Adorned Abode

When I was working with brushos on my impermeable craft mat recently I swiped a piece of watercolour paper through some blue paint just to clear it up. I set it aside to dry then decided it would make a suitable background for this sweet little birdhouse scene. Even though I used hot pressed watercolour paper it still has some texture so I used my stamp positioner to stamp the scene several times in versafine ink. I pulled out my polychromos pencils to do the colouring. As I was adding colour over a blue background, I wanted the opacity of the polychromos rather than the transparency of watercolour pencils. I used several browns for the birdhouse, red, white, black and grey for the bird, two greens for the leaves then switched over to gel pens. The berries are coloured with red, the snowflake decorations with silver and a bit of snow here and there with a white gel pen. In a few places I had obscured the black stamping with my colouring so I used a black micron pen to redraw some lines.

I wavered on adding a sentiment then decided not to cover any of the picture or fill the one bit of blank space. I’ll put a greeting inside instead. I finished it off with two mats and stamped an envelope to match.

This stamp is part of the new Be Merry release from Penny Black which is now available in their online store. Check out the Penny Black blog for details on their giveaway.

Supplies

Stamps: adorned abode (PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) epic black cardstock (Neenah) textured red cardstock
Ink: onyx black versafine (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Polychromos pencils (Faber Castell)
Pens: white Kirarina WiNK (Kirarina) silver, red hybrid metallic (Pentel), black micron pen

Dressed in snow

Posted: August 10, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 14 Comments

Yes, it’s a snow scene, which means there are new Christmas stamps in the house! Penny Black is showing off their new collection ‘Be Merry’ over the next few weeks and giving away gift certificates to celebrate the new products. This lovely scene is a single stamp and I have inked it in a simple colour to show how easy it is to create a pretty snow scene.

I’ve mentioned before how much I like memento ‘northern pine’ ink for wintry tree scenes; when you add water to it, it separates into a teal blue and a brown. One colour becomes three and gives you green foliage, brown bark and the look of blue snow or sky. I stamped the large image on hot pressed watercolour paper with the help of a stamp positioner then spritzed carefully over the trees on the left and far right.

I wanted to preserve some white areas so I spritzed from quite a distance and covered the some areas with my hand as I did it so that I wouldn’t lose the look of snow on the lower branches. To finish off the scene I matted with dark green cardstock and attach to a white card base. I know I’ll be working with this stamp again!

Supplies

Stamp: Dressed in Snow (PB)
Ink: Memento Northern Pine (Tsukineko)
Paper: Hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano)

Distress Oxide background

Posted: August 8, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Butterfly trio, Sweet Perfume | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 8 Comments

I’ve been playing with distress oxide inks again and its all because of the wonderful folk at the Foiled Fox. I loved the first 12 colours released but when I saw salty ocean, peacock feathers and seedless preserves in the second release I was pretty happy. I am guest blogging over on the Foiled Fox blog today with all the details about this card.

Our family has been enjoying a visit from my sister-in-law, Dale for a few weeks. She came from Australia via Alaska and we have had the chance to do a few little trips around Ontario and Quebec while she’s been here. One afternoon while we were home I was downstairs in my workroom trying to nail this card. I loved the soft blends in the background but deciding on features for the foreground was not happening. Dale came down to see what I was doing and we ended up collaborating to complete the card.

Supplies

Stamps:Sweet Perfume, Butterfly Trio (PB)
Die: Many Thanks (PB)
Inks: spiced marmalade, abandoned coral, wild honey distress oxide inks (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white cardstock, brick red cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder (WOW)

Wildflowers blue

Posted: August 7, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bright Blossoms vol 1&2, Brusho, French Script, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

I have a couple more cards that came out of my session with the Darkroom Door Wildflowers vol 2 stamps recently. I began by making blue watercolour backgrounds with brusho paints on hot pressed watercolour paper. Rather than apply the paint directly to the paper, I sprinkled it on a craft sheet, spritzed, then pressed the paper into the paint. I was able to pick up paint that was almost in crystal form as well as soft blended sections.

