Artsy Stamps

Hi everyone! It is Monday and we have a new challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, use Artsy Stamps! I love artsy stamps, they are so versatile and often have great details and textures.

I am going to share a tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog on Wednesday, using artsy stamps in different ways. Here's a little sneak peek.

As always, one randomly drawn participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. So play along with us!

 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Memories Details Watercolour Layout

Hi and welcome to my blog! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. There is a new CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration case file up:

 

I loved the look of the ombre background and did the same thing in watercolours.

 

I used a childhood photo of myself and journaled about seven specific details I can spot in the photo: my grandparents' dog, and details about the various toys, one of which is an icecubebox, which I remember being a real fun toy. It is fun to see how many details you can discover and suddenly remember in old photos. From the evidence I used: watercolours, glitter, ombre, flowers, brads, stamps and rub-ons. For the background, the watercolours were mixed into the four colours and then washed onto the page, starting with the light yellow.

When the background was dry, I stamped it with these pretty Darkroom Door flower stamps, which looked like the flowers in the inspiration image. They were stamped with Archival Inks (Plum and Pale Ochre), aiming for a tone-on-tone effect. More flowers were stamped on white cardstock with Plum and light pink inks, cut out, shaped and layered into flowers. I also added a little bit of Stickles to them.

 

Directly underneath the photo is Darkroom Door's Emulsion Frame, white embossed on black patterned paper. I added more layers of Prima papers under the photo, and also printed the journaling on a tag die cut from the same papers. The little tab die comes from a new Life Made Simple Basics Sizzix set.

 

Under the photo, there is a pretty ribbon I found in my stash, the title and and a border die cut with Stephanie Barnard's Borders set.

Finally, I added two little rub-ons and decided that the page was done, with a for me unusual amount of white space.

 

Thank you for looking!! I hope you will play along with us! CSI is such a wonderful challenge.

 

Happy scrapping!

 

Anna-Karin

 

Supplies:

Surfaces: Daler & Rowney watercolour paper; Prima: Cartographer A4 pad, Finnabair Vintage Vanity A4 pad

Dies: Sizzix: Tag & Bookplates, Life Made Simple Basic set, Borders

Stamps: Darkroom Door: Full Bloom Vol. 2, Art de Fleur Vol. 1, Emulsion Frame

Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Plum, Pale Ochre; Distress Ink: Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord; Memento: Angel Pink

Paint: Daler & Rowney watercolours

Glitter: Ranger Stickles: Mercury Glass

Embossing powder: Ranger Seafoam White

Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Words Remnant Rubs, Life Quotes Remnant Rubs; Prima Letter Stickers; Making Memories brads

Dream Mixed Media Layout

Hello all! Darkroom Door is sponsoring Scrap Around the World this month and the design team were invited to play along. I hope you will join in too, you could win a whole bunch of Darkroom Door stamps, and there are a lot of other prizes too. Here is the lovely mood board:

 

I had such fun making my mixed-media layout:

 

I was inspired by several different things from the mood board: the colours, the happy celebration theme, the macaroons and of course the balloons. The background is done with layers of gesso, paint, stamping and stencilling. I really wanted to use this photo of my son walking with a balloon, even though it wasn't totally the right colours. He loves balloons.

 

I coated watercolour paper with gesso and when it was dry I gave the background a first layer of Distress Paints, using pretty light colours and watering the paint down first. The title was stamped with Vermillion Archival Ink.

 

I love the new Gum Trees set and knew I wanted to use the trees on this layout. These stamps are detailed and since the background was slightly textured, because of the gesso, I decided to stamp them on tissue paper using Archival Jet Black ink. The stamped tissue trees were adhered to the background with glossy multi-medium, making the tissue paper practically invisible. I added another coat of gel on top of them. When dry, the trees were lightly coloured with Distress Paint and I also painted hills for them.

 

When the gel was dry, the background was stamped with various Darkroom Door stamps, such as: French Script Texture, Grid Background, Smile Word Block, and Coffee Stain.

The following layer consists of molding paste applied with a palette knife through two stencils by Simon Says Stamp and one by Tim Holtz. Here you can see the wonderful Leaves stencil. When the paste was dry, I coloured it with paint.

The shadow was done with a Distress Marker, smudging it out with my finger. It adds great dimension. The little butterflies were die cut with the Sizzix Butterfly Frenzy die.

 

The red bike comes from the Enjoy the Ride set, and so does the sentiment you see here. It is better to do most of the stamping before stencilling with the paste, since it looks nice with stamping underneath the paste, and it is also hard to stamp on the background once the paste is there. I used some Darkroom Door word strips to add more text to the page, there is also a bit more journaling on the back.

Under the photo there is a piece of music patterned paper and I also used images from Darkroom Door Sweet Treats Montage sheet, which fit real well with the mood board. The little bow is made with Tim Holtz Bow-Tied die.

