Simple and elegant poinsettias

Today’s cards show two different looks from the Penny Black ‘Chrismtas poinsettia’ stamp. The first is simple distress ink colouring popped up on a fun polka dot background and the second is a bit more elegant with bold colouring inside a gold embossed image. I stamped this first poinsettia in festive berries and shabby shutters distress inks on hot pressed watercolour paper then blended the ink with water to fill the petals. If I needed extra ink for shadows and depth I picked it up from my glass mat which acted as a palette.

When I inked the stamp I wiped off the festive berries ink from the centre of the stamp so I could add peeled paint ink with a distress marker. After I had done all the blending I coloured the circles in the centre of the flower with a gold gel pen. My favourite part of the card though is the polka dot paper; it is so pretty. It is just one of a series of papers by Alexandra Renke. The Foiled Fox sent me some Alexandra Renke papers to try out and they are lovely. I will share more of them with you in the coming weeks. The weight is between paper and cardstock so it die cuts well but doesn’t add too much bulk when you layer it.

I cut my poinsettias out with the co-ordinating die but they wouldn’t be too hard to cut by hand, especially if you have fussy cutting skills (which I don’t). I matted the polka dot panel in red and added a sentiment from ‘festive snippets’ in versafine crimson red.

I embossed my second poinsettia in gold powder then coloured with zig clean color real brush markers. As I often do I used two reds and two greens, colouring first with the light marker then adding the darker colour at one end before blending with water to fill the petals.

I applied adhesive to a strip of gold cardstock then trimmed it even narrower to position behind the popped up poinsettia. I embossed a sentiment in the same gold embossing powder used for the flower.

I am continuing to participate in Kathy Racoosin’s 30 Day colouring challenge. If you want some colouring inspiration pop over to her blog and check out her tutorials and link up. Let me know if you are participating.

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas poinsettia, festive snippets (PB)

Dies: xmas poinsettia cut out (PB)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Alexandra Renke pink dots, gold shimmer, red cardstock

Ink: festive berries, shabby shutters distress inks, , versamark, versafine crimson red

Markers: clean color real brush markers, peeled paint distress marker

Also: metallic gold rich embossing powder, glass mat

Stamping is for the birds part 4

Posted: November 2, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: songbird | Tags: Brusho, Concord & 9th, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 4 Comments

My final ‘stamping is for the birds’ card is made with the Concord & 9th ‘songbird’ stamp set. I stamped on cold pressed watercolour paper in nocturne versafine clair ink then embossed in clear powder.

I’ve been colouring with my peerless watercolours quite a bit lately so I turned to my other love, ‘brusho’ and worked with a limited palette of leaf green, cobalt blue, yellow and brilliant red. Later in my process I added some black to my palette to save me from mixing all my other colours until I had a black.

I used leaf green to paint the leaves then added some cobalt blue to get a darker green for shadow and variation. I mixed red with green to make a brown for the branch, then painted the berries red with some touches of cobalt blue. I wanted the bird to be brown and grey but ended up with purple and grey which is possibly prettier but less realistic. I created the grey by mixing purple with green from the palette I was using. I mixed some black for the tail feathers and painted the beak and feet yellow.

Because the image is embossed it was not too hard to paint the sky around the image. I started by painting water around the edges of the embossing and then dropped in blue paint which I spread out and diluted with more water. Even after the sky was painted the panel seemed a little empty so I add pine branches to the lower left and right edges to frame the scene then embossed a sentiment from the C&9 ‘very merry sentiments’ set.

I am participating as often as possible in Kathy Raccoosin’s ‘ 30 Day Colouring Challenge this month and enjoying the colouring of others as well. Let me know if you are participating.