In the Wildflowers vol 2 set there is a large and a small version of the same flower so I used the small stamp on the panel above to create a base of flowers in chipped sapphire and stormy sky distress inks. I shook water droplets onto the panel to create pale watermarks here and there. Once the panel was dry I wiped an anti-static powder pillow across it and embossed the flowers and a sentiment from Bright Blossoms vol 1 in silver over the top of the blue. The silver catches the light depending on the angle but is tricky to capture with the camera.

On my second card I created the painted background the same way then stamped the flower three times in different distress stains. Once again I embossed over the top with silver, this time using a partial stamping of the French Script background stamp. I framed both panels in silver cardstock and added silver thread around the second panel before attaching to white card bases.

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 , French Script, Bright Blossoms vol 1 (Darkroom Door)
Inks: chipped sapphire, stormy sky distress inks & blueprint sketch, seedless preserves, aged mahogany distress stains (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Paper: Neenah solar white, hot pressed watercolour paper, brushed silver cardstock
Paint: prussian blue, cobalt brusho (Colourcraft)
Also: silver cord, silver embossing powder

Blue sky birthday

Posted: August 2, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Tsukineko Stazon inks | 9 Comments

Here is another ‘wildflower’ card from the bunch I made last week. Sometimes it is fun to get out one set of stamps and play around with colours and techniques to create a range of looks. The flower is from the Darkroom Door ‘Wildflowers vol. 2″ set and the sentiment from the DD “Happy Birthday” set. I created this background with brusho paints on glossy photo paper using an impermeable mat. I sprinkled some turquoise and violet brusho on the mat, spritzed it, then swiped the photo paper through the paint to pick up the colour.

I chose a grey ink rather than black to stamp but after the final result after a few impressions looks almost black.

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 Happy Birthday (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Cloudy Sky Stazon ink (Tsukineko)
Paper: Neenah solar white, Kirkland glossy photo, texture blue cardstock
Paint: violet, turquoise brusho (Colourcraft)

Beautiful tree

Posted: July 31, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Shade Canopy | Tags: distress oxide inks, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps | 6 Comments

The newest distress oxide inks are in the house (thank you Foiled Fox) so I decided to do some stamping with them along with a basic background. So far in my experiments with distress oxides and my recent class I have used distress oxides to create dramatic and rich backgrounds. In using them for stamping I had to think about what characteristics of the ink I wanted to take advantage of.

I began by making a background. I pressed the salty ocean ink on my impermeable craft mat, added water then swiped my watercolour panel through it. I dried that completely then did a similar thing with lucky clover and twisted citron inks. Next I pulled out the MISTI so I could stamp the tree colour by colour. I inked the foliage in lucky clover, stamped, peeled paint, stamped, spritzed to let it blend then inked the trunk and a few areas within the foliage with vintage photo and stamped that. To get a nice blend I kept stamping patches of colour here and there with the help of the misti. What I didn’t end up liking was how pale and ‘oxidised’ the foliage became. It got the chalky look where I wanted more bold colour. The fix for this I felt, would be to add undiluted ink over the top so I dried everything and stamped more lucky clover and peeled paint over the top of the blended colour. There is still plenty of chalky oxidised colour but also some darker areas.

Only the grass remained to be stamped so I picked ‘lucky clover’ on account of its name and stamped that across the bottom of the panel. I kept the stamp in place but moved my paper to extend the grass from one side to the other. The overall effect is more like a tree painted in acrylic over a watercolour sky. Rather than switch to my usual versafine for the sentiment I kept it all in the DiOx family and used black soot then framed the panel in black and attached it to my cream card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: Shade Canopy, Faith (PB)
Inks: salty ocean, lucky clover, peeled paint, twisted citron, vintage photo, black soot distress oxide inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper

Red flowers

Posted: July 26, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bliss, light touch | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 5 Comments

I planted red and white flowers in tubs for my front door and back door this year and the impatiens at the front door have bloomed up a storm. The petunias at the back are doing well too but I think the constant rain earlier in the summer knocked them about a bit. I used distress stains to stamp the flowers on today’s cards and let the colours blend together on the stamp for some softness in the images.

