Berry bramble

Sometimes it is fun to rediscover and incorporate some techniques you haven’t used for a while. I love to splatter masking fluid over watercolour paper to create the look of falling snow but sometimes I don’t think about it in advance or just don’t want to wait long enough for the masking fluid to dry. Salt to the rescue! While salt does not create bright white dots it does make lighter areas and pretty patterns that look a little like snow or fairy lights.

You can see some pale pink and brown pattern in the background of the scene; to create this I wet the whole panel, inked the stamp with festive berries and ground espresso distress markers and stamped it onto the damp paper. I dabbed at the inky impression immediately with a paper towel so I would have soft shapes that would not overpower the foreground image.After drying the panel completely I put it in my stamping platform for all the berry work. First I inked and stamped the whole stamp with festive berries distress ink.

Next I switched to markers and added shading to the berries and darker colours to the twigs and calyx. (yes, of course I had to look that up!) I used barn door and aged mahogany to add depth and shadow to the berries. I used chipped sapphire and ground espresso to darken the stems and calyx. After I had added colour I used a small paint brush and water to blend the stamped colour.  Once the panel dried I embossed the berries with versamark and clear powder which gave them a frosty, shiny look. The embossing made them waterproof so I was able to add weathered wood stain to the panel without diluting the berries. I kept the stain dark on the left and diluted it with water on the right then sprinkled salt to created the speckled effect. I decided not to add a sentiment yet as I think this one might be a winter birthday card not a Christmas card. I popped up the whole panel on some foam and added it to a natural white card base.

Supplies

Stamps: berry bramble

Inks: festive berries distress ink, versamark

Distress markers: barn door, chipped sapphire, aged mahogany, ground espresso

Distress stain: stormy sky

Hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: Tonic stamping platform, WOW clear gloss superfine embossing powder, salt