Over the fence
Posted: September 10, 2017 Filed under: beneath the birches, picket fence | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 13 Comments
This card was inspired by one included in my August class; that one was more of a lakeside silhouette where this one is a little less rustic. I began with a piece of watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid. Once it was dry I taped it down to prevent warping and painted the whole panel with distress stains. I wanted the sky to look star-filled but it could just as easily be snow-filled. I die cut birches and a picket fence and then a sad thing happened. My die cutting machine sits on top of a cube storage cabinet which is quite good because I don’t have to bend to use it and it makes me get up from my work table and move around. The cube storage cabinet houses a lot of my supplies and sits flush against the wall. Apparently not so flush that a die can’t fall down behind it. So let me just say you won’t be seeing those birch trees on a card any time soon. To retrieve the die I will need to empty a lot out of my cabinet and that’s just not going to happen right now!
Glad I got this little card made though.
Supplies
Dies: picket fence, beneath the birches (PB)
Stamps: just a note (PB)
Inks: scattered straw, chipped sapphire, worn lipstick distress stains (Ranger) versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano), epic black & solar white cardstock (Neenah)
Peace & Love
Posted: September 5, 2017 Filed under: Brusho, dressed in snow | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Stazon inks 7 Comments
I have another brusho sky to share, this time a backdrop for this lovely new scenic stamp from Penny Black. I was playing with this stamp all morning as I worked on designs for my October class. We won’t be making this card but the stamp is in the line up. I used three colours of brusho powder on photo paper and the speckly, spotty effect of the brusho did all the work in creating a snowy sky. I used jet black stazon to stamp the image and sentiment. I have found it easier to ink the stamp and lay the photo paper down onto the stamp and press the back of the paper rather than the other way round. It is also possible with such a large stamp to peel one side of the panel up to check ink coverage, re-ink if necessary, then press down again without moving the other half of the panel. (thanks, Liliuska for that tip).
When I was making this card it was easy to make a few and of course each one is different; some have quite stormy skies, other more serene. I finished off the card with a thin black mat and a simple black sentiment.
Supplies
Stamps: dressed in snow, peace and love (Penny Black)
Paper: glossy photo paper (Kirkland) epic black cardstock, solar white cardstock (Neenah)
Ink: black stazon (Tsukineko)
Paint: turquoise, violet, cobalt blue brusho (Colourcraft)
Winter’s forest
Posted: August 30, 2017 Filed under: winter's forest | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 9 Comments
I have new tree stamp to introduce to you today. You know how I feel about tree stamps. I kept the technique quite straightforward for this card but I’m looking forward to trying a few more of my favourite mediums ie. distress stains, inks and markers, memento inks and my new favourite for photo paper – stazon. On this sunlit panel I used versafine onyx black with a clear embossing powder. Embossing the image first made it possible to keep all the trees are dark silhouettes when I painted the sunset behind. I used distress stains and a wet on wet technique to blend yellow into pink then blue. I kept the foreground white for snow then painted some shadows loosely on the watercolour paper.
The stamp is called ‘winter’s forest’ but I know it will be just as handy as spring, summer and autumn’s forest! I had a very relaxing time away last week and enjoyed painting a few pages from Kristy Rice’s Summer Cutting Garden watercoloring book. None of the pages are quite finished but I plan to share them with you soon.
Supplies:
Stamps: winter’s forest (Penny Black)
Inks: broken china, scattered straw, worn lipstick distress stains (Ranger) versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, aqua cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder
Santa’s Visit
Posted: August 21, 2017 Filed under: Santa's visit | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 3 Comments
I think this quiet little scene is going to be a popular one this Christmas. It looks so peaceful and pretty, just like it does around here after a fresh snowfall (which will be welcome in four months time and not before!) I kept my colour scheme simple for this one and stamped first in Paris Dusk memento ink. I then did some blending with a wet brush over the scene to solidify the image a bit before adding black ink. I did some partial inking of the stamp to get shadows on parts of the trees and houses.
I wasn’t sure about the navy blue die cut sentiment because it does get a bit lost. In real life however it is popped up on a couple of white layers and sparkled with a clear wink of stella pen so I let it stay!
