From our house to yours

Posted: December 11, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: birches, Karin brushmarkers, Penny Black, warm reception | Tags: , | 6 Comments

I’m excited to tell you about today’s card. I teamed up with the Foiled Fox to do some experimenting with Karin brushmarkers and I’m so glad I did. The Foiled Fox sent me the pack of 26 and I plan to try them out on my favourite watercolour techniques. Make sure you visit the Foiled Fox blog today to read more about my thoughts and process.

I worked on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper in a stamp postioner to complete this inviting little scene. I thought I would stamp in a pale ink and colour with the markers but I decided instead to ink with the markers directly on the stamps. It worked brilliantly. The Karin brushmarkers are water-based, ink filled markers with a nylon brush-like tip. Water-based means they blend with water. They are made and inkfilled in such a way that you can see the ink in the barrel and right to the last drop the colours will have full intensity. Nylon brush tips tend to be stronger than felt tips so I was willing to try inking the stamps directly keeping in mind that I did not want to damage the tips. The inks are highly pigmented and flow generously from the tip so I did not need apply much pressure as I inked the stamps gently with the sides of the nylon tips.

After inking the PB birches in black and grey I blended them a little then covered them with masking tape before stamping the PB warm reception stamp bit by bit. I did the trees first, then the house, inking and blending to build up the whole scene. I explain the colours and technique in more detail over on the Foiled Fox blog. As I’d left it until the end to paint a sky I chose to clear emboss the warm reception stamp so it would resist ink when I added it all around the house and trees.

To finish it off I matted in a brownish red and added a little sentiment to look like it was tacked to the trees. Definitely stay tuned for more projects featuring the Karin markers.

Karin markers used: red 209, sepia 074, neutral grey 3 131, black 030, lush green, 228, arctic blue 264

Supplies

(Compensated affiliate links used when possible)

Autumn Grove

Posted: October 5, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: birches, Chat Bubbles, Penny Black, winter's forest | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

As I mentioned last week; I’m a seasonal stamper which shows in today’s card. I’ve included some inspiration pics taken on a walk last weekend not far from where I live.

I stamped the PB ‘birches’ first in nocturne ink on hot pressed watercolour paper then embossed them in clear. I masked them with tape then, stamped PB ‘winter’s forest’ in Papertrey ‘cocoa bean’ and ‘dark chocolate’ ink then, while still in the stamp positioner stamped again with versamark ink so I could emboss in clear powder.

With all the trees embossed I started painting dabs of autumn toned inks around the trees and on the forest floor. The inks are listed below. Once I had the look of autumn leaves around the branches and scattered on the ground I used a white gel pen to draw back in the little birch branches I had accidentally painted over.

I stamped words from PB ‘family sentiments’ and cut them out with a speech balloon die which was exactly the right size. I matted the whole panel in brown then popped up the sentiment on a couple of pieces of cardstock.

The colours are lovely around here right now and there are still plenty of leaves on the trees. We had an enormous tree removed from our yard earlier in spring so it will be interesting to see if the leaf collecting is a little easier this year. We still have four big trees plus others over the fence daring to drop their leaves in our yard too!

Supplies

The Good Life

Posted: July 2, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: birches, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes, the good life | Tags: , , , | 11 Comments

I am happy to have a stamped and painted scene to share today. I often create scenic cards and panels in winter but I used liquid frisket on this panel to create a summer vista seen through a frame of birches. I teamed up with Grafix , used their liquid frisket kit and filmed the process.

With a technique like this it would be easy to make a card for any season. The birches could frame a snow scene, autumn foliage or even some mountains in the distance.

Painting the sky was fun, you can see in the video I painted the whole sky area in blue then added all the clouds by dabbing colour away with a kleenex tissue.

You can see in the video I stamped the house and trees with archival ink first then built up colour, depth and shadow with distress inks for the watercolour look. Because the Dr Ph Martin inks used on the sky are permanent once dry I was able to stamp and blend over the house and trees without affecting the sky at all and of course over the masked trees too.

Supplies

Home through the birches

Posted: January 2, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: birches, Spread Cheer | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

I really enjoy creating winter scenes and today’s card features stamps that lend themselves very well to scenic stamping. I used the PB ‘birches’ stamp and the boy from an older PB set, ‘spread cheer’. I began by embossing the large birch stamps on either side of a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine clair nocturne ink and clear powder. Next I splattered masking fluid over the panel to later look like snow.

I painted water across the panel from left to right skipping the tree trunks, added distress stains, faded jeans and barn door, then blended the colours to create a winter sky. I painted some diluted blue stain on the tree trunks for a bit of shadow then let everything dry. I stamped the boy and his dog in nocturne inks several times to get a very solid black image over the embossing and stain that was already on the panel. After the black ink dried I painted some shadow with the same stains used for the sky.

Once all the ink was dry I removed the masking fluid to reveal all the little dots of snow. I trimmed the panel to fit on a navy card base (although it looks black in the photos) and will add a white insert for writing my message inside.

Supplies

Stamps: birches, spread cheer (all PB)

Inks: nocturne versafine clair,

Stains: faded jeans, barn door

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, navy cardstock

Also:  embossing powder, masking fluid, MISTI

Birches

Posted: October 18, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: birches, peaceful winter | Tags: , | 11 Comments

Oh look another tree stamp! I created a wintry scene with the new ‘birches’ stamp and older ‘peaceful winter’ set from Penny Black. I began by stamping the birches stamp in black and embossing it in clear powder. I die cut a circle from frisket film to mask the moon and pressed it down firmly in the top right corner then splattered masking fluid over the panel. Frisket film and masking fluid (sometimes called liquid frisket) are used to mask areas when watercolouring; the film is plastic with an adhesive back and the fluid is gummy when it dries. You should be able to remove them easily after all your painting is dry.

I placed some masking tape across the birch trunks then stamped the distant trees stamp from the ‘peaceful winter’ set in nocturne ink. The distant trees gave me a horizon line above which I painted my distress ink sky. I pressed both wilted violet and blueprint sketch inks onto my glass mat, added a little water and painted the sky. By letting the ink dry slightly between applications I was able to get some darker ‘dried’ lines in the sky. Once the sky dried I removed the moon mask.

I decided to add some shadow to the birch trunks by painting diluted black soot ink here and there. I used the same colours but more diluted to add some shadow in the foreground snow. Once the ink dried I removed the masking fluid, added a sentiment from the ‘smile all season’ set and immediately thought of someone who would like this colour scheme.

Supplies:

Stamps: birches, peaceful winter, smile all season (all PB)

Inks: nocturne versafine clair, wilted violet, blueprint sketch, black soot distress inks

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: glass mat, clear embossing powder, masking fluid, frisket film