Friday, June 12, 2015

SSS The Color of Fun Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am so happy to be a part of the blog hop for the latest Simon Says Stamp release, The Color of Fun. The name fits so well since this new release is both very colouful and lots of fun. There are 12 new gorgeous colours of ink, and new stamps, dies and stencils. You should have arrived here from the wonderful Wanda Guess.

http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=1060939&b=199868&m=24698&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Esimonsaysstamp%2Ecom%2Fcategory%2FShop%2DSimon%2DReleases%2DThe%2DColor%2Dof%2DFun
Aren't those new ink colours gorgeous, and perfect for summer. I hope you will join us in the blog hop and there is a prize to win at each stop of the hop, all you need to do is to leave a comment. 

I had such fun with these products and made an art journal page, with a tutorial, as well as a tag and some cards. 

I made a summery page in my art journal, with happy sentiments fitting for any time of the year. I had fun experimenting with a great background technique, which gives you pretty unpredictable areas of colour. 

These were the products from The Color of Fun that I used for my projects: My Sunshine stamp set, Sunkist ink, Blue Jay ink and the Relax die. I also used a bunch of other Simon Says Stamp Exclusive products. 

I like to apply Distress Inks to my acrylic blocks, or in this case a Sizzix Cutting Pad, and misting with water before 'stamping' the block to a page to make a background. Here is an art journal page using that technique. I wanted to try something similar with the Simon Says Stamp inks, but without misting with water. I simply dabbed the inks on a new Sizzix Cutting Pad.

I pressed the pad first on a piece of scrap paper (to the right) and then on a piece of Specialty Stamping Paper. Don't press down hard everywhere on the Cutting Pad, unless you want to transfer much more ink to the background. Just sort of press here and there. It is a pretty unpredictable technique, which I enjoy. 

I ended up making quite a few backgrounds. Here you can see a first impression one to the right, and the second impression to the left. 

Once I had decided which background to use, I stamped the stunning large sun from the My Sunshine set with embossing ink and embossed it with Snowflake Tinsel. I have mainly used this powder for Christmas projects, and liked the subtle glittery effect I got here. I didn't want a yellow sun, since I wanted the blue and the orange to be my only colours. I also embossed the Falling Snow on the orange part of my page.

The sentiments were stamped with Slate ink, since I wanted something softer than black. I also stamped a banner with Sunkist ink.

I love this Delicate Thistle die and die cut it from old dictionary paper and from Slate cardstock. The Sizzix Precision Base Plate works wonderful for these types of intricate dies. Glue the text thistle on top of the cardstock one, a little bit off set, so that you get a shadow. 

I die cut 'relax' from Slate cardstock, and the sweet Smile circle from one of the inky backgrounds that I didn't use, and from Slate. I love this circle die, it is a new favourite of mine. There are so many projects where a simple 'smile' fits. 

The shadow really adds to the look of the thistles and makes them stand out from the background better. 

I also used some strips of tissue tape, partly to ground the thistles to the page, so it didn't look like they were floating.

First, I stamped the Sunkist banner directly on the background, but I was too quick with stamping the sentiment on top and the ink wasn't dry yet, so it smudged. Instead I stamped the banner on white cardstock and cut it out. The 'be happy' sentiment comes from the Happy and Smile set.

I placed the smile circle in the middle of my glittery sun. 

I also made a tag.

Since the Simon Says Stamp inks are dye inks, it means that they are transparent, so if you stamp them on a surface that is not completely white, you also get a different shade of the same ink. I wanted to show you that on this tag, which is manila, and therefore gives a warmer and less bright look to the inks. That's one of the great things with dye inks. I stamped the background with the Leaf background stamp. At the bottom I stamped a border of suns from the My Sunshine set.

I thought the large sun would fit perfectly at the top of the tag. It was stamped on manila cardstock and cut out. I added a die cut circle in the center and punched a hole.

I did the same technique with the Woodland Tree as with the thistle, adding a thin shadow by also die cutting it from Slate paper.

The sentiment comes from My Sunshine, it has a triangular shape, which didn't fit so well with my tag design. Instead, I stamped it and cut into strips. At the bottom there is a piece of Linen Ribbon and Paper String.

We needed thank you cards for my son's teachers. He was supposed to have made them, but he spent so much time carefully picking out beautiful buttons from his own stash of buttons to place in the boxes he was giving them, that he ran out of time. Since I had several leftover inked backgrounds from the art journal page, I decided to use them.

