Altenew dahlia stencils

I totally fell in love with Altenew's Dahlia layering stencil and had to get it. I cut out some masks with a large post-it note pad (full stick) and could then easily mask off the flowers and leaves and use different colors. I used distress ink and an ink blending tool.

I cut the finished panel down a bit and layered it with a piece of black card stock. The stamped sentiment reads "Thanks so much" in Swedish and is from Slöjd-Detaljer. I also added some Clear Droplets from Pretty Pink Posh and some sequins from a Neat and Tangled pack.

The finished panel was cut with the 2nd largest rectangle die from a Hero Arts set. I also cut a black A2-sized panel with the largest rectangle die in that same set. I offset the panel to one corner for something different. The stamped sentiment reads "Thanks so much" in Swedish and is from Slöjd-Detaljer.

The finished panel was cut with the largest rectangle die from a Hero Arts set. The stamped sentiment reads "A big hug" in Swedish and is from Slöjd-Detaljer. I also added some sequins from a Neat and Tangled pack.

The finished panel was cut with the 2nd largest rectangle die from a Hero Arts set. I also cut a black strip of cardstock and attached it to the left side. The finished card is a bit smaller than an standard A2-sized card. The sentiment is die cut with a Lawn Fawn die.

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge - Stencil it
Simon Says Stamp - Wedneday Challenge - Stencil it

Showers of love

When Pinterest surfing you can find the most adorable designs. This one I wanted to try out and dug out my Lawn Fawn stamp setand stamped the umbrella. I used both Lawn Fawn and Hero arts ink. The hearts are from different Lawn Fawn sets. I used two ink colors and 2nd generation stamping to get the variation in color of the hearts.

I finished it off by adding polka dots with Nuvo Crystal drops on the umbrellas.

Fall leaves birthday wishes with raised die cut sentiment

Fall birthday card. I stamped with a Hero Arts stamp set and then heat embossed the details in gold embossing powder. The Lawn Fawn sentiment is die cut in both white and gold and then mounted stacked together. The panel is cut with My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangle and then mounted on a Lawn Fawn patterned paper.

Grand maple leaves

Fall is upon us and now was the perfect time to bring out the grand maple leaf die from Simon Says stamp.

I started by inking two panels, one on Canson watercolor paper and one on Ranger's woodgrain paper. I used distress inks in Candied apple, Spiced marmalade, Fossilized amber and Crushed olive. When I was happy with how the panels looked, I spritzed them with some water and dabbed up the drops with a paper towel. When everything was dry I die cut the grand maple leaf and now had the basis for 4 cards.

For the leaves I decided on the above design. I die-cut the two panels with Hero Arts rectangle die. I heat embossed the gold specks with chunky gold embossing powder. The sentiment is heat embossed in regular gold embossing powder. The leaves were glued in to place and then I attached some black hemp and tied it into a knot. The smaller panel was then mounted with fun foam onto the larger panel.

For the panels with the leaf cut outs I wanted to create shaker cards. I heat embossed the sentiment (Lawn Fawn) onto a craft panel and also used some chunky gold embossing powder for the larger specks. I then foam mounted the panel with a piece of acetate in the front and filled it with green, red and gold sequins.

I also wanted to make this one into a shaker card. I did the same thing as with the card above, unfortunately, I forgot to mount the acetate before I mounted the foam tape *fail, smile* so I simply made it into a card with dimensions. I mounted some gold sequins on the front.

Close-up of the woodgrain cardstock.

Close up of the shaker card.

Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

Raised die-cut sentiment, fall theme

I saw this technique on a Jennifer McGuire-video not long ago and wanted to try it out. I started by stamping the leaves with several colors of Distress ink onto watercolor paper (Ranger). I inked up the stamp with several colors and then lightly spritzed it with some water before stamping. After everything had dried, I heat embossed the details with gold embossing powder.

Then came the scary part, die-cutting the sentiment out of the panel *smile*. I then die-cut the sentiment of plain white card stock and stacked them together and mounted in the negative space with the colored sentiment on top. It gives a really cool effect.

Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

Congrats on a new home

I saw this idea as one of the mentions at the Lawnfawnatics blog and thought I had to create something similar for our neighbors who are moving to a new place.

I cut the little town border from white cardstock and also from some patterned paper from Doodlebug and replaced one of the houses with a more colorful front. I cut the grass from some green paper with a simple stitched hillside border. The sky is Lawn Fawn watercolor wishes paper and the cloud comes from their Plane and simple stamp set. I just love the little faces on the clouds, their adorable. Been using them a lot lately. The little butterfly comes from a My Favorite things stamp set (with the cute little elephant). The colorful mats are cut with Hero arts basic rectangles. The sentiment is Lawn Fawn, heat embossed in white.

