Alcohol Ink Skies

Posted: August 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Dies, grafix, Penny Black, polar bears | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Well hello! Once again it has been weeks between blog posts, but here I am with a surprising selection of cards for you.

Surprising because they are alcohol ink panels. I don’t remember the last time I worked with alcohol inks. In the last month or so I have done little else in the art realm but work with alcohol inks. Why might that be? I have been working outside with said inks. My sister-in-law who was staying with me in June and July joined me at a friend’s house where we set up outside in the shade with a pleasant breeze and proceeded to experiment with the inks. As I mentioned I hadn’t use them for a long time and had forgotten many techniques. Since then I have refreshed my memory by watching a few videos and have worked outside with the inks numerous times where I don’t get headaches from the alcohol and everything dries quickly. Occasionally panels end up in the garden but that is a price I am willing to pay.

I made a few panels with 2 or 3 ink colours per panel and a generous amount of 99% isopropyl alcohol to move and blend the colours. I used an air blower (hand pump style, not electric) and sometimes a spritzer filled with isopropyl to add splatter which looks like snow or stars. I worked on yupo paper, grafix white craft plastic and Nara paper, all similar products and all from my existing supplies. I am still committed to ‘Using What I Have’ as much as possible.

The second surprising thing about these cards is that they are Christmas cards. Never have I started my Christmas cards in the middle of summer. I have never wanted to because I am influenced so much by the seasons. For whatever reason that is not the case this year. Future me is going to be very thankful for this strange occurrence. These are three cards I made featuring the ‘polar bears’ die from Penny Black and a PB stamp set, “All is Bright”. I really enjoy creating northern skies with alcohol inks; they seem to mimic the beauty of the northern lights I am yet to see in person. I know that polar bears have nothing to do with Christmas but when I create alcohol ink or watercolour skies I am reminded of the verse from Psalm 19, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’ Thank you for visiting and reading to the end of this post; I will warn you now, the alcohol ink blog posts have just begun, so buckle up my friends!

Botanical Thank You cards

Posted: July 24, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: gel press, Penny Black | Tags: , | 7 Comments

Recently a friend asked me to make her ten thank you cards. I decided to make them using a few botanical gel prints. Some prints were quite large, featuring several flowers or leaves on one large sheet of copy paper or rice paper. The cards above were from a print taken with dark green and cream paints so I added green mats and sentiments on cream card bases. I love printing plants; the detail possible always amazes me. So, as I use up these prints from another summer, I feel the need to pull out the gel plates and print some of the many flowers and leaves within reach this summer.

The cards below were prints of Queen Anne’s lace printed with black and picked up with gold paint. Again I used cream card bases and black or gold sentiments.

The last batch of co-ordinated cards were leaves and lavender in blue and black paint, lifted with white paint so I added blue sentiments and attached everything to white card bases.

You can find techniques for gel printing plants and many other things in my Gel Print Journey online class and use the coupon SUMMERSALE for a 25% discount. You can also find a playlist of gel printing videos I’ve made on my youtube channel.

Today & Always

Posted: May 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: beaded mandala, cricut, The Crafter's Workshop, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

I have turned yet another stencil & watercolour print into a card, this time a wedding card featuring a large circle print made with the The Crafter’s Workshop ‘beaded mandala’ stencil.

Most of the stencil print is paler than the surrounding blended watercolour painting because my technique involved spritzing the stencil to cover it with water before pressing it onto the painted panel. The water on the stencil dilutes the paint. I can’t remember for certain but I probably weighted the stencil down with a large acrylic block and let it dry for quite some time, maybe overnight. In the close up above you can see an area of the stencil print is a mustard colour, that was a happy accident due to the stencil not being clean! It prompted me to choose gold cardstock for the circle border and the sentiment cut on the cricut.

Thanks for dropping by. I think there will be several more stencil and watercolour projects to share but I do hear the gel plate calling me, so stay tuned!

Leafy Vines

Posted: May 11, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AALL & Create, The Crafter's Workshop, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

I have a stack of stencil+watercolour prints to turn into something and it appears that this ‘leafy vines’ stencil from The Crafters Workshop was a favourite during my preparations and workshops. I’ve turned one panel into a card and have six more panels to work with. I used a variety of techniques to create the panels including painting through the stencil as shown on this card.

Painting through the stencil didn’t give me a sharp complete representation of the stencil but it did give me a loose and impressionistic design with lovely soft blends from bluegreen to green to mustard. I matted with dark green cardstock and stamped an AALL & Create sentiment in green to complete the card.

Below are some more panels completed using the same stencil but different techniques. A few of them will become cards I imagine but I’m not sure with the blotchy one bottom right; not my favourite!

Totally Dotty

Posted: May 6, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AALL & Create, Classes, Concord & 9th, many mandalas, totally dotty stencil | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

This stencil is appropriately called ‘totally dotty.’ It is a big stencil from AALL & Create and is cool for gel printing, alcohol inks and as it turns out, watercolour as well.

I have done quite a few stencil prints lately both in preparation for and during my recent workshops. I used different watercolour mediums including distress stains which provide quite saturated colour as you can see in the panel above. Pressing the painted panel on the stencil or vice versa can create very funky and distinct patterns as well as subtle dreamy ones. This panel ended up very distinct except for an area in middle. Not a problem as you can see; I stayed with the dotty theme and stamped my C&9 ‘many mandalas‘ sentiment on a circle for the centre.

