Simple and elegant poinsettias

Posted: November 5, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Christmas poinsettia, xmas poinsettia cut out | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Today’s cards show two different looks from the Penny Black ‘Chrismtas poinsettia’ stamp. The first is simple distress ink colouring popped up on a fun polka dot background and the second is a bit more elegant with bold colouring inside a gold embossed image. I stamped this first poinsettia in festive berries and shabby shutters distress inks on hot pressed watercolour paper then blended the ink with water to fill the petals. If I needed extra ink for shadows and depth I picked it up from my glass mat which acted as a palette.

When I inked the stamp I wiped off the festive berries ink from the centre of the stamp so I could add peeled paint ink with a distress marker. After I had done all the blending I coloured the circles in the centre of the flower with a gold gel pen. My favourite part of the card though is the polka dot paper; it is so pretty. It is just one of a series of papers by Alexandra Renke. The Foiled Fox sent me some Alexandra Renke papers to try out and they are lovely. I will share more of them with you in the coming weeks. The weight is between paper and cardstock so it die cuts well but doesn’t add too much bulk when you layer it.

I cut my poinsettias out with the co-ordinating die but they wouldn’t be too hard to cut by hand, especially if you have fussy cutting skills (which I don’t). I matted the polka dot panel in red and added a sentiment from ‘festive snippets’ in versafine crimson red.

I embossed my second poinsettia in gold powder then coloured with zig clean color real brush markers. As I often do I used two reds and two greens, colouring first with the light marker then adding the darker colour at one end before blending with water to fill the petals.

I applied adhesive to a strip of gold cardstock then trimmed it even narrower to position behind the popped up poinsettia. I embossed a sentiment in the same gold embossing powder used for the flower.

I am continuing to participate in Kathy Racoosin’s 30 Day colouring challenge. If you want some colouring inspiration pop over to her blog and check out her tutorials and link up. Let me know if you are participating.

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas poinsettia, festive snippets (PB)

Dies: xmas poinsettia cut out (PB)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Alexandra Renke pink dots, gold shimmer, red cardstock

Ink: festive berries, shabby shutters distress inks, , versamark, versafine crimson red

Markers: clean color real brush markers, peeled paint distress marker

Also: metallic gold rich embossing powder, glass mat

Stamping is for the birds part 2

Posted: October 31, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: A Bright Tomorrow, gift card pocket, Peerless watercolours, winter lookout | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

The second installment of my ‘stamping is for the birds‘ series features the Penny Black stamp ‘Winter lookout’ with a little bird on the outside looking in. I have seen a few other beautiful cards using this stamp and wish I had added a little foliage but there is always next time. Take a look at this gorgeous card by Susie Lessard.

I stamped in versafine clair nocturne ink and embossed in clear powder then painted the bird and all the wood with my peerless watercolours. To create variation in the wood I painted with several browns and some warm mustard yellow as well. Once I had finished the woodwork I had to decide how I would do the window. I chose frosty patterns like we often get on our windows in winter so I used the delicate snowflake stamp from the PB set, ‘A bright tomorrow’ to emboss in clear powder. When I painted pale blue into the window area it resisted the snowflake shapes.

I tried a second colour scheme embossed in versafine smokey grey, featuring greys and blues and stamped some pine branches inside the windows as if garlands were hanging there.

I finished both cards with co-ordinating mats and sentiments stamped on little tags from the ‘gift card pocket’ die set. I think I have only once made a gift card pocket but I often use the little tags and banner dies from the set. I added some finer details to both cards with black and brown markers once the painting was all finished as sometimes embossing does not preserve all the definition.

Supplies

Stamps: winter lookout, a bright tomorrow, festive snippets, joy of peace (PB)

Die: gift card pocket (PB)

Ink: versamark, nocturne versafine clair, morning mist versafine clair, northern pine memento

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, neenah black, kraft, red, olive green

Paint: peerless watercolours

Also: clear embossing powder, brown marker, black marker, twine

When a plan goes awry

Posted: October 17, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Christmas berries, dancing daisies, gift card pocket, winter branches | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

Today’s card was the result of a thought I had after making a Christmas themed card featuring the berries seen on this one. The Penny Black berry stamp is called ‘Christmas berries’ so it is hardly surprising that I made a Christmas card with them but I wanted to see if I could put them to use in a non-Christmas card too.

