Craft Roulette Big Animals! + Video
Posted: January 30, 2024 Filed under: African Trees, craft roulette, Darkroom Door | Tags: craft roulette, Darkroom Door stamps, video 6 Comments
I was Mary Gunn’s guest on Craft Roulette last Friday night. If you haven’t heard of Craft Roulette it is a crafting game show that is live on YouTube every Friday evening. There is plenty of card making inspiration and discussion along with some live card making from Mary and her guest as they make a card which includes four different parameters chosen by the spin of a wheel. No-one knows the parameters ahead of time so you hope inspiration strikes as the right time!
I have been on the show four times now so I knew what to expect even though I didn’t know what the wheel would give us that night. As it turns out the wheel was pretty kind and so were the lovely people in the chat. Thank you to everyone who left encouraging messages in the chat; as you know I only see a few glimpses during the show but I went back through the chat the next day and read everything! The parameters for our cards on Friday night were:
project: a card with a bookmark, colour: bakery, element: large animal, random: horizontal lines
If you would like to watch the replay it is right here for you:
I don’t do that many animal cards so I knew as soon as ‘large animal’ came up that I would use the lovely Darkroom Door set, ‘African Trees‘. I cut post-it notes to make masks and blended yellow, orange and green distress inks to create an African savanna. I had hoped to make the bookmark line up with the front of the card so I could attach it in a way which didn’t change the scene but I didn’t get that right so it is a ‘card with bookmark’ just as the parameter stated. The trees, giraffes and sentiment are stamped with Gina K obsidian amalgam ink. And speaking of Gina K, she just happens to be the next guest so tune in on Friday, Feb 2 to see her face the wheel!
The conversation during the show covered plenty of craft related topics but we also discussed large and small spiky animals, ankle fractures, high level cake decorating, Australianisms, mould and much much more. You really should watch if you haven’t already.
Dusk reflections
Posted: July 21, 2017 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
Shining lights
Posted: February 10, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, Hand lettered, Tribal | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
I’m still having fun with the African stamps from Darkroom Door, this time combining a loose watercoloured background with a sharp silhouetted tree in the foreground. I stamped the ‘tribal’ background first on watercolour paper in several colours of distress ink. Once the whole pattern was stamped I painted over it with water and the colours blended from into each other.
I let the background dry completely before dropping some water strategically here and there. When water comes in contact with distress ink it reacts and dilutes the ink. By letting the water sit for a minute then dabbing it up with a paper towel I was able to create light patches which look a bit like lights in an already abstract sky.
I stamped the tree over the ‘sky’ once it dried then painted the ground with black soot distress stain. My sentiment, inspired by the ‘watermark lights’ was handwritten in McCaffery’s Penmans black ink.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tribal, African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Distress wild honey, spiced marmalade, fired brick inks, black soot distress stain (Ranger) versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: neenah natural white cardstock, neenah epic black cardstock, fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper
Writing ink: Mc Caffery’s Penman’s ink black
Nib holder: Exclusive handmade from Foiled Fox
Elephant congrats
Posted: January 30, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, CAS, Tribal | Tags: CAS, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
With fond memories of the One Layer Simplicity challenge I decided to make a one layer card for the current Case This Sketch challenge.
I masked my card base and stamped the ‘tribal’ stamp from Darkroom Door in distress inks. I stamped one colour after another just inking part of the pattern each time. With the mask still in place I sponged over the stamping in the colours listed below. Next I repositioned my first mask and added a second mask to reveal a thin strip of cardbase above the pattern then sponged with fired brick distress ink. To complete the design I stamped an elephant and a sentiment in fired brick ink.
Some goals are reached with much elephant-like plodding rather than the speed of a gazelle!
Supplies:
Stamps: All Occasions, Tribal, African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Distress wild honey, spiced marmalade, fired brick, vintage photo inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: neenah natural white cardstock
African Trees 2 Ways
Posted: January 23, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, Darkroom Door | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 14 Comments
I have something new to share with you today, some stamps from my homeland! No, not Africa, Australia. The images are of African trees but the stamps themselves are from Darkroom Door in Australia. I have recently added Darkroom Door designs to my teaching schedule so I will also be sharing some projects here on the blog. My first class with Darkroom Door stamps is in February; it features these trees and you can find it on my Upcoming Classes page.
I decided to make two cards of similar design but with different techniques. On the one above I painted a distress stain background to create a graduated wash then stamped the trees in distress inks. I did first and second generation stamping to get some paler more distant trees. I stamped and spritzed the darker foreground trees then painted grass at the base.
The second card doesn’t include any watercolouring. I began by brayering a pale green sky, dark at the bottom and pale at the top. I used first and second generation stamping again to add background trees then sponged some ground at the base and stamped darker trees followed by even darker ground. I like the misty feel of this one; I haven’t been to the African plains but I think maybe they look a bit like this in the early morning or perhaps when its very dry and dust is in the air.
Supplies:
Stamps: African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Memento new sprout, bamboo leaves, olive grove (Tsukineko) & Distress peeled paint, forest moss stains and inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white cardstock, co-ordinating green cardstock
Heather Telford 