Monday, September 30, 2013

Be Happy Layout

First, a big thank you to everyone who joined us in the STAMPtember® blog hop last week and who commented on my post. I had fun reading all the comments. Today it is Monday again and a new challenge is up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog - say it with stamps, use your sentiment, word or alphabet stamps.
 
I love sentiment stamps, especially small ones, which are so versatile and can be used on different types of projects over and over again. This week I was in the mood for a happy layout, and used many Simon Says Stamp Exclusive stamps and dies. The little Be Sentiments stamp set is awesome and so versatile. I used all the words included in the set, great words for scrapbooking, card making and art journaling. I also added some words from the Happy set.
 
The base of the layout is watercolour paper and I made a stencil from the fabulous Full Card Bubbles die. Embossing paste was smeared through the stencil with a palette knife, all around the layout. When the paste was dry, I painted with watercolours here and there.
 
My gelli plate is 6 x 6 and when I have used it, I normally print on 6 x 6 papers, which always leaves me with a leftover strip, from the letter size papers I was using. I used these strips to pull off remaining paint on the plate, leaving me with a lot of really fun strips. Most of the strips seen here come from a tutorial I did on using dies and embossing folders when gel printing. I die cut the top of each strip with the Falling Stars and Falling Hearts dies, which I love.

I stamped all the words on white cardstock and cut them out. I also stamped many hearts, from the Lots of Hearts set, using various Archival Inks. A circle was stitched around the photo, and the hearts and words were sprinkled around it. Here you can also see the All Seasons Tree.

I repeated 'be' and 'happy' here and there. Because the paper strips are only stitched to the page in the middle, there is some space between them and the background, giving a great dimensional look to the page.

I have a thing for trees, which you might know, and really like the Tall and Small Forest trees. I used them on one of my art journaling pages last week too. Here I just die cut them from white cardstock. All the tiny hearts come from the Mini Hearts set. Simon Says Stamp word dies are fabulous and so detailed, here I used 'love and life' as well as 'happy'.

I let the sentiment stamps be my journaling on this layout because I thought they brought out my message real well.

Join us in our fun challenge this week and it can be you who wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp, randomly drawn, or is picked to be featured in our weekly spotlight post.

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Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Neenah Smooth Solar White Cardstock; watercolour cardstock
Dies: Simon Says Stamp: Tall Forest Tree, Small Forest Tree, Mini Hearts Set, Life, Family, Love, Happy, Full Card Bubbles, Falling Stars, Falling Hearts, All Seasons Tree, Sizzix: Star & Circle, Sized Circles
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp: Be Sentiments, Happy Sentiments, Lots of Hearts,
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black, Fern Green, Cornflower Blue, French Ultramarine, Venetian Orange, Monarch Orange, Chrome Yellow
Paint: Distress Paint: Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Salty Ocean, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed; watercolour paint
Medium: Wendy Vecchi Stampers Anonymous White Embossing Paste
Tools: Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate 6 x 6; Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper, Sizzix Big Shot

Saturday, September 28, 2013

CSI case file 91 - Milk-o-mania

Hello and welcome! First, just a reminder that CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration is having a DT call. I hope you will consider applying, it is such a fun challenge. You can read all about it here.
 
This week's case file: 
 
 
And my layout:
 
From the evidence items I used: leaves, wed medium, stripes, and metal, and from the testimony items I used speech bubbles and journaled about something that is enjoyed every day (milk). The background was misted, first with water and then with yellow Dylusions mist. Behind the photo there is a paper white embossed with a new wood planks folder from Tim Holtz. I thought it looked sort of like the door of an old barn.
 
I wanted to use a new stencil by Ronda Palazzari, with these great leaves (and many more). I used Distress Paint and a stencil brush. I wanted more of a milky feeling on the layout and white embossed three different splatter and splatter ring stamps all over.  

The background was splattered with White Linen Dylusions mist and I stamped some more too.

This piece behind the photo is a leftover gelli print paper, where I think I pressed bubble wrap into the paint on the plate before printing. It comes from my Dotty Gelli Print ATC Book. The stamps are Hero Arts Stamp Your Story stamps.

