Hi friends! Happy Sunday! I’m so pleased to welcome back special guest Anna-Karin Evaldsson as a special guest on our blog! Be sure to stop by her blog weekly for new inspiration in our Monday Challenge! Be sure to read on to learn exactly how she made this gorgeous tag and enjoy!

Hi everyone! I am so happy to be here today with a fun and easy tutorial. It is also great to be stamping again, after having had to do a sudden move. My supplies are now unpacked, although still in a somewhat chaotic state. There has been a lot of butterflies around our new place, which inspired me to stamp and color butterflies for this tag. You can use the techniques for any type of project.

Butterflies are always fun to color and you can make them into any colors you can think of. Or use a butterfly reference book and turn them into real butterflies. The butterflies were colored with colored pencils, adding shadows to make them look dimensional. I also did some masking, inking and background stamping.

Start by stamping butterflies from the Simon Says Stamp Comfort & Prayers set on a tag, using Jet Black Archival Ink.

I used Prismacolor pencils to color the butterflies, and my pencil sharpener only showed up when I was almost done with the tag, which is why some of the pencils look a little blunt on the photos. Start by pressing lightly with the pencil, and then add more pressure to build up darker shades.

Continue adding color until you are happy with the look.

Here you can see the first lighter application to the left, and how darker shades were built up using the same pencils to the right.

Continue in the same way as the third butterfly.

If you want to smooth out the colors, you can go over them with the white pencil.

Stamp the butterflies on SSS Masking Paper and cut out. Place them on the tag.

Ink the tag with Distress Inks, starting with the lighter shade. The masks stay perfectly in place.

Stamp with Tim Holtz Cracks background stamp and Frayed Burlap ink.

Use a darker brown together with the Specks stamp, and finally add some black stamping with Tim’s alphabet background from the School Desk set. This is one of my all-time favorite stamps.

Use a black pencil and add a shadow to the butterflies. Start with a light application and then make it darker closer to the butterflies. This gives a dimensional look.

Add details and highlights with a white gel pen.

To make the butterflies even more interesting, I decided to use Glossy Accents and white Enamel Accents on some areas. Set aside to dry.

Add some details with a black pen, and doodle a border around the tag.

Finally, I glued sequins to the tag, for a fun playful look.

Here you can see the shiny effect of the Glossy Accents and Enamel Accents better.

The coloring technique also works great for other images, such as flowers. The sentiment was stamped with the SSS Uplifting Thoughts set.

I hope this tutorial inspired you to color some butterflies (or something else) with colored pencils.

Thank you so much for looking! Happy crafting! – Anna-Karin

SUPPLIES:

Simon Says Clear Stamps COMFORT AND… [ SSS ] Simon Says Clear Stamps UPLIFTING… [ SSS ] Ranger Tim Holtz Distress MIXED MEDIA… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp MASKING PAPER Sheets… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps SCHOOL… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps CRACKS… [ SSS ] Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink Pad… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad ANTIQUE… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad FRAYED… [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad GROUND… [ SSS ] Prismacolor PREMIER COLORED PENCILS… [ SSS ] Sakura WHITE MEDIUM POINT Gelly Roll… [ SSS ] Sakura FINE LINES SET Pigma Micron… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Sequins FROSTED… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Sequins FALL… [ SSS ] Ranger ENAMEL ACCENTS Dimensional… [ SSS ] Ranger GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue… [ SSS ] Ranger Non Stick CRAFT SHEET 15 x 18… [ SSS ] Ranger INK BLENDING TOOL Applicator… [ SSS ]

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to Anna-Karin for being our guest!

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