Rosa
Posted: February 5, 2021 Filed under: Leaves, Penny Black, rosa | Tags: distress markers, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
This is ‘Rosa’ a new floral stamp from Penny Black. When I have a new brushstroke stamp I usually reach for the distress inks for the first test drive. That’s what I used for both cards in today’s post and I love the watercolour effects I was able to get.

The ‘rosa’ stamp is made up of round flowers and long leaves in an impressionistic style. For this orange and blue card I kept the stamp in the positioner while I worked on the hot pressed watercolour panel stamping the flowers first in fossilized amber and spiced marmalade, the leaves in faded jeans and forest moss and the flower centres in ground espresso.

Because I was experimenting with the new stamp I didn’t plan or paint a background for the panel. Once the flowers were finished I decided I wanted some colour around them. Rather than paint some pale washy colour I smooshed the faded jeans and forest moss mini distress cubes on a piece of acetate, spritzed it generously then pressed it onto the panel here and there to transfer ink around the flowers. I finished the card with some twine, blue leaf die cuts and a sentiment also stamped in blue. If you’re wondering why I chose to have blue leaves it’s not just because I love blue. Blue and orange are complementary colours, opposites on the colour wheel so when they are placed next to each other they provide a contrast that makes the other colour pop!

The second card features generational stamping stamping and plenty of spritzing to make the paler background flowers bleed into the surrounding area.

The flowers are stamped in abandoned coral and aged mahogany, the leaves are forest moss and the stems ground espresso. Because I added plenty of water when stamping this panel most of the definition in the flowers was lost so I drew some swirls on the flowers with a glue pen, let it dry to a tacky state then pressed gold foil on top. I added more gold details with an embossed sentiment, a gold cord and gold embossed edges round the panel.

