Spring has Sprung

Good morning Steph here with my first post as a member of the team and I am extremely excited to be a part of this talented group.

The temperatures are finally turning warmer after our cold and dreary winter so I wanted to create a spring themed card.

Susan's Fly Away stamp set by Unity stamps contains 3 stamps - a sun, a cloud and a kite.  I stamped the sun and clouds from this set  then added some color with Pan Pastels and Clearsnap Chalk Ink. I fussy cut them before adding to the card with foam adhesives for dimension.

I die cut a trellis and added small flowers (which I also edged with Pan Pastels) and a tiny wood butterfly.  I felt the butterfly needed to leave a trail along his journey so I placed drops of The Best Glue Ever from ScraPerfect to create his trail, then placed some dew drops from the Robin's Nest on the glue spots.

A sweet sentiment was stamped on a chipboard tag and then nestled amongst the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph Ackerman
Susan K. Weckesser Design Team Member

"Home is where the heart is" canvas

Hello dear friends, Einat Kessler here with a mixed media canvas. Directly from the CHA show I wanted to share with you the project from the amazing workshop Susan and I taught at the show.

Start with a 6"X6" canvas and paint it with teal, yellow and green acrylic paints. water your brush and blend the colors to create a more uniform background. Then add patterns using the ever so fun Susan's stencil using distress ink and a blending tool.

Stamp the house stamp on white cardstock and then color it with Pan Pastels. I like to use a baby wipe as my brush. it has a really nice wash effect and you have more control of the areas you color.

Color some white paper flowers in the same technique. Stamp the canvas with some washi tape stamps from the "A little bit washi" stamp set and a sun from the "Fly away" stamp set. Use permanent ink so it will stay on the canvas and not smear.

 

Cut some flowers and butterflies from the Beautiful Daydreams patterned paper and write the title on a white cardstock. Assemble your canvas, adding the house and all the embellishments. Add little swirls using the number 9 on the stencil in different directions. To finish the canvas add some distress ink and Pan Pastel to all the edges of the canvas.

Have fun creating!
Einat

Live in full color art journal page

Hello dear Susan Weckesser fans! Einat Kessler here with a fun project to brighten your wintery days!



I love creating art journal pages. I have a journal book that I create pages in, try new techniques, inspire myself and basically have lots of fun! This is not only my happy place but it's a place I can go crazy and whimsical.

I recently got the "Little bit Washi" stamp set and immediately fell in love with it. I knew right away what I wanted to do with it...an art journal page of course!

I started by coloring my page with Pan Pastels and baby wipes. It's a really cool technique that has a wash effect to it. Then I stamped all over the page with different colors creating a whimsical collage pattern. I also added patterns from Susan's fun stencil.

I cut the sentiment from the Live in Color tags patterned paper, distressed it and went over it with a little Pan Pastels. I adhered it to the center of the page. To finish my page I added a doodled frame with a black pen.

Now I have a really colorful, happy and inspiring page to encourage me when ever I need!

Have fun Creating!
Einat

Faith

Hi dear crafty friends! Einat Kessler here with a new project to inspire you.
This week we are celebrating Hanukkah, the holiday of light and faith. Many of my non Jewish friends have been asking me what exactly is this holiday? Well...it's a miraculous story of faith, courage and light.

The best way to tell this story is first to share with you a card I made that summarize everything you need to know. 8 burning candles and the word faith are Hanukkah in a nut shell. I created this card from bright patterned paper which I then colored with Pan Pastels in fiery colors: yellow, orange and red. Before coloring I cut 8 candles out of kraft cardstock and layered them on my card as a mask. Then I colored around them creating a white candles image.

Then I colored the cardstock candles with the same colors. I added the word faith from Susan Weckesser's Painted Sentiments stamp set and the number 8 with Susan Weckesser stencil.
I adhered the candles to the card with 3D foam tape and my card was ready!

How does the card tell the story of Hanukkah you ask? Well...here's the story...

In 175 BCE, Antiochus invaded Judea.  The second temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple. Antiochus's actions provoked a large-scale revolt. The Jewish revolt was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated, it was cleansed, a new altar was built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels were made. Olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle - Hanukkah!

Without Faith the revolt could not have succeeded, the temple would not have been freed and God would not have given the Jews the miracle of the oil. This holiday of light was created because of the faith that darkness can be overcome!

Thanks for stopping by
Have fun creating!
Einat

Create Your Day . . .

 Hi everyone, Tracy here today with a journal entry to share with you all using . . . 

. . . my favourite Susan K Weckesser/ Unity Stamp Co.Stamp set . . .

Create Your Day

along with

Pan Pastels
My Minds Eye - The Sweetest Thing Papers.

For those of you who don`t know me, I live in Scotland where . . .
Up on the hills on a Scottish Summers rainy day,
when the fields are all in bloom,
 verges are scattered with wild roaming flowers
and then
the sun tries to push it`s way through the clouds
to cover everything in a golden glow . . .
It`s a sight to behold I promise you!