I started by stamping the dancing daisies in blue, purple, green and yellow (they were all distress inks and I will make a guess at them in the list below but once again I didn’t write them down). After stamping I blended the petals  and leaves with water and a paint brush. I masked the daisies as I had saved masks from a previous project, stamped the berries in pinky, purply colours so they wouldn’t look Christmassy and blended again with water.

Finally I added some ‘winter branches’ in brown ink. This is where my plan started to unravel. I didn’t want to mask all those berries and flowers to put the winter branches in the background so I stamped them over the top and blended them with a paintbrush also. With the blending they became more prominent than I wanted; without the blending they looked badly stamped because I was working on textured cold pressed watercolour paper.

I finished off the panel with some dark brown splatter then moved onto another project undecided whether to turn this one into a card or not. When I came back to this panel later I decided to break up the dominance of the brown winter branches with a sentiment panel. I used a die from the gift card pocket set to cut a decorative shape from hot pressed watercolour paper and adhesive backed foam then stamped a sentiment from the banner sentiments set. I ended up liking the idea and the colours of this card but it’s not my best layout.

Supplies

Stamps: dancing daisies, Christmas berries, winter branches, banner sentiments (all PB)

Inks: blueprint sketch, dusty concord, fossilized amber, forest moss, festive berries, gathered twigs distress inks & monarch versafine clair

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, hot pressed watercolour paper

Die: gift card pocket (PB)

Tools: adhesive backed foam, Misti

Flowers & Scrolls

Posted: June 28, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: floral edger, scrolls half edger | Tags: , , | 8 Comments

I have a new glass mat on my work table and it’s been fun trying some of my favourite techniques on the glass surface. To create the backgrounds for these two cards I swiped distress oxide inks on the glass, spritzed some water over the ink then swiped hot pressed watercolour paper through it.

For this card the oxide inks were wild honey and lucky clover. I topped the panel with the scrolls half edger die cut and a stacked sentiment. I backed the white cardstock with adhesive sheet first before cutting to make it easier to attach.

The second background was made by swiping watercolour paper through wild honey, lucky clover and abandoned coral oxide inks then splattering some more ink and water over the top.

This one I decorated with the ‘floral half’ die cut edger. Both decorative dies cut all the intricate detail on one side and leave the opposite edge uncut

The cutterpillar glass mat worked beautifully for smooshing ink onto. I managed to spill half a bottle of glue on it while putting these cards together and ended up leaving it to dry for a day or two then peeled it off with ease. I have linked to the glass mat below so you can take a look (in the photo it is shown on top of the Cutterpillar Glow light pad). I really like the size as I can complete inky-painty projects on it but it doesn’t take over my whole work table. I will share more about it as I put it through its paces with other techniques.

Supplies

Dies: scrolls half edger, floral half, party for you

Inks

Papers: hot pressed watercolour, neenah solar white

Tools: stick-it adhesive, Cutterpillar Glow Tempered Glass mat

Knock knock

Posted: May 28, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Art Impressions WC stamps, border edgers | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

I’m collaborating with the Foiled Fox team today so you can read more about these cards on their blog. These are my first cards created with Art Impressions ‘Watercolor’ stamps. The stamps are designed for creating scenes; there are a lot of little stamps depicting stems, branches, foliage and flowers. The stamper can combine them however they wish, use a water soluble ink then blend with a little water to turn all the stamping into ‘watercolor paintings’.

I used a combination of foliage and flower sets to decorate two cards featuring doors from the Art Impressions ‘Door’ set. It was fun to create little  scenes around the doors. One ended up being a rustic cabin type door and the other a simple white door at the end of a garden path.

