Birthday Cottage Card

Hello friends! This week we would like you to join us for the Monday Challenge's 15th Birthday Celebrations!

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.

Can you believe that the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge has been going for 15 years! We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our fellow crafters who have joined us over the years and we hope you will continue to join us. So many years of creativity and inspiration! And about 760 challenges, if I calculated correctly.

Our theme this week is of course Happy Birthday. 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 AALL & Create. You can find all their stunning products here. You don't have to use AALL & Create products to join in the challenge, but it is fun if you do.

We also have a new guest designer and during August Ann Chuang will be joining us. Remember to check her blog to see what she has created.

I made a tall birthday card and created a scene with AALL & Create Tudor Cottage set. It was painted with watercolor paint adding stamped sentiments and sentiment strips. 

The AALL & Create Tudor Cottage is such a fun stamp set and you can create many different houses and scenes with it. I stamped a tall house, a lamp post, some animals and some pebbles.

I started by painting the house with various watercolors.

Paint the sky and then paint the ground. The dark paint is Daniel Smith Lunar Black, which is a granulating paint, adding texture.

Add highlights with a white gel pen and details and shading with a black pen.

Here you can see the granulating effect for the Lunar Black paint. The watercolor panel was mounted on Slate, Cotton Candy and folded Cornflower Simon Says Stamp cardstock.

The stamp set contains fun little details such as the directional arrows.

Don't worry about perfection when painting. Add shading before the first layer of paint is completely dry, so that the colors will blend.

This stamp set would be fun for a Christmas house too, just change the colors and add some snow. The sentiment strips come from AALL & Create Mindful Moments.

Join us this week in our Happy Birthday 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.

Winter Night Art Journal

Hello crafters! I hope you are well and that you had a good weekend. Our beautiful snow didn't last long, but in my art journal it can last forever. 

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 Night Sky (stars/universe/planets) theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Don't miss the last project by our February guest designer Cassie Lynch aka mk_knits.

I made a winter night art journal page this week, with a snowy and hilly landscape, a full moon and a sky filled with stars. The page was done in my Stamperia Happiness Mixed Media Journal. I have enjoyed working in this journal lately and really like the tall pages, which reminds me of tags. 

Draw a hill with a pencil and then paint the sky with watercolors. Mix all the colors before you start painting and let them blend wet-into-wet. When this layer was dry, I darkened the upper part since I wanted a darker looking sky.

I stamped the trees with Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery, which is one of the stamp sets that I designed. Ink with three shades of Distress Ink and mist with water before stamping.

The stamped Distress Ink was a little light on the dark sky and I added watercolor paint to the trees, to make them stand out better. Paint shadows and some texture on the snow. The bits of yellow is the same color as used for the moon.

For the stars, I used Winsor & Newton Permanent White Gouache. Mix a little water into the paint and splatter it with a small paint brush.

Stamp sentiments on the background. Ink the small deer with two shades of Distress Ink, wipe the ink off from the bottom of the legs and mist with water. Wiping ink off makes it appear as if the deer is standing in the snow.

Die cut the moon from Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Christmas Magic set from watercolor paper and paint with watercolors. 

Glue the moon to the background and dry brush a little gouache around it for shine.

Some of the sentiments were stamped with Archival Ink Cobalt on white paper and cut into strips. All the sentiments come from Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery.

Glue one of the sentiments partly overlapping the moon. 

The splatters could also be snow, but on this night, the skies were clear and there were lots of visible stars.

The bottom sentiment was a little crooked and I restamped it on white paper instead, it also looks nice with a third blue sentiment strip on the page.

I covered the trees when splattering, but then decided to add just a hint of splatters on them too, for highlights.

It is fun to combine Distress Ink and watercolor paint and they blend really well. 

Join us this week in our Night Sky (stars/universe/planets) 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.

Stamped Beach Card

 Hi friends! It is Monday again and I hope you had a good 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 Summer Fun! theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Don't miss the beautiful project by our guest designer Laura Cassina. 

I made a summery beach card with bright and happy colors. The card was mainly made with Hero Arts Color Layering Sunset over Waves stamp set and watercolor stamped with Distress Ink. 

Ink the cloud bank and the sun with Mustard Seed and Abandoned Coral. Mist the stamp with water before stamping. Let dry.

Restamp both images with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Ink and emboss with clear powder. This step will protect the stamping from the next layers. Also clear emboss some ripples in the sea.

Stamp the sea with Mermaid Lagoon towards the back and Salvaged Patina towards the front. Mist with water before stamping.

Stamp the sky by applying ink to an acrylic block and misting it heavily with water. stamp with the block.

Repeat the shades of the sun and clouds in the sea.

Stamp more ripples with Uncharted Mariner towards the back and Mermaid Lagoon towards the front.

When dry, stamp the beach using the acrylic block. Add some white to the sea and to the clouds with a white paint pen. Add a little Unchartered Mariner to the upper part of the sky.

Stamp the birds, the child and the sentiments with black ink. The birds and the silhouette of the child also comes from Hero Arts Sunset over waves.

I added texture to the sand with Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background.

I also stamped 'summer' with Simon Says Stamp Forest Scenery. Distress the edges of the watercolor panel.

Here you can see the ripples caused by the clear embossing better.

Scribble a shadow for the child and castle.

This sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Dandelion Messages.

Join us this week in our Summer Fun 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.