Supplies

Stamps: songbird, very merry sentiments (Concord & 9th)

Inks: versafine clair nocturne, versafine crimson red

Paper: cold pressed watercolour, neenah natural white, red cardstock

Paints: brusho

Also: clear embossing powder, clear wink of stella

Stamping is for the birds part 3

Posted: November 1, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: robin's christmas | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 3 Comments

I’m continuing my ‘stamping is for the birds’ theme with this sweet stamp from Penny Black, ‘robin’s Christmas’. I think this one might be my favourite but there will be one more tomorrow so you can reserve judgement if you like. I stamped in versafine clair nocturne ink on hot pressed watercolour paper then embossed in clear powder. I had my distress inks at hand so I decided to use them as watercolour paints pressing the ink pads face down on my glass mat as I needed them. I used a few browns plus black for the wood, two greens for the holly, bundled sage for the ivy, candied apple and festive berries for the berries, fossilized amber for the beak and just below the beak. I used browns and black for the bird diluting them to get grey and pale browns.

I took care to keep ink off the little spots of snow, painted the background sky in stormy sky ink then added some clear wink of stella to the snow for a little sparkle. I ended up going without a sentiment and popped the whole panel up on foam for a subtle shadow.

This is my first piece of colouring for Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day coloring challenge. Kathy is a colouring wizard who regularly runs colouring challenges on her blog and instagram. It is a no pressure, drop in when you can, as detailed or simple as you like type of challenge. The idea is to do some colouring each day for 30 days. Kathy provides tons of tips and inspiration sharing her incredible tips and techniques and giving away prizes along the way. Check out her blog for more details or her IG @kathyrac . I’ll be sharing my colouring here and on IG and hope to see some of yours along the way.

Supplies

Stamp: robin’s christmas

Inks: versafine clair nocturne, vintage photo, walnut stain, black soot, festive berries, candied apple, forest moss, pine needles, stormy sky, bundled sage, fossilized amber

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: glass mat, clear embossing powder, white wink of stella pen

Stamping is for the birds part 2

Posted: October 31, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: A Bright Tomorrow, gift card pocket, Peerless watercolours, winter lookout | Tags: Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 5 Comments

The second installment of my ‘stamping is for the birds‘ series features the Penny Black stamp ‘Winter lookout’ with a little bird on the outside looking in. I have seen a few other beautiful cards using this stamp and wish I had added a little foliage but there is always next time. Take a look at this gorgeous card by Susie Lessard.

I stamped in versafine clair nocturne ink and embossed in clear powder then painted the bird and all the wood with my peerless watercolours. To create variation in the wood I painted with several browns and some warm mustard yellow as well. Once I had finished the woodwork I had to decide how I would do the window. I chose frosty patterns like we often get on our windows in winter so I used the delicate snowflake stamp from the PB set, ‘A bright tomorrow’ to emboss in clear powder. When I painted pale blue into the window area it resisted the snowflake shapes.

I tried a second colour scheme embossed in versafine smokey grey, featuring greys and blues and stamped some pine branches inside the windows as if garlands were hanging there.

I finished both cards with co-ordinating mats and sentiments stamped on little tags from the ‘gift card pocket’ die set. I think I have only once made a gift card pocket but I often use the little tags and banner dies from the set. I added some finer details to both cards with black and brown markers once the painting was all finished as sometimes embossing does not preserve all the definition.

Supplies

Stamps: winter lookout, a bright tomorrow, festive snippets, joy of peace (PB)

Die: gift card pocket (PB)

Ink: versamark, nocturne versafine clair, morning mist versafine clair, northern pine memento

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, neenah black, kraft, red, olive green

Paint: peerless watercolours

Also: clear embossing powder, brown marker, black marker, twine

Stamping is for the birds part 1

Posted: October 30, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: cheerful christmas, Peerless watercolours | Tags: Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 4 Comments

This week my blog is all about the bird stamps! It is a bit of a departure for me but there are some sweet birds flitting around my workroom so I decided to paint a few. This one from Penny Black is called ‘cheerful Christmas‘ and I’ve painted it with a robin in mind. The image is stamped in black, embossed in clear then painted with peerless watercolour paints. I kept my colour scheme fairly simple, a couple of greens for the leaves, a couple of reds for the berries and bird, a grey for the bird and background then some pale blue. I die cut the red mat with the elegant stitching dies from Penny Black and added a sentiment from the festive snippets set.