The milk can was stamped on foil tape and cut out. The journaling is on the tag behind the photo, die cut from another piece of gelli print paper. It is all about my son's love for milk

Thank you for looking! Have a lovely weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Daler & Rowney watercolour paper; white cardstock; Ranger Foil Tape
Dies: Sizzix: Arrows, Banners, Chevrons & Clouds
Embossing folder: Sizzix: Ink Splots & Wood Planks
Stamps: Hero Arts: My Favorite AC030, Time AC029, My Notebook AC127, Paint Spots E5783, Texture and Shape LP283; Stämpelboden Milk Can
Ink: Archival In: Jet Black, Cornflower Blue
Paint: Distress Paint: Broken China, Peeled Paint, Barn Door
Mist: Dylusions Mist: Pure Sunshine, White Linen
Embossing powder: Ranger Seafoam White
Stencils: The Crafter's Workshop Ronda Palazzari: Abstract Leaves, Mini Dots & Dashes
Tools: Gelli Arts gel printing plate

Friday, September 27, 2013

New York Pop-Up

Hello everyone! First, some fun news that I hadn't shared yet, I am on the DT for the fabulous magazine the Craft Stamper. My first project will be in the December issue (available for sale 1 November). I am looking forward to seeing it in print! You can read more about it here. The Craft Stamper is a fantastic magazine, full of stamping techniques and inspiration.
 
Today I am sharing a pop-up card made with the new Darkroom Door Eclectic Lamp Post stamp. I have always liked old lamp posts and this one is gorgeous. Use it to build a little scene or, for example, for Christmas cards. I decided to make a travel pop-up card. 

New York Pop-Up Card - Layers of ink
This is the inside of the card, stamped with various Darkroom Door stamps. I love the images on the New York Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 sets and thought they fit well together with the lamp post - as does many of the stamps from the other city stamp sets and paper products. I used the new Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks on this card, I love the colours of these new inks. For the pop-up, I used Karen Burniston's 3-D Suitcase, which I have been reaching for a lot lately.

The lamp post takes centre stage on the suitcase pop-up. It was stamped with Jet Black ink and Wild Honey Distress Ink was used to make it shine. The suitcase was die cut a second time with the coordinating Suitcase die, from kraft-core cardstock. It was sanded and stamped with a script stamp from New York Vol. 2. The little ticket was stamped with a sentiment stamp from Nomad.
 
The bridge was stamped with Watering Can, which is a great alternative to using black ink. Various other stamps from the two New York sets were stamped on top. The background was inked with Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs.
 
The front part of the pop-up was stamped with a sentiment stamp from Nomad, again using the grey ink. The Brick Wall was stamped with Cornflower Blue, to make it look like the sentiment was graffiti on a wall. More stamping was done on top and I also added an arrow, a little tag and a bark butterfly.

New York Pop-Up Card - Layers of ink
This is the front of the card, with a door stamp from New York Vol. 2, stamped with the grey ink. I really like the look of the green script on top of the grey ink. The lamp post is repeated on the front too, as well as many of the stamps used on the inside.
 
This is a beautiful ornate vintage lamp post. I wish I could look out on one of these from my window. 

Thank you for looking! Happy Stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Darkroom Door products:
Stamps: Lamp Post, Brick Wall, New York Vol. 1, New York Vol. 2, Nomad

Other products:
Surfaces: Core'dinations Tim Holtz kraft-core cardstock; Neenah Smooth Cream Cardstock
Dies: Sizzix: 3-D Suitcase, Suitcase, Mini Tickets, Horizontal A2 Card, Arrows, Banners, Chevrons & Clouds
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Cornflower Blue, Fern Green, Watering Can, Orange Blossom, Jet Black; Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs, Wild Honey
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Elements tissue tape, Symphony tissue tape; Prima Natural Bark Butterflies

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Window Card

Hello everyone! Today I have quick card to share made with Eileen Hull's Sizzix Window Box die.
 
Window Card - Layers of ink
Many dies that are meant for 3-D projects can be used for other types of projects too, here I used the  3-D Window Box die to make a card. If you want to see an example of this die used to make a Window Box, have a look at this tutorial of mine. The cardbase here is a piece of folded acetate, which is why you can see straight through the widows. I stamped the acetate with a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp.
 