I simply die cut a lot of circles with the fabulous Dots Circles set, which is a favourite of mine from the Falling for You collection. I love circles, and this one contains so many fun ones. This is a great technique to use for any leftover backgrounds that you were maybe not happy with, just die cut them into smaller shapes and they will look great. The fun sun stamp comes from the Happy and Smile set, stamped with Sunkist and Slate.

I made square cards and die cut relax directly from the cardbase, using the Sizzix Magnetic Platform so that my word wouldn't shift. The 'thanks' stamp comes from the You're So Sweet set. 


I made the cards all a little different, but using the same stamps and die cuts.

 I really like the random look of the colour on the die cuts. 

The sentiments were stamped with the Blue Jay ink, it is a great colour blue.

This is the last card, which might be my own favourite. I like the large half circle 'framing' the sentiment.

And with that very happy sun, I will finish this long post.

Don't forget that there are prizes to be won! If you leave a comment, you have a chance to win a price on each stop of the hop. The winners will be drawn on June 15 and Simon Says Stamp will contact them.

Next stop on the blog is the fabulous Laurie Willison. Don't miss all The Color of Fun inspiration along the hop!

If you get lost, head back to the Simon Says Stamp blog again.

Thank you for stopping by and happy summer crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:




548 comments:

  1. Love the blue and orange together! You have a very artistic flair!

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  2. How fun is this? Thanks for showing us all the steps - love your top layout!

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  3. THIS are the colors I NEED to fun-up my life!!! AWESOME work!!!

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  4. One of my favorite color combinations! Love your artistry!

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  5. Wow, have you been busy. Such a collection, brilliant.

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  6. Love all the different projects. The journal page is amazing and thank you so much for explaining the background technique. I can't wait to get my hands on these new products.

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  7. Like the variety. Like the inking. Wonderful use of dies.
    Melissa
    "Sunshine HoneyBee"

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  8. How fun are all these projects!!

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  9. I like the die cut tree with the shadow background. I need to do that more in my own crafting.

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  10. Very pretty page and great technique!

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  11. So many great ideas!!Thanks for the inspiration!

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  12. The thistle on dictionary pages is a wonderful idea!

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  13. Super fun ideas! Love the color combo!TFS!

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  14. I love all the new ink colors, TFS your amazing work!

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  15. A beautiful variety of techniques and layers! And of course you've chosen my FAVORITE color of this set..SUNKIST. I just love this summery fresh color!

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  16. Such a great showcase of the colour. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  17. Thanks for this cool inspiration. Really love this blog hop.

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  18. I'd never choose orange and blue to go together, but it looks fantastic. Thanks for showing me something different!

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  19. Great project, thanks for sharing your creativity

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  20. My favorite color combinations so far!

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  21. Your cards are great. Love the colors in this new release by SSS. I also love the My sunshine stamp set. Thanks for sharing your talent and participating in the blog hop.

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  22. Love the colors you used on your cards! Will be trying your stamp technique in my future products

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  23. Fun creations! Love the mixed media that you have done.

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  24. What neat new techniques! Love the art journal page.

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  25. Great projects and fun techniques.

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  26. The colors really pop on your projects. Thanks for sharing your talent!

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  27. I love your art journal techniques! So pretty!

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  28. Wow, what amazing creations! I love your style. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  29. Talk about creativity. I would never imagine to put those different styles together but what a great idea. Thanks for inspiring me!

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  30. Oh I just really love your journal page and all of those sentiments are just out of this world fantastic!!!

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  31. Wow! Talk about a totally different take on the product line. Just hopping my way through and was floored by the distressed/grunge look that your projects have. So awesome to see such versatility in products. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  32. Love the journal page...just jumped right out there!

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  33. I love your projects Anna! How cool is that ink smooshing, makes s great background.

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  34. So creative and fun. I can't wait to try putting ink on my cutting pad. :-)

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  35. Love the combination of the colors

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  36. You have given me a whole new perspective for using this stamp set. So cool...

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  37. Love all the creativity and the colors!

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  38. Your choice of Sunkist and BlueJay in my mind, shows how the new colors can go straight into Fall.

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  39. I am so happy you made a tag! And the Sunshiny Day sentiment is wonderful!

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  40. Your color choices are fantastic, love your projects!

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  41. your journal art is stunning--something to keep in mind--thanks for that...!!!!

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  42. I love the colors and the unique styles of cards!

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  43. A great selection of ideas. I like the Bright bright sunny day card.

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  44. Pretty cool technique for the background! Love the bluejay ink.

