Aromatic

Posted: June 13, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: aromatic, Footnotes, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 12 Comments

Today’s card is a companion in style to my two previous Penny Black floral cards. All three feature PB cling stamps and some sort of background filler. For this one I used a text stamp from the PB clear set, ‘footnotes’.

I used both distress ink pads and markers to ink the ‘Aromatic’ stamp while in the stamp positioner. To fit the image on my panel of hot pressed watercolour paper I masked at the base to make the vase a little shorter. The foliage and little flowers are so delicate I did not add any water blending after stamping but I did blend the red flowers and the vase with a paintbrush and water.

The text is stamped in weathered wood distress ink, a nice bluey-grey and splattered with the same ink. The text is actually from Pride and Prejudice which I am re-reading at the moment. While we had no power I noticed I had a copy on my e-reader so I started reading it; no bedside lamp required! Even though I know it well I am enjoying the conversations. After all who can resist hearing, ‘I am all astonishment!’ Are you a re-reader?

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2022 BuJo – June theme

Posted: June 7, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, distinctive, Penny Black | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Only a few days late getting my bullet journal pages set up this month. My theme could only be lupins I decided, as my back garden is full of them.

Lupins self seed and mine have been doing so with enthusiasm for the last few years but this year is the best display yet. I had to dig some out the other day because they were blocking the lavender from any chance of sunshine.

I used the Penny Black stamp ‘distinctive’ and distress colours that weren’t quite the same but not too far off what I have in my garden. Once again I masked with post-it notes before stamping which gives a crisp clean edge. I am still enjoying my Dingbats notebook but I did see some notebooks with embossed cityscape covers the other day which called my name, especially the Melbourne one.

I used a distress marker along with a staedtler brushmarker for all the words and linework.

After a hot unseasonable three days back in mid May we have had only mild temperatures. We also had an incredibly violent storm, actually a ‘derecho‘ just over two weeks ago. Our house was without power for a week so that’s why you didn’t hear from me on the blog. We did not suffer any damage to our trees or house but our neighbours and neighbourhood did along with many parts of Ottawa, Ontario and Quebec. The garden got soaked and bent but it has bounced back as you see.

At this time of year my garden is full of pinks and purples but later in the summer there are more whites, reds and yellows. It was my first year with alliums so I am happy to see they came up. The pack I planted in autumn were mixed but I ended up with one white and all the rest purple.

By the way I have updated the Classes page for local in person classes and will be adding more in the coming weeks.

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Thoughts and Prayers

Posted: June 6, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: letter background, Penny Black, purity | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

These pretty orchids are another new stamp from Penny Black. This one is called ‘purity’ and it is tall and thin featuring three flowers and a bud. I stamped one flower a second time to fill and balance the left hand side of the panel.

I used the same method I described for a recent floral card inking the flowers with distress inks and markers, spritzing, then stamping on hot pressed watercolour paper. Instead of spritzing water over the stamped image I added dabs of gold paint then pressed the stamp down again to spread the gold into the petals.

To complete the panel I stamped a partial print of the letter background stamp in antique linen distress ink and added some splatter with the same ink. I switched to archival ink for the sentiment to get a bold sharp impression with words from the new PB ‘thoughts and prayers’ set. One of my favourite ways to complete a card or an art journal page is to ‘fill’ with a bit of text. Sometimes I add it at the beginning and stamp over it, other times I added it at the end. To you have some favourite finishing touches?

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Fleeting Moment

Posted: June 2, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: fleeting moment, Music Background, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

This orchid is from the new Penny Black release. It’s a large cling stamp called ‘fleeting moment. I think it is an orchid or perhaps a lily.

I used distress inks, worn lipstick, festive berries, to ink the petals while in a stamp positioner. I inked the stems and leaves with forest moss and peeled paint. Once stamped on hot press watercolour paper I lightly spritzed the flowers.

I dried the panel before adding details to the petals with markers. To fill in the panel I inked part of the music background stamp with weathered wood distress ink. After stamping I added splatters of water and ink.

The new ‘Blooming’ release is full of flowers, as the name suggests so there will be blooms aplenty over the next few weeks.

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Floral Mix

Posted: May 18, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: distinctive, fresh spring, Penny Black, sweet sprouts | Tags: , | 13 Comments

I think I told you my one tulip bloomed already but I was still inspired to stamp more. My many lupins are yet to bloom so the idea of a floral mix card appealed to me. I have teamed up Penny Black’s ‘distinctive, ‘fresh spring’ & ‘sweet sprouts’ stamp on this card.

Once again I worked on hot press watercolour paper with distress inks. I usually spritz the stamp lightly with water before stamping then use a paintbrush to blend the inks or dilute them. The inks I used are listed below; I had seedless preserves as the main colour on the tulips and the highlight colour on the lupins. The technique for this card is featured in my online class Floral Faves which is still on sale for 30% off as part of my Moving Day Sale.

What’s blooming in your garden or neighbourhood right now?

