Masking Fluid & Brayered Sky
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes, Winter Ledge 7 Comments
Following on from the tutorial I posted yesterday, today’s card features masking fluid to create falling snow but with a brayered sky instead of a sponged sky. With a brayer it is easier to create a uniform colour and coverage than it is with sponging. Usually I want variety and gradation in the sky but I also like to apply the ink with a brayer and create the kind of sky which I occasionally see, bright and beautiful on a winter’s day.
I used two hill masks to create this scene and used sponges on the snow banks where I gradation in the blue shadow. I stamped the winter ledge stamp once before removing the lower mask and then again over the corners of the panel. The masking fluid was applied in the same way as shown in yesterday’s tutorial.
We are expecting 5-10cm of snow tonight so perhaps I will see a scene like this sometime soon.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Ledge, Silent Night (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Snowy Scene Tutorial
Posted: December 17, 2012 Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial 40 Comments
So here is a new tutorial! Thanks for waiting patiently for it. I guess I really should do more so the whole process becomes embedded in my brain! I apologize for the length of this one; you can fast forward if you like; it seems to go on and on! I hope it is helpful particularly in showing the masking fluid technique. I have made quite a few masking fluid resist cards lately as I love the falling snow effect which I will post them on the blog during the week ahead.
Below is a a close-up of the white flecks left on the card after the masking fluid is removed.

Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, A Wish for Peace (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Northern Pine (Tsukineko)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Snowstorm collage
Posted: December 13, 2012 Filed under: Background Stamps, Before the Snow, Collage cards, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes 22 Comments
After making a small panel collage the other day I picked up another card base which I had covered in flecks of masking fluid and made a snowstorm collage. Other than the addition of masking fluid I used the same technique described in my collage tutorial: two background stamps and a feature image (often I use a small additional image as well, but for this one I used the tree multiple times)
I created the collage in the following order over the masking fluid:
- stamp part of letter background in Paris Dusk ink after stamping it on scrap paper first
- stamp part of music background in Elderberry ink
- position hill mask and stamp “Before the Snow” trees in blue and elderberry ink
- sponge sky in blues and elderberry
- remove mask, sponge the snow around the bottom of card and stamp foreground tree in blue.
- remove masking fluid
Supplies:
Stamps: Letter Background, Music Background, Before the Snow (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Elderberry, Paris Dusk (Tsukineko)
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
Hearts abound
Posted: December 13, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Daisy Heart, Love Flourish, Penny Black 6 Comments
Love is in the Air on the Penny Black blog again this week so drop in to see the stamps from the new Valentine’s Catalog. I played around with two heart stamps and shades of pink.
When I started sponging over the embossed heart so it could be seen I had every intention of keeping a neutral colour scheme of ivory, white and tan but that little heart inside the heart just cried out to be coloured pink and the rest is obvious-pink came to stay. I still like the softness of the colour scheme.
Are you shocked to see those tiny half pearls? Me too!
Supplies:
Stamps: Love Flourish, Gratitude (PB)
Inks: Memento Desert Sand & Angel Pink, Versamark, Tsukineko)
Also: White embossing powder, pink half pearls and a wee ivory ribbon

To create this pink heart I masked a rectangle with post it notes and embossed the heart in the centre with clear e.p. I added pinks with a brayer, memento Angel Pink at the top and Rosebud at the bottom and in the centres of the daisies with a marker. I inked the sentiment stamp in the two pinks to mimic the brayered background.
Supplies:
Stamps: 4291K Daisy Heart, Thinking of You(PB)
Inks: Memento Angel Pink, Rose Bud & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Also: Clear e.p.
Snowflake collage
Posted: December 12, 2012 Filed under: All is Bright, CAS, Collage cards, Penny Black 11 Comments
Cheryl is hosting the One Layer Wednesday challenge this week and her theme is Snowflakes. A nice thick layer of snow would be welcome here because we have a treacherous layer of ice that needs to be covered up.
I realized yesterday that I hadn’t created any Christmas cards using my collage technique so I played around and made a few. I had a few card bases with masking fluid already flicked onto them so when I decided to make a collage Christmas card I picked up one of the bases complete with ready made snow. The post-it masks were place before I flicked masking fluid on and then remained there while I created the collage. The order for the collage was:
- stamp letter background in teal zeal
- stamp snowflakes in versamark and emboss in clear powder
- sponge in blues and pink
- stamp extra snowflakes in blue and pink
- remove masks and masking fluid
Have a great day, keep warm and stamp some snowflakes if you get the chance.
