Butterfly Artist Trading Cards

Hello friends! I hope you are well! There is a chill in the air here, but I hope summer will remain a little longer. 

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 Play with ATCs theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Artist Trading Cards are such a fun format to work on (3.5x2.5 in). Don't miss the beautiful project by our August guest designer Ann Chuang.

I made two ATCs with a butterfly theme. The cards were stamped so that they can fit together on both sides. I only stamped each butterfly once. The butterflies were colored with Prismacolor pencils, which also acts as a resist, protecting them from the inking, so you do not need to do any masking. 

This is how they fit together from the other sides.

I started by cutting a two ATCs from heavystock paper. They are 3.5 x 2.5 in. Place them together and stamp Tim Holtz Perspective Butterfly. Make sure to place the stamp so that the entire body is on one of the cards. 

Switch the cards around and repeat with a butterfly from Tim Holtz Flutter set. Stamp the body on the card that only has wings.

Color them with Prismacolor pencils. I aimed for strong, contrasting colors.

Ink with Distress Inks using an ink-blending tool.

Add dots and highlights with a white gel pen and darken some of the details with a black pen.

Stamp the sentiment with Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Butterflies. Stamp here and there with Tim Holtz Craze & Planks stamp, using Archival Ink Potting Soil.

Splatter with a little Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache.

Butterflies are always fun to color! The card with the large butterfly can easily be on its own too.

I found some tiny butterfly charms in an old box and stitched them to the card. 

This sentiment was stamped with Tim Holtz Tiny Text.

On the second card, the focus is on the smaller butterfly and the sentiment.

I distressed the edges slightly and added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Mandarin Gems to the cards.

Try not to get too much crackle stamping on the butterflies, but if you do, it doesn't matter.

White gel pens are great for adding highlights. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Don't miss the Kid's Summer Vacation Challenge, which goes on until 29 August. There are three great surprise parcels to be won! For kids 2-16 years. Read more here.

Join us this week in our Play with ATCs 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.

Scalloped Edge Card

Hi crafters! Today I have a card to share made with the brand new Simon Says Stamp Happy Camper release. 

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.

Happy Camper was released today and is filled with a great mix of stamps, dies, stencils, inks and other products. You can find them all here. 

I made a scalloped card, with layers of scalloped papers and flowers in the center. I used left-over papers for the scalloped, dry embossed, inky and watercolored. From the Happy Camper release, I used: Chunky Scallop Circles, Fantasy Bouquet and LOL.

I started by looking for papers to use for the scalloped circles. These two were part of my experimenting with Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Granulating Colors and Simon Says Stamp Dot Spiral embossing folder. 

I die cut the scalloped circles from the dry embossed papers above and the rest from various watercolored or inky papers. The Chunky Scallop Circles set contains eight circles. Make the cardbase by folding a piece of cardbase and place the cutting pads just inside the die at the top.

The Simon Says Stamp Fantasy Bouquet flowers were die cut from left-over collage papers. 

Ink the flowers with Distress Ink.

Layer the scalloped circles on the cardbase. Some of them were adhered with Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape.

I used some foam tape also for the flowers. The petals were shaped a little before adhering them to the card. 

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp LOL stamp set, also from the Happy Camper release.

Use papers with different textures for an interesting difference between the layers.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I will be back again on Saturday with more Happy Camper inspiration.

Thank you for visiting! 

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.

Floral Art Journal Page

Hello friends! Today I have an art journal page to share, with a summertime field of flowers. You can also turn it into a card instead.

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.

On one of my walks there is a gorgeous field of wildflowers and that field inspired this page. I wanted flowers in bright colors and with the addition of long grass. The page was done in my Stamperia Happiness Mixed Media Journal 8.5x4 in.

The background was done by smearing Distress Ink on an acrylic block, misting it with water and stamping on the background. Repeat for the lower half, leaving a thin white line.

When the background was dry, I stamped the page with various Tim Holtz Wildflowers and Mini Bouquet stamps. Ink with several Distress Inks, mist with water and stamp. Simon Says Stamp has recently released coordinating dies for both these stamp sets: Mini Bouquet and Wildflowers. You don't need them for this project, but they are great if you want to cut out these images.

Next, I added grass with the grass stamp from Tim's Spring Sprung set.

I used Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background to add a little texture to the page, focusing on the bottom area, where the soil would be.

I thought the page needed another layer and a bit more white and white embossed some of the flowers, placing them lower on the page.

The main sentiment comes from Tim's Perspective set. I also used Small Talk and Clippings Stickers.

The inks will blend on the stamp and on the page. 

Using embossing powder is often a good idea if you want to add an element on top of an already busy background.

Some white embossing powder got stuck on the crackles, which added a nice effect. I initially stamped the sentiment from Curiosity Shop on the background, but it was hard to read, so I restamped it on watercolor paper and cut out.

Thank you for visiting! 

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.

Watercolor Pencils Vintage Tag

Hello friends! I hope you are well! Today I have a vintage tag to share colored, with a combination of Distress Watercolor Pencils and Ink.

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 to use this sweet collage stamp from Tim Holtz The Girls stamp set, together with some sentiments, gems and pretty ribbons.

Start by stamping the image from The Girls on a heavystock tag, using Jet Black Archival Ink.

Color the image with Distress Watercolor Pencils. Dip the pencil in water and pick up the pigment with a paint brush.

Ink with Distress Ink.

Stamp around the design with different grunge and texture stamps. Distress the edges and tie the tag with some pretty ribbons and twine. 

I also splattered the tag with a dark pencil by flicking a paint brush against the tip of the pencil. The gems are Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Dusk and Bubblegum Gems.

I added stamped sentiment and Clippings Stickers to the tag. 

I have found some of my old ribbons and fibers and it is fun to use them on projects.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Enjoy summer! Or winter, if you are in the southern hemisphere.

Thank you for visiting! 

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.