Bird with text background

 Hi friends! It is Monday and it is time for a new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. 

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 Add Some Text. Adding text elements is one of my favorite things to do, not only for sentiments and titles, but also for texture, backgrounds and more. Don't miss the stunning project by our July guest designer Rox aka Red Dirt Crafter.

I made a tag with a background made from old book paper, folding the paper to create extra texture and interest. The little bird is a Blue Tit and was colored with watercolors. I also added some die cut flowers and a die cut title. Some of the flowers were die cut from old book book and dictionary paper.

Start with a tag and coat with gesso. Let dry. Fold and tear old book paper and glue to the background with matte medium. 

Fold around the back of the tag and adhere there too. Brush matte medium over the entire tag.

When dry, add some gesso, but don't cover up the text completely. 

Paint with watered-down Distress Paint and then mist with Distress Spritz Antique Linen.

When dry, dry brush a little Scorched Timber here and there.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Sweet Songbird from watercolor paper.

Paint with watercolor paint. I used a photo as reference.

Shape with Tim Holtz Shaping Kit and glue together.

Add a white dot to the eye and white highlights to the bird with a gel pen.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Simple Hello from gold kraft stock and watercolor paper. Paint the watercolor word in an ombre fashion, making it darker at the top. 

Tie the tag with a mix of ribbons, organza and fibers.

The small flowers were die cut with Simon Says Stamp Poised Primula, from watercolor paper painted with yellow paint, old book and dictionary paper and Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Vellum. The sentiments are from Tim Holtz Tiny Text.

I also added a couple of word strips from 49 & Market Faded Memory Lane Ephemera. Here you can also see some of the shine from the Distress Spritz.

I used Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape to adhere the bird to the background and made a nest from cheese cloth. The cheese cloth was dyed with Distress Ink. 

The folds in the paper adds interest to the background. 

Off-set the word a little to create a gold shadow. I added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Opal Gems to the flowers.

In some places, the background looks almost like wood.

I used an old book about gardening in Southern Africa, which I saved from being thrown away years ago.

I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspired you to use some old book paper.

Join us this week in our Add Some Text 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.

Embossed Gel Print

Hello crafters! Today I have an art journal page to share with a fun gel printing and dry embossing technique. 

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.

I made a page in my Small Creative Journal, but you can also turn the design into a card. I had a gel printing session last week, printing mainly with dry embossed papers and today I used some of those printed papers. I particularly had fun dry embossing and then coloring one of the designs. 

This is the paper I started with. It was gel printed on Gelli Arts 5x7 Gel Printing Plate using a paper embossed in Simon Says Stamp Peony Trio embossing folder. The folder comes from the new Shine On release. The smaller flowers were printed with a paper embossed in Simon Says Stamp Star Lattice folder.

I made four different prints using this dry embossed paper, as well as some other embossing folders. 

I planned to color directly on to the print, but then I looked at the embossing folder and thought it would be fun to dry emboss the design first. Line it up in the folder and emboss. This brings the design forward and adds interest.

I colored with flowers with Distress Watercolor Pencils, picking the color up with a paint brush from the tip of the pencils.

Next. I splattered with Antique Linen and Scorched Timber pencils. Dipp the pencil in water and flick a paint brush against it. 

I also splattered the page with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache. 

I added just a little bit of stamping with the alphabet stamp from Tim Holtz School Desk. 

Two of the sentiments were stamped on another gel printed paper with Simon Says Stamp Be Your Beautiful Self and die cut with the coordinating dies.

The third sentiment comes from Tim Holtz Tiny Text. I also added Simon Says Stamp Cottontail sequins. 

The gel printing is to some extent unpredictable, which adds interest to the flowers.

The title was die cut with Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault World Travel from another piece of gel printed paper.

Leave some of the paper showing, for highlights.

Each flower looks different because of the printing.

The top flower was the faintest and the dry embossing helped to bring it out from the background.

I rounded the outer corners and adhered the page into my Small Creative Journal. You can find the tutorial for the page to the right here on the Simon Says Stamp store blog.

You can find a tutorial for another gel printed art journal page 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.

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.

Gel Printed Dragonfly Page

Hello friends! It is Monday again and I hope you had a great weekend. I had fun crafting and walking 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.

This week we have a Play with Paint theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Fun! Any paint will do: acrylic, watercolor, and so on. Don't miss the project by our July guest Rox aka Red Dirt Crafter.

It has been a very long time since I did gel printing so I decided to play with acrylic paint and made a whole lot of gel printed backgrounds. I had fun and created lots of papers for future projects. It is hard to stop! I used three of the printed papers for this art journal page, done in my Dylusions Small Creative Journal.

I used Gelli Arts 5x7 Gel Printing Plate and Ranger's Inkssentials Brayer.

Before printing, I embossed watercolor paper with various Simon Says Stamp Embossing Folders, since that is one of my favorite techniques of adding texture and patterns while gel printing. I forgot to include some of the papers here.

Brayer acrylic paint on the plate, and press the embossed papers into the paint. Repeat with different colors and combine different folders. I used a couple of stencils too namely: Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Circles and Dot Petal Pattern. 

These are just some of the papers, I made a lot more. 

I had a hard time picking which papers to use and ended up with these two and later an additional paper. Embossing folders used here were Simon Says Stamp Stitching Sampler, Swirled Ridges, Butterfly Burst, Bubble Rings and Everlasting Flowers.

I stamped the dragonfly from Stamper's Anonymous Classics #1 on another gel printed paper, where you can for example see the Simon Says Stamp Star Lattice folder in the background. A small dragonfly from Simon Says Stamp Loving Thoughts was also stamped on the paper.

The title was die cut from the paper with the butterflies and the rings, using Sizzix Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Bulletin letters. I also die cut them from Simon Says Stamp Holographic cardstock. As you can see, the wrong die set ended up in this photo: Tim Holtz Sizzix Picture Show, which was used to die cut the film strip.

The background was stamped with sentiments from Stamper's Anonymous Classics #5 and Tim Holtz Simple Sayings, as well as with my favorite alphabet stamp from Tim Holtz School Desk.

I die cut the film strip from Simon Says Stamp Acetate and colored with alcohol ink: Teakwood and Pitch Black. Paper Hugs comes from Simon Says Stamp Love Letter.

One of my favorite sentiments.

The Bulletin Letters are large and with a thin outline, which gives them so many possible uses. You can also use the outline on its own. 

I stamped small words and numbers from Simon Says Stamp Big Botanicals and Tim Holtz Correspondence in the openings of the film strip. The sequins are Simon Says Stamp Cream Puffs.

I added a little Stickles Star Dust to the dragonflies.

Join us this week in our Play with Paint 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.