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  45. You have given me ideas for using these new things. Fantastic, as always, from you.

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  46. You have given me ideas for using these new things. Fantastic, as always, from you.

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  47. So many different ideas and ways to use things I know I have sitting around in my craft room. Love it!

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  48. Your design is so completely different than the others' -- wonderful! Thanks!

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  49. The new colors are fabulous. Cool art journal page.

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  50. Oh wow - you took the release in a completely different direction than expected. Fun and cool to see.

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  51. Your detail is stunning!! I love how different each one is!

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  52. Wow! Love the dies! Really a fantastic edition to the Simon Says family!

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  53. Gorgeous! The blue and orange are fabulous together.

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  54. The orange & blue look great together.

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  55. The blue background looks like sky. Love it!

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  56. Wow! Love these. All 3 are super fun and simply FANTASTIC! ♥

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  57. I love the blue & orange together and I'm really wanting that Thistle die! Thanks for sharing!

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  58. You have a much different style than me, I'm not a journaler. But I like how you really used all the paper you colored from the beginning. Thanks for sharing.

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  59. The color choices are great, I love your projects!!!

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  60. WoW! Love the colors. Thanks for sharing!

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  61. I love these techniques. I can't wait to try them out

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  62. Wow, your cards are so creative! Love your artistic flair!

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  63. Very creative. Love this new release.

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  64. These are lovely. :)

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  65. Such a unique use of the new release. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  66. Wow! Such an impressive art piece!

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  67. So fun! Thanks for sharing and inspiring us :)

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  68. I love seeing your technique and the new stamps!

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  69. Wonderful series of projects!!

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  70. You've knocked it out of the park today with your lovely journal page, the pretty tag and the unique card. Very creative use of the stamps, inks and dies from SSS and each design is very artistic. Thanks for the tips on how you created everything.

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  71. Such creative and inspirational pieces, thanks so much for the tips and for sharing :)

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  72. It's great to see how versatile these products are! Thanks for sharing your creations.

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  73. Anna-Karin, your talent is beyond great! Your art journal page is super!

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  74. What a wonderful journal page. Thank you for showing your techniques.i especially like the saying on the page to "let go" I need to hear that. This release is so much fun and so yummy.

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  75. pretty cool art journal page! this is an awesome release!

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  76. Love the all techniques and the new colors are gorgeous!

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  77. Thanks for the great journaling inspiration.

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  78. WOW!! I am blown away by your eclectic, mixed media looking style. Love the way you mixed the colours and textures.

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  79. Your work is Amazin, wirh New Simon says Stamps Inks :-)

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  80. Your projects are great! I love the color scheme you used!

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  81. You've used these products in such a unique and artsy way. Thanks for sharing with us!

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  82. Thank you for the inspiration! Great new inkcolors for summer and great new dies and stamps too!

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  83. Your creations make me smile - love the fun colors and techniques you used - thanks for the hop! Have a lovely day. http://ilikepaper01.blogspot.com/

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  84. Your projects are so fun! Love the bright new inks!

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  85. I love your style - it's so great to see these products used in such different ways. Thanks for sharing!

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  86. Amazing looks! I never would have thought to put the Blue Jay and Sunkist colors together. These new ink colors are just fabulous.

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  87. Wonderful projects! These look so fun to play with!

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  88. Thse projects are so fun! Thanks for showing us exactly how you made them.

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  89. It is so nice to see so many different things. Thanks for the giveaway. Pick me!!!

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  90. Oh I love thst Blue & ORANGE TOGETHER!

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  91. Your creativity and originality is astounding!

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  92. These are SUCH fun!! :) I love how you've combined the SSS kit with the new release!! The red and blue colors remind me of 4th of July!! Thanks for sharing!

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  93. Amazing projects! Wow! Way to think outside the box!

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  94. So FUN!!! Love your simple color choices

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  95. These are so fun! Will have to try these for my smash book!

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  96. Such fantastic and creative designs!

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  97. WOW! love your detailed photography to show how you made these beautiful pieces of art. Thank you for sharing:)

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  98. Wow, the new ink colors are FABULOUS!!!

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  99. Wow! I must tell you I think your journal page and cards on this hop are my favorites thus far. I'm inspired to make a journal page using the new products RIGHT NOW lol! Your cards are so cool - fresh, fun and summery!

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  100. Lovely creations and
    loving all the inks.
    Carla from Utah

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  101. Love the use of all the elements, beautiful card

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  102. great designs - ALL of them!!!

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  103. What a great journal page!! Love the colors!!

