Forget-me-not card tutorial

Hello crafters! Today I am happy to share a card made with Simon Says Stamp brand new Shine On release.

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.

The Shine On release is filled with a great variety of products, perfect for summer crafting. You can see them all here.

I made a card today, of a summer meadow filled with forget-me-not flowers, greenery and three sparkly pink flowers. It was inspired by forget-me-nots that I photographed on a recent walk. All the flowers and greenery were die cut with a single die, the versatile Dancing Meadows. The background was done with a fun resist technique using the Simon Says Stamp Leafy Greens stencil. Sentiments were stamped with the Chill Vibes set.

Start by die cutting a bunch of flowers and greenery with Simon Says Stamp Dancing Meadows, from watercolor paper.

I colored most of them with Distress Watercolor Pencils (although not the yellow flowers that you see to the right). The small branches were made more textured than the rest.

I added a dot to the center of each forget-me-not.

The small yellow flowers and the larger flowers were misted with a combination of Distress Spray Stain and Distress Spritz.

Mist the greenery a little too, with Distress Spritz for glimmer.

Shape all the flowers with Tim Holtz Shaping Kit.

The background was done by first preparing watercolor paper with several layers of Distress Ink. Let dry in between layers.

Apply embossing ink through Simon Says Stamp Leafy Greens. Sprinkle with clear embossing powder and melt with a heat tool. Always be careful when using a heat tool.

Apply white paint over the paper. When the paint is almost dry, wipe it off from the embossed areas and the leaves will appear. Repeat if you want a more opaque white.

The sentiments were also heat embossed. This Simon Says Stamp Chill Vibes set is so cool. 'Summertime' was first stamped with the outline word and white embossed. Stamp the solid word and off-set slightly. Emboss with clear powder. The clear powder will give the Simon Says Stamp Apricot cardstock a darker shade of pink and thus look like a shadow. 

Mount on white cardstock and then adhere with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape.

The background has a nice chalky look and the leaves have just the right amount of texture.

The shimmery pink flowers were layered with a yellow center and a Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Peachy Gem.

The flowers are much more shimmery in real life than what they appear here.

Most of the meadow consists of forget-me-nots and greenery.

The second sentiment was first white embossed and then embossed with clear power, again off-setting slightly.

Don't aim for perfection when coloring the flowers. 

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.

Mouse Card Tutorial

Hi crafters! Today I have a cute card to share with you, with an acetate cardbase and see-through elements.

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.

The background has a whole lot of small die cut hearts and was placed on folded acetate, so that you can see through the hearts. Cards with clear elements are such fun to make and a surprise to receive. I used a mix of products by Simon Says Stamp, such as the Drawn Hearts and the very cute Fable Mouse. 

White emboss Simon Says Stamp Nature in Bloom on an inky piece of watercolor paper. The paper had been inked with a mix of Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink, by first smearing the inks on a non-stick craft sheet, misting with water and pressing the paper into the ink. 

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Drawn Hearts from the background.

Ink the edges with two shades of brown Distress Ink.

Adhere to a folded piece of Simon Says Stamp Acetate Sheet. 

Die cut the Drawn Hearts again, but this time from Simon Says Stamp Champagne Luxe Glitter Cardstock. Keep the small hearts in the die and glue some of them on the background. It is easier to pick the right heart if you leave them in the die, since the hearts are different from each other.

Die cut a frame using Simon Says Stamp Frames from Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Vellum and from heavystock cardstock. Ink the thin frame with brown Distress Ink.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Fable Mouse from white Neenah cardstock and from Simon Says Stamp Cotton Candy and black cardstock. Ink the white pieces with Distress Ink.

Glue the mouse together and die cut again from black cardstock. Add a dot to the eyes with a white gel pen.

Adhere to the background with foam tape and add a little cheese cloth underneath.

The sentiments were stamped with Hickory Smoke Archival Ink using Simon Says Stamp Be Your Beautiful Self stamp set. Die cut with the coordinating die and then one more time from grey cardstock. The sequins are from Simon Says Stamp Opal Rainbow.

The Luxe Glitter hearts are very pretty and shiny. You might have noticed that I used them on Monday's At the Beach Mixed Media piece too. 

I also added two pieces of ribbon to the card, with mini staples. 

Acetate cards are always a challenge to photograph. Here you can see that the hearts shine through the vellum if the light hits the card in a certain way.

On a white background, the card will get a different look. 

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.

At the Beach Mini Canvas

Hello friends! I hope you had a great weekend! In Sweden we had Midsummer celebrations this weekend. 

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.

We have a At the Beach theme this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog. I hope you will join us and celebrate summer. Don't miss the project by our June guest designer Ann Chuang.

I felt like a mini project this week since it is fun to work on different sizes. This little canvas is only 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the same size as an Artist Trading Card. I made a mixed media beach scene with a simple sentiment. You can also work on watercolor paper.

Start by coating the canvas with gesso. I formed the beach and added some texture to the sky and sea.

Glue cheese cloth to the beach with matte medium. I later added a little more.

Paint the canvas with Distress Paints. 

Apply gesso to watercolor paper and add texture with the palette knife.

When dry, die cut clouds with Simon Says Stamp Heart Showers Embossing Folder and Cutting Die and emboss in the coordinating folder.

Add some paint to the clouds.

When dry, I added Stickles Star Dust to the clouds. The little hearts were die cut with Simon Says Stamp Drawn Hearts, from a Simon Says Stamp Champagne Luxe Glitter sheet.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Be Your Beautiful Self stamp set with Hickory Smoke Archival Ink. There are coordinating dies, but I decided to cut the sentiment into strips instead, so that the background would show through in between the strips.

I glued shells and a small piece of sea glass to the beach and sprinkled with Ranger Mica Flakes and Rock Candy glitter.

I also added more luxe glitter hearts and splattered a little white paint.

The little canvas has quite a lot of dimension. 

The smaller cloud was adhered with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape. 

Join us this week in our At the Beach 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.