Wild and Free Alcohol Ink Flowers

Hello my friends, I'm back to share, another two cards using the floral images from Simon Says Wild and Free Flowers stamp set from the April Card Kit, stamped on Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink White Yupo Alcohol Ink panels with Alcohol Lift Ink.

I trimmed White Yupo to create 2 - 4" x 5.1/4" panels and coloured using Amethyst, Purple Twilight and Stream Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution applied with a Mini Round Blending Tool and felt pad.

I cleaned the floral images from Simon Says Stamp Wild and Free Flowers stamp set to remove any ink residue from previous use and stamped on to the panels, inked with Ranger Alcohol Lift-Ink. I dabbed the stamped image repeatedly with paper towel using a clean part of the towel each time until the image magically re-appeared.

I inked the sentiments from the stamp set with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Ink, sprinkled with Ultra Fine Gold Embossing Powder, both included in the April Card Kit and heat Set. Yupo Paper is a plastic based substrate and will warp from excessive heat, so I made sure my heat tool was hot and kept it moving across the surface until the powder melted. I stamped an additional sentiment on to Distress Black HeavyStock, trimmed and fixed to the panel with Distress Collage Medium.

I matted the panels on to Distress Black HeavyStock, trimmed to 1/8" larger and fixed to A2 side and top folding white card blanks. To finish I added Pink Fresh Studio Gold Glitter Drops.

Enjoy your Easter weekend whether you are out rolling eggs or just enjoying the chocolate variety.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Floating Flowers -Take 2

Hello my friends, I'm back to share a bright, cheerful and way more colourful version of yesterday's card using Simon Says Floating Flowers Embossing Folder from the April Card Kit, coloured with my Distress Watercolor Pencils palette and Simon Says Intense Black ink...shades at the ready !!!

I spritzed a panel of Distress Watercolor card with water, placed in the Floating Flowers Embossing Folder and ran through my die-cutting machine.

I added droplets of water to the wells in my Distress Watercolor Pencils palettes, mixed and painted the flowers and leaves on the debossed side of the panel with a Detailer Water brush and dried. There is no need to keep within the lines for this technique, in fact it is better not to so that no white shows when you move on to the next technique. The colours used are Picked Raspberry, Crackling Campfire, Dusty Concord, Fossilized Amber, Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint. If you haven't created a palette, you could pick up the colour from the pencil with a wet brush.

I dragged Simon Says Intense Black ink pad over the panel, dried and used a Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen to accent the small dots and coloured some of the flower centres with a Sakura Black Glaze Pen'

I trimmed the panel to 4" x 5.1/4" and matted on to Simon Says Sunshine cardstock trimmed 1/8" larger. I die-cut the Hello Shadow from Vellum and the word from the Sunshine cardstock, layered and fixed to the panel by applying adhesive behind the letters.

I added a Simon Says Best Friends Reverse Sentiment Strip and matted the panel on an A2 white card blank.

This was a bit out of my comfort zone and I was ready to give up until I added the black on top and the magic happened - now I rather like it. Have fun with whatever you are creating.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Floating Flowers

Hello my friends, I decided to have another play with Simon Says Stamp Floating Flowers Embossing Folder from the April Card Kit using a direct to paper technique which always packs a punch.

I spritzed Fossilized Amber, Evergreen  Bough and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Sprays on to my Tim Holtz Media Surface Mat, spritzed with water, tapped the panel into the spray repeatedly and dried between layers until I was happy with the coverage. I placed the panel in the Floating Flowers Embossing Folder so that the colour would be on the debossed side and ran it through my die-cutting machine.

I dragged the Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink pad over the panel and although this is an old technique, normally done with Black, any dark colour will work and I prefer brown with the soft spring colours.

I coloured scraps of Distress Watercolor card with Scorched Timber Distress Ink and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink using the direct to paper technique and die-cut the shadow and word using Simon Says Hello die.

I die-cut Simon Says Daisy Heads from Distress Watercolor card, added shading with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink, coloured the flower centres with Scorched Timber Distress Ink using Tiny Blending Tools and assembled.

I trimmed the panel to 4" x 5.1/4", fixed the die-cuts in place with Distress Collage Medium and matted on to an A2 white card blank.

I'll be back tomorrow to share Floating Flowers Take 2 where I used my Distress Watercolor Pencil palettes to create a riot of colour.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says - Emboss It

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Thank you for joining us for last week's challenge and we hope you can join us this week too because

and the theme for this week is...

EMBOSS IT

I used Simon Says Stamp Floating Flowers Embossing Folder from the Wild and Free Flowers April Card Kit to create the background on my card and decorated with Tim Holtz/Sizzix BrushStroke Butterflies and Simon Says Stamp Script Hello Shadow die.

I placed an A2 panel of Distress Watercolor card in the Floating Flowers Embossing Folder, ran through my die-cutting machine, dragged the Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink pad over the debossed side and inked around the edges of the panel with Scorched Timber Distress ink using a Tiny Blending Tool.

I machine stitched around the edge with black thread

I die cut Tim Holtz/Sizzix BrushStroke Butterflies from panels from my background box coloured using Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain, Rusty Hinge Distress Spray Stain and Distress Oxide Spray, Walnut Stain and Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Sprays. I assembled and die-cut the butterfly bodies from Distress Black HeavyStock.

I die-cut the Script Hello shadow from the coloured card and the word twice from Distress Watercolor and layered to create dimension.

I fixed the butterflies to the panel popped up on foam squares and the sentiment die-cuts with Distress Collage Medium. I matted the panel on to Simon Says Chocolate cardstock, trimmed to 1/8" larger, fixed to an A2 white card blank and decorated with Pink Fresh Studio Gold Glitter Drops.

You can find all the products I used over at Simon Says Stamp, just click on the links below

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2pm CET to join in with the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend online at Simon Says Stamp

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Wild and Free Flowers

Hello my friends, I'm back to share another two cards made using the beautiful images from the Simon Says Stamp Wild and Free Flowers stamp set in the April Card Kit, coloured with Distress Watercolor Pencils. I did warn you that I am a sucker for floral images so there may be more makes with this stamp set coming your way. You can find all the details for the April Card Kit HERE

Both cards are made in the same way, just using different colours of Distress Watercolor Pencils. I began by stamping the images and sentiments from the Wild and Free stamp set, inked with Simon Says Intense Black ink on to 4" x 5.1/4" panels of Distress Watercolor card.

On the first card, I picked up the pigment from the Tumbled Glass Distress Watercolor Pencil with a Detailer Water Brush to create a light wash on the background and dried.

I coloured the flowers and leaves in the same way using Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Gathered Twigs, Bundled Sage and Pine Needles Distress Watercolour Pencils, dried between layers and applied more colour to add shading. 

I drew around the images with the Tumbled Glass Distress Watercolor Pencils to add depth and softened the lines with the Detailer Water Brush. I used a Sakura Black Glaze Pen to accentuate the stamens.

To finish I applied Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink around the edges of the panel using a Mini Round Blending Tool and fixed to an A2 white card blank.

I used a Bundled Sage Distress Watercolor Pencil to create the background wash on the second card.

I coloured the flowers and leaves using Spun Sugar, Abandoned Coral, Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint Distress Watercolor Pencils.

I used a Sakura Black Glaze Pen to accentuate the stamens as before

I inked around the edges of the panel with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink using a Mini Round Blending Tool and fixed to a top folding A2 white card blank.

Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back on Monday to share my DT project for Simon Says Monday Challenge. Have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx