Spring day

Here’s a little scene done on matte coated cardstock (Ranger’s Specialty Stamping paper).

The stamping was done with Distress Markers, using brown and green shades. Make sure to only let the branches of the trees show through here and there, since leaves will cover a lot of the branches. When dry, it was sponged with dye inks using a Colorbox Stylus tool, as usual starting with the lightest shades and gradually going darker. The birds were stamped with Adirondack Denim and the branches at the front with Archival ink Coffee. I wanted it to be a bright spring day, so I left a large part of the sky mainly white. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.

The cardbase was die-cut from Core’dinations paper (Tattered Rose) and embossed with the Frame folder which fit perfectly together with the Ornamental die. It was sanded and then inked with Frayed Burlap.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Foliage 035A, Flock 112A, Country Chapel 215G, Sizzix Ornamental Movers & Shapers die, Frame embossing folder; Distress Markers: Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss; Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain; Adirondack: Aqua, Stonewashed, Denim, Pesto, Lettuce, Espresso; Archival Ink Coffee; Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper; twine; Core’dinations cardstock; mini stapler.

Scenic tag booklet

Hi everyone! Today I have a scenic stamping project to share. I made it for the Craft a Scene May challenge (flowers). It’s a tag booklet and I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet, perhaps add some photos to the inside pags, or ideas about scenes, or perhaps give it away as a gift to someone. Here it is:

The scene is done on glossy cardstock and I used one of my most used dies, the Tag & Bookplates to die-cut it, as well as the inside pages and the back page. Both to protect the scene from smudges and scratches and to add an additional layer, I placed a tag die-cut from thick acetate on top. I stamped a sentiment on the acetate tag, as well as birds and some flowers using black Stazon ink. Here’s what the scene looks like without the acetate overlay:

For the flower field, I used a Stampscapes Blooms and Bridge stamp with lots of flowers that I hadn’t inked up yet. The stamping was done adding colour directly to the rubber with Distress Markers using brown shades for the pathway and three different shades of green for the grass. The house and trees were stamped using the same brown and green shades. The grass texture in the middle was also stamped with the markers. The scene was coloured with dye inks using a Colorbox Stylus tool and pen nibs, starting with the lightest shades and gradually building up colour. I wanted the flowers to have different colours so made them yellow, pink and purple. Additional flowers were added with gel pens in yellow, pink and purple and I added a white centre to all the flowers with a white gel pen. The same pen was used for highlights. Finally, I added just a little bit of dry-brushed white pigment ink to the sky and the middle area of the grass.

Two more photos:

Thank you so much for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Duck Trio in Flight 023A, Cabin Lg. 141G, Blooms and Bridge 221G, Sedge Filler 251C, sentiment; Darkroom Door flower stamps; Sizzix Tag & Bookplate die; Distress Markers: Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Dusty Concord, Pumice Stone, Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick; Distress Ink: Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint; Adirondack ink: Pesto, Lettuce, Willow, Aqua, Stonewashed, Espresso, Hazelnut; Jenni Bowlin ink: Lavender Sachet, Chewing Gum; Stazon Jet Black; Kromekote glossy cardstock; thick acetate; white paper for the inside pages.

2 years: CSI case file #21

Here’s my layout for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration #21, a little bit late. This week’s case file looks like this:

From the evidence items I used: doilies, lace, flowers. And from the testimony items: journaling spots of different size.

The doilies were die-cut from watercolour paper and misted with Perfect Pearls and water for shine. I glued them to grey patterned paper and white embossed a flower background stamp on top, aiming for imperfect impressions. Gesso was smeared over an area of the background and I did some stamping on top.

The layout is about when I turned two years old, and I thought it was fun to scrap since my son is about the same age now. I journaled on four different tags.

 The flower was die-cut from two other pieces of journaling card. I also used a mix of paper and fabric lace, ome transparent embellishment and repeated the number 2 both on the big clock and on the one flower.

 The clock was die-cut from Peeled Paint Core'dinations cardstock and sanded.

The number 2 was stamped with white ink on the kraft paper to imitate the chalk look.

Thank you for looking!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts Dots and Flowers S5213, Stamper’s Anonymous Wendi Vecchi Well Worn Art stamps, Darkroom Door number stamp; Sizzix Lace Medallion Doily Bigz die, Weathered Clock, Mini Tattered Florals Movers & Shapers, Inside Out Sizzlits, Vintage Lace Sizzlits; BasicGrey patterned paper (Basics); Core’dinations Peeled Paint cardstock; Maya Road, Jenni Bowlin, K&Company and JillyBean journaling spots; Panduro acetate embellishments; Stazon ink; Ranger Seafoam White embossing powder; Perfect Pearls; Colorbox Frost White; watercolour paper.

