Watercolour daisies 2 ways
Posted: January 9, 2014 Filed under: Flower Festival, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 21 CommentsThese two cards demonstrate the difference between two watercolour techniques. (Sorry there is no video tutorial for these two) The top card was created using the ‘wet into wet’ technique and the bottom card the ‘wet into dry’ technique.
Wet into Wet card
I wet the whole panel of watercolour paper, inked the stamp in orange and green Memento inks then stamped it onto the wet paper. Immediately colour bled and spread. I waited a little while before restamping the image and painting more colour onto the petals and stems with distress inks. I blended with water and worked with the colours for a while before I was satisfied with the flowers. I dampened the background area again before adding some blue to blend with the colours from the flowers.
Wet into Dry card
I stamped the image once again with Memento inks but this time onto dry paper. I used a small paintbrush to paint distress stains onto the image. I blended colours and added water inside the lines but rarely let the colours bleed out into the rest of the panel. I flicked ink onto the panel when the flowers were complete.
I did both these panels as experiments and as I was doing them I did not think the ‘wet into wet’ would make it onto a card. It was just looking too messy. I kept going with the inks and background and finished it anyway but was not too hopeful. When I came back the next day and saw the two attempts dry I was quite happy with both. If you are interested in these techniques just play around with the water: a little more, a little less, sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Supplies:
Stamps: Flower Festival, Summer Fun, Friendship(Penny Black)
Inks: Distress stains Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Vintage Photo & Memento inks Bamboo Leaves, Tangelo
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Mix and match Grand Canyon paper
One Layer Simplicity
Posted: January 8, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Coloured pencil, Flower Festival, OLW | Tags: CAS, Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps 15 CommentsHave you visited the new One-Layer Simplicity blog? What once was One Layer Wednesday is now One-Layer Simplicity and has its very own blog where each month you will find a new challenge dreamed up by one of the design team. The challenge will appear on the first of the month and you will have until the 24th to add your challenge entry. The first challenge hosted by Susan is to restock the shelves with whatever card you are short of.
I am short on birthday cards so I stamped these daisies in Smokey Gray versafine ink and coloured them with Faber-Castell polychromos pencils. I masked with post-its first to create two margins then used coloured the images and added a pale grey shadow around them and at the edge of the masks.
Go and check out all the entries for inspiration plus.
Supplies:
Stamps: Wishes, Flower Festival (Penny Black)
Inks: Versafine Smokey Gray (Tsukineko)
Also: Faber-Castell Artist Polychromos Colour Pencils
Winter Watercolour Tutorial
Posted: January 4, 2014 Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tutorial 37 CommentsHere is the first of my watercolour tutorials. I have used only one image stamp and one basic technique. There are several different techniques I use when creating watercolour scenes and cards because different stamps lend themselves to different approaches. I plan to cover more techniques in future tutorials.
I stress in the video that watercolouring is never the same twice and you cannot predict how the colours will blend and bleed in each scene. It is worth playing around with for a while to work out the amount of water to add to the paper, how long to let it dry between stamping images and how much colour to add and blend when creating backgrounds.
Here is a list of other cards made using the technique shown in this tutorial. Noel, Watercolour Night Sky, Watercolour Snowstorm, Poppies in a Field, Watercolour Sympathy.
Thanks for dropping in.
Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, Flourish Thank you (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Danube Blue & Versafine Majestic Blue (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
Die cut blooms
Posted: January 2, 2014 Filed under: Bashful, CAS, Dies, Enjoy | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 CommentsI have a card to share today made using a Penny Black creative die which co-ordinates with a stamp from the transparent set Enjoy. The stamp and die are not the same size but the image is very similar. My colour scheme was almost the same for the panel and the die cuts. I sponged the top third of the panel in memento summer sky, the bottom third in olive grove and pistachio, then added dandelion in the middle. I inked the flower stamp with olive grove and cantaloupe memento markers and stamped on the background panel. I sponged the flowers with the same olive grove and dandelion then added canteloupe over parts of the petals.
