.

I used a black pen to draw a rough border and added some Clippings Stickers as sentiments.

Here's a closer look at the texture. The roses almost looks embossed, but in fact it is the other way around.

Don't forget to write your name and the date you made the card on the back, even if you are not giving it away, it is a good practice and it is fun to look at cards and see when they were made. 

You can also cut sentiments from an old book.

It almost looks like I used gold on the cards, but I did not. However, if you want to add some metallic paint, that would look great too. I wanted to have added foil, but I couldn't find my foil.

I hope you will join us this week in our Artist Trading Card challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Butterfly Tag Tutorial

Hello crafters! A lovely summer rain is falling outside my window and I have finally gotten some kind of order in my new space. The floor is cleared and now I just need to remember where everything is placed.

I have a tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp Store blog today, here's a little peek. The tag was inspired by there being lots of butterflies in the neighborhood lately. I love to see them fluttering by.

It's a butterfly tag, with fun coloring, masking, inking and stamping techniques. I used the pretty Comfort & Prayers set by Simon Says Stamp together with colored pencils and a bunch of other fun media. The techniques can be used on any type of project, and would, for example, also look great for flowers.

You can find all the steps and close-ups on the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog.

I will see you again tomorrow with my SSS Monday Challenge post.

Happy stamping!!

Anna-Karin

Seascape Journal Page

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend! I have continued to organise our new place, and the kids now have more space to play. We also went on walks, looked at insects (always a favorite) and watched a movie. 

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, we have a Midsummer Blues theme. I am looking forward to seeing all the submissions. And don't miss the beautiful double tag by our guest designer Alison Bomber.

I wanted to do an art journal page this week, to keep memories of the sea when the colder times arrive. For the focal point, I used the gorgeous Simon Says Stamp Beachy Waves background stamp, from the Good Vibes release. The page could easily be turned into a card instead, by letting the Beachy Waves cover the entire background. I worked on a cotton-rag watercolor page in my Dina Wakley Media Journal.

Ink up the stamp with Distress Inks. You can also use Distress Markers, but the ink pads are quicker. I used the small ink pads, but the larger ones work too, it is just a little easier with the small ones. Avoid the moon and the lower part of the sky area. Try to follow the wavy patterns of both the sky and the waves. For the sky, start with Broken China at the bottom, then Salty Ocean, and finish with Blueprint Sketch at the top. Use a Q-tip to remove some of the ink around the moon.

For the sea, start with Broken China at the top, and then Salty Ocean. Finish with Blueprint Sketch at the bottom.

Mist the stamp with water, quite a few times and then stamp on the page. I did a test run on watercolor paper first, to check how much water was needed.

Make the moon shiny by misting Pearl Mica Spray on it. For the same effect, you can mix a tiny bit of pearl Perfect Pearls into water and create your own mist. 

The anchors were die cut with the SSS Anchor die, using the test paper I mentioned above. I also die cut 'Today' from the same paper, with the Today Will Be Awesome die.

The stamped sentiment comes from Uplifting Thoughts. I cut off 'happy' and die cut that with the Big Happy die instead. The sentiments were stamped with Archival Ink Forget-me-not.

Some ink will run into the moon, but that just makes the watercolor effect cooler. You can also try the same techniques with other colors, creating a sunrise or a sunset.

Don't miss the Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge, which goes on during the whole month of August, with the theme 'Anything Goes With Sparkle'.

I hope you will join us this week in our Midsummer Blues challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Gerbera Watercolor Cards

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend. We explored some walking trails around our new place, with bonus blueberry picking. Things are still pretty chaotic at home though. Most of the boxes are unpacked, but things are not yet organised. And our frying pan is mysteriously missing. I am starting to think it was accidentally thrown away. 

This is a special week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog since we are celebrating our 9th birthday! That's a whole lot of challenges and inspiration. Since it is also the first Monday of a new month, the team is showcasing products from a specific brand/company, and this week it is Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Products. You can find the whole range of wonderful stamps, dies, stencils, papers, embossing powders, inks and more here. You don't have to use SSS products to join in the challenge, but it is always fun if you do. 

Our theme this week is Happy Birthday, and we have a fantastic guest designer, namely Alison Bomber. If you have never visited Alison's blog Words and Pictures, I hope you will, since you are in for a treat. 

I made three Gerbera Daisy cards, with watercolor backgrounds. The backgrounds were made with the beautiful Gerbera Daisy Background stamp, from the Celebrate You release. One quick background and one that takes a little longer to do. I photographed the cards on a rock formation in our new garden.

Before starting my project I had to spend a chunk of time first looking for my embossing ink, and then for watercolor paper. I can't wait to have everything organised again.

Let start with this card, colored with Scribble Sticks. As you might already know, I love Dina Wakley's Scribble Sticks, and they can be used in so many ways. The colors were inspired by real gerbera flowers.

Start by white embossing the Gerbera Daisy Background on watercolor paper. Always be careful when you heat emboss, so that you don't burn yourself.

Pick up the color from the tip of the Scribble Sticks with a paint brush, and paint the flowers. Use more water for a lighter shade of color, and then drop in a strong shade towards the center of the flowers. I used Scribble Sticks 1 and Scribble Sticks 2.

Don't worry about getting a perfect result, but instead just color loosely. For a totally different look, stamp the flowers with black ink instead. 

The Celebrate Word was die cut from a red piece of glossy cardstock which had been colored with alcohol inks. It gives a nice shiny contrast. I also die cut it from SSS Glimmery White Diamond cardstock to use as a matte. The Tiny Words Birthday set has so many great birthday sentiments. I had a hard to choosing which to use.

For the second background, I made two versions, simply because I had white embossed three backgrounds. It is a super quick background, done with Distress Inks, using the same shades of color, with the exception of the green.

Smear Distress Inks on a non-stick craft sheet, mist with water and press the paper into the ink. Repeat if you want a stronger shade.

This technique also works great with backgrounds that didn't emboss perfectly. The extra, or missing, embossing powder, just adds to the look.

I love the paper hug sentiment. So true.

The second background has a lighter look, and I mounted it only on white cardstock to accentuate that. 

Distress Ink magic.

The sentiment was die cut from White Diamond and Coal Glimmery Cardstock giving it a lovely shine.

I hope you will join us this week in our Happy Birthday challenge. Since this is a special week, we have two $50 gift vouchers to give away to two random participants, for some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.