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  104. Wow, that journal is spectacular and I love the tag!

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  105. Great journal page. Thanks for the tip on using the Sizzix cutting pad to put ink on and then transferring to paper. The cards for the teachers are just perfect-they do need to relax and smile 'cause Summer vacation is here!

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  106. I love that "relax" die! And this journal page is amazing!

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  107. such happy cards the blue and orange together are great

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  108. I love all the different techniques you shared and the color combo of bluejay and sunkist is beautiful.

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  109. Love the blue and orange for summer! So inspiring!

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  110. Thanks for such a detailed post and photo tutorial!

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  111. LOVE all the mixed medium and textures used on this

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  112. I love the tag, You choose very nice things to combine eachother!

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  113. Wow love your techniques and your projects!

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  114. WOW! awesome projects...beautiful colors.

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  115. I really liked that you show cased other uses of these products besides cards.

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  116. Love the artsy look...gotta try your technique...thanks!!!

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  117. Great way on using the different mediums! Something I've never seen before but absolutely love!

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  118. Such awesome techniques and projects, thanks for sharing!

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  119. These are so unique. Thank you for showing some of the steps. I love to see the process along with the final product. These are beautiful.

    determineddebby at gmail dot com

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  120. Love this technique. Great falling snow stamp.

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  121. Great new colors and love the large letter stamp.

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  122. Wow! You really rocked a whole lot of new product on your art journal page. I love the tip about using a cutting plate -- I've used an acrylic block before but the large plate size could be handy. I also like the tip about just lightly pressing the paper here and there. Thanks for the ideas!

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  123. Wow such fun projects, thanks for sharing!

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  124. Beautiful projects! The new ink colors are just fabulous!

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  125. Great projects showcasing a great release!

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  126. Wow, amazing detail. Thank you for sharing with us, Anna!

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  127. Wonderful look....and so easy and FUN! Thanks for sharing.
    Paper Hugs,
    Jan

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  128. Your cards are so unique! I can see your love for papercrafting in each and every one!

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  129. How very creative; love all of the layering!

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  130. Anna-Karina, you never fail to inspire, amazing journal page made with the new Simon Says Stamp releases and wonderful tag and card!

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  131. these are super cool! Definitely need to try the acrylic block with ink technique! loved all the cards and tag!

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  132. Wow! Everything you created is fantastic, Anna-Karin! Fabulous SSS Color Run Release! Yay!!

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  133. Very cool creations! So unique! :)

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  134. Love the sunkist and blue jay together here

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  135. Very creative and love your special style!

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  136. WOW! That art journal page is gorgeous!!!!

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  137. wow i love this projects thanks

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  138. Love all three projects! I'll have to try the "dry smooshing" technique - I always mist, but you got a pretty cool look with it dry.

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  139. I love the randomness of it all!! I sure the teachers will love them. One word to describe them
    PERFECTION!!!

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  140. These are so cool - love the way you layered the die cuts for a shadow look.

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  141. Love the details. Beautiful job!

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  142. Love the details. Beautiful job!

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  143. I never ever would of thought to use a Sizzix cutting pad like this! Brilliant! Love your layout and all the projects you've done. Thank you for the step by step :)

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  144. I like the way you put the inks on the cutting pad of the big shot that is a neat idea. TFS

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  145. I like the way you put the inks on the cutting pad of the big shot that is a neat idea. TFS

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  146. Great color combinations on the card. And how creative with the ink over the cutting pad! Thanks for the idea.

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  147. TY4S, my favorite is your tree tag.

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  148. Love the background technique! Thanks for sharing!

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  149. You had me at Art journal page ;-)

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  150. OMG... I am in love! Your projects are AMAZING! And you are so generous... a complete tutorial to put in practise! Thank you so much!

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  151. Love all the cool layers in your journal page!

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  152. Very nice cards and love the colors you used.

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  153. Great technique! Beautiful projects!

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  154. Great projects! And love the color combo you used :)

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  155. So many lovely projects with bold colour combinations - fabulous!

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  156. Love how the orange and blue blends so well together on the background! Beautiful art journal!

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  157. Thank you for the wonderful step by step directions for making cards like yours.

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  158. Wow love all the different techniques used!!

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  159. Beautiful design...love the distressed look and colours!!

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  160. Great projects....so creative. Love the color combo. I don't know if I would have ever put the Sunkist together with Blue Jay....they look absolutely fabulous. Love the inspiration I get from the DT.

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  161. Great projects. Thanks for all the technique tips.

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