Card Patterns #159: Happy Easter

Time for another fun Card Patterns sketch. This week we are sponsored by Designed2Delight and I picked a sweet Easter image for my card. Don’t forget to check the Card Patterns blog for the awesome cards of the rest of the DT. I hope you can play along with us this week. Here’s the sketch:

And here’s my card:

I paper pieced the chickens and the butterflies (the yellow paper looks almost like feathers). The butterfly also got a bit of glitter. After die cutting the oval, I inked the top with Tumbled Glass and the bottom with Shabby Shutters. I pleated crepe paper at the back. The felt flowers and swirls were die cut. 'Glad Påsk' means 'Happy Easter', I added it with tiny rub-ons.

Thank you for visiting! Fun news and a tutorial coming tomorrow.

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Designed2Delight Spring Chicks; Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Florals and Mini Flourish dies; Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters; BasicGrey patterned papers, felt; rhinestones; lace; velvet ricrac.

CSI case file 13: The sparkle in your eyes

Hello everyone! Saturday and time for another CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration layout (they are revealed on Fridays, but due to the time difference it is night here then, so I usually post my layout on Saturday morning). Have a look at the CSI site to see the work of the rest of the DT. Debbi made another awesome case file for this week, here it is:

I had to rush my layout a bit, because I had such a busy week. Here it is:

From the evidence items I used: hearts, string, jewels, map print. From the testimony items: journaling around play, place journaling into something so that it partly sticks out. The title translates something in the line of ‘Sparkling eyes’ or ‘The sparkle in your eyes’.

This photo of my son and eye fit the combo pretty well and I used strips of dry embossed kraft core cardstock for the background. They were embossed, sanded and then stitched to a piece of background cardstock. The hearts were stamped using Archival ink French Ultramarine and Chrome Yellow.

I printed quotes about play and sprinkled them around the layout. The photo was matted on a page from a map book (I picked it up very cheap from a second hand book shop for this purpose). The photo was taken by Cheryl van Lingen.

I stamped a postcard for the journaling, but didn’t have time to write the journaling before I took the photos. It is written as a letter to my son about the importance of play and of never to stop playing.

Thank you for stopping by! I will be back later today with my Card Patterns card, and tomorrow, I have some great news, so be sure to check in again then.

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts Four Hearts CG426, Untitled Hearts AC002, Carte Postale CL535; Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous postcard stamp; Sizzix embossing folders: Dot Matrix, Postcard, Burlap, Swirls, Hearts; Ranger Archival Ink French Ultramarine, Chrome Yellow; Authentique word stickers; Core’dinations Tim Holtz kraft core cardstock; twine; BasicGrey and Prima letter stickers; EK Success border punch; jewels; old map book; old postage stamp.

Felt glittery flower

I am sorry the blog has been quiet this week, I’ve been very busy and didn’t get a chance to do almost any stamping. Today I have a card to share with a felt flower. Here it is:

This is how I did the card:

To make the flower, I die cut flowers from the Tattered Florals die, in two shades of pink felt, as well as out of tulle. I layered them with one tulle flower on top of each felt flower.

A button was stitched in the centre and to keep everything together and I added a bit of Star Dust Stickles here and there.

The background is die cut from manila cardstock. I made little pools of Picket Fence, Dusty Concord and Spun Sugar Distress Stain on my craft sheet, misted the cardstock with water and then dipped it into the stains. Loved the chalky marbled effect. I used up the remaining stains with scrap pieces of watercolour paper. The flower background stamp was inked with Dusty Concord, misted with water and Perfect Pearls and then stamped on the background (see the main photo, I forgot to take a photo of this step).

I wanted to add a butterfly and discovered that one of the Mini Butterfly dies fits perfectly for the butterfly stamp in the Stamper’s Anonymous Spring Sprung set. The butterfly was die cut from a scrap of watercolour paper and then stamped with Archival ink Rose Madder, and then again with Deep Purple on the background (to get the antennas). The butterfly was covered with Rock Candy Stickles.

