Venetian Summer
Posted: May 23, 2016 Filed under: Venetian Summer | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 10 Comments
The sun is shining and although it is not technically summer yet, it finally feels like it is. I made this card over a year ago, during my stint on the Dirty Dozen. It is not vintage style in the same sense as my recent ‘sepia toned’ cards but it does have a bit of an old b&w photo feel. Just as it is possible to highlight one part of a b&w photo, it is fun to do the same with watercolouring. I inked my stamp in London Fog but avoided the hat so I could ink that in red. I added shading to the buildings and the woman by picking up ink with a small watercolour brush. I chose for the sun to be coming from the left hand side of the scene and kept my darkest shading on the right of the buildings, hat and body. You can see where I taped the watercolour panel to begin which left a frame around the picture. Sometimes when I am teaching I am asked what to do about those little areas where the ink seeps under the masking tape. If it is only in a few places or a small area I do not worry about it; I think it makes it look like a watercolour sketch. If it really does detract from the design, I trim the whole border off and frame it with another colour or by popping it up on foam tape to create a ‘shadow border’.
We have had a long weekend in Ontario and the weather has been beautiful. I’ve been bike riding a couple of times and enjoyed the tulips planted by the canal for the tulip festival which is currently happening in Ottawa. I have also been outside planting flowers in my garden and pots. It is hard to believe just over a week ago we were bundled up in multiple layers watching my son play soccer while it was 3°C!
Supplies:
Stamps: Venetian Summer(PB)
Inks: London Fog, Love Letter memento ink (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Lilac Roses – a tutorial
Posted: May 19, 2016 Filed under: Scented Beauty, Tutorial | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tombow dual brush pens, Tutorial, video 20 Comments
The new scented beauty rose stamp from PB is such a pretty stamp. I have tried a variety of mediums and styles with it so far and will share a few different cards at the end of this post. First let’s talk about this card. Can you believe this is my second video this month? I’m hoping to continue this pattern, but I know I’ve said that before.
I am fairly new to tombow dual brush pens; I bought a few for lettering but recently I added to my collection and started using them for stamping as well. They blend nicely with each other and with water on watercolour paper. For this card I only used two colours but managed to vary the intensity of colour by diluting with water. As is often my habit I didn’t think about the sentiment until the end and felt that a stamped sentiment messed up the balance of the design too much. Instead I settled on one of the thinnest die-cut sentiments I have which stretched across the base of the card keeping things balanced left to right but maybe a little bottom heavy!
I used tombow dual brush pens in the video but you could use stamp pads or distress markers for similar results.
Supplies:
Stamps: Scented Beauty (PB)
Dies: Many Thanks
Inks: Light Olive-126, Dark Plum-679 Dual Brush pens (Tombow)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, olive green cardstock
Below are a few more cards featuring ‘Scented Beauty’. The technique is similar to that shown in the video but with different mediums. I varied the amount of water added and did not always ink the whole stamp.
Supplies:
Stamps: Scented Beauty, Treasured Sentiments (PB)
Inks: Dried Marigold, Pine Needles distress stain (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton cold pressed watercolour paper,green cardstock
Supplies:
Stamps: Scented Beauty, Treasured Sentiments (PB)
Inks: Picked raspberry distress marker (Ranger) Versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton cold pressed watercolour paper, black cardstock
Supplies:
Stamps: Scented Beauty, Treasured Sentiments (PB)
Inks: Mowed Lawn, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Forest Moss, Spun Sugar, Weathered wood distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton cold pressed watercolour paper, purple cardstock
Folk Flower
Posted: May 17, 2016 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, CAS, folk flower | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Alcohol Ink 7 Comments
Having so many alcohol ink experiments on hand is helping with my resolve to try new layouts and sketches. The colours and patterns that appear almost magically when working with alcohol inks need little or no adornment. This panel was mainly aqua with some splotches of coral pink here and there until I added silver and scraped it across the panel with the coffee stirrer. I ended up with the rock formation style patterns which were kind of cool but the silver had taken over.
I played around with several ideas for using the panel including tossing it but finally settled on a layout inspired by this card on JJ Bolton’s blog. I chose the coral coloured cardstock for the die cut to bring out the few patches on the panel. The assembly of this layout did not go smoothly for me, (there is more than one reason I stick to the portrait gallery layout!) I cut a piece of light weight cardstock to stick behind the circle to keep everything together. When I ran my finger over the edge of the circle to press it firmly onto the backing, the silver ink smudged onto my clean white card base. I managed to transfer silver ink via my die cutting plates also. The metallic alcohol inks sit on the surface and therefore need some sort of fixative; (I have watched a tutorial about this just haven’t looked into whether I have the right fixative) Rather than make the same mistake three times I decided to polish the patterned circle with a paper towel as someone had done successfully in class to see how much silver would come off. I removed quite a bit which revealed more aqua and left the panel less smudgy. The rest of the assembly was more straight forward; I used ‘stick it’ adhesive on the back of the folk flower die cut and embossed the sentiment on black cardstock for contrast.