Even though you hardly see the Bingo Numbers stamped with red, I like the look of them peeking out from under the stencilled leaves.

Apart from the stamped sentiments, I also printed some quotes and cut into strips. You probably already know that I like to use quotes on my projects. This one is an abbreviated version of the original quote, I believe (I often check to make sure I have the quotes right). The letters to the left come from Tim Holtz Schoolhouse stencil.

Thank you for looking! I hope you will join in the challenge, and don't forget to check out the gorgeous layouts by my fellow DT members.

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Daler & Rowney watercolour paper; Bazzill Antique 6 x 6 paper pad; Tim Holtz Core'dinations Distress Colour-Core cardstock
Stamps: Darkroom Door: Gum Trees, French Script Texture, Enjoy the Ride, Scratched Alphabet, Smile Word Block, Grid Background, Bingo Numbers, Coffee Stain
Dies: Sizzix: Bow-Tied, Courtyard Frameworks, Butterfly Frenzy
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Vermillion, Viridian, Jet Black; Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs
Paint: Distress Paint: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Evergreen Bough, Victorian Velvet
Marker: Distress Marker: Black Soot, Walnut Stain
Medium: Golden Artist Paint: Gesso, Light Molding Paste
Stencils: Simon Says Stamp Exclusives: Leaves, Blocked Circles; Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous: Schoolhouse
Embellishments: Darkroom Door: Sweet Treats Montage, Prague Vol. 2 Word Strips; Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Elements Tissue Tape, Label Letters; lace trim

Bright Star Baby Jar Tutorial

Hello and welcome! I realised I hadn't posted this CHA sample project made with one of Eileen Hull's Sizzix 3-D Food Jar & Spoon die. It is a mini tutorial.

 

This little jar die is so cute and the spoon is also part of the same die. Since it is a steel-rule die, you can cut it from thick materials, I used mat board. This would be a great gift for a new baby, and you can also place something inside the jar. Change the colours to fit with the recipient. 

 

Die cut the pieces from mat board. Ink the spoon and the top of the jar with Ranger's Emboss It Dabber and emboss with Aged Silver Embossing Enamel, which gives a great vintage silver look. Emboss the spoon on both sides. Ink with Stormy Sky Distress Ink, making the jar darker at the corners and the bottom, which makes it look more dimensional.

 

Stamp the jars and the centre piece with Hero Arts Tiny Stars stamp, using Archival Cornflower ink. I love this stamp.

 

Carefully sand the edges of the jars to reveal the white mat board. White emboss a sentiment on each side of the jar. If you want the sentiment to stand out more, you can stamp it on a label, or stamp it before stamping the stars and mask.

 

Apply strong adhesive to the flaps on the box piece and assemble the die. Since the Scoreboards dies both cuts and scores the surface, assembly is easy.

 

Dye a piece of crinkle ribbon with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Distress Ink and tie the spoon to the jar. Add a few Mirrored Stars.

 

The back of the jar, with a slightly crooked sentiment. 

The jar works great together with the shoe that I made with Eileen's 3-D Shoe die. You can find a tutorial for the shoe here.

 

Thank you for looking!

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Sizzix Little Sizzles White Mat Board
Dies: Sizzix: 3-D Food Jar & Spoon
Stamps: Hero Arts: Tiny Star Background CG616; Stampers Anonymous Wendy Vecchi: Art Comforts
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink: Cornflower Blue; Distress Ink: Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass; Ranger Emboss-It Dabber
Embossing powder: Ranger Seafoam White; Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing Enamel
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Mirrored Stars, Crinkle Ribbon

Summertime Configurations Book

Hello everyone! It's Monday and a new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is up, and a favourite theme of mine this month - Botanical Bliss. I just got a Tim Holtz Mini Configurations Book, which I was really looking forward to altering.

 

I love Tim Holtz new botanical papers, stamps and embellishments and since they fit really well together with memories from childhood summers at my grandmother's, I decided to use that as the theme for my book. She loved birds, flowers and plants, and had a shop and a post office, - all of these aspects are present in these papers. Lots of details in this project, and I have many close-ups to share.

 

As my main photo, I used a photo from a Midsummer's Eve celebration, which is why we are wearing flower wreaths. Since I wanted the two birds to show, I planned the design according to the paper. The 8 x 8 papers are a little too short to cover the whole cover, so I added a strip from another paper at the top. There is also a Trellis Frameworks, with the frame die cut from grungeboard and painted with Victorian Velvet. The inside parts were die cut from mirrored sheet, cork and patterned papers.

 

I stamped the patterned paper with different text and image stamps, picking stamps that fit with my theme. There are also die cut Butterfly Frenzy butterflies here and there.

 

If you plan the placement carefully, you can add dimensional items to the inside cover and still be able to close the book. Just make sure that there is space inside of one of the boxes for the item. I made roses with the Tattered Pinecone die, inked the and smeared some Antique Linen Distress Stickles on top and there are some mica flakes in the centre.