Thank you for visiting! Have a great weekend!

Supplies: Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous Spring Sprung; Hero Arts Dots and Flowers S5213; Sizzix Tim Holtz Ornamental, Tattered Florals and Mini Butterflies dies; Distress Stain: Picket Fence, Dusty Concord, Spun Sugar; Archival ink Rose Madder, Deep Purple; Rock Candy Distress Stickles; Star Dust Stickles; Perfect Pearls; Ranger manila cardstock.

Card Patterns sketch #158

I hope you had a great weekend! Sorry for posting my Card Patterns card a day late. This week we are sponsored by My Favorite Things. Here’s the fun sketch by Michelle:

And here’s my card:

I stamped the sweet girl on the swing on watercolour paper and stamped the one part of the tree twice to make the tree part bigger. It was coloured with watercolours. The sentiment panel was coloured with the same red as the dress and then misted with Perfect Pearls. I really like the tiny patterns stamps on the By the Numbers set and used the woodgrain stamp repeatedly on the mat behind the focal image (inking it first), the tiny music notes on the cardstock base, and the tiny dots on the watercoloured and misted doily.

Thank you for visiting! Don't forget to check the Card Patterns blog for the cards or the rest of the DT. I hope you can play along with us!

Supplies: My Favorite Things: Start the Day with Whee!, By the Numbers, Mini rolled rose; Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap; Perfect Pearls; Daler & Rowney watercolours; Barn Door Distress Stickles; pearls; doily; organza ribbon; watercolour paper.

CSI Case File #12: Follow your dreams

Hello everyone! Today I am sharing my layout for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration Case File 12. Here’s the layouts of the rest of the design team, and this is the beautiful inspiration panel:

I loved the monochromatic colour palette and the inspiration photo made me think if scenic stamping, so I stamped a scene as a base for my layout.

From the evidence items I used: clouds, silhouette-cut a photo, something fluffy, stars, hot-air balloon. From the testimony items I used: document a journey/dream, magic and drift.

The scene is done on glossy cardstock and coloured with dye inks, using a Colorbox Stylus Tool. The star backgrounds were stamped with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink and the clouds were stamped with Distress Ink Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough, Archival Viridian, and Distress Ink Bundled Sage, in that order. I stamped the clouds in a circle going from dark to light. The scene was coloured with basically the same inks, starting from light and going darker. Highlights and more stars were added with a white gel pen. Mist was added by dry brushing white pigment ink on to the scene. I used a quote as my journaling because I thought it worked really well for the message I wanted to convey with my layout. The title was stamped with alphabet stamps. I also added three different bird stamps.

The hot-air balloon was made by cutting a circle from white cardstock, adding strips of double-sided tape and then folding gauze over it, making for a very fluffy and light balloon. I had the perfect photo of my son in a basket, which worked well together with the balloon.

Thank you for looking and have a great weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes stamps: Cloud Cumulus 018E, Cloud Cumulus 019G, Ducks in Formation 027A, Milky Way Lg. 059, Flock 113B, Migrating Birds Lg. 151E, Star Birth 217G, Scenic Sentiment sheet 2; Hero Arts and PSX letter stamps; Adirondack ink: Pitch Black, Juniper; Distress Ink: Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough, Bundled Sage; Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black and Viridian; Colorbox Frost White; gauze; twine.

Watercolour flower card

This card is for the Hero Arts March challenge (flower and colour combo theme).

The flowers were stamped on watercolour paper (which had been die cut) and coloured with Distress Inks, misted with water and Perfect Pearls. The background was stamped with the new Hero Arts Cup’o Joe ink and the sentiment with the new midtone Pool stamping ink. The bigger die is cut from Core’dinations Bundled Sage cardstock, embossed and sanded. I cut the Iron Gate from a watercolour scrap and stamped it with a script stamp.

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies: Hero Arts: Etched Flowers CG430, Untitled Postmark AC001, Flourentine Pattern S5458, Old Letter Writing S4878; Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Ornamental, Styled Labels, On The Edge Iron Gate dies, Collage texture fade; Sizzix Textured Impressions Curlique & Hearts Set; Hero Arts Cup’o Joe and Pool shadow inks; Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Faded Jeans, Bundled Sage; pearls; trim; DMC floss.

