Summer Fun Layout Tutorial

Hello friends! I hope you had a great weekend. The World Cup journey is over for Sweden, but it was fun while is lasted. We have had a good weekend, finding a new friend, going for walks, cycling and going swimming. 

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a very fitting Summer Fun theme. Don't miss the gorgeous project by our July guest designer Karolina Bukowska.

 

I made a layout this week, documenting memories from last year's visits to the sea, with lots of swimming, crab fishing (on this photo), sand castle building and more. The background was done with Tim Holtz Grid Dot stencil and Distress Spray Stains. I was aiming for a happy, playful summer look. The vellum was embossed with the Tiny Dots folder.

First, I covered most of a sheet of watercolor paper with the stencil, applying Texture Paste through it with a palett knife. You have to wait so that the first application is dry, before continuing, otherwise it will smear.

When dry, mist with Distress Spray Stains. I like how the ink pools in the recessed areas.

The title was die cut from white mat board using Tim Holtz's Sizzix Deco Alpha die. I inked the letters to give them an ombre look. Mat board takes ink beautifully.

Coat the letters with Glossy Accents, and they look almost like glossy sweets.

This circle was a left over from a gel printing session - you can find the original tutorial here in my Gel Printed Card Tutorial - the stamp used in the background is SSS Bohemian Lace stamp.

I stamped sentiments and cut into strips and also used the Mixed Media 1 set to die cut a honeycomb pattern from a paper that had been inked with Spiced Marmalade. The letter was also a left-over, with the A being clear embossed using the SSS Sketched Alphabet set.

My favourite part of misting is the areas along the edges which get this splattery look.

The heart was die cut from white paper with Tim Holtz Scribbles and Splat set.

It is easy to make your own title letters, all you need is a die, paper or, in this case, mat board, and ink or paint. The Glossy Accents gives the letters a nice finished look.

I also die cut butterflies with the SSS Stitched Butterflies set. They were die cut twice, with the one set left white and the other inked. I also misted them with Wendy Vecchi's Pearl Mica Spray.

Here you can see the effect of the Mica Spray a little better.

I hope you will join us this week in our Summer Fun 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 for taking the time to stop by 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.

Clear Penguin Card Tutorial

Hi and welcome to my blog today! I am happy to have a tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog today.

I hadn't made a clear card in quite a while and it is one of my favourite types of cards, so I thought it was time for a new one. This one has layers of stamping, embossed vellum, and a cute Picture Book Hugging Penguin, in a summer field of flowers.

To see the tutorial and close-ups, you'll have to head over to the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog.

Thank you for stopping by! I will see you again tomorrow.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Book Club Chapter 2 Card Tutorial

Hello friends! Another warm summer week is almost over, and tomorrow Sweden is playing in the quarter finals in the FIFA soccer World Cup for the first time since 1994. I watch very little sport on TV, but now and then, when it is big occasions, it is fun to watch and tomorrow we will definitely be watching. 

Today, I have a card to share, made for the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team. During July, the team is showing projects made with Eileen's new Book Club Chapter 2 dies from Sizzix and her Clearsnap ColorBox Blends inks.

I had such fun using Eileen's new Book Club 2 dies and her ColorBox Blends inks on this card. I used the inks mainly together with stencils, and to cover entire surfaces, for which they work wonderfully. The Blends inks are pigment inks and there are many shades of color, and they all look nice together. You can read more about the inks here. 

For the fun tag pocket, I used Eileen's Credit Card, Sleeve & Tags set. Start by die cutting the pocket itself, with one of the scalloped slots. I used the Magnetic Platform, so that the die would stay in place. You could also use a piece of tape.

Move the scalloped slot down and die cut again.

Cover the whole piece with Bay ink. As you can see, the ink is dispensed through a sponge at the front of the holder. It is very easy to get an even layer, and quick too. Work in a circular motion, while pressing the sponge down.

Place a stencil on top and go over with Uniform ink. This is a pigment ink so it works great for embossing. Cover the whole pocket with clear embossing powder and melt. Be careful not to burn yourself.

For the cardbase I used kraft cardstock and die cut the edge with the Scallop Border Movers & Shapers die. It works best together with the Movers & Shapers Shuttle. Use this sandwich: Movers & Shapers Shuttle, die facing up, paper, Cutting Pad.

I used a Bubble stencil and Nutmeg ink on the cardbase. You could emboss this too if you want to.

Die cut four tags with the Credit Card, Sleeve & Tags set. Aren't they cute?

Ink with ColorBox Blends and add stenciling in a different shade of ink. Here I used: Sunshine, Golden, Nutmeg, Flagstone, Leaf, Beach and Uniform inks.

I punched holes in the larger tags and added a small one to each tag. I haven't written anything on the tags yet, I want to wait with that until I know who the card will be sent to.

I used Wonder Tape to attach the pocket. You can add a strip at the top too, but I hadn't yet decided whether I wanted to add a third tag there or not.

Die cut flowers with the beautiful Flowers & Leaves Journaling Cards. The flower one has so many different flowers, and you get them all in one go. Ink with Blends.

I used one of the flowers as a star.

Shape the flowers a little and layer them with a brad in the middle. Leaves were die cut from cork.

The title was die cut from cork with the Journaling Words set. I also added a Clippings Sticker.

It is difficult to capture the shiny effect of the clear embossing powder, but I think you see it a little better here.

Don't miss all the projects by the Eileen Hull Inspiration team during July, with projects using Book Club Chapter 2 and Eileen's ColorBox Blends inks.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and have a lovely weekend!

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.

