Journey home
Posted: December 12, 2017 Filed under: Joy to All, Nature's Friend, Spread Cheer | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
I pulled out of few old favourites for this card, both stamps and techniques. I began by tearing a post-it note mask and positioning it across the bottom of the watercolour paper panel. I then stamped the large tree in onyx black versafine overlapping the mask at the bottom and the boy and sled also in onyx black just above the mask (the stamps and supplies are all listed below). I cut a circle from frisket film and placed it firmly over the tree branches then painted water across the panel from left to right where the sky would be.
I sprinkled yellow brusho sparingly into the water and blended it to create a ‘glow’ in the sky. Above and below the yellow I painted blue brusho then, while it was still wet, stamped trees in memento Danube blue ink. As the background was damp the impressions have soft blended edges. I mixed a little blue brusho with water on a palette then painted a line of blue below the stamped boy to create a shadowy area where he was walking. I used water to dilute the colour as I extended the colour up towards the horizon. I added more blue below the boy and the tree and diluted that with water.
To create the shadow of the boy and his sled I inked the stamp with memento Danube blue and stamped it onto an acrylic block. I stamped the block into the damp watercolour paper where it created a blurred mirror image. I painted straight shadow for the tree also in Danube blue ink. When the ink and paint were dry I removed the moon mask and attached the panel to a natural white card base.
Supplies
Stamps: spread cheer, nature’s friends, joy to all
Inks: versafine majestic blue, memento Danube blue ink
Brusho paints: lemon, cobalt blue
Hot pressed watercolor paper
Also: stamping platform, frisket film, post-it note
Frozen field
Posted: December 7, 2017 Filed under: restful | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 14 Comments
I have another frosty winter scene to share today, and of the three I’ve shared this week, this one might be my favourite. The reason is that the scenery round here sometimes looks like this in winter. I will admit the moon is rarely that big but when freezing rain creates a layer of ice on top of snow the fields look very shiny and reflective.
As with the previous two projects I used hot pressed watercolour paper. I placed the panel in my stamp positioner 1mm from the top edge then stamped the ‘restful’ stamp in versamark ink. Next I moved the panel up so it was flush against the top edge of the stamp positioner and stamped the tree in versafine onyx black and the rest of the stamp in versafine smokey grey. I then embossed the panel in clear powder. By moving the panel just 1mm up between the two impressions I was able to create the look of snow on top of the branches and fences and uneven ground.
I decided to go for a super moon so I die cut a large circle from frisket film then sliced off a section to create a straight edge. I pressed it down firmly above the horizon. This time I used brusho to add colour to my scene but filled the sky area first with water then sprinkled prussian blue, dark brown and just a touch of yellow onto the damp paper. I tilted the paper or used a paintbrush to guide the colours to where I wanted them then let it dry completely.
I used same method and colours below the horizon but kept them more diluted especially in the area below the moon. Once that was dry I removed the mask and added diluted blue paint to the moon. I almost didn’t add a sentiment but I ended up using two little stamps from ‘festive snippets’embossed in white powder. To finish I added stars with white gel pen then attached the panel to a white card base. If you are a local you might see why this reminds me of the farmer’s fields along Fallowfield…
Supplies
Stamps: restful, festive snippets
versafine onyx black, versafine smokey grey
Uniball signo white gel pen
Hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah solar white cardstock
Brusho paint: prussian blue, dark brown, yellow
Also: clear embossing powder, white embossing powder, frisket film
Snowy Village
Posted: December 6, 2017 Filed under: snow covered, snowy village | Tags: Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 2 Comments
The second of my winter landscapes this week combines two outline stamps, the little village in the background is from the ‘snowy village set’ and the trees and fence stamp is from the ‘snow covered’ set. I stamped both stamps in versafine onyx black ink onto hot pressed watercolour paper. To make sure the two stamps created a cohesive scene I extended some of the snow bank lines with a black embossing pen both to the right of the village and to the left behind the trees then added some mountains in the background. I embossed all the stamping and pen work with clear embossing powder.
To add colour to scene I used the ‘wet into wet’ technique, painting water first into sky area filling all the space above the mountain tops. I worked with peerless watercolours to next add blue paint, then purple and grey to the wet area gradually filling the sky with colour. One by one I painted water into each hill shape then added blue and purple paint from the bottom blending to pale at the top of each hill. I did the same on all the snow banks.
To colour the trees I also painted water over them and added small amounts of green paint while preserving some areas as white. I used grey and red paint to fill the buildings taking care to keeping the snowy roofs white or with minimal grey shading. I splattered white gesso over the sky using a small brush and a toothpick then attached the panel to a white card base.
As the sky filled almost half the panel I decided to create a large sparkly sentiment. I cut the ‘peace’ die from white cardstock three times and embossed one with clear sparkle embossing powder. I added glue to the back of each die cut and stacked them on top of each other. I have found the easiest way to get them to line up is to squeeze the layers together from above with a pair of tweezers. It is a quite large card so I did a side fold rather than my usual top fold.
