Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Summer Garden Featuring Paper Artsy Products

Hi Everyone! This week our theme is Summer Garden and we're featuring one of my favorite companies, Paper Artsy. They have beautiful stamps, stencils and the most amazing fresco finish paints that will knock your socks off! They're a company out of the UK that started back in 2003. Paper Artsy works with several independent artists that create some of the most beautiful images for mixed media projects. I've even used them to create cards. Simon Says Stamp is one of the few stores in the US that carries their products. You can find them here.

Please welcome our guest designer this month, Alison Bomber and hop on over to the SSS Monday Challenge Blog to see the rest of the design team's amazing inspiration.

Join me for a step-by-step tutorial on how I created the background and flowers for my "Summer Garden" panel.

I cut a 6x8 white chipboard panel and chose 4 coordinating Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paints.

Apply a small amount of paint onto your craft sheet and load the paint onto a brayer by rolling it through the paint. Next, apply the paint to the panel by rolling it onto the chipboard in random directions, (top to bottom and left to right).

Continue this process with each paint color paying attention to whether the paint is translucent or opaque. Each bottle is clearly marked whether it is translucent or opaque.

Here, I added an opaque color to begin the process of creating depth.

I continue to add another layer of opaque paint in a slightly lighter shade. After this layer is dry, I go back to the two translucent colors and layer them on top until I'm pleased with the background.

I want to begin adding images that will appear softly and subtly in the background. Staying with the same paints as my background, I choose one of the light opaque paints and load a piece of Ranger Cut-N-Dry Foam with the paint. I then gently dab that onto the stamp.

Here you can see how beautiful this process transfers to my background; blending in ever so slightly.

I add more interest using a background stamp with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Snowflake paint.

I continue adding more images to the background until I'm pleased with how it looks. At this point, it's important to stick with the translucent paints.

I add a few more images with Ranger Archival Garden Patina and Fern Green Ink. After I'm pleased with  the background, I set it aside to completely dry. The fresco finish paints dry very, very quickly but the archival inks will take a bit longer to completely dry.

Here, I'm creating the background from which I will stamp my flowers. I used 3 coordinating colors of Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paints and, as you can see, followed the same process as when I created my background for the main background panel.

I'm happy with my background and the depth of colors for my flowers.

I stamp the flowers onto this background with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink. I stamped two images because I will be creating layers to my flowers so they have dimension on my completed project.

I return to my main background after it's completely dry and add some snowflake paint to create a lighter background where I stamp my flowers. This will highlight the area for my floral focal point.

I fussy cut out the flowers that I created from the other background and used a stylus on one of them to give it some dimension so it would pop off the panel.

I adhere the two flat flowers directly over the stamped image on my background with Ranger Multi Medium Matte and apply the dimensional flower on top of that for the dimension. To adhere the dimensional flower on top of the flat one, I dab a bit of multi medium matte onto the back center of the dimensional flower.

I added some Prima Micro Beads to the center of my flowers.

I wanted to add a larger, lighter colored flower to the panel just above the two smaller ones. I created a simple background using a mini distress tool with the paints and applied them in a circular motion onto the card stock. I applied the darker paint to the center.

When the paint was completely dry, I stamped my image onto the painted area making sure the center of the flower would be in the darker area. I used my Misti to get the stamp right where I wanted it. I made two of these and applied them to my panel in the same way as I applied the two smaller flowers.

I added some small black beads to the center of my pink flower and added a stamped border in two of the corners of my panel. I then distressed the edges all the way around with Black Soot Distress Ink. I then added my sentiment to complete my "Summer Garden" mixed media panel.

Here again is my completed project.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created my "Summer Garden" panel and that you join us this week in all the fun. Add your project to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and you could win a $50 gift voucher to their amazing store. I can't wait to see what you create!

For more inspiration, tips and tricks for all types of papercraft creations, follow Simon Says Stamp on:

          

You can find all the following supplies I used to create this project at Simon Says Stamp:

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Mask It - Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Entry

Now that it's summer I have a little more time to join in challenges and craft more. This week on Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge the theme is "Mask It". ! I love using masking techniques to stretch my stamps and morph them into another completely different image. For this challenge I used the Birthday Bear set from My Favorite Things.

Below are the steps I used to create my card.

I stamped the large bear image holding the presents with my Misti onto masking paper.

I then cut the present away from the bear.

I stamped another image of the top of the bear with the presents on the BACK side of the masking paper.

I cut the presents away from the bear and it is this piece that I will use to do my masking. I want the sticky side of the masking paper to be in the front of the image instead of behind the image because I need the mirror image of the presents to make this work. If I don't use the mirror image, then my mask will not cover all the lines of the present in the right place. (I found this out the hard way.) 

I placed the masked presents over the presents on the stamp before inking the bear. I didn't want the mask to fall off so I secured the two sides with tape to be sure it didn't move. After inking the bear, I removed the masking and tape.

I stamped the bear onto my card panel and now have the image of the bear without the presents.

Next, I place the masked bear I made in step one over my stamped bear image so I can stamp the smaller bear on top of this image.

I place the small bear stamp right where I want it in the larger bear's arms and pick it up with my Misti tool.

I stamp the small bear onto the paper and here you can see what it looks like before I remove the masking over the large bear.

After removing the masked large bear, this is the image I am left with and it's exactly what I wanted.

Here again is my completed card. I colored the bears with Copic markers E33, E35 and E57, the inside of their ears with R83 and their noses with BV29.  I then watercolored the background with a Zig marker. When my panel was completely dry, I used my masks to cover the bears and splattered Black Soot Distress Paint over the panel using the Tim Holtz Splatter Brush. I then added my sentiment, colored the heart with a red Zig marker and added Glossy Accents over the heart to give it dimension.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I made my card using masking techniques.

If you would like to join in the fun, head over to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Blog by clicking on the image of Simon below and check out all the inspiration and get masking!!

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