Three colours – Bouquet Ballet

Posted: January 13, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: bouquet ballet, Brusho, fluttering friends, My Favorite Things, Penny Black, square frames | Tags: , , , , | 12 Comments

Above is the second of my three colour cards painted with only ost blue, sandstone and lemon brusho. The first card displayed some of the texture and blending which is easily achieved with brusho, in this card it is easier to see the three basic colours plus a couple of the colours I mixed myself. As with the first card I mixed the brusho powders with water in a palette but for this card didn’t sprinkle any brusho directly on the watercolour panel.

The PB bouquet ballet stamp is stamped in black ink on cold pressed watercolour paper; I used a stamp positioner as cold pressed watercolour paper has texture which prevents me from getting a perfect impression first go. The small poppy is painted in lemon brusho, the large flower with sandstone and the multi-headed flower in ost blue. On each one I dropped in more colour for extra depth. The small trumpet shaped flowers to the right are also painted in ost blue but a diluted coat. The stems and leaves are painted in a mix of blue and lemon. The centre of the flowers I painted in brown which was a mix of blue and sandstone brusho. I did use a black marker to colour the little flower centre thingies, but we are not going to count black as a fourth colour!

Happily I found a blue cardstock in my stash to create a sentiment strip and a frame. I embossed the sentiment from MFT fluttering friends in gold powder and popped it up over the panel. The frame is cut using PB square frames and glued on using on point glue because of the tiny tip on the glue bottle. I have one more card to show you in this miniseries and I think it might be my favourite. Check back soon.

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Pinecones & joy

Posted: December 19, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, Ink to Paper, jumbo joy, Penny Black, pine cones, season of joy stamps | Tags: , , , , , | 11 Comments

The pine needles and pine cone stamps I used for this card are from Darkroom Door and I love how realistic they are. The stamps are quite large and there are several sizes and shapes of cones which makes for lovely feature images and fillers as well. I used one pine cone stamp but two of the pine needle stamps and worked on hot pressed watercolour paper which had been splattered with masking fluid. If you look at the close up below you can see large white dots as well as tiny ones; they’re all made by the masking fluid.

I stamped the pine cone three times using a stamp positioner and four different brown distress inks. A spritz of water started the browns blending and I did a little blending with a paint brush as well.

I stamped the green pine needles with forest moss and evergreen bough distress inks and the fine needles in the background with iced spruce. I added some green splatter then some gold splatter using one of the gansai tambi starry colours. I used the ‘jumbo joy’ die from Penny Black to cut out the word joy from the stamped panel and cut three layers from shimmer gold cardstock as well so I could stack them up just a little offset so the gold peeps out on the side.

I stamped the rest of the Christmas carol lyric using a stamp from Ink to Paper’s ‘season of joy’ set and some gold embossing powder. The overall pattern may be a little messy but it reminds me of what I see if I look up into the branches of the very messy pine tree in my front yard, which is currently covered with snow but not gold splatter!

I have been blessed to receive some beautiful handmade Christmas cards in the mail this week and I am enjoying them on my window ledge. I hate to say it but as yet I have not sent a single one! As I’ve said before there are twelve days of Christmas so I haven’t run out of time yet!

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Pink poinsettia poem

Posted: December 17, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: poinsettia poem, xmas poinsettia cut out | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

I have a less traditional colour scheme for you today featuring pink and purple on this pretty poinsettia stamp from Penny Black. I wasn’t set on being non-traditional when I started but it headed that way as I progressed. I started by smooshing tumbled glass and blueprint sketch distress stains on my glass mat, adding water then swiping a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper through it to create a soft background. Once it dried I used my stamp positioner to stamp and emboss the ‘poinsettia poem’ stamp in silver embossing powder.

I smooshed papertrey ink cubes onto my glass mat to use as watercolours and painted the flowers in scarlet jewel and royal velvet, the leaves in pine feather and the berries in winter wisteria. I used a gold gel pen to colour the centres. The card is not quite so bold as the photo suggests but even so I wanted some light and bright features alongside the painted panel so I framed it in silver and added some die cut holly to the white card base.

In keeping with my resolve I stamped inside the card and on the envelope with winter wisteria ink and add the sentiment in the same.

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Snowflake garland

Posted: November 20, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: crystalline, snowflake tag | Tags: | 12 Comments

At the risk of boring you silly I will mention once again that I have a booth in an art market in four days! One of the items I wanted to make for the market was garlands. I thought the new ‘snowflake tag’ dies from Penny Black would be lovely with some sparkly beads and they are but it took me a lot longer than anticipated to put it all together. I almost left it at one but decided a pair might be nice; the second one was much quicker as I had thought it all through.

I used white cord with a silver thread through it, clear facet cut beads, a mix of shimmer silver and white cardstock and a spiderwebby silver fabric (from France).

I ended up with six snowflakes on each garland with clear beads grouped on the twine in between the snowflakes. Each snowflake is actually double sided so the twine is glued in between the two and for some I glued a contrasting snowflakes on each side.

The spiderwebby fabric is apparently interfacing for dress making but its silver colour makes it perfect for adding a little shimmer and shine to paper craft projects.

Despite being photographed in a tree the snowflake garland is a delicate thing and should not be used outdoors!

Supplies

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A happy anniversary

Posted: November 15, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Hand lettered, numbers, Penny Black, spontaneous joy | Tags: , , , | 9 Comments

What a treat it was to design and make this card at the request of a friend of mine. Her daughter, also a friend of mine celebrated the 20th anniversary of her adoption day yesterday so an extra special card was needed. Inspired once again by the beautiful round card made by Peet Roeven I chose the PB stamp ‘spontaneous joy’ and a red and gold colour scheme. I worked in a stamp positioner to add colour to the flowers gradually beginning with worn lipstick distress ink for the petals then candied apple distress ink for extra depth and shadow. I blended a little with a paintbrush and water but I didn’t want to lose the detail by blending over all the stamping.

I used mowed lawn and peeled paint distress ink for the stems and leaves; two greens adds interest even on those small areas. I added black dots to the centres of the flowers then some gold dots with finetec pearlescent paint. To finish it off I splattered some of the same gold paint. I have been pulling out my finetec paints quite often recently, not so much for the main elements but for details and finishing touches. I used the same gold and a pen & nib to write my own sentiment strip.

While all the inks were out I stamped a flower on a second panel of watercolour paper and on an envelope. I used a set of circle dies to cut the main panel and back panels into large circles and to cut a circle out of the centre of the front panel. I used a piece of embossed gold cardstock to cut extra circles and the number ’20’ using the PB ‘numbers’ die set.

To assemble the card I scored across the top of the the back circle, applied adhesive above the score line and attached the two panels together. Having the score line on the back panel means the front decorative panel doesn’t need to bend at all. I also sliced a very slim bit of the bottom of the back circle so the card will stand up and not roll away!

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Supplies


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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: , , | 5 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: , , , , , , | 11 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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