Favourite technique

Hi everyone! This week we have a great challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show, showcasing favourite techniques. I hope you can play along with us, and don't miss all the inspiration from the design team.

I made a card with hot-air balloons flying over an inky watercolour landscape:

There are so many techniques that I love, so I really can’t pick a favorite. Instead, I did a watercolour background with Distress Inks, which is one of the techniques I use the most; I just love the unexpected results you get with this technique. Smear distress inks on your craft sheet, mist with water and dip or drag your cardstock into this. If you are happy with the result leave it (it usually looks even better when it has dried), if you want more colour, dry with a heat gun and re-dip into the ink. Sometimes I mist the paper with water first, that helps the colours to blend even more. This technique works best with watercolour paper, or, for example, manila cardstock. Every time I have left over distress inks on my craft sheet, I take a piece of scrap watercolour paper and drag it through the mix.

Here I used the new Summer Distess Inks (Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean) and the result looked like a landscape from high above. I added just a bit of stamping to the background, not wanting to cover too much of it up. The stamping was done with Mowed Lawn, Salty Oceans and Frayed Burlap. The edges of the watercolour paper were distressed and then stitched to the cardstock base which was also sanded around the edges.

The hot-air balloon stamp I wanted to use was too big, so I turned to another favorite, shrink plastic. The balloon was stamped three times on shrink plastic with Stazon Jet Black ink. I shrunk the pieces with my heat gun, but you can do it in the oven too. Flatten them with the back of a woodmounted stamp or another flat surface. Be careful, the pieces get hot! After shrinking the pieces, they were coloured with alcohol inks, backed with an old dictionary paper and coated with Glossy Accents. The glossy accents adds a really nice finished look to the shrink plastic pieces.

I used a page in the dictionary having to do with flying and altitude. The balloons were glued to the landscape with glossy accents.

I am looking forward to seeing all the challenge contributions featuring techniques! Remember that one random participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamps, and can do some fun shopping.

Thank you for visiting! Have a great week!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz: Remnants, Warehouse District, Ultimate Grunge, Tiny Textures Inks: Distress Ink: Summer Seasonal, Frayed Burlap; Adirondack alcohol ink: Sailboat Blue, Sunshine Yellow, Red Pepper; Versfine Onyx Black; Stazon Jet Black
Other: Ranger Shrink Plastic, Glossy Accents; Tim Holtz idea-ology game spinners, tiny attacher; MME Celebrate baker's twine; Zing clear embossing powder; Core'dinations Distress cardstock; watercolour paper; old dictionary paper

Brave – CSI case file #32

I love this week’s case file at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. Don’t miss all the gorgeous layouts by the DT and guests. I hope you can play along with us this week!

Such a gorgeous inspiration photo! I am very fond of sea glass with its matted surface, irregular shapes and shades of blue and green. I created some faux sea glass for my layout:

From the evidence items I used: stars, translucent items, wet medium, something grainy, mesh, gauze and dots. And I journaled about a beach trip, the first time my son swam in a lake.

I used kraft cardstock for the background and misted Studio Calico Mr Huey white mist over a star and a dot stencil.

For the title, I remembered these really old Heidi Grace plastic tags I’ve had in my stash since my early days of scrapbooking. There was a transluscent, matte one that was perfect for this page. The title and the borders were added to it with rub-ons. I attached it to the layout with a giant brad.

I wanted to imitate the sea glass somehow, and ended up using matte shrink plastic cut into irregular shapes. If you only have clear shrink plastic, you could sand it first to make it matte. The shapes were shrunk and coloured with alcohol inks (Stonewashed, Sailboat Blue, Pool), on the side that was shiny.

 The sea glass pieces were layered on mesh, washi and fabric tape and gauze, adding a bit of twine too.

The journaling is printed on a long tag, attached behind the layout with a paper clip and it is about my son just walking on his own straight into the water the first time he was at a lake in summer time. As it got deeper, my sister helped him to walk a bit further out. A bit later a wave knocked him over and the next time, he was a bit more careful of the water, which was probably a good thing.

Thank you for looking!! Have a great weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Studio Calico wood veneer shapes and Mr Huey white mist; Crafter’s Workshop star and dotted stencils; Panduro shrink plastic; Ranger alcohol inks: Stonewashed, Sailboat Blue, Pool; magic mesh; Fabscraps fabric tape; You Do washi tape; American Crafts rub-ons; Heidi Grace ellements plastic tags.

12 tags of 2012 August

Hi everyone! Today I have my version of Tim Holtz's August 12 tags of 2012 to share. I had lots of fun making this shimmery tag:

I used another frame stamp than Tim did and stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black and clear embossed. It fit nicely within the oval Book Cover embossing folder. I didn’t have a silhouette stamp that was small enough, so instead I decided to use one of the three gentlemen from the Steampunk set, masking the other two out when inking the stamp. The embossed parts were painted with silver dabber and I used Antique Linen, Old Paper, Frayed Burlap and Pitch Black for the inking of the tag. The base of the tag was cut with the Brackets On the Edge die.