Best of luck in your new digs!

Ink smooshing, stenciling and stamping

I got the inspiration from a gorgeous card on Instagram. It had some gorgeous colors that I wouldn't immediately have put together myself so I got out my distress inks and went to town.

I started by smooshing ink onto a laminated sheet I have. I used; Cracked pistachio, Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean and a bit of Chipped Saphire. I sprayed them with water and pressed my watercolor paper into it. I dried it with a heat tool and then pressed it in again where I wanted more color. I did it several times.

Then it was time for some stenciling. I used two different Tim Holtz stencils with some Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink. I used a makeup applicator to dab on the ink.

Then I chose a couple of stamps that I wanted to use; sheet music and a text stamp and stamped that Distress Ink Chipped Saphire. I also used a texture stamp (little dots) with Versacolor silver pigment ink.

Then it was time to stamp the flowers using Distress Ink Dusty Concord. I used two different flowers from a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp set with flowers.

I finished the cards off with sentiments from Gummiapan heat embossed in white.

The cards are then mounted on a dark grey cardbase.

Loved how they turned out!

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

Monoprinting, hugs and congrats

I used a stencil and the technique "monoprinting" to achieve the background. So much fun! You start by smooshing your chosen inks on your stencil, you spray it with water just til the ink beads up. Then you carefully turn the stencil around and place it on your watercolor cardstock and press. I put a paper towel on top as well so if any water comes ozing out through the stencil, it's caught by the paper towel. Then lift the stencil up and let dry. You never get the same result twice so it's always exciting to see what you get.

I finished the card off by die cutting them with a Hero Arts rectangle die. I also cut a blue mat with one size larger die and then mounted on a white card base. The sentiments are from Lawn Fawn, die cut in black card stock (3 layers) and then with some Wink of Stella on top.

And finally, the thank you cards were done

I spent some time making thank you cards to my children's daycare teachers and here is how they finally came out.

The two on the left says that says "Kram" simply means hugs. The dies are from Rox stamps and Gummiapan. They're made with Cardio flower stamps. I actually stamped with Distress inks and it worked great.

The one in the middle is the cutest little elephant from My favorite things. The paper is Lawn Fawn rainbow plad.

In the top right I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set, Mom+me, and did a lot of masking to get all the "kids" in there. Colored it with Zig clean color real brush markers.

And the last one on the bottom right is a background stamp from Hero Arts, I think, white heat embossed with distress inks in Seedless preserves, Wilted violet and Shaded lilac. The sentiment is a Lawn Fawn die, stacked three high.

Underbara höstlöv med Hero Arts layering stamps

Testade mitt nya Hero Arts stämpelset med Distress Inks. Var nyfiken på "triple layering" som jag sett på Pinterest bland annat. Jag skar till vattenfärgspapper i tre olika storlekar och måttade även ut mattor som skulle sitta emellan dessa när jag var färdig.

Sedan stämplade jag med en hel hög med distress inks. Använde Mustard seed, Fozzilized amber, Abandon coral, Festive berries, Fired brick och Spiced marmalade. Spiced marmalade gjorde sig väldigt bra här men även de andra. Var lite försiktig med Fozzilized amber för den blev lite "skitig" jämfört med de andra färgerna. Jag använde mig av två av bladen, ett lönnlöv och ett annat.

Efter färgen hade fått torka så stämplade jag bladnerverna med Versamark ink och hällde på embossingpulver i guld. Slutresultatet glänser som 17, mycket nöjd.

Jag avslutade med att montera allt på mattor i rött och sedan på kortbasen. Stämplade även en hälsning från ett annat Hero Arts stämpelset - sending warm thoughts. Tyckte det passade bättre med tanke på att de andra hälsningarna handlade mer om Thanksgiving som vi ju inte firar i Sverige.

Så här blev de färdiga korten.

Happy fall med Hero Arts

Har äntligen färdigställt lite projekt som jag jobbat med. Testade Hero Arts trädstämplar med Distress Inks. Med tanke på att löven inte är så detaljerade så fungerade detta utmärkt. Funderar dock på att till nästa omgång testa att stämpla med en ljus färg, sprida färgen med vatten och pensel, torka och sedan stämpla med lite mörkare färger. Får återkomma till det då;

Den gula och bruna cardstocken har jag använt en die från Gummiapan. Jag har dock inte helt nöjd med deras dies. De lägger stygnen lite för nära kanten samt att man måste efterarbeta genom att skrapa bort papper på baksidan så stygnen verkligen syns. Dessutom är diesen i lite väl tunt stål vilket gör att de böjer sig jättelätt. En väldig skillnad jämfört med t.ex Lawn Fawns "stiched border dies".