A mixed media card!
Posted: January 13, 2016 Filed under: Camelia | Tags: gelli plate, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
It seems that mixed media doesn’t appear on this blog very often but if I make a bit more progress in my art journals that might change. The card above features the first and only use of my gelli plate. I have seen lots of wonderful creating done with gelli plates but mine is currently stranded on Mount Techniques-To-Try along with other cool stuff!
I began by laying rose die cuts on my gelli plate then brayering red printing ink over plate and roses. I removed the roses before making a print of the pattern on deli paper. Out of several prints this one showed the most detail. I was going to throw away the very messy rose die cuts but a friend who was busy creating at the same time convinced me to hold onto them. Once they were dry they made delicate details which co-ordinated with the paper. I added some text to the paper, a solid strip to ground the embellishments and some gold die cuts for the focal element.
Have you gelli-printed? I intend to get back to my plate and would love to hear your favourite way to use one.
Supplies:
Stamps: Letter Background (PB)
Dies: Camelia die, Love & Joy die (PB)
Inks: Red Printing ink (Speedball), Black archival ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Mixed media paper, deli paper, gold foil cardstock
Brusho Hearts
Posted: January 5, 2016 Filed under: All my hearts, Brusho, Love & Hugs, Love is growing, Triple love | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 13 Comments
‘Tis the season for creating Valentine cards but the fresh snow outside my window is calling me to keep creating snowy scenes! New stamps and dies however, were calling from inside my craft room so red, pink and hearts it is. The new release from Penny Black is full of love, hearts and sweet wishes and is available in the online store now.
I created a red and pink panel with brusho then die cut a bunch of different sized hearts using three different dies. Aren’t those tiny ones cute? I popped up two of the hearts on fun foam and attached the others directly onto the stamped panel.
What are you creating in the new year?
Supplies:
Stamps: Love & Hugs (PB)
Dies: Triple love, Love is growing, All my hearts (PB)
Mediums: Brusho powders, Versafine Satin red ink
Cardstock: Hotpressed Fabriano watercolour paper, Neenah chili red
Also: white fun foam
Stamping the stories: Lord of the Rings
Posted: December 1, 2015 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
Stamping the Seasons: Spring
Posted: November 19, 2015 Filed under: Flower tags, Joy to All, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Brusho, Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 9 Comments
I am back as with a spring card today using the same stamp set as yesterday, Joy to All. Some of my process was the same as for my winter scene but I definitely changed my colour palette. The muted tones of bister powder worked well for yesterday’s chilly scene but the spring scene required the brighter brusho tones.
I began by taping the watercolour panel down then painted water over the whole area. I sprinkled blue and green powder over the wet panel and moved it around with a paint brush until I had a soft background with clouds and trees suggested. Next I stamped the tree in a pigment ink and masked the area around the branches so I could sprinkle red powder over the branches without getting it on the rest of the scene. I spritzed over the powder and watched the grains transform into blossom.
I cut a hill shaped mask which I positioned across the bottom of the panel then stamped the twig stamp to create some flowering bushes with orange brusho. I removed the mask and darkened the edge of the hill with a paint brush and some green brusho mixed with water. I spritzed a fine mist of water over the panel which resulted in some little spots of lighter colour here and there.
To complete the card I added a brown mat and some brown thread to tie a tag stamped and painted to match the sky.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy to All, A bunch (PB)
Dies: Flower tags
Inks: Versafine vintage sepia (ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, dark brown cardstock
Also: Brusho watercolour powder , brown embroidery thread
Bister landscape
Posted: November 2, 2015 Filed under: Bister, In the winter | Tags: Bister, Penny Black creative dies 11 Comments
If your creating goes anything like mine you probably end up with multiple experiments scattered across your work space. After playing with bister, the green, blue and yellow powders in particular, I ended up with three extra panels, some dark, some light. The patterns and colours just called out to be made into a landscape using the new triple tree die from Penny Black. The die is called ‘in the winter’ but I know it is going to be handy all year round. I die cut the same hillside of trees from each panel then snipped off the trees I didn’t need so I could have the distant trees peeping out between the mid ground trees. I painted a new panel for the sky using just blue bister which I diluted so the trees would stand out against it.
Now that I have used up those stray scraps of bistered beauty; it’s time to play with some brusho. Stay tuned.
Supplies:
Dies: In the winter (PB)
Inks: Bister
Cardstock: Hot & Cold Pressed Canson
Stencilled Trees
Posted: October 29, 2015 Filed under: Nature's Beauty, Tiny Tree | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 Comments
You know I have said before, ‘You can never have too many tree stamps!’ Well if you find yourself running short you can always make a few tree stencils to help you through that difficult time. I was happy to see some new tree dies in the latest release from Penny Black and decided to make my own stencil by die-cutting a row of trees using two different sized tree dies.
I used a piece of Plaid stencil plastic and cut a row of trees with the die from ‘Nature’s Beauty’ set and a smaller tree from the ‘Tiny Tree‘ set. I sponged a gradated sky with two blue inks then sponged two greens through the stencil. I was going to spritz the images quite generously to make the colours bleed together but I decided to stop after a couple of spritzes because the watermarks and texture from the paper already looked interesting. I diecut a single tree from the stencil plastic also so I could sponge isolated trees then painted the shadows of the snow drifts around them. The foreground tree was sponged and spritzed the same way then die cut and popped up on some die cut fun foam for added dimension.
I decided to inlay the word Joy which was not a brilliant idea because I had already attached the thick watercolour paper to the green cardstock mat and die cutting an intricate word ended up being rather tricky.
Supplies:
Dies: Nature’s Beauty, Tiny Tree, Greetings (PB)
Inks: Memento Northern Pine, Cottage Ivy, Summer Sky, Danube Blue (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Cold Pressed Canson, Green cardstock
Also: fun foam, Plaid stencil blank
Snowy Stamping
Posted: October 26, 2015 Filed under: Snow time, Winter moments | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 8 Comments
Last week Penny Black released ‘Winter Romance’, a sweet new collection of snowy stamps and dies. I have featured both a new stamp and a fresh die sets on today’s card. I chose to use a technique I haven’t done in a while to make a crisp wintry scene. If you look closely you can see a dusting of snow on top of the hedge. To create this look you need a stamp positioning tool. I used the MISTI (of course) but when I first dreamed up this technique I used a stamp-a-ma-jig.
I stamped the hedge first in versamark on white cardstock then, with the help of the MISTI I stamped the hedge again ever-so-slightly lower in green ink. Next I embossed the hedge with clear powder. I brayered the sky with two blue inks, first the lighter ‘Summer Sky’ then the darker ‘Nautical Blue’. The embossed hedge resisted the ink revealing the fine snowy edge. I splattered white wink of stella over the sky to look like snow or stars then added the four snowflakes cut with the new ‘snow time’ set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter moments (PB)
Dies: Snow Time (PB)
Inks: Versamark, Memento Northern Pine, Summer Sky, Nautical Blue (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Markers: White Wink of Stella (Kuretake)
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110lb
Also: clear embossing powder
Color Burst Birthday
Posted: October 10, 2015 Filed under: Color Burst, Oodles of Love | Tags: color burst, Penny Black creative dies 15 Comments
It was my son’s birthday yesterday so I wanted to make a card he hadn’t seen rather than reach into the stash. Unfortunately I am dealing with a sore wrist/hand/thumb at present and of course holding pens, paintbrushes, scissors seems to be the worst thing for it. I needed a technique which didn’t require me to over use the right hand. Working with color burst powder was great because it creates its own magic with the help of some spritzed water. I should have stamped a single sentiment instead of stacking die cuts though.
I created the coloured panel one powder colour at a time by spritzing water, then dropping powder. I tried to take it slowly so I could see how much each colour was going to react before I added the next spritz or sprinkle. I love the way the larger drops of water have their own darker border and then there is a fine splatter of colour around them.
Supplies:
Creative dies: Oodles of love (Penny Black)
Inks: Color burst watercolour powders(Ken Oliver)
Cardstock: Canson hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: Stick it adhesive sheet (Ken Oliver)
Die cut snowflakes
Posted: October 7, 2015 Filed under: Snow Drops, Snowflake trio | Tags: Penny Black creative dies 9 Comments
Although this card is very different to the forest card I last posted, the way it came about is similar. When planning class projects I cast aside a couple of panels of shimmery blue. I had brayered two colours of blue ink over the panels to begin then spread interference blue pearl-ex powder over the inking. I used a soft paintbrush to spread it out evenly and the finished effect was very shimmery when tilted in and out of the light. Sadly you can’t see just how shimmery here. I didn’t end up using the panels or technique in my class so I die-cut as many snowflakes as I could from the left over panels then cascaded them down a white card front and added a sentiment.
Supplies
Stamps: Seasons Gifts, (Penny Black)
Dies: Snow Drops, Snowflake Trio (Penny Black)
Inks:Memento Danube Blue, Teal Zeal, (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah solar white cardstock
Watercoloured leaves the distressing way
Posted: September 30, 2015 Filed under: Filigree Foliage, Wishes | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 18 Comments
Watercolour and autumn were made for each other were they not? I went for a run this morning and there were deep red maple leaves lying on the path looking like mini masterpieces. I kept wanting to pick them up and bring them home to inspire some painting. I did not want to carry them however and there will be thousands (I am not kidding) in my yard over the next 6-8 weeks (again, not kidding).
I did a periscope comparing painting leaves with distress stains, ink pads and markers this morning. These cards use the same techniques I demonstrated on the video. The first one is my favourite distress technique, stamping with stains then moving the stain with a paintbrush to fill the stamped image. I added fine splatter to the leaves on this one but kept the next one fairly clean.
I used the same ‘stamp then paint and blend’ technique for the second card but inked the stamp with ink pads. The main difference is less liquid on the stamp and an image that soaks into the watercolour paper more quickly. The result once blended with water is similar but more of the stamped outline remains. Using markers gives a similar result to inkpads but transfers even less liquid on the stamp. With markers however you can apply colour to small areas of the stamp and have a more detailed and intricate colour result.
To finish I matched cardstock to the stamping for mats and die cut sentiments.
Supplies
Heather Telford 