Time for tea

Posted: November 6, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Cup of tea, Tagged, teacups | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

I love this little stack of teacups from Darkroom Door. I have some pretty teacups that belonged to my Nanna, some from my Grandma and some from my mother. I don’t often use them because I like a much bigger cup of tea but I love having them. There are intricate details on the cups on this stamp but I have chosen not to colour the patterns individually, instead colouring each cup a different colour. I kept my colour scheme muted sticking with inks I have been using to stamp forests and trees lately.

I used a stamp positioner so I could ink one cup at a time. I kept a wet cloth handy to wipe off any ink that ended up on the adjacent cups. after stamping I blended the stamping with a damp brush to gently spread ink into the cup but not dilute the pretty patterns.

The stamp has its own frame so I trimmed with scissors right next to the frame and ran a peeled paint marker along the edge to make sure it was all inked. I chose my sentiment from another DD tea themed set, ‘Cup of tea” and cut it out with a PB tag die. I had hemp twine which exactly matched so I added a little bow to the tag. The stamped panel is popped up on adhesive backed foam on a textured cardbase.

Hope you have time for tea today, unless of course you are all about the coffee, but that’s a card for another day!

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Creamy poinsettias

Posted: October 9, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: diamond cut, geometrix: rectangle die, Ink to Paper, jolly holly, layered poinsettia, Penny Black, scarlet season | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Lately I have been die-cutting poinsettias from all sorts of different cardstock. I have a poinsettia Christmas card class coming up so I’ve been playing around with lacy paper, shimmer paper, kraft paper and watercolour paper with plans to also cut up some pretty plaid paper. These two cards feature a lovely cardstock called ‘Ivory WorldWin twist’ which is a smooth ivory cardstock on one side a lace texture on the other side. I bought it at Crop A While, my local scrapbooking store. The lacy side is almost spiderwebby but in a delicate pretty way not a ‘look what’s behind the filing cabinet’ way.

The card bases are neenah cream cardstock, and so is the sentiment strip and the PB ‘diamond cut’ behind the poinsettias. I used the PB ‘layered poinsettia die set’ for this trio of poinsettias; I like the size which makes it possible to fit three on a card front. (two more cards with these dies here and here) The PB jolly holly die cuts are a dark gold cardstock. I didn’t pop anything up on dimensional tape as it was getting pretty dimensional anyway with seven layers! That must be some kind of a record for me. I used glue for the flowers, narrow double sided tape for the diamond frame and stickit adhesive on the back of the holly.

The second card features the same cardstocks but a new PB poinsettia stamp ‘scarlet season’ which has both solid and filigree flowers. I cut them once again from the lacy cardstock and layered them over a funky rectangle die from ‘Ink to Paper’ and added the PB ‘joy’.

I’m not sure if it is the lacy paper or the colour combo but these cards have a bit of a retro look to them. I think these designs would be pretty with patterned vellum too.

As always the supplies are linked below; I have added a second affiliate with my Canadian readers in mind. The store is Scrap ‘n’ Stamp in BC. If you buy through my affiliate links from either Foiled Fox or Scrap ‘n’ Stamp there is no extra cost to you but I receive a commission.  Thanks for dropping by today.

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I’ve been playing with the alcohol inks again!

Posted: October 2, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Penny Black, simple serif alphabet dies, tall flowers | Tags: , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Last weekend I spent Saturday creating with alcohol inks while learning from Kathryn Kanadian who was in Ottawa teaching a couple of classes. Kathryn is a wonderful teacher and I now have a few new tricks to try and techniques to practice. This lavender panel was created with dots of ink on an applicator; I used passion purple, rich gold (Pinata) and  juniper (Ranger) along with some blending solution or isopropyl alcohol. I dabbed the applicator all over the craft plastic for quite a while and added blending solution and more ink when needed. The gold ink didn’t move much but the other two colours created a lot of pattern. These delicate flowers which look a little like lavender are cut with PB ‘tall flowers’ dies. The sentiment from the PB ‘special sentiments’ set I stamped with dusty concord archival ink. I had a section of the patterned panel left over so I was able to die cut some more flowers to pop inside the card. You can be sure I put stick-it adhesive on those panels before I cut such skinny flowers out.

