Berry Full & Split

Posted: November 12, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Berry kissed, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 5 Comments

I posted a card made with this Penny Black ‘berry kissed‘ stamp last year under the title old favourites. Here it is again, still a favourite! In the hope of swelling my Christmas card stash in a timely manner I’ve made some cards out of half a stamped image. It doesn’t work with all stamps but I thought I could make it work with this one.

Once I had stamped the berry kissed stamp using a stamp positioner, hot pressed watercolour paper and a mix of blue, green, pink and brown dye inks I placed a ruler down the middle so I could see what would fill each side if the panel was divided. The right hand side of the image contained plenty of soft pink berries and three leaves. The left hand side looked a bit sparse with three leaves but only one full berry and a couple of partially covered ones.

To make the left hand side a bit fuller and more interesting I inked and added two more berries. Both sides got the splatter treatment, a teal mat and a simple sentiment from the PB set, ‘jolly snippets’

I also completed a panel which I didn’t slice in half. Because I used cold pressed watercolour some of the edges of the images are not as smooth. It all depends on how much water I spritz on the stamp after inking, a bit too much can result in the wiggly edged berries you see below.

Today’s post features affiliate links to The Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Joy, joy, joy!

Posted: November 7, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, Dies, Heather lowercase die set, immense joy, jumbo bauble, jumbo joy, Penny Black, Pink Fresh studio, World Map | 8 Comments

I’m using old book pages in some of my Christmas cards this year, partly because ‘Bookish Christmas’ was the theme of my recent Christmas card workshop but also because I am still enjoying creating with vintage papers.

All of the cards featured today are variations on a theme; I left the ‘O’ out of Joy and replaced it with a bauble. All the baubles except one I cut from Christmas carol music. One is cut from a map because joy to the ‘world’… get it? I used different Penny Black ‘JOY’ dies for the large letters. I used circle dies or bauble dies for the baubles.

I used embossing folders and patterned papers for the background and some die-cut foliage and bows to decorate the baubles.

For these last two cards I cut the j and the y with Pinkfresh Studio alphabet dies and added very cute little baubles to replace the o.

This post includes affiliate links from Scrap N Stamp. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Pink Majesty

Posted: November 4, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Finetec paints, Penny Black, Scarlet Majesty, Stampin Up, subtle | Tags: distress markers, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

Today’s cards feature the beautiful Penny Black stamp, ‘scarlet majesty‘ but as the title suggests, I have chosen pinks over scarlet for the ink colours. I worked on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper in my stamp positioner.

I inked most of the petals with a pink ink then added darker ink with more of a burgandy such as aged mahogany. I use a mix of small cube ink pads and markers to ink the stamp. The leaves were inked with peeled paint and the berries a purply blue such as chipped sapphire. Before stamping I spritz the stamp so the inks can move a little. I stamp the first impression then decide whether more ink is needed, more water or often some blending with a paintbrush and water.

I don’t remember fiddling much with this panel as I liked the watery blends and the paler veins showing through here and there. I painted the centre of the poinsettia with gold finetec paint and of course added some splatter.

The sentiment is from PB ‘jolly snippets‘ and the texture from the retired SU ‘subtle’ embossing folder.

I used the same technique on this second card but used darker inks for leaves, petals and berries. My guess is aged mahogany, forest moss and a dark brown which was possibly made by mixing the first two. (I don’t always take note of my ink colours)

I think ‘scarlet majesty’ is a stunning stamp; I like the curl at the ends of the petals. Here are a few more cards made with it. I will admit that it is tricky to ink because you can’t always see where to try and define edges. I have another post coming up where I handle this issue by adding lines after stamping. I’ll share that soon. The sentiment this time came from the PB set, ‘promise of hope’.

Today’s post features affiliate links to The Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Faux Postage Christmas cards

Posted: November 1, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Christmas inchies, Darkroom Door, Elizabeth Craft Designs, global postmarks, postage stamps | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Elizabeth Craft Designs | 6 Comments

Around this time last year I bought a faux postage die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I’ve used it a couple of times with watercolour panels but a friend recently inspired me to try with Christmas papers. I cut a white perforated panel and used the co-ordinating rectangle dies to cut the poinsettia paper.

The Elizabeth Craft die is a large one so I was able to get the four stamp section above and the five stamp section below out of one die-cut panel. I used a paper from the Simple Stories ‘Simple Vintage Yuletide’ paper pad.

Of course I had to add some postmarks to my faux postage and Darkroom Door stamps are perfect for that. I used red ink and stamps from both Global Postmarks and Christmas Inchies sets.

I only added one bit of text to the ‘postage stamp’ and using white embossing powder to make it show up. The ‘sending joy’ is from Penny Black’s very useful ‘holiday snippets’ set – it’s an oldie but a goodie!

I know it’s been a bit quiet on the blog over the last few months and when I have posted it has usually involved leaves! I’m sure there will be more leaves but during November I will be posting Christmas card designs and will hopefully be popping up here a few times a week. Thanks for visiting.

What I like about Gel Printing

Posted: October 31, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Branch 9 die, gel press, Moda Scrap, online class | Tags: gel press, gel printing, online class, Penny Black creative dies | 3 Comments

I think you already know I like gel printing: I’ve made that very clear! This card includes many of the reasons I enjoy it. There is a lot of layering, colour and imperfections in the print on this card and that often happens when gel printing. I didn’t strategically add grazes of red paint to the gel plate; they were left there from a previous print. They add so much that I chose to match the sentiment to those ‘leftovers’.