I used 3 sheets of MME papers from the collection to create-
 the wildflowers, the fields of rapeseed and finishing with the sky.
Next up it was time for some stamping, snipping out the shapes and fixing in place with a little Maimeri Matt Gel Medium.
Ohhhhh, I doodled the little Bee Hive up above with the busy buzzing bees and snipped out a fence from more paper.
 Next out came the Pan Pastels, followed by a little doodle doodle doo with a fine black liner pen.
But it wasn`t finished yet . . .

 . . . I do like to keep a note of all the products I have used to pop it altogether, just incase I want to re create it onto a canvas.

Here`s a photo of the finished pages and I hope you like my little touch of Scotland!
Well that`s it for me today
Thank you so much for taking the time to look.
Till next time
Happy Crafting
Tracy Easson
Susan K Weckesser Design Team Member

Remember . . . The Windy City that was mighty pretty?

Hi everyone, Tracy here today with a little more wood Art . . .

 . . . remember this journal entry that I created back in August with 

Road to the City

from the

Purpose Of Art stamp set 

that Susan designed for Studio 12 for Polkadoodles in the UK . . .

 well I thought it was about time I put the idea onto some of that wood I have in a pile in my shed.
I have used a few different products on the wood but other than that it`s just the same.

A quick coat of Maimeri Gesso followed by a little Phthalo Blue Shade Pan Pastel mixed with a little of the Gesso for the background. I didn`t get a clean stamped image, but that`s easy sorted later with a fine liner pen and a few doodle, doodle, doo`s.

I used a combination of Pan Pastels and Water color paints.

Before . . .

. . . Stamping  the image again, snipping a few buildings and clouds out before coloring and fixing in place with Maimeri Matt Medium.

 Following the sky up and over the top along with a little doodled sentiment and Heart.

A few splars of paint, a quick run over with a clear embossing pad, a sprinkling of clear embossing powder set with the heat tool to finish.

It may be only a little chunk of wood, but the do make me HAPPY!

Well that`s all from me today except to say

Thank you so much for taking the time to look

Till next time
Happy crafting!

Toodiloo

Tracy Easson

Susan K Weckesser Design Team Member

Heart and Home . . .

 Hi everyone, Tracy here today and I`m sooo excited to be sharing my little mixed media altered heart with you all using one of the house stamps and sentiments

from the
  
Home Sweet Home Stamp set

 that Susan has designed for Studio 12, which is available to order in the the UK from Polkadoodles, woohoo!

Just how cute are these houses . . . yummy!!!

Sooo once again I found myself sitting in my shed, gazing out the window onto a typical Scottish day . . . grey and misty!

Now . . .  if you have ever visited Scotland you will know that even on the greyest of days the landscape is truly magnificent and a sight to behold. 

{ guess I am a tad biased,haha }

 Here are a few supplies and how the heart looked before I started to get messy!

I wanted a grey misty feel surrounding the stamped image, so out came my Pan Pastels blending a few colors together with the tools until I was happy.

Next, time to ink up that stamp with Archival ink and get stamping.
Stamp the image again onto card and snip parts out before using 3d foam pads to make it pop!
 A few little strokes of Pan Pastels for color,a little doodling along the way and finishing with a quick sprinkle of embossing powder for some texture and shine.

The perfect sentiment to go along with my altered heart . . . stamped and snipped . . .

. . . and no home would be complete without the key to our Hearts!
Well that`s all from me today
Thanks again for looking
Till next time Happy Crafting!
Tracy Easson
Susan K Weckesser Design Team Member

Birds of a feather with Susan K Weckesser/Studio 12

 Hi everyone, Tracy here today to share a quick project using 

one of the stamp sets that Susan K Weckesser designed for Studio 12 over at Polkadoodles and is available in the UK, woohoo!

It`s a cutie.

I will apologise in advance as I don`t have any step by step pictures today, but this is super easy to recreate, promise.

 Just start with a quick layer of Gesso over an off cut of wood, leave to dry or if you are impatient like me ... then blast it with your heat tool.

 Get out your Pan Pastels in 2 colors and apply all over the block of wood, apply some white Pan Pastel next and finish with a little Black Pan Pastel around the edges.

 Time to ink up the stamp using an Archival ink pad and color with Watercolor paints. To add more definition I went around the outline with a black liner pen, adding a few doodles along the way.

 Stamp the little birdie a second time and cut out the wing to make it look more 3D.

 Next I stamped the sentiment onto card, chopped it up and applied a little Walnut Stain Distress Ink with a blending tool around the edges.

I fixed them in place with a hot glue gun and added a few more doodles.

Can you see the text on the left . . . I applied Pan Pastel to a script stamp that I won from  

Unity Stamp Co recently { woohoo}and  randomly stamped it over the block of wood.

To finish a touch of a Clear Embossing pad followed by some Cosmic Shimmer Embossing powder for a little touch of texture.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look.

Till next time

Happy Crafting

Tracy Easson

Susan K Weckesser Design Team Member