Monday, October 5, 2015

Windswept Autumn Tree

Hi friends! We had a lovely autumn weekend here. It is Monday and of course time for another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week, we have an autumn theme. I am looking forward to seeing everyone's projects.

I was in the mood for a layout and wanted to use a photo from last weekend's forest outing. Anton's hair is a little wild here, he has had a haircut now. I wanted to make it look like they were sitting in a pile of leaves underneath a beautiful tree. The bikes are there because Anton had his bike and cycled around a lake, while Leo and I walked. I took a few step photos. 

I was SO happy to see Prima's new watercolour papers. I have a thing for watercolour paper and, as you might know, it is probably my favourite surface to work on. When I work in the 12 x 12 format, I usually cut down a larger sheet of watercolour paper, but that won't be necessary anymore since Prima now offers 12 x 12. There are a bunch of other great sizes too, and I really like the quality and feel of the paper. I started out by misting most of the paper with Antique Linen and added some Gathered Twigs where I planned for the trunk of the tree to be.

I used StencilGirl's beautiful Windswept Tree stencil by Cathy Taylor and placed it on the paper. The paper was misted with Distress Spray Stains, creating a colour explosion. A little bit of mist went underneath the stencil, but I like it because it adds to the organic flowing look.

I didn't want to waste the yummy colours that were on the stencil, so I misted the stencil with water and pressed another sheet of watercolour paper on top to get this great looking tree. I will use this some other time.

When the first layer of mists was dry, I added a tiny bit of Tarnished Brass, for some gold shimmer. Prima's Graphite Sand Texture Paste was smeared through a bike stencil with a palette knife. I love this paste, you can see another example of it in my Poppy Mixed Media Panel.

Mist a piece of watercolour paper, aiming for a speckled effect.

When dry, die cut with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Maple Trio set. I placed a black Sizzix Inksheets Transfer Film in between the paper and the die when cutting. Since these dies have a stitching pattern, that meant that that pattern was transferred to the paper. For other examples using the Inksheets, check out this art journal tutorial as well as this tutorial. The Inksheets turn wafer-thin dies and embossing folders into stamps, which is pretty cool and a great way of getting more out of your dies.

The clouds were die cut from cream paper and from gold Deco Sheet and layered together. I stamped the background here and there with a lovely script stamp from Paper Artsy designed by Sara Naumann.

Here you can better see the very cool shimmery effect of the Graphite Paste.

The title was die cut with the Simon Says Stamp Alphabet Block die, and completed with Label Letters. It translates 'Fall outing'. I used my Crop-a-dile to add two dots over the 'o', for the Swedish letter ‘ö’.

I used two Paper Artsy stamp sets by Sara Naumann, Eclectica 18 and Eclectica 15, which have really nice sentiment, background and image stamps.

This sentiment was stamped in two sections, instead of all at once.

I also die cut the Stitched Maple Leaves from gold Deco Sheet, and layered together with some twigs and a piece of Linen Ribbon.

I liked the combination of the speckled and gold leaves.

And a Framed Alpha Part piece, because the layout needed a little more black. The 'happy fall' sentiment comes from Hero Arts Layering Fall Trees set.

I hope you will join us in our autumn challenge, as always, one random participant wins a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.


If you want to, follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 



If you use instagram add #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads, so that we can see them on there too.




Thank you so much for watching! I will be back tomorrow with some Tim Holtz christmas inspiration.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:




And:
Stencil: StencilGirl: Bicycle Borders

18 comments:

  1. Fabulous layout Anna-Karin! the photo is lovely and I just love the stencilled tree and gold leaves, the whole design is awesome! A gorgeous reminder of a beautiful day :-)

    luv
    Lols x x x

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  2. There is so much gorgeousness to look at here. The colors, texture, and contrast -- very nice!

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  3. Lovely layout Anna-Karin, love the photo of your little men. Love the textural bicycles too and the wonderful autumnal colour scheme . The text is perfect . Tracy x

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  4. Your beautiful boys really do look like they are sitting in a pile of leaves, the tree (well both of them) is fabulous and I love the colours and wonderful textures you added. A really beautiful layout. Anne xx

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  5. I love this Anna-Karin!! it is an explosion of color!

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  6. What a lovely layout and the kids look so sweet in your autumn inspired background. Beautiful!

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  7. Stunning blending and such an adorable picture of your boys :)

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  8. Beautiful layout, great photo, thank you for the tutorial.

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  9. Amazing layout , I adore these colors! Great tutorial as always and your pics are super cute! Barbarayaya

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  10. Love the gorgeous colors on your layout! The photo is super cute! :)

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  11. Wow Anna-Karin, there are so many details to this layout! Lovely picture of the two brothers. Hugs, Sandra

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  12. Anna-Karin, this is gorgeous! I love the colors you've chosen for the layout, they are perfect for fall. Wonderful elements throughout, and your stories as to why they are there are precious. Hugs!

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  13. This is gorgeous Anna-Karin! There are so many wonderful layers of interest and it just creates the most perfect layout ~ beautiful work, as always! :)

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  14. This is stunning! And how flippin' adorable is that picture of your boys?? I love how your work is always a combination of gorgeous techniques and emotionally-power-packed photography! Your pieces are always full of life and love and family and I enjoy that so much about your work!

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  15. I love the photo of the boys. They couldn't be any cuter! And such a beautiful way to show off the photo! It's truly lovely. And good to know about the new watercolor paper size! I hadn't known that!

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  16. Wonderful fall look, I really like this. I am a fan of Sara Naumann stamps, too.

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  17. Wonderful fall look, I really like this. I am a fan of Sara Naumann stamps, too.

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  18. Wonderful fall look, I really like this. I am a fan of Sara Naumann stamps, too.

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!