Beautiful May Art Journal

Hello crafters! Today I have an art journal page to share, made about the beautiful month of May. 

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

May is perhaps the most beautiful month here, everything turns bright spring green and it goes so fast. Flowers appear all over, but it is the green that is the most amazing thing. I never get tired of butterflies and you can make them in any color imaginable. It is also easy to make them dimensional. You can of course make a card instead of an art journal page, if you want too. 

Watercolor paper was first coated with gesso. When dry, I applied texture paste through Simon Says Stamp Petal Lattice stencil. At this stage, I was still planning to make a card and to cut down this panel, but I liked it so much with the open area that I decided to use the whole paper instead.

Paint with Distress Paint and mist with water to blend.

Mist with Antique Linen Distress Spritz here and there for shimmer.

When dry, apply Stickles Moon Dust in a some areas.

Next, I die cut Simon Says Stamp Flourish Butterfly Trio from left-over watercolor paper and from Simon Says Stamp Silver Shimmer Vellum. Most of the watercolor pieces were papers where I had tested different shades and how they blended. The bodies were die cut from Simon Says Stamp glitter cardstock.

If you want to, you can add Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam tape under the wings. I didn't, since this is an art journal page

I die cut the title with Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Bulletin. I die cut it from Tim Holtz Neutral Palette Paper and from Simon Says Stamp White Glitter cardstock.

The butterflies will all look different, since they are die cut from leftover papers.

The background was covered with gesso and then paint with brown shades of Distress Paint. Mist with water to blend. I stamped it with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter.

The dot stamp comes from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful and Curious and was stamped with Blueprint Sketch Archival Ink.

I had fun using pastell colors. I also added a trail behind each butterfly with Simon Says Stamp Opal Rainbow embellishments.

I like that there are three different sizes of butterflies in the Simon Says Stamp Flourish Butterfly Trio. Here I used all of them, but for some projects you might want just small butterflies.

The first part of the sentiment was stamped with a stamp from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful and Curious. I cut off the rest of the sentiment since I only wanted the word 'beautiful'.

I added Clippings Stickers here and there.

The Stickles adds a nice glittery touch to the background.

Here you can see the effect of the Antique Linen Distress Spritz better.

The gesso and paint background on today's page had been done a long time ago. I often use up leftover paint in my art journals. It was next to this You Shine page, which you can find a tutorial for here.

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.

Hyacinth Flower in Pencil

Hello crafters! Today I have a hyacinth flower to share, stamped on patterned paper and then colored with pencils.

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

Stamping on patterned paper and then using pencils to color the image is one of my favorite techniques. The pencils will cover most of the pattern, but some of it will show through. I particularly enjoy combining this technique with ledger papers. I made an art journal page, but this could just as well be a card instead. 

The page was added to my Stamperia Happiness Mixed Media journal, 4x8.5 in.

Stamp the hyacinth from Simon Says Stamp Big Botanicals on Tim Holtz Red Palette Paper.

Color with pencils, starting with the lighter shades. I used Prismacolor pencils.

Add highlights with a white gel pen.

Use a black pencil to draw a small hill, some grass and shading. Color with pencils.

I cut the sentiments from Tim Holtz Palette Paper. Ink the edges.

Die cut butterflies from Pink Palette Paper using Simon Says Stamp Bright Butterflies. The edges were sanded lightly and inked.

I stamped words and numbers from Simon Says Stamp Big Botanicals on the background.

Add Stickles Star Dust to the flower centers. 

I used different shades of blue and a purple for the flowers.

This sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Vintage Bunnies and was stamped on ledger paper. I used the same sentiment yesterday for my Patterned Peony Flower tag.

Adding a grassy hill grounds the flower to the page. Here you can also see how the background paper shines through the pencil coloring.

Little Things was also cut from Palette Paper.

The ticket comes from one of the collage papers from the 8x8 Palette Papers. Stamp a word on the ticket and ink the edges.

Thank for stopping by here 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.

Patterned Peony Tag

Hello friends! It is Monday again and I hope your weekend was good. It is time for a new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

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

This week our theme is 'Tag It'. I love to make tags, as I am sure you know. There is something about the size and tall shape that makes them extra fun to work with. 

Don't miss the project by our May guest designer Estelle Palumbo. 

I made a tag with a mixed media background and dimensional paper flower die cut from patterned paper. The background was made with a stencil, texture paste, gesso and watercolor paint. I also had fun using some very old charms. I also added a small tag, cut from one of the patterned papers.

Start by applying texture paste through Tim Holtz Deco Floral stencil. When dry, cover with a layer of gesso.

When the gesso is dry, paint with watercolor paint. Let the paints blend on the background.

It is difficult to see here, but when the paint was dry, I wiped some of it off with a moist cloth to reveal a bit more of the white background.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Divine Peony from Tim Holtz Yellow and Orange Palette Papers 8x8 in. 

Shape the petals with Tim Holtz Shaping Kit (I forgot to take a photo of this step) and ink the edges with a little bit of brown ink. Assemble the flowers and glue a Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Peachy gem to each center. The sentiment was die cut with Tim Holtz Handwritten Journey from leftover watercolored paper and black cardstock.

I went through an old box yesterday and found a bunch of beads and charms which I decided to use on the tag. I attached them with jump rings to the ribbons.

The small tag was cut from one of the collage papers from Tim Holtz Orange Palette papers 8x8 in. I stamped a pretty sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Vintage Bunnies.

This strip was also cut from the collage paper.

Here you can better see what it looks like when some of the paint has been rubbed off, so that the texture is more visible.

My favorite part of the background is those spots of bright blue.

As always, the techniques would work just as well for cardmaking. 

The tag has quite a lot of dimension. I used Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape for two of the three flowers.

Join us this week in our Tag It challenge! You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

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

Thank you so much for visiting 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.