I am currently lakeside and away from my workroom and internet for a week. I decided to take only this book and these supplies for a little artsy down time.
Supplies
Stamps: Santa’s visit (PB)
Die: Blessed night (PB)
Inks: Paris dusk, Tuxedo black memento inks (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano), navy cardstock
Also: clear wink of stella brush pen, stick it adhesive
Holly Sprig
Posted: August 18, 2017 Filed under: holly sprig | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 9 Comments
I have another new brushstroke stamp to feature today and I’ve used one of my favourite mediums to colour it: distress stains. I began as in my previous card with a panel already splattered with masking fluid. I painted a pale yellow wash over the panel then dried it. I inked the ‘holly sprig’ stamp with peeled paint and festive berries distress stains, spritzed the water colour panel and stamped. Because the panel was wet the images bled into the surrounding area giving me blurry background images. I dried the panel before stamping the foreground images in the same colours along with pine needles stain for some variation in the leaf colour.
After the panel dried I added some definition to the berries and leaves with distress markers and some green splatter. Finally I removed the masking fluid, die cut ‘Tis the Season’ from red cardstock and framed the panel with a matching red mat.
Supplies
Stamps: holly sprig (PB)
Die: tis the season
Inks: festive berries, peeled paint, pine needles, scattered straw distress stains & candied apple, peeled paint distress markers (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: masking fluid
Berry Speckled
Posted: August 16, 2017 Filed under: Berry speckled, Uncategorized | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 9 Comments
This branch, ‘berry speckled’, is definitely one of my favourites from the new Penny Black release ‘Be Merry‘. It is pretty on its own but will combine well with other Christmas foliage I’m sure. I decided to watercolour with it, and used a stamp positioning tool to help me add colours one at a time. I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper with masking fluid lightly splattered over it. First I inked the berries in festive berries distress stain and stamped them, next I did the pine needles in peeled paint distress stain and finally the twigs in gathered twigs distress marker. I dried all the initial stamping then added the background blue by painting water close to the edges of the stamping then adding stormy sky distress stain to the wet areas.
Once all the ink and stain was dry I added definition to the berries with a candied apple distress marker. I removed the masking fluid to reveal little white dots, added the sentiment in smokey gray versafine ink and matted the panel in red.
Supplies
Stamps: berry speckled, peace & love (PB)
Inks: festive berries, peeled paint, stormy sky distress stains & candied apple, gathered twigs distress markers (Ranger) smokey gray versafine (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: masking fluid
Peaceful moment
Posted: August 14, 2017 Filed under: Brusho, peaceful moment | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 14 Comments
Brusho on photo paper can create really intricate patterns and soft blended backgrounds. I used the same few colours of brusho for the backgrounds on both cards but one was the first impression and the other a left over colour swipe. The first impression pattern was achieved by pressing the panel of photo paper down on top of the spritzed brusho. I didn’t move the panel from side to side just pressed it down into all the activated brusho. After lifting the panel and setting it aside I swiped another piece of photo paper through the remaining paint to pick up a soft blended look. There was not quite enough variation for my liking so I added a bit of blue brusho to the mat, spritzed and swiped again to get darker colour at the base of the panel.
I stamped the new ‘peaceful moment’ stamp over the brusho backgrounds in jet black stazon then added mats and sentiments to complete the cards. Make sure you check out the rest of the new products from the Penny Black releases along with the opportunities to win a spending spree.
