DIY Photo Display Stand

Hello friends. I hope you are well and healthy. I am looking forward to spring and better times. Today, I am sharing a quick and easy photo display project. Make one for yourself or give it as a gift. This would also be a great project for kids to do. Instead of a photo, they could use a drawing or maybe color in some stamped images.

During March, the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team is sharing spring-themed projects. I used a photo of a field of white anemone flowers in a forest. It is one of my favorite places during the short time in spring when they flower. The whole forest floor is covered with white flowers. I used Eileen's Display Stand die to create this.

 

There was a time when I used a lot of ribbons while papercrafting, but lately I am no longer reaching for ribbons as often any more. For this project, I wanted soft textures and found a bunch of green and white ribbons and fibers.

Start by die cutting the Display Stand from mat board. As you can see, the scoreboards dies both cuts and scores the material, making assembly easy. This is an XL die so you need the Extended Cutting Pads, but it fits perfectly in an ordinary Big Shot or Vagabond.

Fold along the various scorelines and attach at the back as shown here.

Here's another view of the back.

Fold the front flap down.

Press it lightly and it will snap into the base. You don't need any adhesive to assemble the Display Stand, and it can be used in both directions, with the bigger or shorter side down. I used the shorter side down.

Apply matte medium on the short front piece and then start gluing down ribbons.

Continue with more ribbons and fibers. Don't be afraid to cover up parts of the first layer. 

Although the shape of the petals isn't quite right, I turned some of Tim Holtz Bouquet flowers into white anemones. Color the center yellow with a Distress Marker and use a green Distress Marker for the stem. Add some dots to the center with the green marker too.

The sentiment comes from the Paper Artsy Happiness Edition set by Alison Bomber. It was cut into strips. I find myself wanting to surround myself with positive sentiments at the moment.

Pick ribbons that fit with your photo and use different patterns and textures for an interesting effect.

Glue the flowers to the ribbons. I didn't add green to the centers of all of them, as you can see here.

And here's the larger collection of flowers. Now I can't wait for these to come out in real life too.

You might get a better impression of how the display stand looks here. It is very sturdy and such a clever construction.

From the back.

Take care everyone and try to stay positive.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog 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.

Additional supplies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix Display Stand XL die.

Lavender Mixed Media Tutorial

Hello friends! I hope you are all well and healthy. These times are tough in the whole world and it is important to try to stay positive and not to panic. Crafting and getting out in nature are good ways to calm the mind, at least for me.

Today, I am sharing a mixed media lavender tutorial, with a piece of recycled cardboard as a base. You can turn it into a card instead, by just adhering the cardboard to folded cardstock. Or make a cardboard tag.

At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a Stencil It theme and I hope you can join us. Don't miss the beautiful project by our March guest designer Ann Chuang. 

I was tidying up my desk when my eye fell upon this piece of cardboard and I decided to make something out of it right away. I wanted quite a bit of the raw cardboard to show, but I also wanted a smooth surface in the center which would work for some mixed media magic. Gesso was the answer to this. The Lavender stencil that I used is by Darkroom Door.

Start by removing some of the upper layer of the cardboard around the edges. Then apply gesso with a palette knife. Let it dry and add one or two more layers, so that you get a fairly smooth surface.

Apply texture paste through the Lavender Small stencil with a palette knife. Let dry.

Paint with watered down Shabby Shutters and a little Peeled Paint. I was aiming for a light look. Let dry.

Place the stencil back on the design and sponge two shades of purple through it with a small ink-blending tool.

Paint the stems green with a fine paint brush.

When the paint was dry, I added lines and highlights with a white gel pen.

Glossy Accents is one of my all-time favorites, but I hadn't used it for a while, so I decided to make the flowers glossy. Leave to dry.

I stamped sentiments from the Darkroom Door Nature Walk set.

Here you can see the effect of the white gel pen on the flowers. I also added some pearls.

I like the texture created where the gesso meets the cardboard. It is in fact my favorite part of this project.

The label was stamped with Simon Says Stamp Lavender ink using the new Darkroom Door Lots of Labels set, and the sentiment comes from the Make Art sentiment stamp, also by Darkroom Door.

It is difficult to capture the dimensional glossy surface on a photo, but I think you can see it better here. It's a fun addition to any stenciled design.

I was in the mood for a light shabby chic project this week. If you want to make a grungier version of this project, it is easy to do by, for example, adding brown paint around the edges and giving the lavender a dark shadow.

I hope you will join us this week in our Stencil It challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog 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.

Poppy Watercolor Tutorial

Hello friends! Today I have a watercolor poppy tutorial to share with you, made using one of the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Suzy's Watercolor Prints. The prints are done on watercolor paper, so they are perfect for watercoloring. We will do an easy masking technique and also add some pen work.

This poppy print comes from the Suzy's Spring Flowers Watercolor Prints set and is such a pretty print and I also really like poppies. I turned my project into a wall-panel, but you can of course make a card instead or use it in your art journal. I used watercolor paint, but as an alternative you can use watercolor pencils, or smear Distress Ink on a craft sheet, mist with water and paint with a paint brush.

When you watercolor it is often a good idea to leave some of the paper white, as highlights and to create life. An easy way to do that is to use a masking pen. Add dots and lines with a Molotow Masking Pen and let dry. It dries quickly.

Mix up watercolor paint and start painting the flower. Make the petals darker towards the center.

Continue with the rest of the poppy and then paint the stems and bulbs. Use a dark grayish brown mix for the petals, with a lighter green area in the center.

Increase the shading if needed.

Paint the background in springtime shades of green and add darker brown to the ground.

When everything is dry, rub off the masking liquid with your finger to reveal the white areas underneath.

Splatter the page lightly with dark brown paint.

Add details and highlights with a black pen and a white gel pen. I also drew grass at the bottom of the page. If some details have disappeared when you painted, you can add them back with the black pen.

Distress the edges and mount on a second piece of watercolor paper and then on sanded blackout kraft stock paper. Finally everything was adhered to a piece of mat board, for stability.

You can se the pen work clearly in the center of the flower, where some of the lines weren't so visible any more.

The sentiment comes from the Paper Artsy Sunshine and Rain set by Alison Bomber. It also happens to be one of my favorite quotes.

Concentrate the splatters at the bottom of the page, where the shadows are deeper.

The panel is a great spring gift for someone and can spread some happiness.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog 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.