When I visited JJ Bolton’s blog to look at her card layout I read about the clever wax crayon technique she used on her card…something to try another day.
Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Snippets (PB)
Dies: Folk Flower (PB)
Ink: Alcohol inks, Versafine ink (Ranger)
Paper: glossy photo paper, Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, Neenah solar white cardstock, coral cardstock
Also: stick it adhesive, white embossing powder
Blue bird houses
Posted: May 16, 2016 Filed under: Good neighbours | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
It’s all about blue on my card today. I used chipped sapphire distress ink for all but the sentiment and managed to get different blues by diluting some areas more than others. I inked the stamp with distress stain which made the print very juicy and perfect for the watercolour effect. I used a wet paintbrush to pull the colour in from the stamped outline. I also stamped the music in chipped sapphire ink and splattered a few drops of water to soften the notes and staff. To frame the panel I sponged around the edges. I stamped the sentiment in versafine majestic blue because versafine does sentiments so very nicely. I had some polka dot ribbon on hand so cut the sentiment strip and ribbon ends to match and layered them with a die cut flower on top.
The colour scheme reminded me of the willow pattern china bowl my mother often used for fruit salad (probably still does) I wasn’t sure whether I owned any willow pattern but I checked my tea cups and saucers and found one which I popped in the background of the second photo.
Supplies:
Stamps: Good Neighbors, Happy Snippets, Footnotes (PB)
Dies: Layered Flower (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire distress stain and ink (Ranger) Majestic Blue Versafine ink
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton cold pressed watercolour paper, Neenah patriot blue cardstock
Also: Polka dot ribbon
Alcohol ink backgrounds
Posted: May 14, 2016 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, In the Garden, Love Art, Serenity | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Alcohol Ink 2 Comments
Yesterday I shared some alcohol ink abstract panels; today I have more abstract panels but these ones have become backgrounds for dies or stamps. The one above looked so forest-like I had to pair it with trees. It is a fairly dark mix of colour so I think it must be dusk or dawn. The ‘in the garden’ die was perfect for turning the blue-green panel into a scene and the new ‘serenity’ tree die just added to the woodland feel.
Supplies:
Dies: Serenity, In the Garden (PB)
Ink: Alcohol inks (Ranger)
Paper: glossy photo paper, Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, blue cardstock
The colours in this panel again determined what I would add. Orange, yellow and green patterns seem an appropriate background for a daisy. I used archival ink which gave a crisp fast drying print. There was another card made from this background but I made the mistake of laying a stamp on top of the panel for positioning before inking the stamp. The natural stickiness of the stamp on the glossy paper lifted the surface off the paper removing the alcohol ink (not in a cool resist type way!). It didn’t happen on the daisy card because I just inked, stamped and hoped for the best.
Supplies:
Stamps: Love Art, Special Thoughts (PB)
Ink: Alcohol inks, Jet black archival ink (Ranger)
Paper: glossy photo paper, Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, Neenah solar white cardstock
Abstract alcohol inks
Posted: May 13, 2016 Filed under: Alcohol Ink | Tags: Ranger Alcohol Ink, Yupo Paper 13 Comments
During my recent adventures with alcohol inks I enjoyed creating abstract panels. Some of them I turned into backgrounds or scenes by adding stamps and die cuts but others I left alone because I liked the pattern and colours just as they were. The one above reminds me of a geological cross section. There is an example of some type of cross section down the road from us and a few times a year I see a class of students on a field trip climbing around taking photos. The blues in the design above are particularly pretty in real life and there are threads of copper here and there also.
This abstract reminds me of a waterfall but several people saw icebergs and crevices in it. Both these designs were done on yupo paper. I started as I often do by just dropping three colours of ink on the yupo; the sharp edges and lines were achieved by dragging the inks across the paper with a coffee stirrer. I don’t remember the ink colours I used other than the copper in the top one.
Floral repeats
Posted: May 12, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Poise, Sunny | Tags: CAS, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 12 Comments
I played with a couple of smaller floral stamps recently to make some clean and simple cards. I guess they could have been even simpler by stamping the flowers once but I still managed to keep plenty of white space. To create both cards I inked the stamps with memento markers, spritzed the stamp with water then stamped on watercolour paper. I did some extra blending on the poppies with a paintbrush and stamped repeat prints without re-inking, which explains the difference in colour intensity.