Supplies
Stamps: snowy village, snow covered
Die: peace
Inks: versafine onyx black, black embossing marker
Paint: Peerless transparent watercolors, white gesso
Paper: neenah solar white cardstock, arches hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: WOW clear sparkle embossing powder, clear gloss embossing powder
Peaceful Winter
Posted: December 5, 2017 Filed under: peaceful winter | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 Comments
This week I am sharing some winter landscapes here and on the Penny Black blog. I created this wintry scene by combining two stamps from the ‘peaceful winter’ transparent set. I made use of my stamp positioning tool as I wanted to stamp in colour then over the top with versamark. (Jill has created several videos demonstrating this technique. You can find them on the Penny Black youtube channel)
I began by stamping the trees on the left hand side of a piece of watercolour paper in memento northern pine and London fog ink. I spritzed some water over the stamping which made the colours separate into brown, blue and green. I dried the stamping then stamped over the whole image in versamark before embossing it in clear powder to make it waterproof. Next I used the smaller landscape stamp from the same set to add the background trees and used the same technique and inks to stamp a coloured image then emboss it to make it waterproof.
With all the scenic stamping done and embossed I moved on to the watercolouring. I cut a circle of frisket film (clear adhesive film for masking) and stuck it firmly over the top of the left hand trees. I then painted water over the section of sky above the horizon. I pressed both my northern pine ink pad and a memento nautical blue ink pad onto an acrylic block to create a palette of two inks. I built up the sky colour by painting first with nautical blue then creating cloud effects with more blue or northern pine ink. Once the sky dried I removed the moon mask.
I used some diluted northern pine ink to give the foreground snow a bit of colour and shadow then dried the panel. I finished off the card with a sentiment from the ‘love & peace’ set stamped in versafine olympia green and a dark green mat before attaching the panel to a natural white card base.
Thanks for dropping by; I’ll be back tomorrow with another chilly scene.
Supplies
Stamps: love & peace, peaceful winter
Inks: memento northern pine & london fog, nautical blue inks, versamark
Paper: Neenah solar white cardstock, hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: stamping platform, frisket film, WOW clear gloss superfine embossing powder
More layered poinsettias
Posted: November 29, 2017 Filed under: Brusho, layered poinsettia | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders 10 Comments
I liked that first layered poinsettia card so much I made another, this time with some pale green brusho to get the ‘white poinsettia’ look. I think I could go even lighter with my paint so there may be another poinsettia card to come. I started with watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid so I would have little white dots over the petals at the end.
I painted lime green brusho on the watercolour panel but it ended up separated into distinct areas of blue and yellow so I add a tiny bit of olive green brusho to get everything looking greener. When I die-cut the petals I tried to keep the smaller ones a little lighter and the larger ones darker.
Even though I was aiming for clean and simple when I lay the petals on a white card base, it was a little too stark. A layer of vellum softened the base and I splattered gold paint over it then added an embossed sentiment. Solving the vellum adhesive problem was easy under the die cuts and sentiment but the corners needed something too so I added just the tiniest amount from my tombow tape runner to hold them down to the card base.
Stay tuned because I think there are another couple of colour schemes yet to be tried with this pretty little die set!
Supplies
Dies: layered poinsettia
Stamps: joy & happiness
Versamark ink, WOW gold metallic rich embossing powder
Paints: finetec mica pearl 12, brusho 12, brusho 8, masking fluid
Neenah solar white cardstock, hot pressed watercolour paper, vellum
Berry speckled Christmas
Posted: November 28, 2017 Filed under: Berry speckled | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 11 Comments
I am happy to be sharing this card over on The Foiled Fox blog today. I used a combination of distress markers to colour the berry branches first then, once they were dry, I clear embossed over the top so they would resist the masking fluid I splattered and the sky I painted next. The process is described in detail over on the Foiled Fox blog so pop over and check it out.
This was definitely a project where a stamp positioner came in handy to do all the colouring first and embossing after.
Supplies
Stamps: berry speckled, sweetest moments
Inks: forest moss distress ink, versamark
Distress Markers: festive berries, frayed burlap, gathered twig, barn door, forest moss
Paper: Neenah solar white cardstock, hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: stamping platform, masking fluid, WOW clear gloss superfine embossing powder
Layered Poinsettia
Posted: November 24, 2017 Filed under: Brusho, layered poinsettia | Tags: Brusho, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 5 Comments
After creating a pretty blue background through the magic of brusho yesterday, I decided to do the same with green and red for poinsettias. This set of four dies is called ‘layered poinsettia‘ and it was so easy to create pretty red and green flowers with some scattered brusho on watercolour paper. I had three scraps of hot pressed watercolour paper on my craft mat. I sprinkled mostly brilliant red brusho on two with a bit of leaf green either end, then I sprinkled more of the green and less of the red on my third strip. After I had spritzed water over them all I could see where more colour was needed so I sprinkled some more of the first two colours plus some rose red and spritzed again.
I left the scraps to dry then laid three flower dies on the strips and cut our 3×3 of the small, medium and large flowers making sure I got some green on the large and the medium ones. Once they were all cut I lay them back on my craft mat and splattered gold paint from my finetec mica pearl set over all the flowers.
