Long Distance
Posted: March 19, 2021 Filed under: Darkroom Door, global postmarks, long distance, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
Many of us are separated from family and friends these days so when I saw this new set of sentiments from Darkroom Door I knew immediately that I could put them to good use. The set is called ‘long distance’ and is a long strip of sentiments one under the other, eleven in total. I have several sentiment strips from Darkroom Door and have not cut any of them into individual strips. Instead I tend to stamp the whole strip or a section of the strip and then snip off or die-cut the ones I want to use.

As many of you know I am originally from Australia and all my family still lives there while my husband, children and I live in Canada and have done for twenty years. When I designed this card featuring the DD ‘world map’ stamp I did so with my Australian family and friends in mind so I had to make sure both countries were still on display after I added the sentiments. I stamped the map on hot pressed watercolour paper in tea dye distress ink and acorn versafine clair, dried the inks then started painting colours over the map. I smooshed tea dye, carved pumpkin, abandoned coral, broken china and mowed lawn distress inks on my glass mat and painted loosely with no major concern for borders or accuracy. I searched ‘antique map’ for an inspiration photo to guide me.

I cie-cut the map panel with a Waffle Flower A2 additional layer die then applied vintage photo ink around the edge of the map and the sentiments with a blending brush. It’s a subtle addition but I also stamped pale postmarks on the sentiments using the DD ‘global postmarks’ stamps. I will be showing you more of the new stamps from Darkroom Door over the next few weeks but there are already several blog posts on the Darkroom Door blog featuring the new beauties so make sure you pop over there to take a look.
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Virtual Coffee
Posted: May 4, 2020 Filed under: brick wall, coffee time, Darkroom Door, handwritten script, Stencils, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, Ranger Distress inks 4 CommentsI posted a coffee themed card using the Darkroom Door ‘coffee time’ set recently which prompted a request for a pack of coffee themed cards. These ones are on their way to Australia, and were made with the addition of the word ‘virtual’ because, well, you know why. I rarely do multiples and when I do they are never exactly the same. This time I did four of one colour scheme with the cup and saucer stamp from Darkroom Door’s ‘coffee time’ set and then four more in a different colour scheme a little more like my original coffee card featuring the take out cup from the same set.
The nice thing about making multiples is starting with a large panel to create the background. I used hot pressed watercolour paper for both sets and splattered masking fluid over the panel first. I like the addition of some random white spots and shapes from a masking fluid splatter but often I wish I’d done more when I remove it from the finished project. To create the cards above I smooshed ground espresso, salty ocean and crushed olive distress inks on my glass mat. I spritzed water over the inks until they were spread over a large area then placed the watercolour panel over the top and moved it around to soak up random coloured patterns. When I turned the panel over there were blotches of each colour along with blends and blank areas. I did some further spritzing and picking up of colour until I was satisfied with the coverage. Once the panel was dry I cut it into four pieces and used both the DD handwritten script and brick wall stencils to add pattern in the same three distress inks. I used blending brushes to apply the ink which gave me soft blends that faded away into nothing at the edges.
Next I add coffee cups and coffee stains in ground espresso ink. I blended ink inside the cup on some panels but on others I added more ink outside the cup to darken the negative space. It is hard to describe my process with the cups as I did each one differently and kept playing with the three inks until I was happy with the results. On a couple of the panels I added a partial print of the world map stamp. With all the artsy stuff done I just needed to add the ‘virtual coffee’ label. The word ‘coffee’ is part of one of the word stamps from the set so I masked, stamped and embossed then wrote the word ‘virtual’ above and embossed that. I was interested to see I could write the words with a papermate flair pen and then if I covered it with clear embossing powder straight away I could get the shiny embossed effect. I do have clear embossing pens but it is impossible to see what I’ve written with a clear pen!
I also did four more cards with the takeaway cup stamp using much the same technique and a peeled paint/scattered straw/dusty concord colour scheme. I added a few stamped coffee beans to these ones; the ‘coffee time’ set is a very cool collection of stamps.