Card Patterns sketch #167: Happy Birthday card

Happy Saturday! Time for another Card Patterns sketch, remember to check out the site to see the cards of the rest of the Design Team. Here’s the great sketch by Michelle:

And my card:

I wanted to play around with my new Spring Distress Inks. The background was made by sponging the inks on white paper, misting with Perfect Pearls and water and stamping on top when the paper was dry (using Shaded Lilac). The focal image was stamped with Archival Ink Aquamarine and inked with Squeezed Lemon and Shaded Lilac. The panel behind it is a piece of canvas which was coloured with Squeezed Lemon reinker, Perfect Pearls and water and then stamped.

Thank you for visiting! Have a great weekend! My CSI layout for this week is a bit late, I am hoping to post it tomorrow.

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts: Flower Lady CG296, Untitled Postmarks AC001, Cling Dots CG139; Painted People Background CG402 Sizzix: Fancy Labels Framelits, Tattered Banners Sizzlits; Distress Ink: Squeezed Lemon, Shaded Lilac, Peacock Feathers; Archival Ink Aquamarine; canvas; cheese cloth; Kaisercraft rhinestones.

12 tags of 2012 May

Hi everyone! I had lots of fun making Tim’s May tag of 12 tags of 2012. Here is my version:

 I did the background much the same as Tim, stamping on clothing pattern tissue paper – I used Archival Ink Olive and Plum. Instead of stamping the dress form, I decided to use the dress form die, because I enjoy dressing it up in different ways. I painted it cream and embossed the stand with Platinum powder. The body was covered with quite a thick layer of Glossy Accents and I put vintage buttons into it. Then I sprinkled two sizes of pearl mica flakes over the whole thing, which got stuck to all the places where there were no buttons. 

I once found bags and bags of vintage buttons in a shop for almost nothing. They had been cut from old clothing and needed a scrub before they could be used. I love having such a bit supply of buttons at home.

I love UTEE, and loved the look of the faux porcelain flowers Tim made. The flowers were inked with Aged Mahogany, Squeezed Lemonade and Shaded Lilac.

I couldn’t find a wooden spool at home, so instead I made a spool with grungeboard using a spool die. It was painted first cream and then dry-brushed with brown. I also added three wooden buttons to the tag.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Attic Treasures; Sizzix Sewing Room Bigz die; Distress ink: Frayed Burlap, Aged Mahogany, Squeezed Lemonade and Shaded Lilac; Distress Stain Aged Mahogany; Tim Holtz Idea-ology reinforcers, measuring tape and hanger; Ranger Platinum embossing powder; grungeboard; Jenni Bowlin paint dabbers; US ArtQuest mica flakes; sewing pattern; wooden buttons; white paper flowers; UTEE; vintage buttons; cheese cloth.

Card Patterns Sketch 166: Flower Fence

Hi everyone! A second post for today (if you are here for my CSI layout, see the post below). Here’s my card for this week’s Card Patterns sketch. This week we are sponsored by Designed2Delight. Here’s the great sketch by Michelle:

I turned the sketch and used a tag shape instead of an oval, because it fit better with the stamp I was using:

The garden scene was coloured with coloured pencils and I added bling to the blue flowers. The tag was matted to make is stand out better from the background. I also used some quilled pieces (a fringed flower from my tutorial and a little butterfly) that I found in my scraps. The background is three pieces of patterned papers which were toned down a bit by dry-brushing white paint on top. I left the card without a sentiment, so I can just add a sentiment later which will fit the occasion.

The fringed flower uses yellow and pink paper, with a white centre.

Close-up of the quilled butterfly.

Thank you for looking! I hope you can play along with us this week. 

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Designed2Delight Garden Fence; Sizzix Tag & Tie, Scallops On the Edge die, Washer Border; MME patterned paper; Core’dinations Adirondack cardstock; Distress Stain Victorian Velvet; quilling paper; Kaisercraft rhinestones; twine; mini stapler.

Birthday parties: CSI case file #20

Time for another CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration case file. I can’t believe we have done 20 of these all ready. Here’s the fun case file:

From the evidence items I used: kraft background, felt accents, paint splatters and retro. From the testimony items I used: say four things about your subject. 