Happy Birthday card

This card is for the Play Date Café challenge #123, and for the Hero Arts March challenge (flower theme). Here’s the bright and fun inspiration board:

 Here's my card:

The background is watercolour with Distress Ink (Crushed Olive I think, it was in my box of scraps). The flowers were stamped with chalk ink and clear embossed. The script was stamped with a darker blue ink. The sentiment circle was stamped with Archival Ink Vermillion, love the smooth impression it gave. The butterfly was die cut from a really old piece of watercolour paper in my scraps (probably about 8 years old) and stamped with a text stamp. The On the Edge gate was die cut from acetate and painted a bit with Picket Fence dabber (it was also in my scraps). The background is embossed and sanded Core’dinations cardstock (Chipped Sapphire) and the cheesecloth was dyed with Distress Ink Broken China.

Thank you for looking! Have a great day!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts: Starbursts K5585, Untitled Word Shadow AC005, Newspaper Background S5601, Ticket Frame D1001; Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Mini Butterflies, On The Edge Iron Gate; Sizzix hearts embossing folder; Ranger Archival Ink Vermillion; Distress Ink Crushed Olive, Denim, Broken China; American Crafts fleece heart; twine; mini attacher.

Tutorial: Layered Background and Flying Butterflies

Today I have a tutorial to share, of a stamped, gessoed and misted layered background and of making fluttering butterflies out of clear modeling film and alcohol ink. It is based on my layout for CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration #11, but presented in a smaller cardmaking format. The card is also for this month's Hero Arts challenge (flower theme).

Supplies:
Ledger paper (I used BasicGrey Basics Manila)
Stamper’s Anonymous clear Modeling Film
Stamps (I used: Hero Arts: La Letter K5344, Silhouette Burst H5312, Silhouette Spray G5311, Dandelion G4917, Sketch Circle B4343, Be Happy Every Day C2707, Three Artistic Butterflies LP215, Antique Engravings CL383; Darkroom Door Essentials 1 Collection; Crafty Individuals dandelions; Reprint splatter stamp).
Inks: Ranger Archival Ink: Vermillion, Chrome Yellow, French Ultramarine; Stazon Jet Black
Reinkers: Distress Ink: Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol ink: Sunshine Yellow, Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed, Citrus, Red Pepper and Raisin
Perfect Pearls (Perfect Pearl colour)
Ranger Seafoam White embossing powder
Baker’s Twine
Glossy Accents
Gesso
Green acrylic paint
Tools: heat gun, old plastic card, mini stapler, ink applicator, mini mister

Here we go:



Step 1. White emboss different flowers at the bottom of ledger paper (I forgot to take a photo of this first step). Stamp random letters using Ranger Archival Ink Vermillion, and circles with Chrome Yellow. Restamp some of the letters and circles without reinking (second generation stamping). It is important to use a waterproof ink for this step, so that the ink doesn’t bleed in the following steps. Let dry.

Step 2. Smear gesso over the upper part of the paper using an old plastic card. Aim for a relatively uneven look and let some of the gesso overlap the flowers (but not too much). Don’t cover the stamped letters and circles completely. Let dry.

Step 3. Smear green paint at the bottom of the paper, as grass. Use the plastic card as before. Also, ‘chop’ it down on the paper at different angles to create strands of grass. Let dry. Before it is completely dry, you can carefully wipe off some of the paint from the embossed stems.

Step 4. Put half a dropper of Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood reinkers in a mini-mister, add a few ice-cream scoops of Perfect Pearls. Fill the mister with water almost all the way, shake. You can also use ready-made glimmer mist. Mist the lower part of the paper pretty heavily, and add a little bit of mist on the upper part. The embossed flowers resist the mist. Let dry (you can help it along with a heat gun, but be careful not to burn the embossing powder). Wipe off the mist that sits on top of the embossing.