 

You can move the boxes around to fit your project. I had such fun filling these boxes with meaningful items and memories. Every time I work on something like this, I am amazed at the amount of memories that appear, things I thought I had forgotten brought to life by the process of creating. I painted all the boxes and edges with Victorian Velvet, and when dry, sanded them slightly and inked with Gathered Twigs.

 

I measured patterned papers to fit into each box, stamped the papers and then glued them down with matte multi-medium. I planned the placement of everything so that I wouldn't cover up parts of the patterned papers that I wanted to be able to see. In this first box I placed an 'f' letterpress letter (for 'farmor' which means paternal grandmother). I painted it pink. There is also a Tattered Pinecone rose, Mirrored Star and gold mica flakes.

 

These new monocles are such fun to work with. I placed a photo of my grandmother and an uncle behind it and added a rub-on to the front. I used a ring fastener to hang it and removed the jump ring that comes with the monocle, in order for it to fit into the box. There is a strip of tissue tape in the background.

 

One of my strongest memories from summertime at my grandmothers was walking in the forest (and sometimes encountering angry cows). The tree was coloured with Distress Paint. There is also a mini gear in the background and the paper with all the vintage adds fit well because of the shop they used to have. I am lucky to have some of the stamps from the shop, and they still stamp perfectly. You can spot one of them in the background here.

 

While I was working on the project I typed a list of words describing my memories, in no particular order. I needed a place for them, and die cut a matchbox. The cover was made from thin chipboard and the inside drawer from patterned paper. It was painted brown and a Ephemera piece, rub-ons and a pen nib was added on top. At the sides, there is tissue tape. The box can be removed.

 

Inside the matchbox there is a mini ticket booklet, with my journaling words.

 

There are journaling strips on both sides. I bound the tickets together with a strip of tissue tape.

 

Next to the box there is another rose and a Corked Vial filled with gold mica flakes and with a rub-on on top. All the leaves on the project were die cut with the Spring Greenery die.

 

There is more stamping and rub-on sentiments on the background.

 

There was a really old homemade swing hanging from a branch in the garden and I wanted to include that memory somehow. This swing was made from grungeboard, painted, sanded and inked and tied with two pieces of wire.

 

In the largest box there is a photo of me taken in her garden. Just like my grandmother, I like birds, and this metallic one is so pretty. I coloured it with Distress Paints.

 

I really love these letterpress letters, and would need a whole box with just 'A's (it is probably my most used letter, not only do I have three in my own name, my son's name also starts with an 'A' and he likes to collect them from my stash).

 

In this box there are also more frameworks pieces, a little bow and a tiny piece of ruler fabric that was a leftover from another project.

This is the front cover of the Configurations Book, with a really pretty paper as my base, again stamped here and there. At the top, I added a strip from another patterned paper.

The bird is another ephemera piece, with a rub-on and mirror stars added to it. I also used another piece of trellis frameworks.

 

This metallic rose was coloured with Victorian Velvet and Bundled Sage.
 

This is the back cover, consisting of another pattered paper, with an additional strip at the top.

I covered the side pieces with patterned papers too. On the spine, 'memories' was stamped with Archival Ink. The shiny piece is a mirror piece, which is hard to photograph. 

At the base of the spine is this little dog, cut from one of the patterned papers. 

On the other long side I used one of the papers with vintage adds and at the top and bottom there are strips from the pictorial alphabet paper.

Here you can see the base of the book too. I love that this project can both be displayed open and that you can close it up as a book.

 

Join us this week in our great challenge and it might be you who wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

 

Thank you so much for looking!!

Happy crafting!!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Mini Configurations book, Menagerie 8 x 8 paper stash, Mini Collage Paper stash, Mirrored Sheet, Grungeboard, French Industrial Paper Stash
Dies: Sizzix: Matchbox, Trellis Frameworks, Bow-Tied, Tattered Curvy Banners, Butterfly Frenzy, Spring Greenery, Tattered Pinecone, Tickets
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz: Tiny Things, Postcards, Worn Text; Stampers Anonymous: Classics #5, Classics #17
Ink: Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs, Victorian Velvet; Archival Ink: Jet Black
Paint: Distress Paint: Gathered Twigs, Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage, Broken China, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Forest Moss
Glitter: Distress Stickles: Antique Linen
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Game Pieces, Words Remnant Rubs, Letterpress, Alpha Chips, Woodlands Trees, Mini Sprocket Gears, Monocles, Mirrored Stars, Nature Adornments, Elements Tissue Tape, Symphony Tissue Tape, Arrows Adornments, Thrift Shop Ephemera pack, Expedition Ephemera Pack, Ring Fasteners, Corked Vials, Pen Nibs, Life Quotes Remnant Rubs; Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric; Stampendous Gilded Mica Flakes