Inks: Eileen Hull Clearsnap ColorBox Blends: Bay, Sunshine, Uniform, Leaf, Golden, Beach, Nutmeg, Flagstone

You can find the inks in Eileen's Etsy store.

Flamingo Tag Tutorial

Hello everyone! I hope you are well and enjoying summer - or winter if you are in the southern hemisphere. Anton and I went to a really lovely botanical garden yesterday. He thought it was a way better outing than he expected, and found a little card-making set with a flower press which he is having big plans for. I took a lot of photos of flowers and trees.

It is a new month, and as always the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge team showcases a specific company / designer on the first Monday of a new month. This week the turn has come to Darkroom Door and their wonderful range of stamps and stencils. You don't have to use Darkroom Door products to join, but it is always fun if you do.

Our challenge theme is Red, White and/or Blue. Don't miss the beautiful project by our July guest designer Karolina Bukowska. 

I made a tag this week, using the Darkroom Door Tropical Birds set. It was fun making a scenic tag for the gorgeous flamingo stamp. My flamingo is mainly red, but there is a little bit of pink too. I didn't use a lot of supplies here, just one stamp set, Distress Ink, Distress Micro Glaze and a couple of embellishments.

The tag was die cut from watercolor paper. I inked the flamingo with red and pink inks, using grey and black for the legs and beak. Since I wanted the bird to be standing in water, I wiped off the ink from the feet. Mist with water about four times, before stamping.

Smear a tiny bit of Distress Micro Glaze on the background, as clouds and a little bit in the water. Press Distress Inks on a craft sheet, mist with water and pick up with a paint brush. Paint a couple of islands along the horizon line.

Stamp the grass stamp with Blueprint Sketch, misting with water first.

You can add more color to the bird with a paint brush, to darken some of the areas a little. I used a perfect sentiment from the same Tropical Birds set.

Here you can see the effect of the Micro Glaze resist.

I found a net on my desk, which used to hold a little ball that one of the boys got from one of those toy vending machines. I also added a piece of cheese cloth, berries and some sequins from SSS Moonshine set.

Since I wiped off the ink from the feet of the bird, it looks like she is standing in the water, and not on top of it.

I hope you will join us this week in our Red, White and/or Blue 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 for taking the time to stop by 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.

Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge

Hello friends! Today, I have a post with two very special guests, namely my sons. They made projects for the annual Simon Says Stamp Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge. Anton has shared projects on my blog before, but for Leo it is the first time.



The challenge theme is:

ANYTHING GOES WITH SPARKLE

It is time for all you crafters to let your children loose in your crafty corners for a few hours. Just close your eyes and set them free to explore their creativity. Adults are allowed to help just a little bit if necessary, but we really want the children to 'DO IT' themselves as much as possible.

This challenge is open to all children aged between 2 and 16 inclusive
We have not 1, not 2 but  3 surprise parcels of crafty goodies, hand picked by Simon. All winners are chosen at random, Good Luck to all!

Sparkle and glitter is always a favourite with kids. We went with Stickles this year, since they are so easy to use.

Anton (age 8) made a storage holder for his desk, using Eileen Hull's Sizzix Card Box Planner Storage & Organizer die. He did pretty much everything himself, from picking Distress Paint colors, dies and Stickles, to painting and decided where everything should go. I only helped a little with the die cutting. He is going to keep little papers, drawings and bits and pieces in his box. It also works great for little books (for inspiration check out this Mini Book Storage post of mine).

Leo (age 3) loves to sit on my floor and cover sheets of paper in stamping. This time, I thought it would be fun if he made cards, so I gave him some folded sheets of white paper. He normally stamps with Hero Art's Just For Kids ink, but I had cleaned the shelf my Archival Inks are standing on and Leo found the inks on the floor. The bright colors were too fun to resist, so he used them instead. He picked all the colors and the stamps himself and inked the stamps himself. I helped a little bit with the stamping on the right hand card (especially with removing the acrylic block, since it is easy to drop it back on the card). He stamped the card to the left all by himself.

The SSS Picture Book dies are perfect for children's projects and Anton used the Walrus, Elephant and Panda. The Walrus and Panda was die cut from white paper and colored with Stickles, while the Elephant was die cut from grey paper.

The Walrus, with blue tusks and nose.

The Elephant even has sparkly eyes.

And the Panda, it was important that only one of the ears should be black.

The short side of the box is orange. For more inspiration, you can have a look at Anton's previous Summer Vacation projects: Glittery Cactus and Halloween House (very spooky).

Leo had fun picking ink colors, and because there are so many stamps on the Flutter set, we didn't need to clean any in between, he could just grab a new one. It also became an exercise in naming the colors. Archival Inks stain clothing, so the child should preferable wear a protective gown. Stamping with acrylic blocks is easier to do, if the block is just big enough, so try not to use a too large block. The Hero Arts 3 x 3 in block is a favorite of mine for medium sized stamps.

It was important to Leo that the colors of Stickles coordinated with the colors of the butterflies.

He also used some Liquid Pearls.

As most children would, Leo was not happy with the yellow butterfly ending up half off the page by accident. But in stamping, letting things go off the edge of the paper often gives a finished look, and I like the way the yellow butterfly flies into the card.

If you share your creation on instagram, please add this hashtag so that we can find you #ssskidschallenge









This challenge will remain open until 6pm EST on 29th July. The winners will be drawn at random as soon as possible after the challenge closes.


THIS CHALLENGE IS FOR CHILDREN ONLY. 

Please Note: creations submitted by anyone over the age of 16 will be deleted.

Please add the age of the child after their name e.g. Daniel age 6. Emma age 3

Thank you so much for stopping by here today!!

Happy crafting!

Anton, Leo and 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.