Foil Valentine's Tag

Hello stampers! I hope you had a good weekend and got some (or a lot!) of crafty time. 

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 we have a Fun with Foil theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge blog. I hope you will join us! Our January guest, Pauline C has made another gorgeous project with a great technique, don't miss it. 

I made a Valentine's tag this week using products from Simon Says Stamp new To Be Loved release. I used foil around the edges of the tag and for the sentiment and leaf die cuts.

Start with a tag coated with gesso. When the gesso is dry, apply texture paste through one of the four stencils of the Simon Says Stamp Funky Hearts stencil set. The set comes with four stencils.

Let dry and then do the same through the second heart stencil on the set. Repeat to complete the two hearts at the bottom of the tag.

Use one of the two wonky rectangles and apply pink paint through the stencil with a sponge.

When dry, repeat with the second wonky rectangle stencil. I really like these rectangles, with the thin border in between them. 

Paint the hearts white. 

Paint the hearts with the same colors that you used on the background.

When the paint is dry, draw a border around the hearts with a white gel pen. I almost didn't want to cover this background up.

Apply glue with a glue stick around the edges. Wait a short while and then place the foil sheet on top. Rub and remove. I used Therm O Web Gold Deco Foil.

Apply tape to cardstock and then place the foil on top. Die cut with the Simon Says Stamp Groovy Love You More die. Die cut once more from white glitter cardstock. 

Place the foil words into the glitter die cut. Die cut one more time from white cardstock and glue behind the glitter die cut, off-setting slightly. Repeat for Simon Says Stamp Windswept Leaves, but this time with Rose Quartz foil.

Tie with different organza ribbons and twine.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Pixie Dust and was stamped with Pawsitively Saturated Carnation ink.

I also glued Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Gold Gems to the tag.

Join us this week in our Fun with Foil 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.

Watercolor flowers tag tutorial

Hello stampers! It is winter outside, but today I have a flower tag to share. I often paint or use fairly light-coloured backgrounds when watercoloring images, but here I have painted the background in dark shades instead.

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.

Simon Says Stamp has a brand new release called To Be Loved, filled with stamps, embossing folders and dies which are perfect for Valentine's, but also for many other occasions. It coordinates very well with the To Love collection.

The tag was partly inspired by my Frostie Snowman tag, which had a dark watercolored background, but with much more texture than what I used here. I wanted a calmer background for the flowers. I used the new Simon Says Stamp Pixie Dust stamp set for this tag, in combination with watercolor paint.

Start by stamping the large flower from Pixie Dust on a tag die cut from watercolor paper. You can of course also make a card instead.

Color the flowers with watercolor paint, keeping them light. Leave some of the paper white, for highlights.

Paint the leaves. Drop a little blue paint right into the green mix on the paper.

Add darker shades to the flowers and the leaves.

Paint the background with two shades of blue, using the lighter shade more towards the center and the darker shade more towards the edges.

White emboss a sentiment, stars, and a swirl from Simon Says Stamp Pixie Dust on the tag. 

I am having fun using some of my old ribbons, such as the white organza ribbon here. The pink ribbon is dyed May Arts Faux Wrinkled Silk Ribbon. It was dyed with Distress Ink.

I added some details to the flowers with a black pen and a white gel pen. There is Star Dust Stickles in the white embossed stars.

These flowers were a lot of fun to watercolor.

Add thin veins to the leaves with a black pen.

If you accidentally painted where you wanted the paper to stay white, you can use the white gel pen to lighten the area again.

The sentiment also comes from the Simon Says Stamp Pixie Dust set. I also used Pawsitively Dazzling Dusk Gems. 

You can try this technique with many different stamps and colors. 

Thank you for visiting!

Happy Christmas 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.

Wooded Cabin Card Tutorial

Hello crafters! I hope you are well and had a good weekend! We have a lot of snow at the moment, which also inspired my card for today's post.

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 we have an Add Some Texture theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Adding texture is definitely one of my favorite things and there are so many options and fun techniques. I hope you will join us! Our January guest, Pauline C has created another beautiful project this week. 

I made a card where I added texture in different ways: dry embossing, inky resist, a gel pen and some glitter. Simon Says Stamp Wooded Cabin 3-D embossing folder was used for the card, in combination with Distress Ink, colored pencils, Stickles and Micro Glaze. The technique is fun and easy!

Start by dry embossing watercolor paper in the Simon Says Stamp Wooded Cabin folder. Mist the paper with water before embossing.

Color the trees and the cabin with colored pencils. I used Prismacolors. I also added some shading to the path and the snow. I left some of the white showing on the pine trees, as snow. Next, cover the embossed areas with Distress Micro Glaze. I forgot to add the Micro Glaze jar to this photo. Apply it with your finger. This will protect the colored areas, and the white areas from the ink in the following steps. 

Smear Distress Ink to a non-stick craft sheet and mist with water. Press the paper into the ink. Let Dry. 

Repeat the previous step again, also adding some Hickory Smoke. Let dry and repeat again if you want even more texture.

I added a final layer of ink, namely Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide ink. Smear on a non-stick craft sheet, mist with water and just lightly touch the paper to the ink here and there. Don't overdo it. 

Wipe off ink from the Distress Glazed areas. Add snow to the sky with a Sakura Classic White Bold Line Gelly Roll pen. Use the pen to add more snow to the pine trees too.

Add dots of Star Dust Stickles to the sky and cover the snow in front of the cabin with the glitter gel. Don't apply it to the path.

Stamp sentiments on white paper and cut into strips. This is a favorite sentiment of mine and comes from Tim Holtz Nature's Wonder. Here you can also see all the layers of ink in sky.

I glued Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Dusk Gems here and there, for even more sparkle.

The white gel pen work might look a little messy up close, but it looks great from a distance.

My favorite part of this resist technique is that the Distress Micro Glaze will not cover every little bit of paper, but there will be spots without the glaze. In this areas, the ink will stick, adding texture and interest. You can see it clearly on the cabin. 

Distress the edges of the watercolor paper before mounting on cardstock. 'Winter' comes from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery.

I didn't quite capture the glittery effect of the Star Dust Stickles on the photos. 

Join us this week in our Add Some Texture 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.