The pinecone was die-cut from four different colours kraft core cardstock, sanded and rolled into roses. I cut off a little bit of two of them before rolling, to make smaller flowers. They were inked with Frayed Burlap and a bit of Antique Linen Distress Stickles were added to them. The leaves and branches were cut with the Autumn Gatherings die, sanded, inked and coated with a bit of Antique Linen Distress Stickles.

 When everything was assembled, the tag was misted heavily with Biscotti Perfect Pearls and water (as usual the effect is hard to photograph).

I die-cut a tiny tag from grungeboard, painted it silver, sanded and inked, added a Chit Chat sticker and covered with Glossy Accents. The crinkle ribbon was dyed with Aged Mahogany and Frayed Burlap.

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Steampunk and Mini Ornates; Sizzix: Tattered Pinecone Bigz,Tiny Tabs & Tags Bigz, Autumn Gatherings Sizzlits, Brackets On the Edge die, Book Covers set texture fade, Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Old Paper, Frayed Burlap, Pitch Black, Aged Mahogany; Adirondack Silver paint dabber; Archival ink Jet Black Ink; Antique Linen Distress Stickles; Versafine Onyx Black; Biscotti Perfect Pearls; Tim Holtz idea-ology chit chat stickers, hanger, crinkle ribbon, grungeboard and Core’dinations kraft core cardstock; lace trim and twine

Watercolour beach

Hi everyone! Today I have a watercolour card to share. I made two different watercolour backgrounds when I made this scenic beach card, and decided to use the second one too.

The scene was painted with watercolours on watercolour paper, using a white wax crayon for a resist effect on the water. All I added afterwards was a favorite stamped sentiment, 'May you always have a shell in your pocket', stamped with Archival Ink Coffee, and four tiny shells.

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Crafty Individuals sentiment stamp; Daler & Rowney watercolours and watercolour paper; tiny shells.

Happy Village: Paint it up

Hi everyone! Monday, and time for some new Simon Says Stamp and Show inspiration. This week the challenge theme is ‘Paint it up’ – so take out your paints and have some fun. I surely had a lot of fun making a happy little town in a in a recycled toy packaging box, using lots of paint and dry embossing.

I love building little scenes and I have wanted to make a dimensional town with the Artful Dwellings die for a long time and this little shadow box that started its life as a box for kiddies foam stamps, formed a perfect setting. I did a little tutorial:

The box was black and glossy, so the first thing I did was to paint it with white gesso.

The whole box was covered by old book paper using multi-medium.

When the multi-medium was dry, I painted the box with watered-down cream paint. The inside was painted with Soap Powder and a bit of Speckled Egg for the sky and Lettuce for the grassy hill, making sure not to cover up all the text. Then I stamped it with a swirl and a texture stamp using Stazon Olive Green and Ultramarine. The balloon and birds were stamped with Stazon Jet Black.

The houses and roofs were die-cut from grungeboard, with the roofs being cut twice. I placed Mini Openings as windows and doors, where I wanted them to be. The roofs were cut with different On the Edge dies.

All the pieces were dry embossed with different folders.

Then they were painted with paint dabbers, using lots of different colours.

I sanded off some of the paint from the raised parts.

Then the houses were inked with Distress Inks in different colour. The paint resists the ink, so the ink remains only in the parts that were sanded off.

Some of the houses got doors. I added mica for windows and tiny pieces of lace as curtains. Rock Candy Distress Stickles was smeared on some of the houses for shine.

The Branch Tree and On the Fence were die-cut from grungeboard. The tree was painted with Vintage Photo Crackle paint and the fence with Picket Fence. When the paint was dry, the fence was distressed with Antique Linen Distress Stain.

The clouds were die-cut twice from white cardstock. The larger cloud on the Kites set forms a perfect mat for the smaller cloud. The two smaller clouds were embossed with a swirl folder and covered with a bit of Distress Stickles Rock Candy.

The lamp post was die-cut from grungeboard, painted silver and coated with Glossy Accents. I added a little piece of mica to it.

The heart and Word Play letters were also die-cut from grungeboard, painted red and coated with Glossy Accents.

The little couple were stamped on white cardstock and cut out. I also added an idea-ology key.

The bike was stamped on acetate and I found the trimmings roses in my scrap box, they had been dyed pink with Victorian Velvet Distress Stain.

I added two quotes about homes, the one was stamped with letter stamps as part of the title, the other one printed.

I used a lot of foam dots when assembling the scene, creating more dimension. You can see some of them peaking through from the side, but not when you look straight at the scene.

Try placing the embossing folders so that you get the parts of it that you want, here I placed a large clock in the centre of the roof.

I hope you will join us this week! As always, one lucky participant will win a $50 gift voucher at Simon Says Stamps.