The layout is about the birthday parties my parents organised for us as children, always at home and with lots of fun activities. I wrote a long piece of journaling about my memories and tucked it behind the layout in the page protector. I also wrote four things about the subject around the edges of the photos: 8-year's birthday party, always fun birthday parties when we grew up, pretty braids, dessert with meringues, ice-cream, bananas and chocolate sauce – instead of cake (I didn’t like whipped cream at all and Swedish birthday cakes usually has a lot of whipped cream).

The inspiration photo made me want to do a layout that is almost just a single layer, so I stamped images on the kraft background cardstock. The tree and balloons were coloured with coloued pencils, with glossy accents applied to the birds. The circles, title block and little girl were stamped with chalk ink. I added some details to the circles with a white pencil. The candles and owls were stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I splattered white paint on the layout and added some felt accents and a die-cut border strip.

This layout is actually part of a double-page layout. I had a bunch of photos from this occasion of lots of people I know longer have contact with. I don't really want to post such photos online, so instead I often end up not scrapping them at all. This time, I put them on the second page instead, which worked pretty well.

Some close-ups:

Love that balloon stamp. Coloured pencils look so great on kraft paper.

Glossy Accents on the birds.

Thank you for visiting!!

Anna-Karin
Supplies: Hero Arts: Wish Big CL567, Message Bracket K5570, Newspaper Owl D5562, Tree Trunk K5483, Three People LP204; Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Psychedelic Grunge; Sizzix Washer Border Sizzlits; Versafine Onyx Black and Vintage sepia; Versamagic Tea Leaves and Spanish Olive; Colorbox Cranberry; American Crafts felt accents; Panduro velvet hearts; Derwent coloured pencils; white acrylic paint.

Happy Birds

Sorry for the quiet blog week! I have had some projects to prepare that I can’t share just yet. Today I have a card with bright colours and some fun stamps and a stencil. It is for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge (anything goes). 

Starting with a piece of watercolour paper, I inked it with yellow (Mustard Seed and a bit of Crushed Olive). Then I used a new Dylusions stencil, and misted over the stencil with a mix of Dusty Concord reinker, Perfect Pearls and water. After that, dots were clear embossed here and there on the background and then I inked it again with Chipped Sapphire. 

The flowers on the die cut panel were white embossed and then the panel was misted heavily with the same mist that I used on the background. The text birds (also Dylusions) were stamped on a scrap of watercolour green/yellow paper and the hats were stamped on white paper, inked and then coated with Crackle Accents. The black bird was stamped with Archival Jet Black and coated with Crackle Accents. 

Two close-ups:

The crackles on the hat.

I almost didn't want to cover the background up.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!

Anna-Karin 

Supplies: Ranger Dylusions Birds on a Wire stamps and alphabet stencil; Stampers Anonymous Wendi Vecchi flower stamp; Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz dot stamp; Sizzix Mini Baroque Movers & Shaper die; Distress Ink: Mustard Seed, Chipped Sapphire; Distress Ink Dusty Concord reinker; Perfect Pearls; Archival Ink Jet Black; Ranger Crackle Accents and Seamfoam White embossing powder; Dymo tape; gauze.

Hero Arts Social Club

Hi everyone! I was very happy to see that my Colourful Resist card was one of the cards showcased in Hero Art's Social Club, with embossing as the common theme.

This was a fun card to make and I really like the bright colours.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!

Anna-Karin

The treasure: CSI case file #19

Sorry for not having posted this yesterday, we had a busy weekend. Here’s this week’s CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration case file, a gorgeous one:

I loved the white background and the rosette flowers so I used that as my main inspiration. Of the evidence items I used: rosettes, book papers, circles, birds, multiple small patterns. From the testimony items: make a little booklet for the journaling (I made a matchbook).  My page is a double-pager:

I made a whole bunch of rosette flowers from different patterned papers. The flower centres were die-cut from text papers to fit with the old newspaper in the photos. I wanted a mainly white, but textured background. 12 pieces of white cardstock were first stamped with a script stamp using yellow ink, here and there. Then they were embossed with different embossing folders, the edges were distressed and inked blue and a bit of blue ink was applied here and there on the embossing. I used a grey cardstock as base and white embossed a stripe stamp at the top.

The newspaper bird was stamped with French Ultramarine Archival ink and the other bird was inked with Distress Markers and stamped on Speciality Stamping Paper.

I really like the texture of the embossed white cardstock.