I chose frayed burlap distress ink to stamp one of the doors and grey zig clean color real brush marker to ink the other door. I also used the zig markers for the floral and foliage stamps. I learnt on the Art Impressions youtube channel that the best way to stamp the flowers and leaves is to ink them, then stamp several times just slightly offset each time. That way you create more volume and variety in colour. After you have done your stamping (with watersoluble inks like distress and zig clean color) you can blend all the images with a damp brush to create the watercolour look.

I added some elements with the zig markers and watercolour pencils to fill out the scenes. front path, bricks and planks around the doors and a hand drawn window. Pop over to the Foiled Fox blog to read about my method in more detail.

I really enjoyed playing with these stamps to create my own scenes. The stamps are tiny but you can fill a garden quickly by stamping a mass of flowers and foliage then blending it every so lightly with water. I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you have already done some creating with the Art Impressions watercolour stamps or if you are feeling inspired to give it a try. I will definitely be back with more scenes.

Supplies

Art Impressions Stamps:  WC Foliage set 3, WC Flower set 3, WC door set, WC Foliage set 1, Flower

MFT Stamps: Anything but Basic Friend set

Inks: frayed burlap distress ink, versafine sepia, versafine olympia green

Dies: Penny Black border edgers

Papers: cold pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white, green cardstocks

Also: zig clean color real brush pens, watercolor pencils

Belle

Posted: May 21, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: A Pocket Full, belle, Foiling, Zigs & zags | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

The zigs & zags stencil has popped up again today as a background for this die cut and watercoloured flower. I applied deco transfer gel directly to my card base (neenah solar white 110lb) then ran it through my minc with white foil. The result is a subtle chevron background. I wanted my flower to match the white card base exactly so I used the same neenah solar white which meant I did not add much water at all when blending my zig pens after stamping. I used a mix of blue, pink and purple and a blue/green combo on the leaves and stem then just a damp brush to blend with water. I made sure the blending was dry before stamping the black centre several times then used the co-ordinating die to cut out the flower plus a white foam one to pop it up over the background.

The little black banner was die cut with one of the dies from the PB ‘pocket full’ die set. I have pulled out all my little label, banner and tag dies from different sets and grouped them together so I can quickly cut the right size for a sentiment. This sentiment from the handy ‘banner sentiments’ set is embossed in white powder.

Supplies

Stamps: belle, banner sentiments

Die: belle cut out, a pocket full

Stencil: zigs & zags

Paper: neenah solar white, neenah epic black
 
Markers: kuretake zig clean color real brush pens pink, blue, violet, cobalt blue, green, black

Also: transfer gel, white foil, foam, minc, white embossing powder

 

 

Alcohol ink splatter

Posted: May 18, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, branching out, cherry blossom | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

I hope you have enjoyed my alcohol ink projects this week. I could have happily continued playing with colour combinations and different techniques but other projects beckoned.

Once again I used a colour combination curated by Ranger; this one is called ‘Cottage Path’ and includes slate, currant and meadow. I worked on the heavyweight yupo paper and dropped inks randomly over the panel to begin. Once there was plenty of coverage I used a small cheap paintbrush (plastic bristles) to flick rubbing alcohol as well as the ‘cottage path’ inks over the panel. The result is very fine circles over the top of the larger blobs of colour.

I matched my cardstock to the ink colours and die cut a tree from green using the Penny Black ‘branching out’ die then matted my panel with the same colour. On the other card I cut a couple of ‘cherry blossom’ die cuts plus a sentiment.

Supplies

Dies: branching out, cherry blossom, many thanks

Inks: Cottage path alcohol inks (Ranger)

Paper: heavyweight yupo (Legion) natural white (neenah), burgandy and green

fantastic

Posted: April 20, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, curved stitch | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

Not long ago I learnt from a couple of friends that foil will stick to some alcohol inks. I posted a card at that time and continued to experiment with foil and alcohol ink panels.  If the alcohol ink sitting on the yupo paper is a little sticky the foil will stick more readily than if the inks are long dried. I ran today’s panel through my minc not long after I’d created it and a lot of gold foil stuck. Foil doesn’t stick to all colours of alcohol ink and I’m sorry to say I have not done exhaustive testing to know which ones work. I just layer on some foil, run it through the minc and see what I get!