The window itself was die cut from mat board, inked with Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean) and misted with Perfect Pearls. When it was dry, I stamped it repeatedly with a text stamp and Manganese Blue Archival Ink.
 
You can see the shine from the Perfect Pearls better. I placed a piece of lace behind the window and a Filmstrip Ribbon in front of it, which fit with the photo theme of the main stamp.

'Bloom' was die cut from mat board, coated with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with Rock Candy dry glitter. Trinity's flower was die cut from cream cardstock, inked with yellow Distress Inks and the large petals were stamped with a texture stamp and Wild Honey ink. You can see the same flower in another version in this project.
 
Thank you for the visit!
 
Anna-Karin
 
Supplies:
Surfaces: Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board White 6 x 13; cream cardstock; acetate
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Mixed Media, Things to Say, Mini Muse
Ink: Archival Ink: Manganese Blue; Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey; Stazon Jet Black
Mist: Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist: Turquoise
Glitter: Ranger Rock Candy Distress Glitter
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Filmstrip Ribbon, Lavish Ribbon; lace trim

Monday, September 23, 2013

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember® Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember® blog hop! The Monday Challenge blog team has a fabulous blog hop for you this week. The team got to play with a great exclusive Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Art Journaling kit, designed by Shari Carroll. You can see Shari's video about the kit here. Shari is also joining us in the blog hop.
 


Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. During the past 11 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media, life documenting, art journaling, and many forms of altering and expressing art.

Our challenge for this week is to use any Simon Says Stamp Exclusive product.
 
I loved all the items in the art journaling kit and made two pages and two ATCs, I will share some of the steps below. The kits are great and you'll be able to make many pages and other projects with the supplies. I tried to use the products in the kit in a bunch of different ways, to give you some inspiration. I have also added some stamps and other products that are not in the kit.
 
I really like the size of Dyan Reaveley's Small Creative Journal (5 x 8), which is included in the kit. I made two double-pages, and the techniques I am sharing can be used on many different projects. There is a vintage dictionary page in the kit, and I happened to have another of them at home, also from Simon Says Stamp. This page was about optics, and since I had just been at the optometrist the same day I made a page about seeing clearly.
 
The vintage dictionary page I used on the second page defined 'orange' and that fit well together with a mainly orange page. I used a wonderful quote about art, which I also used on this tag for Tammy Tutterow. I wanted to use it for something for myself too and it fit well together with the IndigoBlu sentiment stamp that was included in my kit (the kits have different IndigoBlu stamps).
 
I started covering two pages with gesso, using the scraper tool in the kit. I added some lines with the tool in a cross hatch pattern. Leave to dry.  

I watered down some of the Claudine Hellmuth Classic Teal paint from the kit and painted it over the page.

I love the stencil Shari designed for the kit and used it in several ways on my pages. Here I applied texture paste through it with a palette knife. Leave to dry.

This great IndigoBlu stamp was included in my kit and I stamped it once in its entirety using Stazon ink. It also makes great flourishes if stamped partially, which I did in the lower corner.

I wanted to use a few lines from the song 'I can see clearly now' and since one of them included the word 'rain', I decided to add some raindrops, using Ronda Palazzari's Mini Raindrops stencil and black paint. The paint is included in the kit, but not the stencil. I used a definition of 'astigmatism' (which I have) from the book and a rub-on eye.

Here you can see the raindrops on the other page and the texture created by the scraper tool in the gesso.

I used the stamped area as a home for the title, made with the white stickers in the kit and Tim Holtz label stickers (not in the kit).

I wanted to use more of the text paper and stamped Prima stitched circles on the dictionary page (the stamps are not in the kit). I cut them out and splattered them with watered down Altered Orange paint for texture. The edges were inked with Gathered Twigs, which I also used around the edges of the journal page. The trunks were die cut from Core'dinations cardstock with Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Tall Forest Tree and Small Forest Tree dies. 'Vision' was die cut with Tim Holtz Stacked Artful Words die.

