Hi everyone, it’s Shari here with a Color Coordinates for you. I know masculine cards and colors are the most difficult so I’ve put this one together to use as a combination for young boys and toddlers.

I’ve used four main colors for my card and have suggested a fifth color (Sparrow) for a little bit older boy.

Stripes are perfect to create patterns for gender neutral and masculine cards. I’ve stamped my colors onto die cut balloons using the Misti tool and grid paper to help me keep everything aligned.

To help suspend my die cut messages, I’ve die cut small stars which I colored with Duckling ink using a sponge dauber. I used small pieces of foam squares to get the height I needed.

I have created a video that you can watch below or on our YouTube channel.

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Thanks for coming by today, hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Hey friends, it’s Nina-Marie here with you today bringing you a video featuring the Tim Holtz Distress Crayons and how to do some fun watercoloring techniques with this unique medium! This video also features the super cute and BRAND NEW Crazy Dogs stamp set from Tim Holtz… lots of Tim Holtz inspiration to be had today! ;)

The Distress Crayons are one of the newest additions to the Distress line that was revealed by Tim Holtz and Ranger in early 2016. What makes the crayons unique from the other Distress mediums is that they become permanent once they’ve reacted with water. Whereas a Distress ink, stain or spray can be reactivated with water over and over, once Distress Crayons are activated the first time, you cannot reactivate them again.

In today’s video, I’ll be showing you how you can watercolor with the Distress Crayons on both watercolor paper and media board (canvas-covered chipboard). I chose both surfaces because they each have a bit of “tooth”; in other words, they are more rough in texture. If you want a watercolor paper that is more smooth, try Strathmore Bristol paper.

The watercolor paper I will be using today is the Canson XL paper and the canvas media boards are ones I picked up from my local craft store. However, I will link to a Dina Wakley media board assortment we have in the Simon store that is pretty much the exact same thing as what I used in today’s video. Do keep in mind that you will want to prep the canvas media board with gesso before applying your Distress Crayons over top because the coating on the media board is a bit slick; I’ll talk about this in the video as well and show you how I applied some Dina Wakley gesso over the canvas before watercoloring.

One of the things I love most about using a paper or canvas that has more of a rougher texture, is that it allows the texture of the crayons to show up better. The natural texture of the Distress Crayons adds a lot of interest to your project, and you can use this to your advantage when creating with this medium. In today’s video, I’ll show you how I enhanced the texture of the Distress Crayons when I applied the dot background to my mini canvas to create a bit more visual interest.

So to see these crayons in action and learn some tips and tricks for how to best use them in your watercoloring, be sure to check out the video below! If you enjoy the video, please give it a big thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube channel and blog so that you do not miss any of our weekly posts and videos!

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This week on the  Wednesday Challenge the theme is ‘Let’s Go Wild’  Whether you choose to go wild with animals, flowers or wild and funky colors we will be looking forward to seeing your wild side!

We are showcasing Wplus9 Products this week. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used

Once you have made your creation just go ahead and upload it into the linky on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog!

As always, we’re offering a chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp!  All YOU need to do is join in with the challenge!

Below are three projects created by the design team, that showcase this weeks theme! You can visit the challenge blog  to get all the details and see the amazing cards and projects that the design team has created this week. If you click on each designers name, you’ll be taken directly to their blog where you’ll get more details about their project! Be sure to give these talented ladies some comments!

Lin Brandyberry went wild with animals:

 Lin used:

Gayatri Murali went wild with flowers and colors:

Gayatri used:

Teresa Kline went wild with a funky zebra background:

Teresa used:

So n ow it’s YOUR turn to show us your wild thing!

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Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too !

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