The panel of browns and gold below came together as Kathryn was encouraging us to experiment with blending solution to move the ink. I used more than I usually would and was delighted with all the variation of colour I achieved, the dotted patterns and the splotches of gold here and there. I used ginger, espresso (Ranger) and rich gold (Pinata). Kathryn had samples of her wonderful work including a coffee themed card that inspired this one.

I used the Concord & 9 ‘simple serif’ alphabet dies to cut the letters from antique gold cardstock and framed the panel in antique gold also.

The daisy panel was a bit of a breakthrough for me as I had only made landscapes with alcohol inks by accident or trial and error in the past. With the introduction of a stylus and alcohol ink brushes I was able to paint some daisies and splatter a rain shower over the top of them.

I began by creating a green background with the help of some isopropyl alcohol and green ink (not sure if it was meadow or pesto??)  I used a stylus to dot the centres of the flowers in copper and pitch alcohol inks (Ranger) then I used a brush to paint petals around the centres and stems and grass at the base. The splatters of isopropyl alcohol pulled the composition together.

Although it looks black the cardstock framing the panel is actually dark green. I embossed a little sentiment from the PB ‘family sentiments’ set in white powder.

I created a few more panels during the class which hopefully I will turn into cards soon. Thanks Kathryn for a wonderful class.

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Homespun blessing

Posted: September 25, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Dies, golden delight, homespun, Penny Black | Tags: , | 16 Comments

This beautiful wreath is part of the PB ‘Merry & Joy’ release. I know it is perfect for Christmas but I am putting it to use as a thanksgiving wreath first. I inked the wreath with two brown and two green distress inks both in marker and ink pad form. I inked the branch area in vintage photo and ground espresso inks and stamped a couple of times for good coverage on hot pressed watercolour paper.  I inked the foliage area in forest moss and lucky clover inks then after stamping once it was easier to see on the stamp where the pine cones were so I could ink the pine cones in ground espresso ink and stamp again.

After the stamped image was complete I painted some water onto the stamp and stamped again (I kept the stamp in the MISTI the whole time) The amount of water transferred by the stamp was just enough to fill and darken parts of the image. I also coloured some of the pinecones in with a marker.  One word from the PB ‘golden delight’ sentiment fitted on a tiny tag cut with a die from the PB ‘gift card pocket’ set. I rarely make gift card pockets but I use the different tag and label dies from this set often. To complete the wreath I added some hemp twine and popped up the tiny tag.

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Blushing blooms

Posted: September 16, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: blushing, blushing cut out, Peerless watercolours, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

I have coloured this lovely flower a few times lately but I realised I hadn’t posted it all on my blog. I did some no-line colouring with the stamp which took a while due to the number of petals, but still produced a nice result which I’ll share at the end of this post. This weekend I decided to emboss the flower instead and paint it with peerless watercolours. I must say this technique was faster and less fiddly than the no-line petal by petal approach. I embossed two of them and painted them side by side with the same three paint colours. Peerless paint blends beautifully on the paper, in this case hot pressed watercolour paper, and I was able to add royal crimson over the top of flesh tint and vice versa until I was happy with the coverage and blending. The leaves were painted in olive green. I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love the quality, depth and blending of peerless watercolours.

I used the co-ordinating die to cut out both flowers then arranged them on top of a ‘snowfall/speckles’ embossing folder background. I snipped a few of the leaves off and rearranged them to balance the composition. I also glued some pieces directly to the background and popped other pieces up on dimensional foam. The sentiment is from the grateful sentiments set and is embossed and popped up also. Because my orange/pinkish combo is opposite green on the colour wheel this card is a match for the current CAS watercolour challenge, a challenge I love but rarely get my act together to enter!