I coated the centres of the rosettes with Crackle Accents.

The title was white embossed on woodgrain paper, using this new great open alphabet set from The Stamps of Life. I have been looking for such a set for a while.

For the journaling, I made a matchbook using double-sided patterned papers and the new Matchbook die. Loved that the ‘return to sender’ hand ended up at the base of the matchbook. I embellished it with a die cut stamped with a text stamp, the word ‘treasure’ and a definition of the same word cut from an old dictionary.

The journaling is written on five pages inside the matchbook. The layout is about a shoebox I happened to spot in my parent’s garage. Something felt very familiar with it and when I opened it I discovered that it was a box I had packed as a child when we moved. Somehow it had gotten misplaced and been waiting all these years on a shelf in the garage. It was pretty cool to open it, I recognised every single item in it and had carefully wrapped all of them in newspapers (which was also fun to read). Like finding a treasure from the past, more than 20 years later.

Two more close-ups:

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts: Newsprint Bird H5580, Newspaper Background S5601; The Stamps of Life Outline4Letter; Tim Holts Stamper’s Anonymous bird and stripes stamps; Sizzix: Matchbook Set die, Mini Paper Rosettes Sizzlits, Fancy Labels set, Mini Flourish, Clocks & Print Blocks set, Springtime Background, Bubble & Honeycomb set, Harlequin & Stripes set, Woodgrain, Rays & Retro Circles texture fade, Checkerboard texture fade; Making Memories, Scenic Route, 7Gypsies, Kaisercraft, MME patterned papers; Distress ink: Faded Jeans, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass; Ranger Archival Ink: French Ultramarine, Chrome Yellow; Ranger Crackle Accents.

Card Patterns #165: Beauty in Nature

Today it is stash week at Card Patterns and I felt like doing a piece of scenic stamping. Here’s the great sketch by Michelle:

 Lots of possibilities with this sketch.

I am very impressed by how well the Distress Markers stamp on the Specialty Stamping paper, when doing the direct to rubber technique. I wanted to try it with my scenic stamps. It turned out really well, I particularly like the multi-green colour of the trees. The main stamp was inked with three shades of green (Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Pine Needles), shades of brown (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap) and a bit of Pumice Stone for the stones. I huffed on it and then stamped it. The canoe stamp was inked with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain marker.

The Speciality Stamping paper is a matte coated paper and because it is coated images stamped with dye inks don’t smear when you apply more ink on top, just as with glossy cardstock, which is also coated. With ordinary cardstock, the stamped scene would smear a bit when ink was sponged on top. I used a Colorbox Stylus tool to apply the ink, starting with the lighest shade and building up colour. Aqua, Stonewashed, Denim for the sky and water and brown shades for the cabin and canoe. The water pattern was stamped with Stonewashed, the grass with Forest Moss and the birds with Faded Jeans. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.

The two background cardstock pieces are kraft core cardstock, embossed, sanded and inked.

The branch was a left over from another project and is grungeboard that has been embossed with Distress embossing powder. The bird was also in my box of scraps (kraft core coated with Distress Stickles).

Thank you for visiting! I hope you can play along with us this week, remember to check out the cards of the rest of the DT on the Card Patterns blog. You can win a guest designer spot.

I will post my CSI layout tomorrow, I still need to edit the photos and write the text and it is getting a bit late here now.

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Canoe 011B, Ducks in Formation 027A, Reeds 067B, Lakeside Cabin 147F, sentiment; Sizzix: Branch Tree, Tattered Banners, Mini Bird & Birdcage, Rays, and Bubble texture fades; Distress Markers: Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Pine Needles, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Scattered Straw, Pumice Stone; Distress Inks: Forest Moss, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Faded Jeans; Adirondack ink: Aqua, Stonewashed, Denim; Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper; Ranger manila cardstock; Core’dinations Tim Holtz craft core cardstock; Distress Embossing Powder Vintage Photo; Distress Stickles Rock Candy.

Life card

Here’s a card I made with some scraps from yesterday's minialbum. It is for Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge to use a favorite stamp (again the Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz woodgrain stamp).

I had first planned to use this bird on yesterday's album cover, but it looked too big there, so I decided to use it on a card instead. The background is manila cardstock, coloured with Distress Stain (Antique Linen and Pumice Stone) and then stamped with the woodgrain stamp using Pumice Stone ink. The hearts, lace and branches were die cut from kraft core cardstock, sanded and then coated with Distress Stickles Rock Candy. For the cardbase I used another piece of kraft core and embossed and sanded it.