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Grape Hyacinths

Posted: May 16, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, Dies, fine flowers vol 2, Penny Black, Tagged | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

My garden seems to have lost its grape hyacinths; I used to have quite a few that would pop up year after year but I only saw a couple this year.

We had three days above 30°C last week so there is plenty happening in the garden. The crab apple is blossoming and the last of the daffodils are hanging on. I bought some annuals and started filling pots yesterday.

The stamp featured is from the Darkroom Door set ‘fine flowers vol 2’ designed by Godelieve Tjiskens. I inked the petals with seedless preserves and blueprint sketch distress inks then blended with water after stamping. The stems are rustic wilderness distress and the sentiment rustic wilderness archival.

Hope you are enjoying some colour in the world around you; perhaps you’re seeing warm tones if you are in the southern hemisphere.

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Fresh Spring

Posted: May 10, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: fresh spring | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Now that May has arrived I feel it is the right time to post tulip cards. My one tulip is blooming and the tulip festival is a week away. I have used the Penny Black ‘fresh spring’ stamp on hot press watercolour paper with distress inks.

Sometimes I stamp then blend with a paintbrush after stamping. This time the blends from a spritz of water on the inked stamp were almost enough without adding anything. I did a little blending on a few tulips and a few leaves but some of the blends just happened so I let them be.

I inked the tulips with wild honey distress ink and added festive berries over the base of the petals with a marker. Same with the leaves but using rustic wilderness with added forest moss for depth and variation. I know the distress markers are discontinued but they are so useful for adding ink selectively I will keep using them ’til they give up! The sentiment is from the PB set ‘special sentiments’.

My friend Jan recently sent me some more floral inspiration pics so I have added the inspiration for today’s card below. Thank you Jan.

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Green Truck in the City

Posted: May 6, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: ...is coming, Dies, gel press, Metropolitan, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

This little green truck card was made on request, and probably not a focal point I would have come up with myself. The end result however made me very happy and all but the kraft buildings and road sign were cut from gel prints.

I could have cut all the components from coloured cardstock but I chose instead to use gel prints and mixed the green and blue paints on the gel plate in order to match the green of the truck requested. I love the added texture a gel print gives. The sky is very textured because it was printed on my damaged gel plate. I use it mainly as a palette where I mix colours or roll off excess paint. I pull prints off it now and again during a session and the patchy blue and white print made a perfect sky. I don’t have a truck die but I did some mods to a van die-cut and ‘ta-da’ I had a little green truck on its way to graduation!

Would this be a good time to mention there are a couple of spaces left in next Friday’s gel printing workshop?

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2022 BuJo – May theme

Posted: May 4, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Coloured pencil, Dingbat notebooks, Hand lettered, Penny Black, springtide | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

It’s been a while since the last bullet journal feature. I gave the journal a break over April; I was in recovery and catch up mode. We have skipped to May which is the month of the tulip festival in Ottawa so the theme was an easy pick. Coloured pencils seemed to make sense too as I have been working with them a bit lately.

I drew all my calendar squares by hand purposely making them a little wavy with breaks and dots. The Penny Black clear stamp ‘springtide’ seemed to work with an outline theme so I stamped in jet black archival on each page then coloured with polychromos pencils.

For each tulip colour scheme I used at least two co-ordinating colours; for the yellow tulips I used four. I forgot that both Ranger archival inks and FaberCastell polychromos pencils are oil based so the first layer of pencil blending ended up dragging some black ink. As you can see it didn’t spoil the result but I probably should have stamped the outline in memento or distress ink.

I kept the titles simple with some hand drawn block letters. I know that to-do list is empty in the photo but believe me that is no longer the case! Visiting the Ottawa Tulip Festival will be on the list for sure!

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Pencil Daisies

Posted: May 3, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Coloured pencil, daisy dream, Karin brushmarkers, springtide | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

When I stamped the PB ‘brilliant’ stamp for my recent pencil poppy card I also stamped several other outline stamps on kraft cardstock for pencil colouring. This stamp is called ‘daisy dream’ and is coloured with Karin pigment decobrush markers, white gouache and Faber-Castell coloured pencils.

In my recent pencil poppies post I referred you to the talented Debby Hughes for a video tutorial about colouring with gouache and coloured pencils. I used some of the same tips for this card but ended up using the Karin pigment brushmarkers as well. I coloured the petals on the flowers above with the gold marker. The effect was very similar to painting gouache first but easier because the marker brush tip did such a good job on those narrow petals. I painted the centres with white and the leaves with the Karin ‘leaf green’ marker before using coloured pencils to add details and shading to the flowers and stems. The glass vase is coloured with a white and two grey pencils.

I added some shading below and behind the vase, a white embossed sentiment and some white gouache splatter before attaching the panel to a white card base.

I now have three daffodils blooming in my garden so there should be at least 47 more coming! I did plant 50 daffodil bulbs a year and a half ago and they are supposed to multiply aren’t they?

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