Peerless paints come in a very convenient format and provide beautiful blendable colour. I tend to forget them for a while and then binge on them with one project after another. They will be back with another bird tomorrow. You can see how I set up my peerless palette here

This little bird reminds me of a Ladybird book I had as a child called ‘The Wise Robin‘. I just had a hunt for it on our bookshelves and found it. The pictures in the book are all paintings and quite lovely. Then I did an online search for it and found it was published in 1950, sold for 2/6 but is listed for $72.51! I flicked through the book to remind myself of the story; the robin ends up in the house on the Christmas tree and delights the family with a song. Of course my experience when a bird has come into the house has never been delightful but that need not get in the way of a cute story!

Supplies

Stamps: Cheerful Christmas

Dies: elegant stitching

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, red

Ink: versafine clair nocturne

Paint: peerless watercolours

Also: clear embossing powder

Majestic Mountains

Posted: October 29, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: majestic mountains, Stamped Landscapes, yuletide greetings | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 7 Comments

I have a few wintry landscapes to share today featuring stamps from the beautiful new ‘majestic mountains‘ set by Darkroom Door. This set includes three mountains, six sentiments (not featured on these cards) and – happy sigh – four trees! You can find step by step instructions on the Darkroom Door blog. I usually list all the ingredients at the end of the post but today I have included links throughout my descriptions.

On the card above I first splattered masking fluid over cold pressed watercolour paper and let it dry. I placed a torn post-it note mask across the panel then stamped the mountain several times in weathered wood distress ink so the base of the stamp overlapped the post-it. I painted the sky in dusty concord and tumbled glass distress stains then added a small amount of mustard seed stain close to mountain edges. I dried the panel then placed another torn post it note across below the base of the mountains.This was so I could stamp the trees in chipped sapphire distress ink but not have all the trunks showing. Because I was working on cold pressed watercolour paper the tree images were not solid so I used water to blend the ink. I dried the trees then painted a line of weathered wood distress stain along base of trees to create a snow bank and some shadows in the foreground. I removed the masking fluid and added a sentiment from the new Yuletide Greetings Stamp Set in chipped sapphire ink.

For this second card I once again splattered masking fluid but over hot pressed watercolour paper. Instead of using a post it note I partially inked the mountain stamp in weathered wood distress stain so the bases of the mountains were uneven, then stamped across the lower half of the wide panel. I picked a small tree and stamped repeatedly in front of the mountains in memento olive grove ink including second generation stamping to fill the space. Then I switched to large trees in olive grove ink overlapping some of the small trees.
I painted the sky in stormy sky distress stain taking care to paint to the edge of mountains and tree tops then dried it completely. I removed the masking fluid and chose another sentiment from the Yuletide Greetings to stamp in versafine olympia green ink.

On my last card I wanted a big winter moon so I cut a circle mask from frisket film and attach to a hot pressed watercolour panel then splattered masking fluid over the panel. I painted water over whole panel then added some stormy sky distress stain keeping the colour darkest in the top half. While panel was still damp I stamped a large tree in memento northern pine ink repeatedly using first and second generation stamping for dark and lighter images. I removed the moon mask and stamped one more tree to overlap the moon. I dried the panel completely then removed the masking fluid. I used another sentiment from the Yuletide Greetings Stamp Set in versafine olympia green ink.

This is going to be another of those lovely year round sets but I think it will be all wintry scenes from me for a while. I love having new trees to play with and those mountain stamps make it easy to fill in a simple background. Even though it is still October it has been snowing for the last 24 hours! It’s not going to stay though, definitely not!

Stamps: majestic mountains, yuletide greetings (Darkroom Door)

The rest of the supplies are linked throughout the post. I use affiliate links to the Foiled Fox online store. For no additional cost to you I receive a small commission when you use my links to shop at the Foiled Fox

Holly Garlands

Posted: October 26, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: garlands | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

Before I talk about this ‘neat and tidy’ card I want to thank you, my readers, for your responses to my previous post of two wreaths, a neat and a messy one. Most of you preferred the artsy(messy) wreath although there was still some appreciation for the neat one. It was great to read what you thought and why the messy one appealed. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a message.