Step 5. Stamp the circle repeatedly with Archival Ink French Ultramarine, using both first and second generation stamping. Stamp splatters with the Chrome Yellow ink. Stamp the sentiment with Stazon Jet Black. I also stamped a script stamp, using third generation stamping (i.e. stamping it off twice on scrap paper first), with Stazon ink.

Step 6. Stamp the butterflies on clear modeling film with Stazon Jet Black ink. If you make a mistake, you can wipe off the stamping with Alcohol Blending Solution or with surgical spirits (this applies to the next step too).

Step 7. When dry, roughly cut out the butterflies, making it easier to colour them. Turn them around. You need to apply the alcohol inks at the back; otherwise the Stazon ink will smear. Using an ink applicator and felt squares, and ink the butterflies with alcohol inks. I used Sunshine Yellow, Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed, Citrus, Red Pepper and Raisin. Let the first layer dry and then add ink for a more intense colour. Also add a little bit of a second colour to each one. Let dry.

Step 8. Cut out the butterflies. Heat one at a time up on your craft sheet, using a heat gun. Shape them so that it looks like they are flying. Take care not to burn yourself, although the modeling film doesn’t get very hot. If you are not happy with the shape, just reheat and shape again. The film cools down quickly, so sometimes you might have to reheat just the one wing to shape it. I shaped them with the Stazon stamped side up and the alcohol inked one down. When the modeling film is cool, it keeps its shape perfectly.

Step 9. Glue a piece of baker's twine to each butterfly, using a tiny bit of Glossy Accents.

Step 10. Attach the butterflies to the card with a mini stapler. I attached some of them before taping the card to the base cardstock – the ones I knew I wouldn’t be able to reach with the stapler otherwise. The rest were stapled once the card had been taped to the base (to secure it even better). Tie a not with the strings and glue it to the card with Glossy Accents. And the card is finished.

Close-up of the butterflies:

 I also made a vertical card, on this one I only stamped half the sentiment.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! If you have any questions, just let me know.

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Card Patterns sketch #157

Time for another Card Patterns sketch. I hope you can play along with us this week, you might win a spot at guest designer. This week we are sponsored by Sparkle Creations. Here’s the sketch:

I turned the sketch, to make it work better with the stamp I was using. Here’s my card:

I wanted to get a soft look and stamped the Lantern Rin on vellum using Stazon ink. Then I coloured on the back of the vellum with coloured pencils, blending the colours with a white pencil. A frame was dry embossed around the vellum and it was mounted on white ledger paper. I also used a piece of washi tape, which fit well with the theme.

TFL! Have a look at the Card Patterns blog to see the cards of the rest of the DT.

Supplies: Sparkle Creations Lantern Rin; Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge Scallops die; BasicGrey Kiosho paper pad; You-Do washi tape; button; vellum; Dymo tape.

CSI Case File #11 – Dandelions

Happy Saturday! You just have to see the gorgeous inspiration panel for this week’s CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration challenge. Check the site out to see the work of the rest of the DT. This is case file #11:

And here's my layout:

I loved the sweet inspiration photo and the idea of sprinkling letters over the background. Of the evidence items I used: sprinkle letters over your page, butterflies, paint and string. Of the testimony: this is partly a story about my own childhood memories of blowing dandelions, I also sprinkled the journaling across the page.  Close-ups of each page:

These photos of my son blowing dandelions were just perfect for the colour palette. As you can see I was very inspired by the inspiration photo. The background paper is BasicGrey Basics ledger paper (one of my all time favorite collections). First, the dandelions were white embossed. Then I stamped letters (I used the letters from my son’s name and from the word ‘maskros’=dandelion) using Ranger Archival Vermillion ink, which is waterproof (a necessity for the following steps). The circles were stamped with Archival ink Chrome Yellow. Next step was to apply gesso on top of the background using an old plastic card, and then green paint as grass. I ‘hacked’ the page a bit with the plastic card to create grass texture. When this was dry, I misted the bottom of the pages and a bit here and there with a mixture of Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass reinker, mixed with water and Perfect Pearls. When that had dried, more circles were stamped using Archival French Ultramarine ink, and some meaningful text stamps, with both the blue ink and with black ink. Yellow splotches were stamped here and there to add a bit more of the yellow.