The leaves on the top of the panel are definitely die cut but the leaves on the print were added using my homemade stamp. I have quite a few homemade gel printing stamps; I don’t worry about cleaning the paint out of the stamp and I use scraps of cardstock and fun foam to make them very cheaply.

Gel printing is full of surprises; some of my favourite prints are not ones I carefully planned, they are ghost prints or partial prints, what some would call ‘fails’. There is often beauty in the texture, leftover paint and pale patterns of these prints. This card was made from a print demonstrated in my online class ‘Gel Print Journey‘ an introductory gel printing class. I created a 40% off discount coupon for the class if you are interested. Just use the coupon code SURPRISE at checkout anytime before the end of November. This post includes affiliate links from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Thunderbird Barbie Car

Posted: October 25, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Echidna Studios, Thunderbird Barbie car | Tags: cardmaking, cards, digital stamps, Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, rubber-stamping, sennelier watercolours, stamping | 3 Comments

This cool car is the latest design in the Echidna Studios etsy store. The digital stamp set is called ‘Thunderbird Barbie Car‘ and includes the front view, which I chose to watercolour, and a side view; you can see that one in the etsy store.

I printed the image on hot pressed watercolour paper on an inkjet printer. In the past I have used only a laser printer to print the digital stamps but as my daughter has an inkjet printer I thought it would be interesting to compare the two methods. The ink from the ink jet printer did blur ever so slightly when I painted with watercolour paints but not so much that it spoiled the colour or line work.

I found a T-bird photo on line and used it as inspiration for this turquoise car. I used Sennelier watercolours and a fine tip Staedtler permanent pen to darken a few lines after painting. I decided not to turn the panel into a card at this stage, perhaps it could end up in a frame instead. The cheeky little ‘Relax’ on the license plate is from the Penny Black ‘Enjoy Builder’ stamp set

This is not the first car image in the Echidna Studios etsy store. My daughter has also drawn a fabulous Vintage Beetle design which I painted last year and a cool Vintage VW bus. This post includes affiliate links from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Masked & Blended Leaves

Posted: October 24, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Echidna Studios, grafix, Leaves digital stamps and cut files, Spellbinders | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, grafix, Ranger Distress inks, Spellbinders | 5 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted, sorry about the blog neglect. In my last post (which also featured leaves) I mentioned I had just started to see some reds and oranges along with the earlier yellow leaves. This week the colours have been stunning! So many deep reds contrasting with the remaining greens and still more yellows and oranges. Even crawling in traffic has had its upside as I gaze at the autumn leaves.

About a month ago I posted a video showing how I created a watercolour painting of leaves using masking (more leaves). Today’s card featured the same process using a maple leaf design from the Echidna Studios Leaves digital stamp set. Instead of painting the final dark layer over the masks, as shown in the video, this time I blended chipped sapphire ink using a blending brush. I think the navy edge around the leaves shows them off beautifully but because I didn’t blended too heavily you can still see the watercolour underneath. I finished this card off with a layered sentiment from the Spellbinders ‘serenade sentiments etched dies set‘

This post includes affiliate links from Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Green leaf print

Posted: October 10, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, gelli plate | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing | 3 Comments

More leaf prints on the blog! Yes, I have a few more leaf print projects to share before I move into Christmas cards. To see the technique for this type of print pop over to my youtube channel and take a look at my last two videos. This plant is called false spirea and it prints very clearly showing all those lovely veins on the back of the leaves.

I’ve been playing with colour mixing when using acrylics and watercolours and it is definitely worth experimenting. Adding a little black to a bright green paint gave me a deeper and darker green as shown on this card.

I used this card as a birthday card yesterday as the sentiment from Darkroom Door is useful for any special day. I’ve been thinking that the leaves are late in changing this year. What is it like where you are? We are now seeing some nice reds, yellows and oranges around. Of course after the leaves change they fall so that’s another task coming up in the next few weeks.

Masked Autumn Leaves – Video

Posted: September 23, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Echidna Studios, grafix, Leaves digital stamps and cut files, Tutorial | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, grafix, video | 4 Comments

I recently completed an autumn painting using Grafix extra tack frisket film to mask autumn leaves. I began by painting the whole panel in yellows, oranges, reds, browns and greens. I used watercolour paints and did some mixing on my palette and also on the hot pressed watercolour paper.

Once I had a multicoloured panel I added maple leaf masks cut on my Cricut from Grafix extra tack frisket film. I used the maple leaf image from the new Echidna Studios Leaves digital stamp and cut files set. The set includes six different leaves: Hickory, Maple, Honey Locust, Linden, Sumac, and Oak. I cut maple leaves in a variety of sizes. Watch the video below to see the whole process.

I liked using this method rather than painting one leave at a time because it was quicker and resulted in more random colour patterns on the leaves.

I left my panel as an 8.75″x11.25″ painting but you could also cut a panel up into several pieces to make autumn or thanksgiving cards.

Gone Kayaking

Posted: September 11, 2024 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Echidna Studios, Gone Kayaking | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper | 7 Comments

Not only is this a delightful digital stamp from Echidna Studios, it could also be a depiction of what I am doing as you read this post. Even though I am writing this post before I leave home, when it is published I will be camping and could be kayaking, biking, hiking, reading or snoozing in the hammock, who knows?

This two-person kayaking image is one of the digital designs in the ‘Gone Kayaking‘ set designed by my daughter. The other image features a single kayak. I printed the image on hot pressed watercolour paper then painted it with Sennelier watercolour paints. I sometimes finish off a watercolour with a finetip marker adding fine lines or definition which might have got lost in the painting process.