I let them dry and assembled them by dotting glue on the backs. There is a teeny tiny die for the centres (which I have not lost so far!) which were cut from gold foil cardstock to tie in with my gold splatter. To assemble the card I glued the flowers on a strip of white cardstock, attached that to a strip of shimmery red cardstock then mounted it on a white card base. I added the little ‘sending joy’ sentiment from the PB holiday snippets set.
Don’t forget the Foiled Fox has a cool sale on all weekend; just click the link in my side bar or right here and use the discount code HOLIDAY2017 when you check out.
Supplies
Dies: layered poinsettia
Stamps: holiday snippets
Ink: versafine crimson red
Paints: finetec mica pearl 12, brusho 12
Neenah solar white cardstock, hot pressed watercolour paper, shimmer red cardstock, gold foil cardstock
Frosty wreath
Posted: November 23, 2017 Filed under: A blizzard, wreath & bow | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 3 Comments
I have a frosty little wreath to share today which seems appropriate now it’s all frosty outside. I created my background on hot pressed watercolour paper by sprinkling ultramarine brusho over the paper then spritzing it with my homemade pearl-ex spray. The result is a shimmery pattern of blue, turquoise and purple made with paint powder from just one container.
I applied stick it adhesive to the back of neenah solar white cardstock then die-cut three wreaths using Penny Black’s ‘wreath & bow’ die. I stacked them on top of each other which was surprisingly easy even though they were quite delicate. I use a pair of tweezers to squeeze each section of the die-cuts into alignment with the ones above and below.
I stamped a sentiment from festive snippets on purple cardstock, embossed it in white and attached it overlapping the wreath then matted the painted panel in purple also. To finish it off I attached some silver cord and a little die-cut snowflake on top of the sentiment strip. You can find all the supplies listed below; I am experimenting with the appearance of my supply list; word has it that people like to see the product not just the name. Let me know if the pictures and links are helpful.
I know there are sales everywhere you turn this week but I just want to mention one. The Foiled Fox is offering 15% off everything in their store this weekend and if you click through from my blog you don’t have to wait until Friday to start shopping. The coupon code for check out is HOLIDAY2017
Supplies
Stamps: festive snippets
Dies: wreath & bow, a blizzard
Paper: Neenah solar white cardstock, 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: white embossing powder, stick it adhesive, pearl ex interference blue powder, silver cord
Glorious Day
Posted: November 18, 2017 Filed under: Snowy Perch | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
When I posted my first card made with this stamp I mentioned a second I had completed when I knew the image better. In this one I managed to keep the snowy areas white from the beginning rather than dilute them after I realised my mistake! I used fewer inks and left the leaves on right side of the stamp unstamped.
I stamped bird, perch and foliage in antique linen first then went over the perch and leaves as with vintage photo and black soot distress markers. I stamped then blended with water before adding ink to the berries with festive berries and barn door distress markers. To colour the bird I switched over to my watercolour pencils, picking up colour from the lead with a small damp watercolour brush.
I finished off the card with a sentiment stamped in versafine vintage sepia then popped up the panel on craft foam.
Supplies
Stamps: snowy perch, peace & love
Inks: antique linen, vintage photo distress inks (Ranger), versafine vintage sepia (Tsukineko), black micron pen (Pigma)
Markers: vintage photo, black soot, festive berries, barn door distress markers
Paper: 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano)
Pencils: dark carmine, light orange, black & cold greyIV Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils
DiOx background
Posted: November 16, 2017 Filed under: Flower sparks | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black stamps 8 Comments
I taught a class a while ago where we created distress oxide backgrounds similar to this one. I began with a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper, swiped my salty ocean and fossilized amber distress oxide inks across the panel then spritzed it generously while holding the paper upright which enabled the ink to run down towards the bottom of the panel. I held it the opposite way so the lighter colour ran back into the darker. I kept doing this until I had a fully covered, blended background.
It’s hard to see in the photo but I spritzed with pearl-ex spray which created a sparkly sheen over everything. (I create my own pearl-ex spray by adding less than ¼tsp pearl-ex powder to a small spritzer full of water) Once the panel was dry I splattered some more spray over the background and dabbed it off with a paper towel to created the patchy light and dark effect.
I stamped the Queen Anne’s lace stamps from the Penny Black Flower Sparks set in fossilized amber, salty ocean and black soot distress oxide inks. To finish I attached to a white card base and added a white on black embossed sentiment. All the supplies are listed below; some include affiliate links which give me a small commission but add nothing to your costs. Anytime you feel like browsing in The Foiled Fox online store, clicking through from the Foiled Fox promo in my side bar will send some commission my way if you make a purchase. And while we are chatting about the lovely folk at The Foiled Fox I have an inside scoop: they are starting a loyalty program where you will earn ‘foxy dollars’ every time you make a purchase there. Even though it hasn’t officially begun any November purchases will count towards your future foxy dollars!
Supplies
Stamps:Flower Sparks, Happy Snippets (made by Penny Black)
Inks: fossilized amber, salty ocean, black soot distress oxide inks (Ranger) Versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white cardstock, Neenah epic black cardstock
Tools: heat tool
Added extras: interference blue pearl-ex powder
Heather Telford 