Happy Place Journal Page

Hello friends! I hope you are well! The sun is shining and we have a new challenge for you at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog. Our theme this week is Let's Art Journal.

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.

If you have never done art journaling before, I hope you will try it out. It is a lot of fun and there are so many options! Don't miss the project by our August guest designer Ann Chuang.

I made a page in my Dylusions Small Creative Journal, a mixed media background with texture paste and Distress Paint, stamped and watercolored flowers and some bits and pieces I found on my desk.

Start by applying texture paste through Tim Holtz Focus stencil. When dry, paint with Distress Paint and mist with water. Let dry.

Stamp here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter.

Add Stickles glitter glue to the stenciled area, using your finger. 

Stamp Tim Holtz French Garden flowers on watercolor paper.

Paint with watercolors. Drop in darker shades before the first layer dries completely.

Die cut with Simon Says Stamp coordinating French Garden dies.

I also die cut Simon Says Stamp Stitching Butterflies from paper that had already been painted. 

Add a few postage stickers from Tim Holtz Postmarked and numbers from his Clippings Stickers.

Don't worry about perfection when watercoloring.

I also added Tim's Design Tape Trims and sentiment stickers.

I found some strips of Tim Holtz Backdrops papers on my desk and added them to the page, together with Design Tape.

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 Let's Art Journal 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.

Kid's Summer Vacation Challenge

Welcome to another of our annual Simon Says Stamp Kid's Summer Vacation Challenge where we host a special challenge dedicated to our young designers.

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 theme is Anything Goes

It is time for all you crafters to let your children loose in your crafty corners for a few hours. Adults are allowed to help just a little bit if necessary, but we really want the children to 'DO IT' themselves as much as possible.

This challenge is open to all children aged between 2 and 16 inclusive


We have not 1, not 2 but 3 surprise parcels of crafty goodies, hand picked by Simon. All winners are chosen at random, Good Luck to all!

My youngest made an underwater scene from clay. He is very interested in the sea and in sea animals.

The sand and the sunken airplane were created with clay, inside a plastic container. Leo added a Lego piece as corals and a some of his plastic sea animals. Only the Lego piece is glued to the sand. 

The airplane was painted with Ranger Distress Paint, making it look like it has been at the bottom of the sea for a long time.

The darker spots around the plane are small pieces of debris from the crash.

This challenge will remain open until 9am EST on 29th August. The winners will be drawn at random as soon as possible after the challenge closes.

THIS CHALLENGE IS FOR CHILDREN ONLY.

Please Note: creations submitted by anyone over the age of 16 will be deleted.

You can enter as many times as you like, just remember to add your link into the inlinkz system at the bottom of this post! If you have several entries on the same post add ?1. ?2, ?3 etc at the end of the url and they will be accepted into the system.

Please add the age of the child after their name. You can find more information here.

Thank you for visiting! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

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.

Pastel Butterfly Journal Page

Hello crafters! Summer seems to have arrived here, with warm and sunny weather this 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 Spritz and/or Splatter theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Get messy! Don't miss the lovely project by our June guest designer Wanda Hentges.

I made an art journal page with summery, pastel colors, butterflies, Distress Paint, texture, paste and spray mists. The butterflies were misted with Distress Spray Stain and Distress Spritz. I also added some Spritz to the background. I worked in my Dylusions Small Creative Journal.

Start by applying gesso to the background. I had left-over paint from another project (coming later this week). Mist with water to blend.

Stamp three sentiments with Tim Holtz stamps and then apply texture paste through Tim's Harlequin stencil. I used Simon Says Stamp Very Very Low Tack tape to protect the background from the paste.

Stamp here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter.

Apply Orange Slice Stickles with a palette knife through the stencil.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Stylized Butterfly from watercolor paper.

Mist the butterflies. I used Mermaid Lagoon Distress Spray Stain, Saltwater Taffy, Peacock Feathers and Walnut Stain Distress Spritz. (I forgot to include the Peacock Feathers spritz in the photo). 

Mist a little Saltwater Taffy on the background too.

I also stamped butterflies using Simon Says Stamp Mandala Blossoms and Mother's Day sets. This sentiment comes from Tim's Perspective set.

The butterflies are more shimmery than what you can see on the photos. 

Originally, I planned for the harlequin pattern to be white, but they disappeared a bit on the page, which is why I added the Stickles.

This butterfly covers a bit of the main sentiment. I stamped the sentiment before deciding which butterflies to use. The main sentiment comes from Tim's Warehouse District. 

Join us this week in our Spritz and/or Splatter 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.