Dies Days 1: Daisy Collage

Posted: July 8, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Dies, Love Chapter | 14 Comments

Penny Black released their new Creative Dies recently and are showcasing them everyday this week on the blog. I have been playing around with them so I have some “Dies Days” lined up for you this week too.

Today’s card features the Bashful Die in a collage panel. I began by masking a border then stamping a background of text in memento London fog ink. I used two stamps from Love Chapter along with the letter background stamp. I then used the bashful die to cut a mask out of a post-it note and sponged both the negative and the positive image with yellow and orange inks. I used a couple of stamps from the Lace Trim set along the top and bottom edge in memento Paris Dusk, added some sponging and a few feature words from the Love Chapter stamp. To finish I stamped the letter background on a dark blue die cut flower and attached that to the panel before popping it up on the card base.

Elizabeth, Jill & Peet have die cut inspiration on their blogs today

Supplies:

Stamps: Love Chapter, Letter Background, Lace Trims(PB)
Inks: Memento Dandelion, Cantaloupe, Tangelo, Paris Dusk, London Fog (Tsukineko)
Dies: Bashful

Tulips and gelatos

Posted: July 5, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blooming Garden, CAS, Watercolour | Tags: CAS, Faber Castell gelatos, Penny Black stamps | 13 Comments

I recently bought a set of Faber Castell gelatos so tonight I had a little play with them. I will try describing how I created this little watercolour collection of tulips but I was experimenting a lot so don’t expect a coherent tutorial just yet. I fiddled with gelato on the stamp, then on the cardstock, then some on an acrylic block mixed with water until I was happy with the watercolour effect. To finish I inked up one side of each tulip on the stamp with a marker then restamped. I redrew the stems, which were looking very pale, with the edge of the gelato. This is just the beginning of my adventures with gelatos so when I am able create an effect more than once I will attempt to share what I have learnt. I sponged the panel ever so slightly round the edge with angel pink then popped it up on the card base.

Have a great weekend. My daughter returns from a tour to Cuba with her violin ensemble tomorrow so we are all looking forward to seeing her and hearing about the trip.

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Garden, Reflection (PB)
Inks: Memento Angel Pink, Love letter (Tsukineko)
Also: Faber Castell gelatos

Tag to card

Posted: July 3, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Floral Applique | 5 Comments

As I expected one of the tags I posted on Monday has ended up on a card. I picked out the beige and red tag and used the same stamp set and colours to create a card base and panel. There are several flowers in the Floral Applique set so I chose a smallish one to stamp repeatedly around the edge of the card base then a couple to stamp on the corner of the centre panel. I sponged the edges of both base and panel to soften the whole look and bring it in line with the style of the tag.

collabo graphic

There is more inspiration for using twine on the Penny Black blog today and a chance to win a whole lot of twine!

Supplies:

Stamps: Floral Applique, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Memento Desert Sand with Love letter (Tsukineko)
Dies: Tagged
Also: Baker’s Twine Maraschino

PB and the Twinery

Posted: July 1, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Floral Applique, Tagged | 6 Comments

Penny Black is teaming up with the Twinery this week so the designers have been playing around with pretty strands of colour. As I have the new Creative Dies on hand too I decided to create tags which co-ordinated with three colours of twine. I used the largest stamp from Floral Applique to stamp a pale background on each tag then stamped in a darker colour a smaller image from the same set along with a sentiment from the new transparent set Sentimental. To finish each tag I sponged around the edge added the contrasting tab and threaded through some twine. Visit the Penny Black blog all this week for inspiration from our design team and The Twinery.

I think it is likely that these tags may end up featuring on regular sized cards but that would be a post for another day.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Supplies:

Stamps: Floral Applique, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Memento Desert Sand with Love letter , Angel Pink with London Fog, New Sprout with Cottage Ivy (Tsukineko)
Dies: Tagged
Also: Baker’s Twine Maraschino, Peapod, Stone

Butterfly Die

Posted: June 28, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Delicate Wings, Dies, Soft Wings | 21 Comments

After a week of sneak peaks, Penny Black’s new Creative Dies are now available in the store. What a treat to have all these beautiful dies to which co-ordinate with some of my favourite stamps. I chose the Delicate Wings die to cut a mask out of a post-it so I could sponge a background of blue for the soft wings stamp. I sponged Versamagic chalk inks in three shades of blue then used a stamp positioning tool to add the detailed stamp in Versafine Majestic Blue. I used two post-its as masks so I could sponge a base of colour to stamp my sentiment over.

Visit the Penny Black blog for this week’s sneak peaks and links to the design teams creations using the new dies.

Supplies:

Stamps: Soft Wings, Reflection (PB)
Inks: Versamagic Night Sky, Sea Breeze and Aegean Blue, Versafine Majestic Blue(Tsukineko)
Dies: Delicate Wings

Summer Poppies

Posted: June 26, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Field of Poppies | 10 Comments

When making this card I began with a colour scheme more than image. I wanted a beige background with some red highlights. As I worked with the beige and red I decided it needed a stronger brown as well. When almost finished the panel I thought could use it for Karen’s OLW challenge today “Splats & Splatters” but then realised, as has happened to me before, that it is not a one layer card!