Supplies:
Stamps: All is Bright, Noel, Hello Winter , Letter Background(PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Teal Zeal, Angel Pink, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: Clear e.p., Masking Fluid
OLW 117 Snow
Posted: December 9, 2012 Filed under: CAS, OLW, Penny Black, Winter Berries 19 Comments
Susan’s challenge for One Layer Wednesday this week is to create snow on your card. My card uses my favourite method for making snow: masking fluid. I masked either side of the panel and then flicked the masking fluid onto the panel with a toothbrush. After it had dried I removed the masks and stamped the Winter Berries stamp as an overhanging branch rather than a tree. I inked it with black and red markers, stamped it once, then inked it with versamark and stamped it again before embossing with clear. For some reason a lot of the embossing powder stuck around the branches resulting in more snow than I expected from the flicked masking fluid. Not to worry; I have a berry branch in a snow storm. I replaced the masks and sponged the sky in two shades of Memento inks. I realize this is a layout and technique I have done several times before, but making it with a different stamp adds another card to my Christmas card stack.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Berries, All is Bright (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Lady Bug, Rhubarb Stalk,Tuxedo Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: clear embossing powder
Bethlehem hills
Posted: December 4, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Silent Night 8 Comments
After I made my first card with this stamp and took over an hour to colour it with pencils I knew I had to come up with another technique if I was going to make this card multiple times. So, believe it or not, I decided to try sponging the scene.After stamping in versamark and embossing in clear on a separate piece of cardstock, I masked around the border and then chose three colours for sponging the scene. I wish I had masked the card base and stamped the outline image directly onto it because then I could participate in Karen’s One Layer Wednesday Challenge to create a scene. I love creating stamped scenes so I am sad to not have played along this week.
Love is in the air on the Penny Black blog this week and next so drop in and see the Valentine’s new releases and enter to win one of the new stamps.
Supplies:
Stamps: Silent Night (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Teal Zeal, Elderberry, Versamark, Tsukineko)
Also: Clear embossing powder
Winter Magic window
Posted: December 1, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Christmas Park, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes 19 CommentsA few weeks back I made a snowscape with the ‘Christmas Park’ stamp used above. My first attempt didn’t entirely please me so I covered up the lower part by putting it behind a window panel. Next time you have a bit of a stamping mishap consider trying the window save.
I did a count today to work out how many Christmas cards I still need to make. Many! I had forgotten this one so now it is one less.
How is your pile growing? Or have you finished already?
Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Park, Winter Magic(PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Paris Dusk, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: Clear embossing powder
Pine tree
Posted: November 29, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Pine & Star 18 CommentsSomething a little different from the past few days but not entirely without a musical connection. There is really nothing to the making of this card and I’m sure it could be done in a different colour scheme such as grey/black or dark green/light green. I used Summer Sky and Nautical Blue and, as I did not have the exact blue card stock to mat the panel with, I sponged Summer Sky onto the card base to frame it above and below.
Don’t forget the “Cute to Elegant” promotion over on the Penny Black blog. There are give-aways everyday this week.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pine & Star, Silent Night(PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Nautical Blue(Tsukineko)
Final Thank you card with a Musical Theme
Posted: November 28, 2012 Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Winter Scroll 13 CommentsThis is the last of the musical thank you cards for now. This card was inspired by a beautiful card by Laurie of Soapbox Creations. I haven’t found the card on her blog but you can see it on Pinterest here. Laurie’s elegant card is a one layer card which would have been my preference too but I was making larger cards than usual and did not have the card stock to make a larger portrait oriented card. On my panel I stamped the musical background in black on the lower two thirds and the winter scroll in gold in the upper third with Thank You in Majestic Blue over the scroll. The gold edged ribbon looks black but is actually navy. I rounded three corners and popped up the panel on a white card base.
Thanks for all your lovely comments about these musical thank you cards; you are such kind and encouraging readers.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Scroll, Music Background, Gratitude (Penny Black)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Onyx Black, Encore Metallic Gold (Tsukineko)
Also: Gold edged navy ribbon.










