Just Trilling
Posted: October 30, 2023 Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, trilling trio | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 7 Comments
These two sweet birds are from the Penny Black ‘trilling trio’ set. There is also a cardinal in the set. I made these cards as samples for my current ‘Painting with Stamps’ class. They are examples of when slow and steady wins the race. The stamps were in my stamp positioner and, starting with the palest colours I slowly added ink to the stamp a colour at a time, stamping after each application so as to not overwhelm the small image. I did some blending on the panel with a paintbrush but again my process was ‘little by little’.(Trilling Trio is available in both the US Foiled Fox store and Scrap n Stamp in Canada)

I do enjoy the clean look of a simple image on a plain card base but added just a little texture to these images with an embossing folder to create a distinction between the panel and the base.

On the little chickadee above and below I stamped the large coloured sections in the stamp positioner then at the very end added some ‘feather texture’ with the fine tips of markers.

If you are working with bird stamps and your images are not quite coming alive I have found it helpful to use a fine tip pen to define the eye, adding the white dot back in if necessary with a white gel pen. I had not positioned this little chickadee well on my watercolour paper and it looked like it was falling backwards until I drew a simple twig with a marker to give it a reason to be at the odd angle I’d placed it! The tiny sentiment from PB ‘holiday snippets’ was just what I needed stamped in grey to keep it subtle.
Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp








I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Your work always resonates JOY in my heart! ☺ These little birds are THRILLING!♥♥♥
I love your rendition of the first birdie SO much…your talent is so inspiring! Really is such a joyful card…
So beautiful, I love your birds …
Oh these two are just so beautiful!
I would love to get this effect using your technique but I always have to enhance it. These are fabulous and one so well!
thanks so much, Nancy, I did end up enhancing the chickadee with a marker just to make the feathers look more real.
These are both so sweet, Heather. You really did bring them to life with your artistic talent. xx