This post includes an affiliate link from Scrap’n’Stamp . If you buy through this link I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Flowers and Tiles

Posted: April 22, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Classes, cricut, Darkroom Door, Rockwell art, Watercolour, wildflowers | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

The experiments with watercolour and stencils keep on happening as I prepare for the in-person workshops next week. This one ended up being very satisfying. I designed the stencil to look like Moroccan tiles and chose the paint colours to look aged and stained. I was happy to see those effects in the final panel.

Because the panel looked a bit like a tiled floor or wall I wanted to add flower silhouettes like shadows. I inked through the Darkroom Door small ‘Wildflowers‘ stencil with Gina K obsidian ink and added an AAll & Create ‘everyday sentiment with the same ink.

I used a combination of paints and distress oxide spray to get the unique mix of colours. Some of the paints were the Rockwell self evolving mineral watercolours which always give great multicolour effects.

Roses Stencil in Blue

Posted: April 7, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Brusho, Classes, cricut, Echidna Studios, grafix, Roses digital stamp set, Watercolour | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

I’m continuing to enjoy my stencil and watercolour experimenting, this time featuring a stencil I designed myself and cut on the cricut. The stencil is made from two sections from a rose border digital design which is part of a trio of rose themed images available in the Echidna Studios etsy store. To create more of a square stencil I joined two parts of the border design together in cricut workspace before cutting them from Grafix matte dura-lar. I know many people don’t use cricuts or digital cutting machines but the technique would work with any fine line stencil.

I painted the panel in blue paint before dropping the stencil on top, then added brusho powder and some spritzes of water. I am continuing to finalise techniques for my Stencils & Watercolour workshop here in Ottawa and this was one of the panels I created on watercolour paper. (there is one space left in the Monday workshop and several spaces in the Saturday workshop)

The sentiment was also cut on the cricut from the navy cardstock which also frames the stencil print. I know the cricut can be used for many things but my favourite use for it is definitely stencils! Looking at the photos as I write this I notice I did not glue the tittle over the ‘i’ in birthday. I had better try and find it!

Stencil & Watercolour wedding cards

Posted: March 27, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Classes, clematis burst stencils, Creative Expressions, cricut, Watercolour | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

I’ve been creating quite a few patterned panels using stencils and watercolour while designing a workshop. There have been many experiments and most, but not all, have turned out quite well. You can see in the photo below the Creative Expressions square ‘Clematis Burst’ stencil beside two panels. The bright one on the left was the first impression and the one on the right the second impression using paint remaining on the stencil.

As I never seem to have any wedding cards on hand when someone asks for one I decided to make both panels into wedding cards, one bold and one subtle. I cut the sentiments on the cricut and also the large red heart

When you look closely you can see both ‘prints’ are loose and a bit messy but I don’t mind the impressionistic look!

I used a gold gel pen to add definition to the flowers on the lighter print, not every petal but enough to make sure they looked like flowers!

I am teaching a Stencils & Watercolour workshop here in Ottawa in late April and early May, you can find all the details on the CLASSES page.

January Calendar cards

Posted: March 10, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Calendar cards, cricut | Tags: | 5 Comments

I’ve made a few more cards from the pages of the beautiful 2025 Earth Greetings calendar. I posted the cards made from the cover in a recent blog post. On the back of the cover was the January artwork by Jayne Branchflower featuring eucalyptus leaves and gum blossoms on a pink background.

I made two cards below from the remainder of the cover/January page, one large panel with a navy sentiment cut on the cricut layered over vellum so it would be more distinct. I also cut a couple of gum leaves and one gum blossom from navy cardstock to add a bit more interest to the card. I cut them with scissors so they are very simple and mimic the design painted by Jayne Branchflower.

By this time in my cardmaking I had a strip of the pink panel and a medium size square left which I was able to cut into twelve 1¼” squares which I arranged randomly across one more card base. The sentiment was also cut on the cricut from navy cardstock and a shadow from green.

As I continue to use what I have (UWIH) I am quite happy to have made six cards from one (two sided) calendar page. Although I will continue to make cards from calendar pages I am keen to work with other favourite techniques that haven’t been featured on the blog lately. I have a non-card related project I’m working on which also uses what I have on hand. I will hopefully share more of that one if I successfully complete it.

Inspiration and Conversation

Posted: February 24, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Hand painted, sennelier watercolours | Tags: , , | 18 Comments

Today I wanted to have a bit of a chat with you, my readers, and especially take a few sentences to tell you how much I appreciate you. Some of you I have met but many of you I have not. Despite not having met in person I feel that we have formed a community and it is a very friendly and generous one. I took a break from the blog last year for several months and when I returned I was very encouraged by the comments and messages I received. Yes, it was nice to be missed, but more importantly it was lovely to see people engaging in discussion about techniques and materials. Many of you are kind enough to say you learn from my posts; I am so glad you do, but I also learn from you when you take the time to suggest products, methods and artists to check out.

Some of you have told me it is not as straight forward to comment these days. I’ve noticed this and I’m not sure why. I really enjoy hearing from you and read every comment and message I receive.

Today’s cards are inspired by the art of Claudia Drexhage. I encourage you to check out her website or instagram as her paintings are stunning and you will see where I got the idea for today’s abstract landscapes. I have only dipped my little toe into this technique but hopefully I’ll go in further in the future. One thing I find interesting about it is the way the abstract landscape can be seen one way and also turned upside down. I can’t remember which way I painted these panels originally but when I turned them into cards this week I decided I liked one with a big sky and the other with a big foreground. What do you think?

Thank you again for dropping in today and being part of this community. I look forward to seeing a few of you soon at some artsy get-togethers I am hosting but for those who don’t live close I look forward to seeing your inspiring creations if you share them on the interwebs or hearing from you in the comments or contact me button. Your encouragement and friendship mean a lot to me!

← Older Entries