Daisy thank you

Daisy Thank you Heather Telford

I have summer flowers to share again today. The autumn card I posted yesterday won’t be needed for months. I want way more summer before I see autumn leaves! I used distress stains not markers for today’s card so the images are looser and less defined.

I still worked with a stamp positioner so I could add a colour at a time. I began by inking the petals in scattered straw distress stain, stamped then inked more of the petals in spiced marmalade, spritzed the stamp and finally while the petals were still damp in places I added ground espresso for the flower centres. I inked and stamped the stems and leaves in mowed lawn distress stain. When the daisies were dry I stamped some extra grasses with the ‘feathery’ stamp in forest moss and mowed lawn distress stain.

I was undecided about adding ribbon or a sentiment until I remembered this clever little die that cuts the negative space around the word ‘Thank you’ but does not separate it from the panel. It just added the interest I needed while showing more of the orange card stock I matted the panel with.

Supplies

Stamp: dancing daisies,Feathery (PB)
Die: Thank you squares (PB)
Inks: scattered straw, spiced marmalade, ground espresso, mowed lawn, forest moss distress stains
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, orange cardstock


The distress oxide trials – Overstamping

Today’s misty muted scene is brought to you by ‘The Distress Oxide Trials’. This one was one of my early experiments involving stamping over stamping. The effect might be a bit messy for some but I like the way lighter colours over darker colours give something of a skeletal look. I used the ‘feathery’ stamp and inked it with peeled paint first, spritzed then stamped, did the same with vintage photo, and finished with broken china.

You can see the blue over the brown shows up as a x-ray type image. On the right hand side there was an area without much brown so I decided to soften it even more with water to create the look of light coming through.

To finish the card I matted with both brown and  blue cardstock then added a sentiment in brown.

Supplies:

Stamps: Feathery,  snippets (Penny Black)
Inks: vintage photo, peeled paint, broken china distress oxide inks (Ranger) versafine vintage sepia (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, blue cardstock, brown cardstock


Distress oxide trials – Desaturation

Can you tell I like the way ‘distress oxide trials’ sounds like an significant chemical experiment? That’s why I called today’s post ‘desaturation’ rather than just ‘stamping with water! The effect does come, however, from stamping with water. I think it is my favourite technique so far. I began by blending the inks onto hot pressed watercolour paper. They do blend nicely on neenah classic crest paper but they blend even better on watercolour paper. By blending I mean sponging ink onto the paper, also called inking by some crafters.

For the these three cards I sponged three colours onto the paper and overlapped them to get nice soft blended colours. The sponging doesn’t take long, it doesn’t leave marks shaped like the edge of your applicator and it creates intense colour.

After sponging my colours over the whole panel I put the panel into my MISTI, positioned my stamp then spritzed it with water. All the stamps used for these cards are red rubber; (slapstick cling from Penny Black, names listed below) I haven’t tried with clear stamps yet. The stamp just has to hold onto the water for the technique to work.

After stamping a water print onto the blended colour, I lifted the stamp and dabbed a paper towel over the print. It left a pale image on the coloured panel.

It’s not a really sharp image but it is definitely recognisable and I love the look.

The trials are not over but if you are looking for a technique to start with try some sponging; the finish is so rich and creamy. Then if you are feeling scientific try some desaturation as well. If you have thought of a technique you’d like me to try please leave me a comment below.

Supplies

Stamps: full of glee, featheryEffulgent, stitched flowers, happy snippets (PB)
Die: tagged, omg (PB)
Inks: worn lipstick, broken china, fossilized amber, wilted violet, peeled paint distress oxide inks (Ranger) versamark, versafine onyx black & smokey gray (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah solar white, neenah epic black, violet cardstock
Also: gold & white embossing powder, white ribbon, gold thread