Winter Cheer
Posted: December 23, 2016 Filed under: Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks, WOW embossing powders 4 Comments
I used the versatile birch trunk stamps from the ‘Nature’s Silhouettes’ set for this card stamping them over a hill shaped mask at the bottom and bending them this way and that so no two trees looked the same. After stamping them I positioned a circle mask for the moon and painted masking fluid over all the tree trunks. I used zig clean colour real brush markers for the blue sky and green foliage in the background; I rarely use the zig markers but whenever I do I resolve to get them out more often. The colours are so vibrant and the blending so easy. Once the sky was completed I removed all the masks and added grey to the trunks.
I wanted shadows in the snow but with paler tones than the background so scribbled some colour on a palette and diluted it to paint a shadow for each tree. There is a little line of sparkly embossing along the snow banks to make them glisten. The sentiment may or may not be positioned where it is to hide something; I’ll let you draw your own conclusions!
Enjoy Christmas Eve.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Yuletide wishes (PB)
Markers: Zig clean color real brush markers green, blue, light gray (Kuretake), Versamarker
Inks: Versafine onyx black ink, Majestic blue(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: clear sparkle embossing powder
Birch in snow
Posted: December 6, 2016 Filed under: Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 13 Comments
I wish I could tell you the beauty of yesterday’s snowfall inspired this little snowscape but the reality is having this photo edited and ready inspired this little post! I made this card months back but misplaced it somewhere in my spotless workroom!
The ‘nature’s silhouettes’ transparent set includes two long birch trunk stamps. One is a little slimmer than the other so when stamping them you can shape them, turn them upside down, ink them partially and add branches to get a range of different ‘birchy’ looks. I also discovered a little trick you might like. The wider of the two trees just happens to be the same width as narrow painter’s tape which makes masking a snap.
I inked the birch trunks in versafine onyx black for this panel as I didn’t want the watercolour painting to blur the trees at all. Before stamping I splattered some masking fluid and positioned some hill shaped post-it masks at the base of the panel. I stamped the trunks so the base overlapped the post-its. I used the narrow masking tape to mask two of the trunks and cut a narrower mask for the other trunk. I removed the masks from the base of the trees but kept the trunks masked while I painted snow banks and sky with a couple of blue brusho paints. To get the shadow of the snow banks I paint a curved line then soften it with water above but keep it fairly sharp and unblended below. Once the paint was complete I removed the masks from the trunks and add a line of grey down one side of the trunks with a marker.
Even though this particular card wasn’t inspired by my backyard, the beauty of a fresh snowfall is what keeps me creating these snowy scenes.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Hello Winter, Into the sky (PB)
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Versafine onyx black ink, London fog memento marker (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: masking fluid
Birch and Brusho
Posted: September 1, 2016 Filed under: Grateful, Nature's Gifts, Nature's Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 Comments
The tree stamp I have to share with you today is not technically a ‘tree’, it’s really a pair of trunks but it is oh, so versatile when creating trees for landscape scenes. I stamped it multiple times on this panel but you could just as easily stamp a single tree, a bent tree, or even some logs lying on the ground.
Before stamping I splattered a piece of watercolour paper with masking fluid, cut a hill shaped mask out of a post-it note and positioned it at the bottom of the panel. I stamped birch trees across the panel in versafine onyx black ink which is waterproof. To mask the trunks I painted masking fluid over all the trunks and let it dry. The next steps I did over a long period of time, not because I had to but because I wanted to let it dry naturally each time I added colour. With the trees and the ground masked I sprinkled a little leaf green and yellow brusho over the panel, spritzed it and let it dry. Later I came back and did it again but added some gamboge to the mix. I did this several times, always letting it dry in between. This allowed me to create patches of colour rather than the one big blend of green, orange and yellow I would have created if I had done it in one go.
After all the panel dried I removed the masking fluid from the trees and added some brusho to the ground area. While it was still wet from spritzing I added a couple of grassy stamps with memento inks. The grasses blended into the damp paper. I waited until it was almost dry then stamped the same grasses again resulting in a bit more definition. To finish the scene I used some pigma micron pens to add thin twiggy branches between the trunks. Finally I removed the splattered masking fluid.
I wanted to add the sentiment without adding another layer but the colour of the grassy area was too dark. To lighten it I punched an oval out of frisket film then positioned the aperture piece over the watercolour panel so I could remove paint with a damp brush and a paper towel. The result was a lighter oval patch where I could stamp the one word sentiment in black.
The two birch trunks in the Nature’s Silhouette set are going to be so handy for adding birch trees to cards for any season. I’ve already tried it on a winter scene which I will share another day.
