Furry Friend Canvas

Hi friends! I hope you are well and had a good weekend with some crafty time. 

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 at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is 4-Legged Friends. I hope you will join us and don't miss the last project by our July guest designer Laura Cassina. 

I made a mixed media canvas board this week, featuring my parents' sweet dog. It will be a gift for my Mom (who hopefully does not read this). I made the background green, with a bit of yellow, to match the colors of the photo. 

Apply gesso to the board and let dry. The apply Texture Paste with a palette knife through the Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Squares stencil. Let dry and repeat to cover the board.

Paint the canvas with Distress Paint and mist with water to blend.

When the paint was dry, I added a white outline to some of the squares with a white paint pen.

I misted the canvas board with Twisted Citron Distress Spritz.

When the mist was dry, I stamped the background here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter.

The title was die cut with the new You die from the Cheering For You release. I didn't use the particular die cuts on the photo, but ended up cutting the title from blue inky paper and black cardstock instead. 

The word 'love' comes from the Simon Says Stamp You stamp set. I also wanted to stamp a small 'you' to complete this sentiment. Rub Antique Linen paint into the Tim Holtz Typed Tags.

I die cut Simon Says Stamp Circle Loops from left-over inky paper, matching the sky in the photo.

'Are the best' also comes from the Simon Says Stamp You stamp set, which is a great stamp set with so many useful sentiments.

Here you can see the shimmer of the Distress Spritz a little better.

Join us this week in our 4-legged friends 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.

Vintage Ephemera Tags

Hi crafters! Today I have two vintage tags to share made with a mix of stamped images, patterned papers and ephemera.

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 focal point of these tags are the flowers stamped with Tim Holtz Flower Shop and die cut with the new coordinating Flower Shop dies by Simon Says Stamp. I also used various stamps, die cuts, and bits and pieces that I found on my desk.

Start by stamping the flower from Flower Shop with Potting Soil and Fern Green ink on heavystock paper. I used the MISTI so that I could easily add more ink to some of the areas.

Color the flowers softly with Distress Watercolor Pencils and blend with just a tiny bit of water.

Die cut with the coordinating Simon Says Stamp Flower Shop dies. 

Pick a mix of papers, sand and ink the edges. I die cut the tags from brown cardstock and Tim Holtz Backdrops paper. The rest of the images are Pocket Cards, Journal Cards, a piece of ephemera and a leftover dry embossed paper.

I matched the tag with the blue flower with the blue dry embossed paper and blue pearls. The rest of the embellishments were found in my scrap box and on my desk. 

May Arts Faux Silk Wrinkled ribbon was dyed with a Distress Ink and Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated inks.

I also die cut Simon Says Stamp Circle Loops from gold kraft paper. Tuck buttons under the paper to add dimension.

Having coordinating dies makes it so easy to cut out these detailed flowers.

I also added a Tim Holtz Quote Flair button.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Simply Fabulous and was die cut from cream cardstock. The filmstrip ribbon was die cut from Simon Says Stamp Acetate with Tim Holtz Picture Show and colored with alcohol ink.

The apricot flower was matched with a few embellishments in similar colors and various bits and pieces. I also die cut two circles using the circle die from Simon Says Stamp Lemon Tree Embossing folder and die set.

Using brown and green ink instead of black ink for the flowers makes for a softer look.

Stitch the buttons to the tags and tie the tread on the front.

Stamp the label from Simon Says Stamp Mixed Labels with Pawsitively Saturated inks. The roses were die cut with Tim Holtz Vault Boutique from maroon kraft and inky paper. The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Beachcombing.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

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.

Simon Says Stamp Cheering For You Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am so happy to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop to celebrate the new Cheering For You release. If you are following along in the hop, you should have come here from Heather Ruwe.

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 Cheering For You release is full of wonderful new and versatile stamps, embossing folders, stencils, dies, ink and sequins. You can find the entire Cheering for You release here. 

I made an art journal page, but it can also easily be turned into a card.

I am very fond of Monstera, or delicious monster, which is what I normally call them. In one of the places where I lived, they grew on the grounds and this page was inspired by that garden. The lush greens and the large leaves against a blue and sunny sky. From the Cheering For You release I used the Monstera stencil set, Old Letter stamp, You stamp and die and the Delicate Hummingbird Duo.

Start by coating the page with gesso and let it dry.

Paint with watered-down Distress Paint and mist with water to blend even more.

The Monstera stencil set consists of four stencils. Start with the largest one and Cracked Pistachio paint.

Let the paint dry in between layers. For the next layer, I used Pine Needles. The paint was too moist on the blending tool for the leaf to the right. Dab it on a kitchen towel to remove paint.

The third stencil was colored with Rustic Wilderness.

And the fourth stencil was colored with Twisted Citron. You can of course use other shades of green.

When the paint was dry, I stamped the Simon Says Stamp Old Letter almost over the entire page with embossing ink and embossed with white powder. The Old Letter stamp is one of my own designs. 

Splatter the page with Distress Watercolor stencils to create foliage. Dip the pencil in water and flick a paint brush against it.

I love bird dies and these Simon Says Stamp Delicate Hummingbird Duo are so cute. Die cut them from watercolor paper.

I painted the birds with a mix of Distress Watercolor Pencils and Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Pearl colors.

Assemble the birds and add eyes with a black pen. I also die cut a shadow using Simon Says Stamp Peacock Teal cardstock.

I really like this You die from the Cheering For You release, as well as the coordinating You stamps which you see in the following photo. The two also comes as a You set. Die cut the word from leftover inky paper and Simon Says Stamp Color Blend Cardstock.

The Simon Says Stamp You stamp set is so versatile and I really like the different sentiments. Stamp one of the sentiments on white paper with Simon Says Stamp Tropic Pawsitively Saturated ink.

I die cut You one more time from white paper to make it stand out better from the background.

The splatters were done with four different shades of green, for variation. If you want a less messy look, skip the splatters. 

The sentiment was cut into strips so that it would take more place on the background and not get lost.

I am very fond of using script stamps to add texture and interest to a background.

The hummingbirds shimmer in particular on their heads, wings and tailfeathers.

The off set shadow die cut makes the bird stand out better from the background, while also adding dimension.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Don't miss all the inspiration along the hop. There are of course prizes to be won too, 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 31 July.

Your next stop on the hop is Kim Hamilton. Don't miss to the wonderful project she has created. If you get lost along the way, here are all the stops:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Caly Person

Cathy Zielske

Jennifer McGuire

Debby Hughes

Barbara Tarayao

Amy Rysavy

Keisha Charles

Emily Midgett

Miriam Prantner

Heather Ruwe

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Kim Hamilton

Sandi MacIver

For more inspiration, remember to check out the Cheering For You gallery at Simon Says Stamp, and if you make something with products from the range, it is fun if you post it in the galleries too. There are galleries for all releases, and for the card kits, full of inspiration.

This is the first Cheering For You blog hop, don't miss blog hop number day number 2, which is tomorrow.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

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.