Knitting Card Tutorial

Hello crafters! The month is coming to an end and May is starting tomorrow. May is one of my favorite months of the year, particularly since the nature turns bright green in May.

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.

This is a card for someone who loves to knit and it was made with Simon Says Stamp new Beautiful Days release. The background shimmers, which might be hard to see here. I had fun coloring all the yarn and bits and pieces.

Working on heavystock paper, start by applying Texture Paste through the Simon Says Stamp Chunky Knit with a palette knife.

When it is dry, paint with gesso.

Paint with Distress Paint and mist with water to blend. Let dry.

Add a little Sizzix Silver Luster Wax around the edges.

Dust the background with Turquoise Pearl Powder.

Stamp the images from Yarn Love on watercolor paper and die cut with the coordinating dies. This is a stamp set where the coordinating dies are very helpful and speeds up the cutting process a lot. 

Watercolor the images with Distress Paint. Use a Tim Holtz Shaping Kit and the new Simon Says Stamp Place and Score Embellishment Wand.

Use the white tip of the wand to add the Studio Katia Iridescent Bubbles. The wand works wonderfully for this. 

I used a silver gel pen to color the knitting needles. I had to check what that was called in English, in Swedish they are called 'knitting sticks'. The sentiment was stamped with Simon Says Stamp Saturated Spring ink and adhered with foam tape.

The watercoloring was done loosely. 

I placed Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam tape in the center of the ball of yarn, so that they would keep their rounded shape. Some of have two layers of foam tape, a few even have three layers.

I added Glossy Accents to the tips of the knitting needles.

Here you can see the effect of the Luster Wax and the Pearl Powder better. It it is a lot more shimmery in real life.

Change the color combo to fit the recipient of the card. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today!

Happy stamping!

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.

Crocus in Pencil Tutorial

Hi friends! The spring flowers are flowering in the garden and we have some lovely purple crocus, which inspired this tag.

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.

My youngest son's favorite crocuses are the purple ones with bits of white and I tried to color these in a similar way. The flowers were colored with colored pencils, which acts as a resist when you color the rest of the tag with Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink.

Die cut the tag from watercolor paper with Tim Holtz Framed Tags. Apply green Archival Ink to the die before die cutting, to get the frame.

Stamp the crocus from Simon Says Stamp Thoughtful Flowers with Antique Linen ink. Stamp it again on masking paper, cut out and place on the stamped flower. Stamp the smaller flower at the back with the Thoughtful Flower woodmounted stamp. Stamp the larger crocus one more time, to the right.

Color the flowers with colored pencils. I used Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. Add some grass. Blend with the white pencil and be sure to apply the white pencil to all the areas which you want to remain white. 

Smear Distress Ink on a non-stick craft sheet and mist with water. Press the tag into the ink. The pencil will resist the ink.

When the tag is dry, repeat the process, using darker ink. Repeat again until you are happy with the look.

I added white highlights and lines to the flowers with a white gel pen and a few lines with a black pen. Next, I applied Distress Oxide Inks to the craft sheet and misted with water. Very lightly touch the paper to the ink to get Oxide Ink splotches here and there.

The Oxide Ink will remain on top of the flowers, adding these lovely splotches of blue.

The white and black pen work adds interest to the flowers, but you can skip this step if you want to.

I hadn't planned to add blue to the grass area at first, but this ended up being my favorite part of the background. 

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Laugh in flowers and was stamped with Simon Says Stamp Saturated Ink Amethyst ink.

The May Arts Wrinkled Faux Silk Ribbon was dyed with Distress Ink. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. You can of course use the same technique with different flowers or images. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today!

Happy stamping!

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.

Make your mark art journal

Hello friends! I hope you had a nice weekend! We had beautiful spring weather and went on a fun outing. It is so nice to be able to be out and about without a winter jacket.

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.

This week our theme is Make Your Mark at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. You can make marks in many ways: doodling, using stamps, stencil, die cuts and more. Don't miss the last project by our April guest designer Ann Chuang.

I created an art journal page this week and made marks with stencils, stamps, pens and paint. I started out with a double page in my Small Creative Journal and also used some very old paper from my pile of scraps.

The page had been coated with gesso and I had used up some left-over paint on it, so it was ready to go.

I started adding marks by scribbling with Distress Watercolor Pencils through Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Squares Stencil.

Mist with water to blend and then add splatters with the pencils. Flick a paint brush against the tip of the pencil.

I draw an outline around the squares with Crafter's Companion Colorista Bold paint pens, wrote the word 'Flower' with a white paint pen, so that it would hardly be visible and added some more doodles, dots and writing.

Stamp the backgrounds with various texture and grunge stamps. The ones I used come from Tim Holtz Mini Glitch, School Desk and Ultimate Grunge.

The flower was die cut with Simon Says Stamp Morning Blossom. The pink paper has been in my scrap box for perhaps 10 years. It is a part of a master board that I in South Africa, using Distress Ink and various Tim Holtz stamps. 

Ink the edges of the flower slightly with Abandoned Coral Distress Ink. Use Tim Holtz Shaping tool kit to add some shape to the flowers. If you are making a card, you can make the flowers more dimensional. I rarely add dimensional elements to my art journal, to keep the pages more or less flat.

Don't worry about getting lines straight since we are aiming for a messy look.

The sentiment was die cut with Simon Says Stamp Capital B Beautiful die from white shimmer cardstock and a piece of watercolor paper that I found on my desk. 

It was fun to use this paper that I made so long ago. And by accident the word 'make' ended up on this flower.

Sentiments were stamped on the background.

Paint pens are great when it comes to adding marks on acrylic paint backgrounds.

I hope you will join us this week in our Make Your Mark challenge. 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 stopping 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.