CSI case file #56: Makes me smile

[Edited with the blog list - sorry about the delay, I had to schedule this post before the list of the participating blogs were ready. I also had to edit the info about when and where the winners will be announced, at the end of the post.]

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration turned one this month, and we've been celebrating with fun and festivities all month long. But what's a birthday party without presents? We are rounding out CSI's birthday celebration this week with a huge pile of presents! The talented and very generous CSI design team, aka the CSI Detectives, have prepared special blog posts for you this week, and all you have to do is leave a comment on participating design team members' blogs for a chance to receive a present from them!

We also have the brand-new company Blue Fern Studios joining our blog hop! Our very own Detective Michele Singh is the designer of this company's beautiful chipboard, and we are delighted to have Blue Fern Studios join us to celebrate our birthday on the month they were introduced to the world!

Here are the blogs you'll want to visit:

Adrienne Ford

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Annette Gearside

Ayeeda (Aida Domisiewicz)

Blue Fern Studios

Debbi Tehrani

Debbie Standard

Eila Sandberg

Heather Jacob

Helen Wallace

Jasmine Shea

Jeanette Lee

Lindy Gillespie

Michele Singh

Riikka Kovasin

Sascha Schmidt & Maria Schmidt

Shaunery Wharton

Tina Walker

Yumi Takasaki

Zanka (Zaneta Glowa)

Here's this week's case file:

I wanted to get messy:

This layout is inspired by the Rainy Day Journal Prompts, and I picked the first one: list things that make you smile. I wrote a random list of things that make me smile right now, on tags, which are tucked behind the photo. It was lots of fun and I'll enjoy reading it later. Debbi often lists journal prompts in the case file, don't miss looking at them. From the evidence items I used: clouds, strings, dashed lines. I also used some of my favourite things on the layout.

The heart, clouds and dots were white embossed on watercolour cardstock. The cardstock was misted pretty heavily with water and then with Postbox Red Dylusions spray. The water makes the ink flow in interesting ways, like a watercolour wash. When dry, I added perfect pearls misting and the white dots were misted by putting some Picket Fence Distress Stain in a mini mister. (See this video by Tim Holtz).

When dry, I inked through two stencils with Aged Mahogany and stamped the Dina Wakley Lonely Girl stamp and an alphabet/number stamp. I used a favourite winter photo, taken at the sea, since being outdoors also make me smile. I added a dashed line around the layout, but it got partly cut off when I cropped the photo.

Cycling makes me smile, so I painted a little wood veneer bike black, adding some silver details and made a small road for it from scraps. The inked stencil words all have to do with other things that make me smile (art, color, shape, 'feelings and experiences onto paper').

The wood veneer snowflakes were painted white. Here you see the texture of the Picket Fence misting better.

The birds were painted with Juniper paint. The tags were die cut from smooth white paper.

The CSI Birthday Presents Blog Hop will run from January 25- 29. Winners will be announced in our Full Disclosure (Announcements) Forum the following week. I'll post a reminder on my blog after I draw my winner.

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Dina Wakley Lonely Girl, Scipt Heart, Grunge Circles; Paper Artsy alphabet and number stamp
Dies: Sizzix Tag & Tie
Ink: Archival Ink Jet Black; Distress Ink: Aged Mahogany
Mist: Dylusions Postbox Red
Stain: Distress Stain Picket Fence
Paint: Adirondack Juniper, Snow Cap, Pitch Black, Silver
Perfect Pearls: Perfect Pearl powder (mixed with water in a mini mister)
Embossing powder: Ranger Seafoam White
Stencils: The Crafter's Workshop Mini Art Is, bird
Surfaces: Canson watercolour paper; MME woodgrain paper.
Embellishments: Studio Calico wood veneer snowflakes, camera, birds and bicycle: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Bands and Paper Strings; BasicGrey border stickers; BasicGrey, Prima and EKSuccess word stickers