I have been busy on some projects I will be sharing later. Several people have asked me specific questions about the watercolouring I have been doing lately. i plan to work on a water colour tutorial next I do so I will answer as many of the questions as possible in my tutorial. Stay tuned…
Supplies:
Stamps: Gratitude, Enjoy (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Cantaloupe, Dandelion, Olive Grove, Pistachio (Tsukineko)
Dies: Bashful
Cardstock: PB Mix & Match Olive Grove
Noel
Posted: December 24, 2013 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Tannenbaum, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 22 CommentsI would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for visiting here and encouraging me with your comments. I appreciate all the kind words, I am happy to answer questions when I can and yes, I am hoping to make some tutorials in the new year! I have met many lovely people through blogging, most only in the virtual world but some I have been privileged to meet in person. I hope to get to know more of you in the year to come.
I pray that you will know the peace that Jesus can give this Christmas and that you will experience God’s blessing in your life in the new year.
Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum, Noel (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Love Letter & Versafine Majestic Blue (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
Instructions for a similar scene
Trees at Sunset
Posted: December 23, 2013 Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 CommentsThere are quite a few cards on the blog using this lovely tree stamp Before the snow ; you can find them here.
How to create a layer of snow on branches: Winter Berry Branch tutorial
How to create snow banks: Snowy Tree Tutorial
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, Yuletide Greetings (PB)
Inks: Memento Cantaloupe, Angel Pink, Summer Sky & Versafine Olympia Green, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black mix & match coral reef paper
Also: Clear Embossing Powder
Christmas Reds & Greens
Posted: December 22, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Christmas reds and greens, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 CommentsDuring these last few days before Christmas I have a few more cards to share. Some of them are similar to others I have already posted so I won’t go into great detail about the making process. Where possible I’ll direct you to any helpful instructions. This card was the precursor to this card: Berries in Snow. This one is a simpler design and the snowbank masks were torn not cut.
Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Reds and Greens, Robin’s Wish (PB)
Inks: Memento Pistachio, Summer Sky, Lady Bug & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black mix & match olive grove paper
Also: Clear Embossing Powder
Merry Christmas with holly
Posted: December 21, 2013 Filed under: A Wish for Peace, CAS, Dies | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 CommentsThese two cards are the result of some playing around with distress stains on watercolour paper. For the one above I stamped the holly (in memento ink) and coloured it(with distress stain) first, added the background (distress stain) with a paintbrush and stamped the letter background (memento ink) over everything. For the ornaments below I painted a wash of blue first and stamped the holly and music over the wash. Because the distress stain and the memento ink are both dye inks the colour intensified when I painted green over the blue background. The baubles were cut using the Penny Black die “ornaments.”
I finally sat down yesterday and wrote in 90% of my Christmas cards. I still have a few to write. Yes, I know there are only a few days before Christmas Day, but there are twelve days of Christmas aren’t there?
(the card above has balance issues; can you see them?)
Supplies:
Stamps: A Wish for Peace, Music Background, Letter Background, Dear Friend (PB)Creative Dies: Ornaments, Love & Joy (PB)
Inks: Memento Pistachio, Summer Sky, Lady Bug (Tsukineko) Broken China & Peeled Paint Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Penny Black mix & match olive grove paper, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Red ribbon from Lorraine’s stash
Watercolour night sky
Posted: December 20, 2013 Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 24 CommentsYes, another watercolour snowscape! This one is a great example of how the pigments in the ink separate into different colours when added to wet watercolour paper. I stamped the ‘Before the Snow’ stamp in Memento Northern Pine ink onto wet paper. The dark green ink separated into mustard and blue leaving the background trees mustard and adding another blue tone to the sky. The snow at the base stayed white as I did not wet that part of the panel before stamping and adding ink. Once the first trees were stamped I added blue ink to the sky The foreground trees were added when the paper was almost dry.
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, Season’s Wishes (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Northern Pine, Danube Blue & Versafine Olympia Green (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match olive grove paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Joy
Posted: December 19, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Dies, Snowflake trio | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Tsukineko Memento inks 4 CommentsThis is the second card I created to play along with the Through the Purple Haze Challenge Blog where the theme is Christmas. Just as I did with my Monday card I used only die cuts, masking fluid and ink to make this card, no stamps. It did not start out as a three square layout even though this design is a favourite of mine. It began as a one layer design with a lot of masking fluid and ink involved. Things got a little messy so I decided the best thing to do was to save the best parts of the panel and create a new design. I punched three squares, popped them up and added a die cut sentiment.
Supplies:
Inks: Memento Rhubarb Stalk (Tsukineko)
Creative Dies: Snowflake trio, Love & Joy
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid



