This neat little panel of holly took quite some time to colour, maybe this is why I don’t often paint inside small detailed images. The holly stamp from the PB set ‘garlands’ is embossed in platinum embossing powder then coloured with three zig clean color real brush pens. I coloured the leaves with the olive and the green pen then blended with water. I use a wine pen to colour the berries and also blended them with water for a bit of shadow. I like the finished panel but won’t be doing this style too often!

I tried to finish the card with a bright red die cut sentiment but it did not get along with the patterned background so I just snuck in a little red stamped sentiment instead. Hope you have a great weekend and I’ll be back next week to show you why ‘stamping is for the birds’!

Supplies

Stamps: garlands, Christmas sentiments

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream

Ink: silver encore ink, versafine clair glamorous
Markers: zig clean color real brush markers

Also: WOW platinum embossing powder

A wreath two ways

Posted: October 24, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: winter chirp | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 16 Comments

I have one wreath, ‘winter chirp’ from Penny Black, presented in two ways today. The first is neat and tidy, the other is loose and messy. I started with gold embossing and used similar colour schemes on each one.

They are both painted with peerless watercolour paints, which I love. I stayed inside the lines on the first card and went all loose and freestyle on the second. I almost gave up on the second but as I kept adding colours it did look a little less like a mistake! I almost didn’t post the messy one but in real life it actually looks artsy and fun.

I chose gold cardstock for some stacked die cut sentiments, also from PB, so the sentiment and embossing would co-ordinate. I also matted with gold and green (yes it’s green, not black) cardstock on a cream cardbase.

I hesitate to ask but are you on the neat team or the artsy(messy) team?

Supplies

Stamp: winter chirp (PB)
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Dies: very merry, rejoice (PB)

Ink: versamark

Paint: peerless watercolours

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, gold cardstock, green cardstock

Also: metallic gold rich embossing powder, double sided adhesive sheets

Nature Walk

Posted: October 22, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Nature Walk | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 11 Comments

I am over on the Darkroom Door blog today sharing cards made with the gorgeous new ‘Nature Walk‘ set. The flowers and foliage in this set have incredible detail; the first time I stamped them I was blown away by how delicate the images were. For their debut on my blog I wanted to make them as artsy as possible but I will be back showing them off in all their delicate simplicity another day. This first one is my favourite of the three in this post; it reminds me a little of trees in some of Sydney Long’s paintings.

To begin I splattered some masking fluid over hot pressed watercolour paper and let that dry. Next I wet most of the panel with water and repeatedly stamped the round topped wildflowers in bundled sage and iced spruce distress stain. Distress stain is a liquid so it doesn’t stamp a sharp detailed image; stamping it onto partially wet paper resulted in soft background colour with a few shadowy flower heads appearing. I let the panel dry then inked the stamp with chipped sapphire, seedless preserves and dusty concord stains then stamped it several times across the panel. When the panel dried I rubbed off the masking fluid, added a sentiment embossed in white on co-ordinating cardstock and attached the panel to a white card base.

For the autumn toned card I once again I started with a hot pressed watercolour panel splattered with masking fluid. I spritzed the panel with water, sprayed some crushed olive distress stain onto my glass mat then swiped the wet panel through the stain. I repeated the same process with forest moss stain but tilted the panel to stop the forest moss overtaking the crushed olive. While the panel was wet I stamped another of the wildflower stamps in rusty hinge stain to get soft background images then dried the panel completely before stamping the same stamp in versafine clair shady lane ink. I finished it off with some twine and an embossed sentiment.

