Simon Says Stamp Happy Camper Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am so happy to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Blog Hop to celebrate the new Happy Camper release. If you are following along in the hop, you should have come here from the wonderful Barb Engler.

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 Happy Camper release is full of a great variety of new and versatile stamps, embossing folders, stencils, dies, ink and sequins. You can find the entire Happy Camper release here.

The not-yet-released Simon Says Stamp exclusive Sunflower Dance 3x4 stamp set is automatically added to your cart that contains any purchase of Happy Camper products! This gift with purchase will expire 8/3 at 11:59 pm EDT or while supplies last.

I made a tag for this blog hop, using the Simon Says Stamp Confetti Butterflies 3-D embossing folder. I like anything with butterflies and this is a gorgeous folder. There are also coordinating dies, but I didn't use them here. The tag was colored with watercolors and the sentiments come from the Simon Says Stamp LOL set, also from the Happy Camper release. 

Mist a tag cut from watercolor paper with water and then emboss in the Confetti Butterflies folder.

Paint the background with Daniel Smith Amazonite Genuine and Lunar Black, letting them blend into each other.

The butterflies were painted with Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold. I mixed two shades, one with more and one with less water. Start with the former and then drop the darker shade into the center of the butterfly. I also dropped a little Lunar Black into the center.

Continue until you have painted all the butterflies. Let dry.

Use Lunar Black to add a little bit of shading to the butterflies.

Ink the edges with Distress Ink Scorched Timber. 

Apply Ranger Moon Dust Stickles to the butterflies.

Color the embossed dots with a white gel pen.

Splatter Winsor & Newton Permanent White Gouache on the background.

Stamp the sentiments using Simon Says Stamp LOL with Pawsitively Saturated Sherbet ink.

Add Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Prism Gems here and there.

I covered the non-embossed part at the top of the tag with Tim Holtz Design Tape Trims.

The glitter and white splatters makes it look like the butterflies are sparkling.

Daniel Smith Lunar Black is a heavily granulating watercolor paint, which you can see on the texture in the center of the butterfly.

I added pompom ribbon and lace trim at the bottom of the tag, to hide the part that wasn't dry embossed.

You can use this coloring technique with lots of embossing folders.

Don't miss all the inspiration along the hop! There are of course prizes to be won too, and at each stop on the hop SSS is giving away a $25 coupon, randomly drawn from those who leave a comment. The winners will be posted post on the Simon Says Stamp store blog on 6 August.

Your next stop on the hop is my friend Karin Åkesdotter. Don't miss to the stunning project she has created. If you get lost along the way, here are all the stops:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Nina-Marie Trapani

Suzy Plantamura

Cathy Zielske

Laura Bassen

Debby Hughes

Lisa Addesa

Emily Midgett

Heather Ruwe

Sandi MacIver

Tina Smith

Hanh Nguyen

Barb Engler

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

Karin Åkesdotter

Rosemary Dennis

For more inspiration, remember to check out the Happy Camper gallery at Simon Says Stamp, and if you make something with products from the range, it is fun if you post it in the galleries too. There are galleries for all releases, and for the card kits, full of inspiration.

This is the second Happy Camper blog hop, don't miss blog hop number day number 1, which was yesterday.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

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.

Blue and Gold tag

Hello crafters! Today I have a tag to share with a resist effect combined with a dark blue background and metallic gold elements.

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 was in the mood for a project with a dark background, but also wanted to use these fine leafy stamps from Simon Says Stamp Wildflower Cuttings. I decided to go with two resist techniques: heat embossing and colored pencils. 

Start by white embossing several of the detailed leafy designs from Simon Says Stamp Wildflower Cuttings. This stamp set comes from the new Friend Like You release.

Color the leaves with Prismacolor pencils.

Ink the tag with plenty of Distress Ink. The embossing and the colored pencil will resist the ink.

Apply Tim Holtz Gold Foundry Wax around the edges with a paint brush. Heat to activate.

Add dots of wax around the edges with a tooth pick.

Stamp with Simon Says Stamp Crackle Background.

Die cut Simon Says Stamp Giggle Thank You from gold metallic kraft stock and from black cardstock.

Add sticker sentiments using Tim Holtz Metallic Sticker Book. 

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

Layer the sentiments together to form dimensional words. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

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.

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.