The bird was die cut from grungeboard and painted with paint dabbers (Aqua, Pool, Malted Milk and brown). Then it was coated with Crackle Accents. I added the eye with a permanent pen before coating with the crackle accents.

I stamped the sentiment on a piece of mica and tore around it. I love mica, especially this one, which is a bit darker and has more irregularities than most mica.

Thank you for looking!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz stamps: Wallpaper and Wood, Attic Treasures; Sizzix: Caged Bird Bigz, Vintage Lace Sizzlits, Hearts Set Movers & Shapers, Autumn Gatherings Sizzlits, Honeycomb texture fade; Distress Stain: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone; Distress Ink: Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap; Distress Stickles Rock Candy; Ranger Crackle Accents; Core’dinations Tim Holtz kraft core cardstock; grungeboard; cheesecloth; mini stapler; US ArtQuest mica.

Find Birds Minibook tutorial

Hi everyone! Today I have a little tutorial for a minibook to share. It’s also an example of how you can use many dies for other things than they were intended to. The minibook is for Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge to use a favorite stamp (this awesome new Tim Holtz woodgrain stamp) and for a National Scrapbooking Day challenge to do layering with a negative die cut shape.

I looked at the Caddy Bag Scoreboards die and thought that a part of it would work really well as the base for a minibook. It’s a nice shape and it has a hole where you can tie a ribbon to close the book.

I cut ten 8 by 8 cm pieces of manila cardstock and coloured all of them, back and front, with Distress Stains in three different combos (Pumice Stone and Antique Linen, Weathered Wood and Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Antique linen). I also coloured enough paper for the covers (four pieces). After they were dry, I stamped all the papers with different background stamps using Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood and Scattered Straw. The outside covers were stamped with the woodgrain stamp. I left the papers for the inside covers unstamped for now. Ink all the edges with Frayed Burlap (I did that step after taking the photo).

Glue the woodgrain papers to two pieces matboard (I used multi-medium). Glue the inside to the one matboard only and attach the other inside paper temporarily to the matboard (I’ll explain why in a bit). Die-cut.

Using the base tray, die cut a mini heart from the cover – planning the placement carefully so that it works well with the photo you place behind it. Keep the heart for another project.

For the window I used a piece of mica. The birds were heat embossed on the mica to add another layer.

Sandwich the mica between the inside paper and the cover – that’s why we only adhered the inside paper temporarily to the cover earlier. I used multi-medium to attach both the mica and the paper.

Punch holes in the covers and in all the inside paper, I used my crop-a-dile. The cover was embellished with a negative strip and two metallic embellishments. I rubbed cream paint onto both first . The ribbon was dyed with Weathered Wood Distress Stain.

After rubbing paint on the bird, it was inked with Frayed Burlap and embossed with clear powder. Be careful, it gets hot.

The letters were cut from kraft core cardstock, sanded and then coated with Glossy Accents (I forgot to glue the dot on the ‘i’ in place before taking the photos).

I printed the journaling on strips, it’s about our visit to a bird garden. Quotes were stamped on the insides of both covers and then the covers were stamped with a background stamp.

The inside of the minibook was decorated quite simply, using branches and hearts die cut from kraft core paper and coated with Rock Candy Distress Stickles, Vintage Lace die cuts, and some hearts and birds die cut from mica. I am only posting some of the inside pages, otherwise this post becomes very long.

The last page and the inside back cover (love that sentiment).

Tie a lace ribbon to close the album and use rings to bind it.

Thank you for looking!!

Anna-Karin


Supplies: Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz stamps: Ultimate Grunge, Words for Thought, Mini Ornates, Wallpaper and Wood, Life Adventure, Odds and Ends, Mixed Media, Attic Treasures, Psychedelic Grunge; Sizzix: Caddy Bag Scoreboards die, Alphabetical Sizzlits, Mini Hearts Movers & Shapers; Hearts Set Movers & Shapers, Mini Bird and Birdcage Movers & Shapers; Vintage Lace Sizzlits,  Mini Arrow, matboard; Distress Stain: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood, Scattered Straw; Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood, Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap; Distress Stickles Rock Candy; Ranger manila cardstock and Studio multi-medium; Versafine Onyx Black; Core’dinations Ranger kraft core cardstock; US ArtQuest mica; Hero Arts string; Ranger Seafoam White embossing powder; Tim Holtz metallic embellishments and negative strip; mini stapler.