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

15 comments:

  1. Fabulous Page ! I guessed the geli plate prints ..and I loved the stitched circle over it with lovely hearts n sentiments !

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  2. this has to be a favorite!!!! LOVE it! Pinned!

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  3. Anna-Karin...your art always amazes me. It's always so beautifully done. Your eye for color and design is just perfect! :) This layout is so sweet. I love all of the gelli plate left overs you've used here. Oh my goodness...they don't look like leftovers! :) Love the sweet die cut falling stars and hearts. What a cool way to dress up those strips! :) Your sentiments and hearts circling around that adorable photograph is so sweet. LOVE it! <3 Candy

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  4. stunning layout! The colors are perfect in the hues and touches. The embossing paste is lovely texture to this and the white die cut images and words are beautiful.

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  5. Fabulous layout Anna-Karin! I love all the painted details and sweet hearts scattered about! Pure eye candy!

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  6. Hi Anna-Karin, love the fresh colour palette on your layout . The strips are very eye catching and I love the little cut out pieces. Love your little handmade stencil,too. Love the sentiments you have used which work beautifully with the images. Great design. Tracy x

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  7. Really pretty page, Anna-Karin! Love the soft colors and all the die cuts, and so cool that you've used one as a stencil! Hugs, Sandra

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  8. OH SO PRETTY!! I love the layering and the texture...it's magnificent!

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  9. Great page and love the details. I love that you made your own stencils out of your dies. Duh I have been looking for stencils that can use, I have so many dies that would work. Thanks for giving me inspiration.

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  10. FAb page! love combo color, stencil and your tutorial is fantastic! thanks for sharing! barbarayaya

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  11. I absolutely adore this page for many reasons! For one, I was blown away by how you made these colors work so well! If someone gave me that color palette, I would go running for the hills, and you made it look fresh and new and cool. And as usual, your wide range of techniques was inspiring. Winning page all the way around!

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  12. The textures in this piece are amazing. Blessings!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!