Grasses Tag Tutorial

Hi stampers! It's a new Monday and we are back with a Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. 

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 Paint theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Fun I hope you will join us! Since it is the first Monday of a new month, the team is showcasing products by a specific company/designer and this week it is Paper Artsy. You can find Paper Artsy's great range of products here. It is fun if you use their products for the challenge, but it is not a requirement. 

We also have a new guest designer and during July Thom Santilla will be joining us. He created a fantastic project for this week's challenge, don't miss it.

I made a mixed media tag using watercolor paint, gouache and Paper Artsy Infusions Colored Stain. The tag was stamped with two stamp sets designed by Alison Bomber: Winter Umbels and Winter Grasses. Just because the title is 'winter' doesn't mean that they are only for winter projects.

I start out with a tag that I cut from paper that had been watercolored, to use up left-over paint.

Mist the tag with water and sprinkle In the Navy Infusions Colored Stain at the sky area and The Sage on the ground. I had already planned where the stamping would be and added less color there. Mist again with water to blend. 

When dry, ink stamps from Winter Grasses and Winter Umbels with Distress Ink, mist with water and stamp.

I stamped two sentiments on the background using Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery and covered them up with Design Tape to prevent splattering. Splatter the tag with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache.

Distress the edges of the tag. Here you can see the cool effect of the Infusions Colored Stain. 

I also added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Gunmetal Gems to the tag.

The white gouache will pick up some of the color of the ink. I made the ground area more visible with a colored pencil.

The main sentiment also comes from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery. I also added some mummy cloth and twine.

I tied the tag with mummy cloth, twine and ric-rac. 

Join us this week in our Play With Paint 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.

Spring Art Journal Page

Hi friends! Today I have a spring-themed art journal page to share, with stamping and watercoloring.

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.

Every year, I am amazed by all the shades of green that appear during spring and this page is all about spring. I used a mix of stamping, watercolors and die cuts and worked in my Stamperia Happiness Mixed Media Journal 4x8.5 in.

I stamped plants from Paper Artsy Winter Umbels and Winter Grasses by Alison Bomber and white embossed.

Paint the background with watercolor paint, letting the paints blend on the paper. 

When dry, restamp the images with Distress Ink, misting with water before stamping. I also stamped Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background here and there.

Splatter with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache.

I used words from AALL & Create Mindful Moments.

The title was die cut with Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Edge set.

Add more words.

Make the page darker towards the bottom. 

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.

Winter Plants Tag

Hi friends! It is the last day of January. Normally, I think that the months fly past, but so many things happened this month, that it feels like it has been an unusually long month. 

I have a winter plant tag to share today.

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.

Plants can be very beautiful in winter too, stark and textured, with or without frost. I wanted a tag that captured that feeling. Most of the stamps come from Paper Artsy Winter Grasses Edition and Winter Umbels Edition by Alison Bomber. 

Start by white embossing three of the flowers on a heavystock tag.

Ink the tag with Distress Ink, using an ink-blending tool. 

Mist with water droplets.

Stamp the tag here and there with Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background.

Stamp again with the same flower stamps, but using Uncharted Mariner ink.

I stamped this sentiment from the Winter Umbels Edition with blue ink on the background first, but decided to stamp it on left over inky paper instead and glue to the background.

Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Opal Gems were glued to the background.

You can also stamp the darker impression close to the white-embossed on, to create a shadow, but that is not what I was aiming for here.

Beautiful sentiments from the Winter Grasses and the Winter Umbels Edition sets.

I made a border from cheese cloth, lace trim and twine and also added some gems.

I hope this tag inspired you to go out and look at some plants, even though it may be winter.

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.

Sparkly Snowflake Tag

Hi crafters! I hope you have had a good weekend! It is December and although we had an unusually warm weekend, Christmas is in the air.

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 Make it Sparkle theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Since it is the first Monday of a new month, the team is also showcasing products by a specific company/designer and this week it is Paper Artsy. You can find Paper Artsy's versatile range of products here. You don't have to use their products to join in the challenge, but it is fun if you do. 

We also have a new guest designer and this week Anita Rao will be joining us. I hope you will step by her blog to see the art journal page that she has created for the challenge.

I am waiting for a parcel with new stamps by Paper Artsy and it might very well arrive tomorrow, but for this tag I used Paper Artsy's Infusions Colored Stains instead, which is one of my favorite products by them. You can do so many fun things with the Infusions and they are great for texture. 

I have a whole bunch of watercolor papers which have already been colored with Infusions. Mist the paper with water and add a tiny bit of Infusions Colored Stains, mist with more water to blend. You can dabb off the walnut crystals if you want a less distressed look. 

I used Simon Says Stamp EZ Strips Rectangles die, from the brand new DieCember® release to die cut the stripes from the papers. It cuts strips in different sizes.

Glue the stripes to a tag. I also die cut thin stripes from silver glitter cardstock. 

Die cut the snowflake from Tim Holtz Vault Winter Wishes from Simon Says Stamp Holographic paper and from Teal and White glitter paper. I ended up not using the silver version.

Stamp sentiments on some of the stripes.

I also glued Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Gems to the tag, for even more sparkle.

Layer the three snowflakes together and add a sentiment in the center. The snowflake is very sparkly.

You can use any colors you want and it is easy to line all the stripes up since the die cutting makes sure they are the same width. 

Join us this week in our Make it Sparkle 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 my blog today! 

Happy Christmas 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.