I just loved the butterflies with the strings on the inspiration photo. Different butterflies were stamped with Stazon on modeling film, and then coloured on the other side with alcohol inks (Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed, Sunshine Yellow, Citrus, Raisin). I love modeling film, it is so cool. Each butterfly was heated and then molded to look like they are fluttering across the page. I glued a piece of string to each one and attached some with staples and the rest with Glossy Accents.

Some more close-ups:

 

Journaling: ‘When I was little, I used to love to blow dandelions, and we often made a wish too. There were tons of them in the park close to our house. We also used to make necklaces from the ‘stems’ which are hollow and can be threaded together. However, they gave off a brown liquid that had a tendency to stain clothing. There are a lot of dandelions on the grass where we live and I taught you how to blow away the seeds. You think its lots of fun and we do it almost daily at the moment. A little bit of everyday magic.’

Thank you for looking and have a fabulous weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts: Silhouette Burst H5312, Silhouette Spray G5311, Dandelion G4917, Sketch Circle B4343, Be Happy Every Day C2707, Three Artistic Butterflies LP215, Earth Flowers CL428, Antique Engravings CL383; Darkroom Door Essentials 1 Collection; Crafty Individuals dandelions; Reprint splatter stamps; My Favorite Things Where Flowers Bloom, Pearls of Wisdom; Artistic Outpost Playtime; Ranger Archival ink: French Ultramarine, Vermillion, Chrome Yellow; Distress Ink reinker Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass; Perfect Pearls, Stazon Jet Black; Ranger Seafoam White embossing powder; Alcohol inks: Sailboat Blue, Stonewashed, Sunshine Yellow, Citrus, Raisin, Red Pepper; Stamper’s Anonymous clear modeling film; string; MME patterned paper; baker’s twine; Authentique stickers; October Afternoon letter stickers.

Beautiful Earth

I was happy to see that my 12 tags of 2012 March tag was featured on the Stamping Gallery at Two Peas today:

Today, I have another scenic card to share:

The mountain and valley stamp was stamped with Ranger Archival Jet Black on glossy cardstock. The sun and moon were stamped with Adirondack Stonewashed. Then the scene was coloured with dye inks using a Colorbox Stylus tool and Ranger nibs for the narrow places, as usual starting with the lighter shades and gradually building up darker layers, making sure to leave especially some areas of the mountains light. A little bit of white pigment ink was dry brushed as mist and then birds were stamped in the sky.

The sentiment was stamped on a leftover paper which had been coloured with Distress Inks and water.

Thank you for stopping by!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Canyon Lg. 013G, Cloud Cumulus 018E, Flock 112A, Cloud With Sun 107E, Scenic Sentiment sheet 7; Adirondack ink: Willow, Aqua, Stonewashed, Mushroom, Pebble, Espresso, Slate, Oregano, Meadow; Memento Pear Tart; Ranger Archival Jet Black and Olive; Kromekote glossy cardstock; Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive.

Blue moonlight

Today’s card is an night version of the card I posted yesterday. It is for the March Craft a Scene challenge, with the theme of moonlight.

The scene is done on glossy cardstock and coloured with dye inks. I die cut two circles from a masking sheet and placed on in the sky and one if the water. The horizon was masked and I started sponging the sky, aiming for a streaky look. Inks were layered starting with the lightest shade and gradually building up colour, avoiding to cover all of the previous colour. I used a Colorbox Stylus tool to apply the ink, dragging it across the paper. The inks were applied in the following order: Aqua, Speckled Egg, Pool, Broken China, Stream, Denim, Pitch Black. I used the Stylus tool to ‘draw’ the islands at the horizon. Then the mask was removed and the sea was sponged with the same inks. After that I removed the moon masks and dragged some ink across the moons too, because they were too starkly white. Finally, the bird stamp was stamped twice using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.