Card number three began the same way with a splattering of masking fluid on hot pressed watercolour paper. I like to splatter quite a few panels at once and set them aside for future projects. To create the dramatic sky I spritzed water over the panel then dropped some aged mahogany and victorian velvet stains onto the wet panel and started tilting and turning it as the stain moved across the panel. When I had developed some interesting patterns I laid the panel down again and added some antique linen stain with a paintbrush and let the panel dry completely

I stamped the grasses in golden meadow versafine clair ink a little up from base of panel then in chianti versafine clair ink a little lower down but still overlapping the previous stamp. When the stamping was completely dry I removed the masking fluid and wrapped twine around panel, added a mat panel in a co-ordinating cardstock and stamped another tiny sentiment on the same cardstock in versamark so I could emboss in white.

I like the pairing of loose painted backgrounds with sharp stamped foreground in these panels and I’m so happy to have these new stamps in my collection. Stay tuned to see them again.

Supplies

Stamps: nature walk (DD)

Stains: bundled sage, iced spruce, chipped sapphire, dusty concord, seedless preserves (card 1)

crushed olive, rusty hinge, forest moss (card 2)

antique linen, aged mahogany, victorian velvet (card 3)

Inks: versamark & shady lane, chianti, golden meadows versafine clair,

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural cardstock, burgandy cardstock, rust cardstock

Also: Cutterpillar glass mat, white embossing fluid, masking fluid, twine,

Beautiful branches

Posted: October 19, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Beautiful branches | Tags: Catherine Pooler inks, Concord & 9th, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 11 Comments

I’m over on the Foiled Fox blog today sharing these lovely stamps and vibrant Catherine Pooler inks. This set is definitely a set for all seasons!

The beautiful branches set from Concord & 9th has been sitting un-inked for months. It really shouldn’t have been; there is so much I can do with it. I decided to start with just two ideas; a fall card and a winter one but there are little flowers in the set so spring would be easy to put together too. The stamp set includes a bare branch then a bunch of different shaped leaves, berries, flowers and sweet sentiments. For both cards I stamped the bare branch in versafine vintage sepia ink which is waterproof. Even though I was planning to blend the leaves with water I didn’t want the branch to blend or bleed at all.

For the leaves I used Catherine Pooler inks, spruce, shea butter and green tea. I inked a roundish leaf with either shea butter and green tea or green tea and shea butter. I inked the whole leaf in the lighter colour first then rolled the edge of the leaf over the darker colour. I spritzed the stamp lightly then stamped over one of the little twig ends on the branch, gradually filling the branch with round leaves. After stamping each leaf I blended it with a paintbrush and water. I also stamped some second generation leaf images and blended them with water to create very pale leaves.

I dried the panel before adding the berries in CP juniper mist ink and blended them with water also. To finish the design I splattered some green tea and juniper mist inks over the panel but then noticed a leaf vein stamp in the set, designed to go with the round leaf. I didn’t want the veins to dominate the design so I stamped them in green tea and re-stamped without re-inking to get even paler impressions. The last thing I did was add a sentiment from the same set in versafine majestic blue ink.

I decided to use the same technique for my winter branch but didn’t have a red CP ink so I pulled in festive berries distress ink which also blends nicely with water. I chose a longer thinner leaf stamp and inked it with spruce and juniper mist which, when blended made a deep bluey green. Once again I blended with water on the paper after stamping. The darker leaves are all first generation stamping and the others second and third generation. I started, as in the fall card, with a cold pressed watercolour panel splattered with masking fluid. I finished by splattering with juniper mist ink, dried it, then splattered embossing fluid and sprinkled silver powder over the top. My sentiment, from the C&9 Very Merry Sentiments set is stamped in Juniper Mist.

I was so happy with the possibilities of this set and the juicy goodness of the CP inks I almost went on to make the summer and spring cards right away but I do have more pressing projects so I’ll leave that for another day.

Let me know if you’ve found a stamp set that spans the seasons like this one.

Supplies

Stamps: beautiful branches, very merry sentiments (C&9)

Inks: Catherine Pooler spruce, shea butter, green tea, juniper mist & Versafine vintage sepia, majestic blue & festive berries distress ink

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white, red cardstock

Also: emboss it dabber, masking fluid, emboss it dabber, silver embossing powder, cutterpillar crop, cutterpillar glass mat