Anyway, on to the method: I began by stamping the letter background and the poppy stamp in Memento desert sand. Next I sponged some desert sand and re-inked the poppy stamp with desert sand and love letter inks. I sponged some red onto the petals, added some blended ink with an aqua painter and some highlights with a marker. I used both love letter and potter’s clay inks for more sponging and the potter’s clay marker to lengthen and define the stems a little more. The splatters were done in both the love letter and the potter’s clay ink.

All my children have finished school now so there are new activities happening and plans being made. I have been sorting and reorganizing my craft space and also tackling the schoolroom/playroom/storeroom which I plan to change into the guestroom for our summer guests.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: Field of Poppies, Sweet Wishes, Letter Background (PB)
Inks: Memento Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand, Love Letter (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: Potter’s Clay, Love Letter (Tsukineko)
Also: red grosgrain ribbon (Lorraine’s ribbon stash!)

Early light

Posted: June 21, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Enjoy LIfe, Every Happiness | Tags: CAS, Penny Black stamps | 39 Comments

Now that I am back from my trip to DC and half way through the piles of washing I found a little time to create a card. I have some great design team tasks to tackle and new class projects to design for August but before I dive into them I played around with a new toy. I know it doesn’t look like anything new here but I cut my mask with one of my new spellbinders square dies. Creating a mask with a die is that little bit easier than lining up the four post-it notes. (not a ground breaking technique, I know!)

With my mask in place I sponged Memento pistachio ink on the lower two thirds of the square and summer sky in the top third. Before removing the mask I stamped the grasses across the bottom of the scene. After removing the mask I added the grass and sentiment in olive grove.

I hope to settle back into a routine of visiting and commenting on your blogs; thank you so much for dropping in here.

Supplies:

Stamps: Enjoy Life, Every Happiness (PB)
Inks: Memento Pistachio, Olive Grove, Summer Sky (Tsukineko)

A visit to Reston

Posted: June 15, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes | 8 Comments

I don’t have a card today but I have had a day of card making. Teaching card making to be exact. A few days ago my husband, son and I drove to Washington DC to stay with a friend who has attended many a happy class at Angela’s Happy Stamper in Reston, Virginia. My friend Lorraine, Angela and I schemed and planned so that I could come and teach some classes.

I taught two classes today and will teach one again tomorrow. I had a great time teaching some of my favourite techniques and layouts. I will feature the cards here eventually but for now I’d just like to thank Angela, Lorraine, Harriet and all the ladies who attended for making me feel so welcome and for being so very encouraging about the cards and classes.

While I was happily stamping, Andrew and B12 were off seeing the sights. You can check out what they were doing on my other blog.

Watercolour Wonder

Posted: June 4, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Fluffy Passenger, Lace Trims, Watercolour | 10 Comments

I have two very different cards today both made using water colour techniques and effects. First a bit of whimsy, then some vintage. Both these will be added to the Penny Black Watercolor Wonder Board on Pinterest. If you have not visited the Penny Black boards lately you are in for a treat. They are a bunch of new ones full to the brim with inspiration.

For the watercoloured cyclist (Fluffy Passenger) panel I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black onto Watercolour paper. I embossed in clear then painted masking fluid over all the parts I wanted to paint or colour later.

When the masking fluid was totally dry I taped the panel to my craft table and wet the top half which would become the sky. Onto the wet paper I added Danube Blue and Rosebud pink ink letting it blend together to create a pale sunset. As I had only wet the paper half way down the inks did not bleed past the wet edge. When the sky was dry I cut a post-it mask in a hill shape so I could stamp the Paris stamp in the background.

To create the foreground I wet the lower section of the paper and painted on some London Fog plus some more blue and pink. When it was all dry I rubbed the masking fluid off and used Memento markers, inks and a gelato(skin colour) to add colour to the cyclist.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fluffy Passenger, Sweet Wishes, Paris (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Danube Blue, Rose Bud & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: London Fog, Lilac Posies, Dandelion, Danube Blue, Summer Sky, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder, Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid, Faber-Castell peach gelato

This new lace set from Penny Black is very pretty; there are seven different lace trims to play with. I thought they would be perfect for a vintage card. Before any stamping I flicked masking fluid over the piece of watercolour paper and let it dry. Next I wet the whole piece of water colour paper then stamped the lace stamp in Memento Desert Sand to fill the panel. When it had dried a little but was still damp I restamped some lace in Memento Potter’s clay and finally a small portion in Espresso Truffle. I added the rose in Espresso Truffle also, then used a marker and aqua painter to blend some colour onto the leaves and petals. I added the sentiment when the panel was dry but dropped a few water droplets on it for a little bleeding. When it was all dry I tore the bottom edge, sponged all the edges, added some spots of Potter’s Clay ink then removed the masking fluid to reveal little white flecks and specks.

Thanks for dropping in; I hope you are inspired to splash a little water colour around!

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet as Honey, Lace Trims, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Memento Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand, Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid