Snowdrop Tag Tutorial

Hi friends! I hope you are well this last day of the month. We have chilly weather and even some snow, but I have a spring project to share.

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

The snowdrops started to flower here some weeks ago, being the very first sign of spring. I wanted to make a tag featuring one of these little flowers, together with a lemon butterfly. I used a fun no-line resist technique with colored pencils. Not all colored pencils have the same effect, which probably depends on the binder used in the pencils. Test on a small piece of paper first. Watercolor pencils will not work.

Start by stamping the snowdrop and one of the butterflies from Simon Says Stamp Thoughtful Flowers with Antique Linen ink. I used watercolor paper, but you can also experiment with other papers.

Color the flower and the butterfly. Use white for the flower itself and be careful to cover it as well as possible. Add some grass too. I also scribbled a white frame around the tag. I used Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

Smear Distress Inks on a non-stick craft sheet and mist with water. Press the tag into the ink. If you want a light and bright look, leave the background as it is.

 Or you can continue adding more layers of Distress Ink, letting the paper dry in between.

My last layer was Distress Oxide Ink, but only here and there.

Add some shading and details to the flower with colored pencils. And a few highlights and strands of grass with a white gel pen.

Stamp the foreground with the Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background stamp and Library Green ink.

I stamped sentiment strips with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitivily Saturated Pearfection ink. The stamps come from the Forest Scenery and Thoughtful Flowers set.

I also repeat-stamped the word 'spring' all over the tag, from the All Seasons Tree set.

White flowers are a challenge to color, since they won't show well unless there is some color in the background. I added a little bit of shading to make it stand out more.

The green shades might disappear a bit against the green background. You can add back details and draw and outline with a pencil.

A stamped sentiment would have disappeared on the darker background, so instead I white embossed the sentiment on vellum. The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Laugh In Flowers.

It started snowing when I photographed this project. I with this was the last snow of for now. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by here today!

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.

Mother's Day Card Tutorial

 Hi friends! Today I have a Mother's Day card to share with a fun background technique.

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

I wanted a soft textured background and combined a stencil, texture paste and Scribble Sticks to make this. You can also experiment with other coloring methods, such as ink or watercolor paint. And the card can be made in any theme. 

Start by applying texture paste through the Simon Says Stamp Tin Tile stencil. This pretty stencil comes from the new Hello Gorgeous release. I worked on watercolor paper. Let dry.

Scribble a Dina Wakley Scribble Stick over the background, making it darker towards the center. The crayon will stick to the raised parts.

Dipp a paint brush in water and use it to turn the Scribble Stick into watercolor. Wipe the pigment off and use new water if you want the edges of the design to remain lighter. A flat paint brush is the easiest to use. If an area is too dark, dabb with a paper towel. Let dry.

Dipp the same pink Scribble Stick in water and flick a paint brush against it to create splatters. This is my favorite way of creating spatters and it is fairly mess-free.

Die cut the Simon Says Stamp Fancy Mom from heavystock paper.

Ink with Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide and coat with about three layers of clear embossing powder. Be very careful when melting the powder and never touch it until it has cooled down completely. Sprinkle a little Ranger Sea Mixed Media Powder into the last layer, for a speckled effect, but don't cover everything.

Repeat with Clipping Hearts.

Round the corners. Mount the panel on mint cardstock and then on a folded cream card. The speckled effect of the embossing powder looks really nice and floats on top of the background Distress Oxide shade.

The sentiment is very glossy and has a great texture. I die cut the mat from Simon Says Stamp white glitter paper. The stamped sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp All Seasons Tree.

I die cut the Simon Says Stamp Tattered Leaves from vellum.

My favorite part of the background technique is that it leaves the debossed areas largely uncolored, although not completely.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by here today!

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.

Tape Mixed Media Background

Hi friends! I have a mixed media tag to share today, with a bunch of fun techniques, which can also be used for other types of projects.

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

I didn't have a plan when I started with this tag, except for wanting to use Design Tape for the background. After that I just kept on building layers until I was happy with the look. The flower was die cut and inked and I finished the card with a few vintage buttons.

Coat the tag with matte medium and apply torn pieces of Design Tape. Most of mine are placed vertically with a few horizontal pieces. It is Rose, Butterfly and Vintage design tape.

Apply gesso with a palette knife, using less on areas that you want to keep more visible.

When dry, paint with Distress Paint. Mist with water to make the paints blend.

When dry, stamp the Simon Says Stamp Solid Grid Background with embossing ink and emboss with Cracked Pistachio Distress Embossing Glaze.

Stamp here and there with the Simon Says Stamp Old Letter background.

Finally, I added more squares with the Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Squares stencil and texture paste.

The Etched Evening Blossom was die cut from Tim Holtz Backdrops paper.

Ink the flower with two shades of pink Distress Ink. The stamp with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink and the Simon Says Stamp Halftone Circle background. Emboss with clear powder. I stitched a button in the center of the flower. The stem was inked with green shades and embossed with clear powder.

Die cut leaves with the Simon Says Stamp Tender Leaves die and ink.

The edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the mummy cloth was dyed with Distress Ink. I like that you can see the patters in the Design Tape through the other layers here and there.

The title was die cut with Tim Holtz Frienship Words Script, from Backdrops paper and black cardstock. I also used a piece of burlap, more dyed cheesecloth/mummy cloth, a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Laugh in Flowers and some vintage buttons.

The flower stem was embossed with layers of clear powder, and the remaining leaves were only inked, giving a nice contrast.

Shape the flower a little bit and stitch a button to the center.

For more inspiration on Design Tape backgrounds check out my Shabby Chic Tag Tutorial.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by here today!

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.

Cardboard tag with button flowers

Hello stampers! I have a mixed media tag to share today, featuring flowers made with vintage buttons.

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

We have a 'Recycle' theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog this week. I hope you will join us! And don't miss the fantastic project by our March guest designer Deborah Emmons aka designingdiva_73. 

I made a tag using a bunch of recycled materials: cardboard from packaging, vintage buttons from a second hand shop, old lace and book paper. It is such fun to mix different things and see what you can come up with and cardboard makes for a very sturdy tag.

Start by cutting a tag from cardboard. You can use the Crop-a-dile Angle Corner Chomper together with the original Crop-a-Dile. Tear some of the upper layer off.

Apply gesso to the tag and let dry.

Apply torn pieces of old book paper to the tag and add a layer of matte medium on top.

Paint with four colors Distress Paint and mist with water. When dry, apply texture paste through Tim Holtz Linen stencil.

I die cut stems for the button flowers with the Simon Says Stamp Etched Evening Blossom and Tender Leaves die sets. Ink with Cracked Pistachio. Later I also added some Lucky Clover.

The buttons were layered together, with the largest flower consisting of three buttons.

The metallic button in the center was distressed with alcohol ink.

I also added Turquoise alcohol ink to the metallic button.

Apply a little Sizzix Gold Luster Wax around the edges and here and there.

The torn cardboard fibers give a great texture, especially together with the gold wax. This sentiment also comes from an old book.

I circled some of the words in the background and also cut out more words from an old book, to use as sentiments.

A piece of vintage trim, which I think is handmade, grounds the flowers to the tag and I also added a few strands of fiber.

Button flowers are fun to make and make for quick, colorful and dimensional embellishments.

I hope you will join us this week in our Recycle theme. You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! 

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.