Hi friends! Happy Monday! Please join me in welcoming back the fantastic Yana Smakula to our blog as a guest today! She has used three of our exclusive dies (Balloon Bouquet, Floret Frame, & Bird of Roses) as stencils or masks to be the focal point of her trio of cards! You really could use any of your favorite die cut outs for this technique! I’m really loving her Doll Pink and Duckling color combination! It’s so fresh and springy!

Be sure to watch the video, and enjoy!

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Happy Saturday! It’s time for the latest edition of “Weekender with Wanda” here on the Simon Says Stamp blog! I’m happy to see you today! It’s one week until Easter and Spring has sprung. It’s nice to create with vivid, happy colors right now and get in the mood. Today I’m sharing a card I made with loads of new Tim Holtz products. The Simon Says Store is stocked to the brim with everything new from CHA that Tim created for Sizzix and Ranger. It’s all fun! I finally got my hands on the Distress Crayons and wanted to make something to share here with you, and talk about them a little bit.

My card is a really bright color scheme that just kind of happened when I mixed some of the crayons together….and I thought butterflies would be nice for this time of year.

The Detailed Butterflies dies are the perfect size and scale for cards. I die cut two butterflies out of watercolor paper to use as my focal point. The background layer is the new Woodgrain cardstock! It’s pretty awesome. Great for adding some texture and great for ‘nature’ theme cards.

The newest addition to the metal word bands are these big quotes. LOVE this for the front of a card. I used the Distress Crayons to color in the words to make them match my project. The Crinkle ribbon was hand dyed using Distress Spray Stains.

The new Distress Crayons are so unique and fantastic to work with. There are so many techniques you can try. I used a few different techniques for the butterflies. The crayons are almost the exact texture and consistency of a lipstick. They are super smooth and glide over the paper. They are loaded with pigment! For my butterflies I first rubbed the crayons over the watercolor paper and then moved it around with a water brush. Next I applied a thin layer of Distress Collage Medium (Crazing) and let that dry. The collage medium sealed the yellow color for me so I could use that as my base. Next I applied some blue and green Distress Crayons over the yellow and smudged it with my fingers to meld the colors together. The next technique is something that Tim demo’d at CHA and I loved it! I laid a Mini Stencil over the butterfly and then gently wiped with a baby wipe to remove the color in the shape of the stencil. Finally I used a bit of the black Distress Crayon on my fingers to edge the butterflies.

For the white background layer I used Hickory Smoke Distress Paint and the Splatter brush to make speckles. The Splatter brush makes it really easy. Just apply some paint onto your craft sheet and then tap or pull the bristles to make the special effect you desire.

Since the Crayons have body to them it makes it simple to get into the grooves and letters of the quote band/word band. Here you can see how I applied it to the metal. Then I simply wiped the excess away with a dry towel.

Some word stickers are always nice!

The butterflies are attached to the card with foam squares. Then I gently lifted their wings up to add dimension and movement. The card will lay flat for mailing still, though.

Thanks so very much for spending part of your weekend here with me!

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