Shimmery Foliage

Posted: October 14, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Airy, Dies, Finetec paints, Leaflets, Leaves, Penny Black, Taylored Expressions | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Penny Black creative dies, Taylored Expressions | 2 Comments

Recently a friend and I got together and worked on wreath style wedding cards. Mine is featured further down in this post. After my friend left I used some of the die-cut foliage leftovers to make her a birthday card. You can see a few matte green leafy branches plus more cut from gold, bronze and reddish shimmer cardstock. I arranged it all either side of a stamped and embossed banner. This sort of a card takes a while to arrange in a balanced way so once I had it looking good I took a photo so I would be able to glue it all down again in the same way.

All the die-cutting was done with Penny Black foliage dies from a variety of sets. The curly twirly birthday sentiment is from the Taylored Expressions set, ‘In & Out Birthday’ embossed in gold powder

To make the wreath card I began by stamping a rough circle using gold watercolour paint on a jar lid. It was the lid of the lentil jar so yes, I had to wash it carefully before it was returned to the jar.

I arranged die-cut foliage around the gold circle not with perfect symmetry but I aimed for balance.

I cut the A, & and L on the cricut using the Linux Libertine Display G font. Both cards were made on cold pressed watercolour paper which has a nice creamy colour and soft texture.

Matelasse cards & a winner

Posted: March 27, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, CAS, layered flower, Leaflets, the garden | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies | 8 Comments

I have a couple of cards made using die cuts today but first the winner of last Monday’s giveaway from The Foiled Fox. Thank you to The Foiled Fox for the gift certificate and thank you to everyone who participated. I enjoyed reading what is on your wishlists.

The winner is pansy47 who commented:

“I can’t seem to pick a favorite, but if I could it would be a die of some sort….background, words, scalloped rectangles, etc.”

Congratulations Pansy47, I will email you with the details and you will need to pick a favorite or two!

I came across a card recently with a completely embossed background like the one above. I was reminded that I can use my dies for embossing as well as cutting. After playing around with several dies I’ve decided the most impressive for this technique are the intricate ones that I don’t always reach for when cutting because of all the tiny pieces that have to be pressed out of the cardstock or die. As an embossed background I think it looks just like a matelasse quilt with all the quilting done on one colour fabric in the same colour thread. I added to my background a collection of flowers and leaves cut from a watercolour panel painted with scarlet brusho. If you haven’t embossed with your dies before just search ’embossing with dies’ to see how to do it with your particular die cut machine. To get a good impression I spritzed water on my watercolour paper first before putting it through the machine.

Supplies

Dies: layered flower, leaflets, the garden, flower bunch

Paint: scarlet brusho (colourcraft)

Also: Tombow adhesive dots

Paper: hot and cold pressed watercolour paper

Stamping the stories: Lord of the Rings

Posted: December 1, 2015 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Butterfly Party, Fantasy, Leaflets, Splendor, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 17 Comments

I don’t understand it but none of my children seem to have inherited my love for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and ‘The Hobbit’. I think they all read the latter but I am not sure that any of them finished all three LOTR. I have read them several times and thoroughly enjoyed them so when challenged with a fantasy and imagination theme the delightful forest of Lothlórien came to mind. I pulled out some tree stamps, some green inks and gold thread to create a representation of the magical forest realm of the elves in middle earth.

I used some sponging for the golden light of the sky, painting and stamping for the trees and grass and a little gold die cut popped up on gold thread as an embellishment. I stamped some of the trees wet into wet to create some misty atmosphere but added some more defined stamping once the paper dried. I think the little bit of script helps give the middle earth look. The speckled look is from a fine splatter of masking fluid applied before I started and removed once all the paint and ink were dry.

Have you read any JRR Tolkien? Are you a fan? What about the movies? Years ago my husband and I were watching ‘The Fellowship of the Ring”; we did not know one of our girls was still awake in next room. All she could hear was music then battle sounds, then talk, then battle sounds over and over. She finally asked us to turn it down; it was too scary to listen to. Poor thing. The movies are a whole lot of walk, talk, walk, fight, fight, fight, walk, talk, walk, fight, fight…

Supplies:

Stamps: Splendor, Fantasy, Butterfly Party (PB)
Inks: Rich Cocoa, Bamboo Leaves, Espresso Truffle, Pear Tart, Olive Grove(ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, green cardstock, Neenah natural white
Dies: Leaflets (PB)
Also: Gansai Tambi paints, gold embroidery thread, masking fluid