On the card above I painted the background around the images after stamping; on the card below I painted a blue sky first then stamped over the top. To achieve extra definition on my butterfly and petals I used a stamp positioner so I could add details after the first loose watery stamping had dried.

Supplies:

Stamps: bliss, light touch, happy snippets, special thoughts (Penny Black)
Inks: distress stains (Ranger) versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, black, red and natural cardstock

Golden wildflowers

Posted: July 24, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 6 Comments

I made a bunch of cards with the Wildflowers Vol 2 set from Darkroom Door the other day. I had my distress oxide inks out and some brusho and alcohol ink backgrounds on hand to add flowers to. For this card I began with a soft brusho background of yellow and green then added distress ink flowers over the top. I spritzed after stamping to blur the images into each other.

Once the coloured stamping dried I added black silhouettes to the foreground and sides to frame the panel, some dark green splatter and a black mat to finish it off.

Because the colours reminded me of a country scene I wrapped some rustic hemp twine around the panel before attaching it to a natural coloured card base.

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 (Darkroom Door)
Inks: wild honey distress ink (Ranger), versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano)
Paint: yellow, leaf green brusho (Colourcraft)
Also: hemp twine

Bliss birds

Posted: July 22, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: happy bliss, Tagged | Tags: distress oxide inks, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand lettering, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 7 Comments

I have a couple of distress oxide backgrounds to share today, topped with a whimsical line stamp from Penny Black. To create the backgrounds I applied spiced marmalade and worn lipstick diox inks to watercolour paper then spritzed them enough to make the colours blend but not so much as to flood the colour off the page.

I stamped the ‘happy bliss’ stamp in versafine onyx black ink over the coloured background and popped up the panels on white card bases. I die cut the little black banners and added a stamped sentiment on one and a handlettered phrase on the other.

Hope you are having a fabulous day.

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Bliss (PB)
Dies: Tagged, Shades (PB)
Pens: Exclusive Calligraphy nib holder (Foiled Fox)
Ink: Spiced marmalade & worn lipstick distress oxide inks (Ranger) Versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black and solar white cardstock
Ink: DrPh Martins bleedproof white for calligraphy

Dusk reflections

Posted: July 21, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: African Trees, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 18 Comments

As I have said before, you can never have too many tree stamps! The African trees set from Darkroom Door not only has four lovely tree stamps but also five animals and a flock of birds. It’s a beautiful set that I am really enjoying trying with different colours and mediums. This time I wanted the feeling of dusk around the waterhole. I almost added an African deer to this scene but I had achieved the look I was after and didn’t want to risk spoiling it at the last minute (as I did with a new card yesterday. grrr)

The scattering of stars was created with by splattering masking fluid on hot pressed watercolour paper before I started painting. Once it was dry I painted the sky and water in chipped sapphire, broken china and tumbled glass distress stains. I kept the panel wet so I could blend from colour to colour but dabbed up excess liquid at the sides. While the panel was still damp I painted two areas of grass with forest moss distress stain. I let the panel dry a bit more but not too much before stamping the reflections of both trees. To achieve the mirror stamped image I stamped it on a piece of acetate then pressed it onto the damp panel. When I was happy with all my soft edge images I dried the panel completely before adding the trees and grass that I wanted sharp. I used a stamp positioner to stamp the trees several times in forest moss distress ink then painted grass with a fine tipped brush.

Lastly I removed the masking fluid to reveal the little stars then mounted my panel on a piece of natural coloured cardstock.

Supplies:

Stamps:   African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks:  Distress tumbled glass, broken china, forest moss stains and inks (Ranger)
Cardstock:  hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Pebeo masking fluid