The second page was first coated with gesso, same as the first page, but I also pressed the stencil down into the gesso to create a subtle pattern (immediately clean the stencil). Leave to dry. The dictionary paper was torn and glued to the page with Multi-Medium matte, which is also in the kit.

When dry, gesso was applied on top of the dictionary paper, not covering the text completely.

Watered down Altered Orange was painted on top and before it dried, I wiped the page with a paper towel, which removed some of the paint from the gesso areas. You can see that the paint is darker on the parts of the paper not covered with gesso, especially around the edges.

I wanted some teal on this page too, and made a very watery mix. It was applied with a Faber-Castell dropper along the upper edge of the journal, placing a scrap paper underneath to protect the other pages.

More teal paint was applied through the stencil. Dab the paint brush off on a paper towel first. I used a stencil brush, but you can use a sponge or an ordinary paint brush too.

I stamped the IndigoBlu sentiment stamp from my kit on the page, as well as flourishes with the second IndigoBlu stamp, using Stazon Jet Black Ink.

The page was stamped with a dot stamp and Venetian Orange Archival Ink as well as with my favourite alphabet background stamp. The 'love' and hearts die cuts come from two Simon Says Stamp sets.

I even used the glassine bags included in the kit and die cut four butterflies from it, layered them together, stapled them and glued to the page.

For a focal image on this page, I used a Tim Holtz stamp. I made sure not to get a teal dot right where the face was stamped. The wings were coloured with Gelatos. The letter stickers in the kit were inked with Evergreen Bough.

The strips were inked with Evergreen Bough, isn't it a great quote? I also used Tim Holtz tissue tape. 
 
There are two manila ATC cards in the kits too, and instead of using them in the journal, I decided to make two ATCs. Cover with gesso as before.  I made the one to the left smoother. Leave to dry.
 
Paint the more textured one with watered down teal paint.

When the paint is dry, apply embossing paste through the stencil with a palette knife. Leave to dry and ink the edges with Gathered Twigs.
 
Paint the smoother ATC with watered down Altered Orange, and wipe the paint partly off from the gesso.

Apply Altered Orange through the stencil, but only using the dot centres.

Stamp both ATC's with the flourish stamp. Stamp the orange one with a dot stamp and Venetian Orange Archival Ink.

The kit includes two hinge clips, two paper flowers and two Scrabble tiles. The tiles in my kit happened to be the first letters in my sisters' names, so I made these ATCs for them. I cut the large flower into two pieces. The flowers were painted with watered down paint and when dry, stamped with an alphabet stamp. I also die cut and stamped a ticket. The hinge clips were coloured with Stream and Espresso Alcohol ink. The labels are also included in the kit. This one was stamped with a stamp from the Simon Says Stamp On Edge set.

On this ATC, I folded up the half flower and again stamped with an alphabet background stamp. The flower stem was made with the scraper tool, first dipped into black paint. The label was inked with Tumbled Glass and Gathered Twigs and stamped with sentiments from the Be Sentiments set.

Join us this week - using any Simon Says Stamp Exclusive product - and you can be the one to win a $50 Simon Says Stamp gift voucher, drawn randomly.

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The next stop on the blog hop is the fabulous May Flaum.

Have fun hopping along and thank you for stopping by my blog!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Kit: Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Art Journaling Kit

Additional supplies:
Surfaces: Neenah Smooth Solar White cardstock; Ranger Manila cardstock
Dies: Simon Says Stamp: Mini Hearts Set, Small Forest Tree, Tall Forest Tree, Life, Family, Love; Sizzix: Stacked Artful Words, Ticket Strip, Butterflies
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Tiny Textures, Going Somewhere, Winged Things 1, Classics #5; Simon Says Stamp: On Edge, Be Sentiments; Prima: Circles
Ink: Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs, Evergreen Bough; Ranger Archival Ink: Venetian Orange, Jet Black; Tsukineko Stazon Jet Black
Alcohol Ink: Adirondack: Stream, Espresso
Paint: Faber-Castell: Mango Gelato
Medium: Wendy Vecchi Stampers Anonymous: White Embossing Paste
Stencils: The Crafters Workshop: Mini Raindrops
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Elements Remnant Rubs, Label Letters