Rosa is such a pretty stamp, I’m looking forward to playing with it again. I think it might make a pretty art journal page.
Supplies
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OLW 162 Leaves
Posted: October 16, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Hot Rod, Leaves, OLW 12 CommentsAs I write this post our backyard is beginning to fill up with leaves. The strange thing is that by the time this post goes live I will be far away from our autumn leaf filled yard in another season and country all together!
Wherever you are and whether you can see golden, red or green leaves the challenge this week is to feature them on your one layer card. I used one of the leaf dies from the Penny Black creative die set Leaves to cut a couple of masks from post it notes. I then sponged over the masks in warm fall colours and added a thankful sentiment.
Supplies:
Stamps: Hot Rod (PB)
Inks: Memento Dandelion, Potter’s Clay, Cantaloupe, Morocco  (Tsukineko)
Dies:Â Leaves
Mini Journal boards – Autumn & Winter
Posted: August 22, 2013 Filed under: Background Stamps, Floral Applique, Japanese Maple, Leaves, Mixed Media, Tagged 10 CommentsOn Tuesday I posted the spring and summer mini journal boards I made as part of the Penny Black collaboration with Design Memory Craft Faber Castell.
Today I have the autumn and winter boards along with a description of my creative process. Once again I relied heavily on the new creative dies from Penny Black and the gelatos from Faber Castell.  I began my autumn board by creating a collage background in red and rust. I used the music background stamp, the Japanese maple stamp and some sponging. The next layers are all die cut using the Leaves dies. Some are cut from Penny Black mix & match fall festival papers; the patterned leaves are cut from a watercolour panel I created using red cherry, tangerine and chocolate gelatos and a stamp from the Floral Applique set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Music Background,  Japanese Maple, Floral Applique (PB)
Creative Dies: Leaves (PB)
Gelatos: red cherry, tangerine, chocolate (Faber Castell)
Mini Mixed Media Journal  (Faber Castell)
Inks: Potter’s Clay, Rhubarb Stalk (Tsukineko)
Last but not least, the winter board. To create the co-ordinated board and tags I cut a hill mask from two post-it notes at once so the masks were identical. I positioned one mask on the board then layered the tags on another post-it note to hold them together while positioning the second mask across the tags. Before applying any ink I flicked masking fluid onto both the board and the tags then let it dry. To create the night sky I used a combination of gelato and ink blended over the masking fluid. When the sky was complete I repositioned the hill mask on both the board and the tags to create a couple of snow banks by sponging. The berries were die cut from white cardstock then coloured with red and brown inks and the snow was added with a coconut gelato. To finish I removed the masking fluid, popped up the tags and arranged the berries across the top.
Supplies:
Creative Dies: Leaves (PB)
Gelatos: boysenberry, coconut (Faber Castell)
Mini Mixed Media Journal  (Faber Castell)
Inks:Â Memento love letter, rich cocoa, Paris Dusk(Tsukineko)
Blue shining through
Posted: July 23, 2013 Filed under: Hillflowers, Leaves, Maidenhairs, Stamped Landscapes, Winter Berries | Tags: Faber Castell gelatos, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 27 Comments“Time for a scenic card,” I thought as I browsed through my art inspiration board for ideas. The delicate white branches and stems in this piece of art were my starting point. I embossed winter berries in clear and then coloured the hill flowers stamp with the spearmint and the blueberry gelatos, spritzed it and stamped it over the embossing. Next came the Maidenhairs leaves in green and sponging in blues and green. I t was only after I had sponged the perimeters that I decided to create some hills using a torn post-it note mask. Finally I flicked blue and green ink around and a few drops of water here and there. The drops remind me of the tiny insects which sometimes swarm and are not always detected until one is in my eye or down my throat! I thought about adding a sentiment but opted for  some die cut leaves instead.
Enjoy your day;, I’ll be back tomorrow with my take on Beating the Heat
Supplies:
Stamps: Maidenhairs,Winter berries, Hill flowers PB)
Inks:Â Memento Bahama Blue, Summer Sky, Cottage Ivy & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Dies:Â Leaves
Also:Â Clear embossing powder, teal ribbon from Lorraine’s stash, Faber Castell gelatos
Dies Days 4: One die four ways
Posted: July 11, 2013 Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Dies, Leaves, Penny Black 12 CommentsI am having a great time with the new dies from Penny Black and one of the reasons is that I can make masks from them. I am using them with cardstock but you know me, I love to mask and sponge and every single die can create two different masks: the positive and the negative. For my post today I used the same die from the Leaves set and stuck with the same layout and design elements but varied the colours. I think the top one is my favourite, the one where I sponged through a mask cut from a post it note and stamped with the letter background stamp. (I think my new stamping motto just might be, “when in doubt, use the letter background stamp”)
For the one above I stuck the die cut post-it leaves down and sponged and stamped over them.
Dies Days 1: Daisy Collage
Dies Days 2: Dots and Blossoms
Dies Days 3: Flutters
Supplies:
Stamps: Letter Background, Flourish Birthday, Wishes, Sentimental (PB)
Inks:Â Memento Pistachio, Olive Grove, Dandelion, Potter’s Clay, Rich Cocoa, Elderberry (Tsukineko)
Dies: Leaves
Cardstock: Mix & Match Periwinkle
Dies Days 2: Dots and Blossoms
Posted: July 9, 2013 Filed under: Bashful, CAS, Dies, Dots, Leaves 8 CommentsMore dies on show today. One of the dies I imagine I will use on all sorts of cards is the ‘dots’ die. I used it two ways on this card, first cutting a dotty mask out of a post-it note and then creating a background from a coloured piece of cardstock. I sponged through the post-it mask in four colours and then used some of the same colours to define the edges of the berry branch die cut and background panel.
Have a great day
Supplies:
Stamps: Friendship (PB)
Inks:Â Memento Angel Pink, Rosebud, Dandelion, Cantaloupe (Tsukineko)
Dies: Dots, Leaves
Cardstock: Coral Reef