Supplies
Stamps: peaceful moment, snippets, all great things, spiritual snippets
Paper: glossy photo paper (Kirkland) epic black cardstock, natural white cardstock (Neenah), yellow cardstock
Ink: black stazon, versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paint: yellow, gamboge, leaf green, cobalt blue brusho (Colourcraft)
Adorned Abode
Posted: August 11, 2017 Filed under: adorned abode | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps 4 Comments
When I was working with brushos on my impermeable craft mat recently I swiped a piece of watercolour paper through some blue paint just to clear it up. I set it aside to dry then decided it would make a suitable background for this sweet little birdhouse scene. Even though I used hot pressed watercolour paper it still has some texture so I used my stamp positioner to stamp the scene several times in versafine ink. I pulled out my polychromos pencils to do the colouring. As I was adding colour over a blue background, I wanted the opacity of the polychromos rather than the transparency of watercolour pencils. I used several browns for the birdhouse, red, white, black and grey for the bird, two greens for the leaves then switched over to gel pens. The berries are coloured with red, the snowflake decorations with silver and a bit of snow here and there with a white gel pen. In a few places I had obscured the black stamping with my colouring so I used a black micron pen to redraw some lines.
I wavered on adding a sentiment then decided not to cover any of the picture or fill the one bit of blank space. I’ll put a greeting inside instead. I finished it off with two mats and stamped an envelope to match.
This stamp is part of the new Be Merry release from Penny Black which is now available in their online store. Check out the Penny Black blog for details on their giveaway.
Supplies
Stamps: adorned abode (PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) epic black cardstock (Neenah) textured red cardstock
Ink: onyx black versafine (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Polychromos pencils (Faber Castell)
Pens: white Kirarina WiNK (Kirarina) silver, red hybrid metallic (Pentel), black micron pen
Distress Oxide background
Posted: August 8, 2017 Filed under: Butterfly trio, Sweet Perfume | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders 8 Comments
I’ve been playing with distress oxide inks again and its all because of the wonderful folk at the Foiled Fox. I loved the first 12 colours released but when I saw salty ocean, peacock feathers and seedless preserves in the second release I was pretty happy. I am guest blogging over on the Foiled Fox blog today with all the details about this card.
Our family has been enjoying a visit from my sister-in-law, Dale for a few weeks. She came from Australia via Alaska and we have had the chance to do a few little trips around Ontario and Quebec while she’s been here. One afternoon while we were home I was downstairs in my workroom trying to nail this card. I loved the soft blends in the background but deciding on features for the foreground was not happening. Dale came down to see what I was doing and we ended up collaborating to complete the card.
Supplies
Stamps:Sweet Perfume, Butterfly Trio (PB)
Die: Many Thanks (PB)
Inks: spiced marmalade, abandoned coral, wild honey distress oxide inks (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white cardstock, brick red cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder (WOW)
Beautiful tree
Posted: July 31, 2017 Filed under: Shade Canopy | Tags: distress oxide inks, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
The newest distress oxide inks are in the house (thank you Foiled Fox) so I decided to do some stamping with them along with a basic background. So far in my experiments with distress oxides and my recent class I have used distress oxides to create dramatic and rich backgrounds. In using them for stamping I had to think about what characteristics of the ink I wanted to take advantage of.
I began by making a background. I pressed the salty ocean ink on my impermeable craft mat, added water then swiped my watercolour panel through it. I dried that completely then did a similar thing with lucky clover and twisted citron inks. Next I pulled out the MISTI so I could stamp the tree colour by colour. I inked the foliage in lucky clover, stamped, peeled paint, stamped, spritzed to let it blend then inked the trunk and a few areas within the foliage with vintage photo and stamped that. To get a nice blend I kept stamping patches of colour here and there with the help of the misti. What I didn’t end up liking was how pale and ‘oxidised’ the foliage became. It got the chalky look where I wanted more bold colour. The fix for this I felt, would be to add undiluted ink over the top so I dried everything and stamped more lucky clover and peeled paint over the top of the blended colour. There is still plenty of chalky oxidised colour but also some darker areas.
Only the grass remained to be stamped so I picked ‘lucky clover’ on account of its name and stamped that across the bottom of the panel. I kept the stamp in place but moved my paper to extend the grass from one side to the other. The overall effect is more like a tree painted in acrylic over a watercolour sky. Rather than switch to my usual versafine for the sentiment I kept it all in the DiOx family and used black soot then framed the panel in black and attached it to my cream card base.
Supplies:
Stamps: Shade Canopy, Faith (PB)
Inks: salty ocean, lucky clover, peeled paint, twisted citron, vintage photo, black soot distress oxide inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Heather Telford 