To stamp a group of three sunflowers I inked only part of the stamp each time so the flowers could nestle into each other without the leaves and stems getting in the way. The layouts are the classic black mat+black sentiment deal.
Supplies:
Stamps: Poise, Special Thoughts, Sentiment Collection, Sunny (PB)
Inks: Memento markers(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, black cardstock
Botanical garden
Posted: May 9, 2016 Filed under: Botanical Garden | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tombow dual brush pens 9 Comments
This little spray of flowers is from the new set, Botanical Garden, which contains some outline florals and one butterfly. I stamped in versafine onyx black to get a waterproof outline then did my colouring with tombow dual brush pens. By blending with water I managed to get gradation from dark purple to a pale almost pink in the petals and buds from a single purple pen. I used a yellow and a green to complete the rest of the colouring and created a background ‘frame’ by blending a purple outline into the white space. I added a sentiment in black and a purple mat. The card is a little smaller than my usual A2 size.
I imagine most people south of where I live are enjoying all manner of flowers by now. I am happy to say I have a couple of daffodils and a few tulips also but the temperature was below zero this morning so it is definitely not feeling summery yet, hardly even springy!
Supplies
Stamps: Botanical Garden, Treasured Sentiments (PB)
Inks: dual brush pens 679, 991, 158(Tombow) Versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, olive green cardstock
True Love
Posted: May 8, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Hand painted, Watercolour | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Sakura Koi watercolour paints 18 Comments
In keeping with my resolve to mix up my card layouts a wee bit I have a triptych inspired card to share. I painted the roses on a piece of watercolour paper, added leaves and blue flowers (not sure what they might be) then decided to find some inspiration on my ‘sketchy’ pinterest board. I sliced my panel into three strips of the same width then trimmed the ends so each would be a different length. The sentiment fitted quite nicely in one of the white spaces. I stamped the sentiment once in green then over the top in blue which gave me the bluey-green I was after to match my paint. I think the colours are soft enough to join in with the ‘pastels’ challenge on Less is More this week.
I hope you are having a lovely day.
Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Snippets, (PB)
Ink: Majestic Blue, Olympia Green Versafine inks (Tsukineko)
Paint: Sakura Koi watercolours
Paper: Heavy weight water media paper (Ken Oliver), Neenah SolarWhite 110lb cardstock, green cardstock
Layouts and sketches
Posted: May 6, 2016 Filed under: Alcohol Ink, CAS, Dies | Tags: CAS, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Alcohol Ink 7 Comments
Recently I noticed how often my card designs involve a simple square or rectangle. Sometimes the panel is matted in black or a co-ordinating colour; other times it is popped up on the card base which creates a type of shadow mat. A matted panel with little embellishment is my most used layout. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the matted panel approach; I often try to create a mini painting so framing it seems like an appropriate way to turn it into a card. However, there are many clever card makers who never default to the square or rectangular layout; each new card features angles, diagonal lines, curves, cutouts and all manner of creative designs. I’ve decided I need to mix things up a little in the sketch and layout area. Take the card above for example, the alcohol ink design reminded me of the ocean from beneath the surface with light above and bubbles all around. I really didn’t want to loose much of the blue pattern so I cut the sentiment out of the blue panel and popped it up. I like how it turned out but it was very much my usual style.
When I put this next card together I was working with a similar panel; the alcohol inks had done cool things creating a pattern I wanted to save if possible but not in yet another rectangular layout. By cutting a curve across the patterned yupo panel I was able to add some interest and bend a transparent sentiment stamp to hug the curve.
Once again I wanted to retain most of this warm toned alcohol ink design so I chose a cool new border die with curves that created a contrast with the angles of the stenciled pattern.
I have a board on pinterest where I am saving inspiration for new layouts. The card above was inspired by Paula Dobson’s bright happy card, pinned recently. Sketch challenges are another source of inspiration I hope to make use of more often. You may have noticed all the cards in this post were made from patterned panels, which of course, are easier to adapt to interesting layouts than pictures of real things! I may get adventurous and creative with my scenic or floral panels too, who knows?
Supplies:
Dies: Celebrations, Border Edges (PB)
Stamps: Happy Snippets, Sweet Wishes
Ink: Alcohol inks (Ranger) Versafine inks (Tsukineko)
Paper: Yupo paper, Neenah SolarWhite 110lb cardstock, Neenah Natural white cardstock
Heather Telford 