Floral Watercolor Art Journal Page

Hi stampers! Today I have a stamped and watercolored art journal to share, using granulating watercolor paint for the background. 

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 worked in my Stamperia Mixed Media Happiness Journal, which is 4x8.5 in. It is a fun tall size, similar to a standard tag in proportions. A Tim Holtz Embroidery flowes was stamped on the background and watercolored. I also added stamping and splatters.

Start by stamping one of Tim Holtz Embroidery stamps on the background with Jet Black Archival ink.

Paint with watercolor paint. I left some of the paper showing on the flowers, for highlights. Drop a pink shade into the purple before the latter is dry.

Continue watercoloring the entire design.

The background was painted with Daniel Smith Lunar Black, which is a granulating color. I dropped in Amazonite Genuine before the black paint was dry. I wanted almost a bokeh effect and added plenty of water when painting, pulling the paint into the page from the edges.

When the paint was dry, I stamped the page with sentiments from Simon Says Stamp Mixed Labels and Beautiful Butterflies and from Tim Holtz Perspective.

The 'WI' disappared on the dark background and I filled it in with a white gel pen instead. I colored 'dream' with a matching colored pencil and added a white shadow. I also added some white lines to the flowers and quite a few black lines. The latter made the flowers stand out better and gave them more of a pen and ink-look.

Stamp around the edges with the dot stamp from Tim Holtz Tiny Textures.

Finally, I splattered Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache on the background.

Here you can see the cool granulating effect of Daniel Smith Lunar Black. 

Adding black pen work gives more of a sketch look to the flowers.

It might look a little weird close up, but using a white gel pen, saved the two almost invisible letters in the title.

Try to avoid splattering white paint on the sentiments.

Thank you for visiting! See you again tomorrow!

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.

Travel Adventure Tag Tutorial

 Hi stampers! It is a new week and I hope you had a fun weekend.

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 we have a Vacation theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Remember to check out the project by our June guest designer Wanda Hentges.

I made a tag in memory of last year's vacation, using, stamps, ink and colored pencils. I really enjoy searching for and then using a bunch of different stamps that fit the theme of a project. Colored pencils were used for coloring and at the same time also give a resist effect.

Start by stamping the city from Tim Holtz Rockstar and the plane from Warehouse District with black ink.

Color the plane and the city with pencils. I used Prismacolor pencils. Continue by stamping a compass, a word stamp and numbers.

Color the numbers with a white pencil and use the white pencils in the uncolored areas of the city too. It will protect the background from ink.

Ink the background with Distress Ink.

Stamp here and there with Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background.

Stamp tickets from Tim Holtz Odds & Ends on an inky paper and cut out. Ink the edges. Stamp sentiments from Curiosity Shop.

Stamp stars and numbers using Tim's Correspondence set using Red Geranium Archival Ink.

Add Glossy Accents to the numbers and to the center of the compasses.

When stamping compasses, I try to make sure to stamp them the right way around.

I also glued a few Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Gunmetal Gems to the background.

I used a white gel pen to add some highlights to the plane, since it was looking a little dark and needed to stand out better from the background.

The sentiments fit well on the lines of the ticket.

Here you can maybe see the effect of the Glossy Accents on the numbers.

The touches of red work well on the tag.

I used a white gel pen for highlights on the city too. The ticket was folded around the bottom edge of the tag.

Join us this week in our Vacation 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 visiting 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.

Alphabet Altered Notebook

Hello crafters! Today I have an altered notebook tutorial to share, made with one of the new large embossing folders by Tim Holtz / Sizzix. 

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 new large texture fades from Tim Holtz make it possible to emboss a much larger surface in just one go. I have many times wished for larger embossing folders and it is fun to just see such a large dry embossed paper. The design was just large enough for the A5 notebook I altered (5.8x8.3in). I used the Large Typewriter 3-D Texture Fade.

Start by embossing a piece of watercolor paper in the Large Typewriter folder. I misted the paper with water before embossing, since that gives a better result. 

Next, I painted the paper with white gesso.

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

When the paint is dry (it will take a while), apply white paint to the letters to make them stand out better. Don't aim for a perfect result.

Splatter the background with some more white paint.

Stamp the background here and there with the alphabet stamp from Tim's School Desk set. 

Stamp the Tim Holtz Sign Painter letters with Simon Says Stamp Tidepool Pawsitively Saturated ink and then die cut with the coordinating Simon Says Stamp Sign Painter Letters set. I also die cut the letters from black cardstock.

I stamped sentiments from Tim's Tiny Text and also added strips of Design Tape Trims.

The larger butterflies were die cut with Simon Says Stamp Stitching Butterflies and the smaller with Tim Holtz Vault Boutique set. The were die cut from left over inky and watercolored papers. The bodies were die cut from Simon Says Stamp Black Glitter cardstock.

Glue the title as shown, off-setting the black die cuts to create a shadow. 

The background is very textured and I like how the paints blend.

If you make a card or tag, you can add more shape to the butterflies, but since journals are meant to be used, carried in bags and so on, I left them fairly flat.

I really like the Thoughts & Theories sentiment from Tim's Noble Gents set.

For the background, I used Distress Ink in the same shades, applied them to a non-stick craft sheet, misted with water and pressed watercolor paper into the ink. You can use watercolor paper, gesso and Distress Paint instead. I just wanted a quicker background.

I glued Design Tape to the spine of the book, to cover up the black cover.

Add some glue under the tape to make sure it sticks well.

 I glued everything down with Simon Says Stamp craft glue. If you don't want to alter a notebook, you can also used the embossed panel to make your own notebook, or to create an A5 card.

The notebook happened to match in color to one of my favorite pens. 

Thank you for visiting! See you again tomorrow!

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.