Here is a similar design I completed as part of my no-line watercolour class. I stamped in antique linen distress ink and used a selection of distress inks as ‘paint’. The sentiment is from a clever Taylored Expressions stamp and die combo.

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Autumn wreaths

Posted: September 13, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: A Pocket Full, all natural, golden delight, Penny Black | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

Much as I hate to admit it, things are beginning to feel distinctly autumnal. I don’t have any autumn wreaths to hang at home but if I did I think I would like one a bit like this, soft colours and delicate leaves.

I worked in my stamp positioner to create this panel on hot pressed watercolour paper but I think you could easily do it with the stamp on an acrylic block, it might even be faster. I started by tracing a circle on my panel with a pencil. Using the circle as I guide I positioned the branch stamp from Penny Black’s new ‘All Natural’ set so the base stems were on the circle. I inked with rusty hinge, stamped, moved the stamp around the circle a little, stamped in bundled sage, moved it again, stamped in frayed burlap and then repeated until I was all the way around the circle. I used a small watercolour brush to blend inside the leaves adding extra ink when necessary. I love the combination of colours; frayed burlap is new to my collection and I like the way it gets along with the other two inks. Once the blended ink was dry I stamped just a section of the berry stamp around the centre of the wreath in gathered twigs distress ink then blended it to fill the berries.

I used the same sentiment for both cards, it’s from another new and cute PB set called ‘golden delight’. I stamped both times on a little tag from the PB ‘a pocket full’ die set. To finish off the card I wrapped some twine around the panel, added a bow and popped the tag on top.

For the second card I grabbed another stamp from all natural and used the same process but needed a leaf mask cut from post-it note a couple of times where the leaves would have stamped over previous ones. This little stamp has both leaves and berries as well as a curved stem which just happened to conveniently match the curve of my traced circle. I used the same technique of blending the leaves and berries after stamping with forest moss and aged mahogany distress inks.

Both cards requested the splatter treatment and the second card wanted a olive green mat as well.

Hope the days are warm and sunny where you are.

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Bunches and bunches

Posted: June 3, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, stitched nested frames, together | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

I’ve got something bright and breezy for you today. Even though the flowers on the PB ‘together’ stamp look like agapanthus to me and even though agapanthus do not come in orange or yellow, I chose this colour scheme anyway. The grey days continue here so I’m stamping sunshine instead!

I worked in the stamp positioner so I could add a colour or two at a time and started by inking the centres of the flowers with festive berries, you could use the ink pads or the marker. I used the ink pad and wiped ink off any area where I didn’t want it. Around the festive berries I inked with ripe persimmon ink, spritzed the stamp and stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. I wiped off the stamp then inked the outside petals in fossilized amber (my current fave yellow), spritzed and stamped again. Spritzing helps the colours blend and helps the ink give more solid coverage.

I inked the leaves in iced spruce because the time has come to hang out with other green inks; forest moss will always be special to me but there are other greens out there that need to be seen! I moved the panel and repeated the stamping to the left and to the right almost filling it with flowers. I added some orange and green splatter then die cut with the ‘PB stitched nested frames’ dies. The sentiment is inked in versafine clair misty morning ink because I thought the grey worked with the iced spruce leaves. The centre panel is popped up on a piece of foam for a bit of extra interest.

As I was choosing my sentiment with the words ‘bunches and bunches’ I was reminded of the word my mother used when she did my hair in two side ponytails. Up until grade 4 she did my hair every morning and it was usually ‘bunchies’! That was our name for the style shown below; I think we reserved the name ‘ponytail’ for just one. Did your mother do your hair in ‘bunchies’, if so what did you call them?

It’s quite the classic shot isn’t it? I guess the photographer told us to do that odd thing with our hands. I was six years old and my dress matched one my mother had.

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