Thank you for looking!!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Migrating Birds Lg. 151E; Adirondack ink: Aqua, Pool, Stream, Denim, Pitch Black; Jenni Bowlin Speckled Egg ink; Distress Ink: Broken China; Ranger Archival Jet Black ink; Colorox Stylus tool; Inkadinkado masking sheet; Spellbinders circle die; Kromekote glossy cardstock.

Blue sea

Today I have a quick piece of scenic stamping to share. The scene was inspired by a photo on the cover of a book. Here it is:

The scene is done on glossy cardstock and coloured with dye inks. First, the horizon was masked and I started sponging on the sky, aiming for a streaky look. Inks were layered starting with the lightest shade and gradually building up colour, avoiding to cover all of the previous colour. I used a Colorbox Stylus tool to apply the ink, dragging it across the paper. The inks were applied in the following order: Aqua, Speckled Egg, Pool, Broken China, Stream, Denim. I used the Stylus tool to ‘draw’ the islands at the horizon. Then the mask was removed and the sea was sponged with the same inks. Finally, two bird stamps were stamped repeatedly, to fill the sky with birds.

Thank you for looking!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Migrating Birds Lg. 151E, Migrating Birds 152D; Adirondack ink: Aqua, Pool, Stream, Denim; Jenni Bowlin Speckled Egg ink; Distress Ink: Broken China; Ranger Archival Jet Black ink; Colorox Stylus tool; Kromekote glossy cardstock.

Yellow flowers

This card is for the Play Date Café challenge #122 and for the Hero Arts March challenge (flower theme). Here’s the PDCC inspiration board (gorgeous colours!):

 Here's my card:

First, the frame was stamped with Weather Wane ink and then the flower was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and clear embossed. I coloured it with Distress Inks (Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed) misted with water and Perfect Pearls. Old letter writing was stamped using second generation stamping with the Weather Wane ink. The trim was dyed using the same two yellow Distress Inks.

The Core’dinations cardbase was cut with a Sizzix On the Edge die, lining it up so that both sides are equal. Then it was embossed and sanded.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Supplies: Hero Arts: Fleurettes K5597, Simple Frame S5324, Sweet Threads Labels CL510; Sizzix Tim Holtz On The Edge Bracket die; Distress Ink: Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed; Perfect Pearls; Jenni Bowlin Weather Wane ink; Versafine Onyx Black; clear embossing powder; Core’dinations cardstock; Cuttlebug embossing folder; lace trim; watercolour paper.

12 tags of 2012 March

For today, I have my version of Tim Holtz’s March 12 tags of 2012. I was happy to be reminded of the mosaic technique, I loved doing the technique when I had just started stamping, but hadn’t done it for a really long time. I immediately thought about the dress form die, here’s my tag:

The dress form was die cut from grungeboard (first adhering the tape to the grungeboard) and the paper tiles were cut from pink patterned papers, as well as a few grey tiles for the base of the stand. The foot and top of the dress form were embossed with platinum powder and the main shape with white powder (as grout). The background was stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia and misted quite heavily with Perfect Pearls and water. The sentiment was white embossed on vellum and both pieces of lace trim were dyed with Distress Inks (Victorian Velvet and Antique Linen). The vintage lace was die cut from Core’dinations kraft core paper.

Two close-ups:

Love the look of the glossy accents on the tiles.

I added a litte clothing hanger to which I attached a ‘made with love’ charm with a jump ring.

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Supplies: Hero Arts Painted People Background CG402; Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous Mini Muse; Sizzix Tim Holtz Sewing Room, Tag & Bookplates, and Vintage Lace dies; Tim Holtz patterned paper; Ranger Seafoam White and Platinum embossing powders; Perfect Pearls; Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Victorian Velvet; Versafine Vintage Sepia; Core’dinations kraft core cardstock; Tim Holtz clothing hanger; metallic charm; lace trim; twine; pearls; Glossy Accents; grungeboard.