Supplies:
Stamps: Woodland Beauty, Nature’s Silhouettes, Grateful, Nature’s gifts (PB)
Paints: Leaf green, yellow & gamboge Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Potter’s Clay, Cottage Ivy Memento ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Moulin du Roy 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: masking fluid
A day of woodland beauty
Posted: August 30, 2016 Filed under: Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 10 Comments
As this tree is one of my favourite stamps from the new Christmas release I decided to create a day scene and a night scene as part of my ‘Top Three’ feature on the Penny Black blog this week. For the night scene I painted the sky before stamping the tree, on this panel I did the opposite.
I began as I often do by splattering some masking fluid on a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper. I did some partial stamping with the tree stamp so I could make the base of each tree look like it was stuck in a snow bank. To do partial stamping or ‘faux masking’ I ink the stamp then remove some of the ink with a wet wipe, in this case I removed the base of the tree so no trunk showed and the bottom edge was a little different each time I stamped it. I chose memento northern pine ink again because the colour separates when I spritz a little water over it (which I did each time before stamping).
I let the trees dry then painted the sky in three blue stains blending and removing colour to make it look like there were clouds. I used a small round watercolour brush and painted right up to and sometimes over the edge of the branches so there would be some blending of colour as well as some white spaces which end up looking a bit like snow.
Once all the sky was dry I stamped a single tree in the foreground and made it darker by re-stamping in the same colour. I painted a snow bank either side of the foreground tree with stain then added some shadows at the base of the trees using diluted northern pine ink as my paint. To finish I removed the masking fluid, added a sentiment in brown then popped it up on a cream card base.
If you didn’t catch my night time scene with this stamp, you can find it here along with a video tutorial.
Supplies
Stamps: Woodland beauty, Nature’s Silhouettes (PB)
Ink: memento northern pine (Tsukineko) tumbled glass, broken china, salty ocean distress stain(Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper
Also: Daler Rowney masking fluid
More Glimpses
Posted: August 18, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
I have two more cards made from my experiments with new stamps on watercolour strips. Both today’s strips and yesterday’s were splattered with masking fluid before I started. For the deer card I also added a circle of masking tape before painting the sky in blue, purple, pink and yellow watercolour paint. I painted the horizon edge in blue and tilted the strip up so the paint flowed toward the moon, one colour blending into another
Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and tape then stamped the branches from ‘woodland beauty’ and the deer from ‘ nature’s silhouettes’ in black before painting some shadows in front of the deer’s legs.
I used a similar process for the single tree scene, painting the sky first while leaving some unpainted paper at the bottom to be the snowbanks. Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and positioned a post-it mask below the horizon and stamped the single tree from the ‘woodland beauty’ set over the mask. Once I removed the mask I painted shadows on the snow in the foreground and behind the tree.
The four little panels in today’s and yesterday’s posts are a taste of the new stamps and the types of scenes I expect to be creating over the next few months. I really enjoyed working small; have you tried it?
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty, Joy Filled (PB)
Paints: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolour paints
Inks: Versafine Onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
Glimpses
Posted: August 17, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Into the sky, Nature's Silhouettes, Prancers | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 24 Comments
You have probably already caught up with the fact that Penny Black has two new collections of stamps and dies. When I first receive new stamps my head fills with ideas and designs to try and this time was no exception. I had a little pile of bookmark sized watercolour paper strips on my table so I decided to try some of my ideas on mini projects rather than full sized panels. That way I was able to play with a few stamps and several ideas in a short space of time. The strips I worked on have become the cards I’m sharing today and tomorrow. I have also had a chance to develop some of the designs into full sized panels. On the strip above I used an old favourite, the little tree stamp from the ‘Prancers’ set as background for the new birch trunk stamps.
I stamped the two trunks from the new ‘Nature’s silhouettes’ transparent set on watercolour paper already covered in spots of masking fluid. I masked the trunks with post-its while I stamped the fir tree in the background then painted colour at the top and bottom of the panel with a combination of brusho and distress markers. I added some shadow and twigs to the trunks to make them look more tree like.
On my second mini panel I masked a moon with masking tape then used distress stains to paint a blue and green sky over the splatters of masking fluid. I turned this into a little scene by adding the ‘Into the Sky’ stamp in blue and black ink. I love this delicate stamp of branches and decided to stamp it on both the bases for today’s cards. It mimics the twiggy branches on the birch trees above and continues some of the upward reaching branches in the panel below.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Prancers, Into the sky, Snippets (PB)
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Onyx black ink (Tsukineko) Black Soot, Rusty hinge, Spiced marmalade, Peeled paint distress markers, Evergreen Bough & Blueprint sketch distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
