Butterflies art journal page

Hello crafters! I hope your weekend was good and filled with creative fun. 

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 Things with Wings theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Don't miss the beautiful project by our January guest designer Cassie Lynch aka mk_knits.

I made a double page in my Small Creative Journal this week, using butterflies and dragonflies. Most of them were white embossed on vellum and colored at the back. The page started out as a place to use up left-over paint and ended up with interesting unplanned textures. 

The page was prepared with gesso first. I had left-over paint from another project and used it here. The paint was misted with water to blend and I wiped some of it off, ending up with an interesting looking background. 

Continuing with the page at a later stage, also using up left-over paint, I sponged paint through Tim Holtz Latticework stencil.

And continued with Tim Holtz Gradient Dot stencil.

The main sentiment comes from Tim Holtz Perspective set. I colored the letters with a pencil.

I took more step photos, but couldn't locate them now. The dragonflies come from Simon Says Stamp Big Botanicals and Loving Thoughts sets. They were white embossed on Simon Says Stamp vellum and colored at the back with Prismacolor pencils.

I also stamped some dragonflies and butterflies directly on the background. This one isn't perfect, but that is okay. Vines from Simon Says Stamp Loving Thoughts were silver embossed on the background. The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful and Curious.

I added sentiments from Simon Says Stamp Create. These butterflies are from the Beautiful and Curious set.

Flowers from Simon Says Stamp Loving Thoughts were silver embossed along the bottom of the page. I also used Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.

The large butterfly also comes from the Beautiful and Curious set.

The background was stamped here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter.

Join us this week in our Things with Wings 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.

Foil Forest Tag

Hello crafters! I hope you had a good weekend! We have beautiful winter wonderland weather here at the moment, with lots of snow.

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 Fun with Foil theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Don't miss the beautiful project by our January guest designer Cassie Lynch aka mk_knits.

Inspired by the snow outside my window, I made a shiny and frosty foil forest tag. I used Ranger's Frozen Shiny Foil Sheets for the foiled elements and a dry embossed silver background. Glitter and dry embossed vellum added the last frosty details to the tag.

Start by covering cardstock with a double-sided adhesive sheet. I used Simon Says Stamp Frosty Tree Gathering and Little Evergreen Trees to die cut the trees. Remove the protective tape and press the die cuts to the back of the foil sheets. I cut the smaller tree line into pieces first. Press and then remove.

I wanted a shiny background too and cut a tag from silver kraft cardstock and embossed in Simon Says Stamp Feathery Pines.

For a frosty look, I added Ranger Stickles Glitter Gel Moon Dust to the background (not the trees).

The sentiments were stamped with Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas using Archival Cobalt ink. When the glitter is dry, it gives a frosty look to the background, contrasting nicely with the shinier silver trees and the foil trees. The snowflakes are from Tim Holtz Twig & Stump die set.

Some of the foil elements were still a little sticky and I pressed them onto other colors of foil, for a multi-color effect.

The trees get extra texture from the texture of my die cutting plates.

Varying the sizes and shapes of the trees add interest.

One of my favorite ways to create a snowy look is to dry emboss and tear vellum and then layer it. Here I dry embossed the vellum in Simon Says Stamp Soft Snowfall folder and tore into three pieces. The trees are layered in between the vellum.

Join us this week in our Fun with Foil 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.

Simon Says Stamp Heart to Heart 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 Heart to Heart release. If you are following along in the hop, you should have come here from the wonderful Kim Hamilton.

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 Heart to Heart release is filled with of a great variety of new and versatile stamps, embossing folders, stencils, dies, ink and sequins, perfect Valentine's crafting and many other themes. You can find the entire Heart to Heart release here.

The not-yet-released Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Friend Like You 3x4 Stamp Set, will be automatically added to carts with any purchase from the Heart to Heart collection. This gift with purchase is available through 1/11 at 11:59 pm EST or while supplies last.

I made a tag with a friendship theme, an inky background and lots of hearts. I used the new Simon Says Stamp Heart Suite for all the stamping and the Rounded Hearts to die cut the hearts. The hearts were die cut from both stamped hearts, vellum and old book paper.

Start by white embossing the two sentiments, the ribbon and two hearts on a tag. I like how the word 'Friend' fits so well on the tag. 

Smear Distress Ink on a non-stick craft sheet and mist with water. Press the paper into the ink. Let dry.

Repeat to add more ink.

And even more ink, until you are happy with the look.

For the final inky layer I used Distress Oxide ink, but only a little.

I restamped the ribbon and the words with Uncharted Mariner, off-setting slightly to create a shadow effect.

Next, I used the text stamp on the Simon Says Stamp Heart Suite set and stamped it here and there. I really like this stamp and will be using it a lot.

The two solid hearts were embossed with white and clear powder on kraft cardstock. 

Die cut with hearts from Simon Says Stamp Rounded Hearts. This die set comes with ten dies. I am very fond of these types of die sets, with the same shape in different sizes. I also die cut it from old book paper and from Simon Says Stamp Silver Vellum.

Paint the clear embossed hearts with white Distress Paint and wipe the paint off from the embossed areas.

Layer the hearts together and gently fold up the sides. 

I also added two pairs of the smallest heart. Here with silver vellum and old book paper. The word 'hugs' at the top of the tag comes from the text stamp and was placed there on purpose.

The shape of the letters is just wonderful, especially that slanted line in the 'H'. The smaller sentiments and the label stamps also come from the Heart Suite set. It is a very versatile stamp set.

I added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Gems over the dots in the label stamps, and here and there on the background.

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 Simon Says Stamp 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 14 January.

Here are all the stops along the hop

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Nina-Marie Trapani

Heather Hoffman

Suzy Plantamura

Jennifer McGuire

Laura Bassen

Mindy Eggen

Anne Fiene

Jessica Vasher

Revati Panickar

Amy Rysavy

Kim Hamilton

Anna-Karin Evaldsson (you are here)

For more inspiration, remember to check out the Heart to Heart 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 first Heart to Heart blog hop, don't miss blog hop number day number 2, which is tomorrow.

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.