SSS Blossoms and Butterflies Blog Hop

Hi friends! I am so happy to take part in the Simon Says Stamp blog hop in celebration of the new Blossoms and Butterflies release. It is is a gorgeous spring day here in Sweden and the new release is perfect for spring and summer crafting. You should have arrived here from the very creative Ankita Gupta.

The Blossoms and Butterflies collection contains a wide range of versatile dies, stamps, stencils, watercolor cards and sequins. You can see the whole collection here.

There is also a free gift for you. If you use the code BLSM999, when you make an order, you will get a free jar of Unicorn Dust Glitter (while supplies last!) with any purchase. The code will expire Sunday, 4/14 at 11:59 pm EDT.

I made two projects, a mixed media panel and a card, and both are tutorials. As usual the techniques can be used on many types of projects.

I loved the Bouquet of Roses stencil so much that I wanted it to be the center piece on a wall-hanger. It's a Mother's Day gift to my Mom. The panel is about 6 x 6.5 in. It might look complicated to make, but it is easy, and just requires a bit of patience to let paints and pastes dry in between layers. Let start.

These are the products from Blossoms and Butterflies that I used on my projects: Archie Jr Solid, Poppy Frame, Comfort & Prayers stamp set and Bouquet of Roses stencil.

I started with a piece of mat board and coated it with gesso. The edges were rounded with my Corner Chomper.

When the gesso is dry, add Opaque Crackle Paste, especially around the edges. Vary the thickness to get both small and large cracks (the thicker the paste, the larger the cracks). Leave to dry.

When the paste was dry, I glued the panel to a second slightly larger panel, which was recycled from old packaging. Leave to dry under heavy books.

Apply texture paste with a palette knife through the stencil.

When the paste was dry, I painted it with watered-down Distress Paints, starting with Antique Linen. Mist with more water to get the shades to blend, and to get the darker brown to sink into the cracks. You can use quite a lot of water. Leave to dry.

Place the stencil back over the design and sponge with white paint. This gives a lighter base for the painting of the flowers.

Paint the flowers and leaves with Distress Paints and Dina Wakley's Blushing pink. Add a second layer if needed.

Stamp the background here and there with the SSS You Matter background stamp, for more texture.

If you want to, add a shadow with a Black Soot Marker along some of the edges of the flowers. I imagined the light to come from the top left of the panel. You can smear the black out a bit with a Q-tip dipped in water. 

Dry brush metallic Rosy paint over the roses, and here and there on the background. This gives a lovely subtle metallic sheen to the panel.

Apply a glue stick randomly here and there and rub a vintage gold foil sheet on top. This gives a worn gilded effect.

 

I love alpha dies and the ones in the Archie Jr Solid set are fantastic. Such a great font and size, perfect for cardmaking, but also for other types of projects. I die cut them from brown and gold, layering to offset the gold slightly.

White emboss butterflies from the Comfort & Prayers set on vellum and cut out.

Bend out the wings of the butterflies slightly and glue them only along the body, using Matte Medium, which doesn't show at all.

Here you can see the lovely texture created with the crackle, paint, stamping and metallic bits.

This rose design is so pretty and I love the bits of gold. Up close, some of the shadow lines look a bit harsh, but that makes them stand out a better from a distance.

The gold adds a nice shadow to the letters. I glued a piece of lace to the base and tied some twine around it. The sentiments come from Tim Holtz's Clippings stickers.

You can easily change the colors for a different look, and if you don't want all the grunge and distressing, just skip those steps.

White embossing on vellum is a favorite technique of mine. It looks great on its own, but if you want to, you can also color the vellum on the back.

The second project that I made is a card, using the wonderful Poppy Frame, together with the Archie Jr Alpha dies. I wanted the poppies to be the focal point and left everything else in shades of white.

Start by die cutting the Poppy Frame from watercolor paper.

Color the grass with Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks and turn to watercolor with water and a paint brush. I used both Scribble Sticks and Scribble Sticks 2.

Color a piece of watercolor paper with Scribble Sticks and use water to turn them into watercolor.

Die cut the poppies from the red paper.

If needed add some more shading to the petals.

For the background, I just cut a piece of watercolor paper and colored it with Distress Inks.

Glue the red pieces into the poppies.

I kept the alpha dies intact for now, not separating them, so that I can use the for background elements. Die cut from a white piece of card. 

For the layers, I used a white folded cardstock, two pieces of SSS Glimmery White Diamond cardstock, and the alpha panel. Distress some of the edges.

I used part of a sentiment stamp from the Comfort and Prayers set. The poppy panel was attached with foam tape.

You can also color the outlines black, but I liked the lighter look of the white. Check out the lovely detailed frame of the Poppy Frame.

Using various shades of white gives dimension and interest without taking the focus away from the poppy panel.

There are of course prizes to be won, and at each stop on the hop SSS is giving away a $25 coupon, randomly drawn from those who leave a comment. The winners will be posted post on the Simon Says Stamp store blog on Wednesday, the 17th of April.

Your next stop on the hop is Gayatri Murali. Don't miss the inspiration you will be sure to find there.

Here are all the stops along the hop:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Debby Hughes

Laura Bassen

Amanda Korotkova

Yoonsun Hur

Bibi Cameron

Barb Engler

Ankita Gupta

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Gayatri Murali

For more Blossoms and Butterflies inspiration, remember to check out the Blossoms and Butterflies gallery at SSS, and if you make something with products from the range, it is fun if you post it in in the gallery too. There are galleries for all releases, and for the card kits, full of inspiration. Part one of the Blossoms and Butterflies blog hop was yesterday, so don't miss all the inspiration there.

Thank you so much for visiting today and I hope you will have a lovely weekend!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.