Thanks for joining me for ‘virtual coffee’ today. I hope your week is off to a good start.
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Coffee with a friend
Posted: April 22, 2020 Filed under: coffee time, Darkroom Door, global postmarks, handwritten script, World Map | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, distress oxide inks, Ranger Distress inks 6 CommentsAre you missing the coffee shops? I’m sure you are missing your friends and perhaps you are missing coffee with friends. This one is for a friend of mine who loves her coffee!
I began with a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper and splattered a few drops of masking fluid over the whole thing. Once the masking fluid was dry I sprinkled sandstone brusho on my glass mat, spritzed the brusho with water and swiped this panel through it. It took a few swipes before I had an orange and brown abstract background. I added some dark brown brusho on one side and spritzed that to make it blend and spread a bit. Once I’d dried that I blended through the new Darkroom Door ‘handwritten script’ stencil with rusty hinge oxide ink.
At this point the panel was very much just an abstract background so I stamped the cup from DD ‘coffee time’ in gathered twigs distress ink and blended the stamping with some water and extra ink. The set also has a coffee cup stain stamp so I added that here and there, spritzing it to make it blurry. I stamped some postmarks from the ‘global postmarks’ set because I can’t help myself.
Unfortunately the coffee cup did not stand out enough from the background and the background itself looked incomplete. DD world map stamp and blueprint sketch distress ink came to the rescue. I stamped the world map several times on the panel in gathered twigs ink and then, to break up the orange and brown monopoly, I added some blueprint sketch ink in just a few places. I found some blue cardstock that matched the blue and stamped ‘friendship’ and ‘you’re the best’ from the DD ‘friendship’ strip of sentiments to finish the card. Oh, and I added a thin strip of brown cardstock separating the blue from the patterned panel.
I’m glad I didn’t give up on this panel; it is just the thing for my friend who I will enjoy a coffee with again one day.
Supplies
Correspondence
Posted: November 30, 2017 Filed under: Correspondence, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, distress oxide inks, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint 7 CommentsSupplies used:
Stamps: Darkroom Door Correspondence set, Darkroom Door World Map
Ink: Versafine Ink Onyx Black
Distress Oxide inks:Â Fossilized Amber, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio
Also: gold paint, Nuvo Black ebony crystal drops, black foam sheet, craft mat
Paper: Neenah solar white, Hot pressed watercolour paper
The world with you
Posted: February 17, 2017 Filed under: Hand lettered, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Hand lettering, Ranger Distress stains 13 CommentsThis vintage looking map card is for my husband’s birthday today. I am not suggesting he is vintage, far from it as he is only one week older than me! I used the world map background stamp from Darkroom Door and distress stains to give it an aged look. I began by stamping the image on hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine onyx black. Versafine is a pigment ink so I knew it wouldn’t bleed when I added stain and water over the top. I added vintage photo distress stain over most of the panel first then followed it with more distress stain and water (colours listed below) loosely filling the oceans in blue and the land in yellow and green.
When the panel dried I added some water splatter and stain splatter. Up until this point the process had been fairly quick but then I started playing with sentiment ideas. The one on the card is probably attempt no.217! I went through several different wordings and a couple of paper types and nibs before I resorted to something simple. Once I had written it satisfactorily I dropped water on it, extra stain and added a little postmark which just happens to be from a place where I lived the year before we were married. Sweet words like “I’d travel the world with you” were not to be. Don’t get me wrong I would travel the world with him and did travel from one side to the other 16 years ago. My simple wish with a pointed pen and ink and lots of love!
Supplies
Stamps: World Map, Correspondence (Darkroom Door)
Inks: versafine onyx black (tsukineko) vintage photo, broken china, mustard seed, bundled sage, ground espresso distress stains & inks (Ranger) Mocha writing ink (Parker)
Pens or pencils: handmade nib holder (Foiled Fox)
Papers: hot pressed 100% cotton watercolour paper (Fabriano) natural white 110lb cardstock(Neenah)