I was pretty happy with what I got this time there were some really pretty gold highlights, but a few more than I wanted. I decided to see whether I could add alcohol ink over the top of the foiling just to tone some of the gold down a little. I was pleasantly surprised to see the gold foil change to a dull silver when it came in contact with the ink. It is definitely hard to photograph the results but my blue and green panel has gold highlights as well as subtler silver patterns.

To turn my panel into a card I backed the yupo with white cardstock then cut it in two using the curved stitch die from Penny Black. I stacked some gold die-cuts to make the word ‘fantastic’ look a little more fantastic and added it all to a natural card base. I think this one might turn up as a graduation card this June.

Supplies

Dies: curved stitch, fantastic

Inks: ranger alcohol inks aqua, willow, denim

Paper: yupo, neenah solar white, neenah natural white, gold foil

Also: gold foil, minc, rubbing alcohol

You’re spectacular

Posted: April 6, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Brusho, fantastic, Zigs & zags | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Does that background look a little skewed to you? It’s that exact feature that made me use it for an ‘eye sight’ themed card, something you might have to look at with your head on the side.

I taped the zigs & zags stencil from Penny Black onto a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper then spread deco transfer gel over. I carefully removed the stencil and let the gel dry. Once dry I lay a piece of white foil over the panel and ran it through my minc foiling machine. The result was a white on off-white chevron panel. Because I had created it on watercolour paper I was able to use brusho and a spritzer to make a multicoloured pattern. Once the panel dried and I decided on the ‘spectacle & eyesight’ theme. I wanted the die cut glasses to look a little fancy so I added adhesive sheet to the back of black cardstock then cut three pairs of glasses. I was just going to emboss them with clear powder but thought sparkly clear powder might be even better. After adhering the three die cuts together in a stack I pressed the top layer onto my versamark ink then dipped it in WOW clear sparkle powder. Even though the powder is clear it ended with a slight green sparkle to it. It looks a little different depending what base colour you emboss over. I pressed the glasses onto my versamark again and embossed in clear powder over the top of the sparkle.

My sentiment is just one of the eyesight themed sentiments in the ‘perspective’ transparent set from Penny Black. To complete the card I matted the zig zag panel in a co-ordinating colour, attached the sentiment then the glasses and attached it all to a white card base. Not my usual style but I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Supplies

Stamps: perspective

Dies: glasses (PB), 2″ square die

Stencil: zigs & zags (PB)

Paint: colorburst turquoise, olive green, ultramarine

Ink: versamark

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah epic black, neenah solar white, olive green

Also: clear sparkle embossing powder, clear embossing powder, double sided adhesive sheets, MINC, white foil, deco transfer gel
 

Painted Sunfire

Posted: April 4, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: cherry blossom, Foiling, Peerless watercolours, stitched square & circles, Sun fire | Tags: , | 11 Comments

When creating die cut cards I sometimes paint the watercolour paper first, as I did for the brusho card posted a couple of days ago. Other times I do the die cutting and paint each element separately. For today’s card I cut three lilies ( a Penny Black die named ‘sunfire’) from hot pressed watercolour paper then painted them with peerless watercolours.

I chose a pink, a red and an orange paint and used at least two of them on each flower which gave me variety in the blooms but a cohesive look overall. I let the petals dry before using the red paint to add dots and the yellow paint for the stamen. I used a blue-ish green on the stems and leaves. Once all the paint was dry I used a glue pen to add a vein down the centre of the petals and also dabbed the ends of each stamen. I let the glue sit and dry partially then pressed gold foil over it .

To create a floral arrangement I cut a circle and some cherry blossom from unpainted watercolour paper and glued down all the elements. It took me a while to work out a layout that looked balanced. The die cut lilies are quite large so I trimmed bits off in order to fit them all on the card front. I finished it off with a gold foil die cut sentiment.

Supplies

Dies: sunfire, cherry blossom, many thanks, stitched square & circles

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, gold foil cardstock

Paint: Peerless watercolour paints

Also: quickie glue pen, gold foil

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