Thank you for looking! Have a great week!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Dies: Sizzix: Artful Dwellings, Mini Openings Movers & Shapers, Kites Framelits, Holiday Lamppost, Branch Tree, Wordplay, Hearts Set Movers & Shapers, Sizzix On the Edge: Brackets, Mini Scallop & Pinking, Scallops, On the Fence
Embossing folders: Sizzix: Harlequin & Stripes, Dot Matrix & Gridlock, Diamond Plate & Riveted Metal, Collage & Notebook, Checkerboard & Cracked, Burlap & Swirls, Bubble & Honeycomb, Brick & Woodgrain, Curlique & Hearts, Clocks & Print.
Stamps: Hero Arts: Magical Background CG211, Hey y'all,  Past Times AC007, Basic Lowercase Letters LL188; Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz: Mixed Media, Mini Ornates.
Ink: Distress Ink: Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Broken China, Victorian Velvet, Peacock Feathers, Stormy Sky; Distress Stain: Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet; Stazon: Olive Green, Ultramarine, Jet Black.
Paint: Ranger Adirondack paint dabbers: Silver, Copper, Juniper, Pitch Black, Lettuce, Lemonade, Shell Pink, Sandal; Jenni Bowlin paint dabbers: Soap Powder, Speckled Egg, Chili Powder; Distress Crackle Paint: Picket Fence, Vintage Photo
Other: Ranger: Glossy Accents, Matte Multi-Medium; Tim Holtz idea-ology: Locket Keys, grungeboard, Trimmings.

Blue Night: Craft a Scene August

Hi everyone! A new month and a new challenge theme at Craft a Scene. We have a broad topic this month: any kind of outdoorsy scene. Don’t miss all the great scenes the DT made – and remember that new inspiration is posted every Sunday on the Craft a Scene blog.

I love looking at starry skies and wanted to do a night scene:

This is a tall scene (11x4.5 in), a real fun format to work with. The grey cardstock is not there in real life, I just placed the card on it to take the photo. I stamped the Milky Way and Star Birth with Archival Ink Jet Black and the clouds and the waves with Denim ink. The scene is done on glossy cardstock and coloured with dye inks using a Colorbox Stylus tool (see here for a tutorial using different colours), starting with the lightest shade (Aqua) and gradually building up colour. Quite a lot of the sea was left the white of the paper. I added a little bit of pink to warm up the scene. Highlights were added with a white gel pen and mist with white pigment ink.

Luckily the little fishing boat got away safely from the big wave!

Thank you for looking! I hope you will play along with us this month!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Stampscapes: Cloud Cumulus 019G, Milky Way 059G, Flock 112A, Fishing Boat 164A, Star Birth 217G, The Great Wave 270G, Waves Sm. 297C; Adirondack Aqua, Stonewashed, Denim, Stream, Pitch Black; Jenni Bowlin Bubble Gum; Archival Ink Jet Black; Colorbox Frost White ink; Kromekote glossy cardstock.

Travel in the world of fantasy: CSI case file 31

This week we have a bright and happy case file at CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration. Don’t forget to check out the site to see the fabulous layouts of the DT and guests. Here’s the case file:

I wanted to scrap some recent photos taken in a play airplane. From the evidence I used: wood, liquid medium, and from the testimony: bright, document a vacation (but not a real one):

I used unusually much patterned papers on this layout, and was happy to find a flocked paper in my stash of just the right colours, as well as a paper with air planes. An airplane was stamped a cut out, and I also stamped most of the title, the arrow strip and the sentiment.

 The Vintage Globe was die-cut from white mat board twice and the continents were cut from the second one. The water was inked with Broken China and the land parts with Adirondack Citrus, then they were coated with Glossy Accents. I painted the stand white. When the land parts were dry, I glued them on the globe. Loved the result.

The title letters, arrow and the numbers were also die-cut from white mat board, inked with Citrus and Picked Raspberry and coated with Glossy Accents. Because mat board is white and inks beautifully, all these pieces were quick to make. Much quicker than if the pieces had been cut from chipboard and then painted. They almost look good enough to eat.

 There's a bit of washi tape under the title, and a wood veneer plane flying by.

The journaling is written on a postcard my son got one time when we flew. Here’s a translation and summary: ‘It is so fun to see how your fantasy develops. You think so much, say the funniest things and seem to remember most things. You make up fun games. In the world of fantasy, you can do anything and travel anywhere. You never have a boring moment. Here you were playing in an airplane, waved to me and flew off.’

Thank you for looking! Have a great weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies: Hero Arts: Typewriter Letters CL492, Stepping Stone Alphabet, HeyDay Thoughts, Hey y’all; Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Air travel; Sizzix: Vintage Globe Bigz die, Mini Arrow Movers & Shapers, Word Play, Cargo Stencil Numbers, white mat board; Distress Ink: Broken China, Picked Raspberry; Adirondack Citrus; Hero Arts chalk ink; BG, MME, Echo Park, Jilly Bean patterned paper; Glossy Accents; Studio Calico wood veneer air plane.