Vintage Flower Box

Vintage flower box Heather Telford

I’m continuing my vintage watercolour theme today with the square ‘flower box’ stamp. I completed this panel using the technique shared in my video tutorial. I stamped the image with vintage photo ink and added black here and there with the ‘elegant writer’ pen from speedball.

Vintage flower box 2 Heather Telford

Most of the leaves and the centres of the large flowers have a black/green tinge to them; this is what happens when you add water to the elegant writer ink. I also spread it around the corners with a paint brush.

vintage flower box closeup Heather Telford

The orange and purple colouring is from watercolour pencils. I pulled colour from the pencils and filled the petals and flower shapes drawing in brown from the stamped outlines at the same time. I added splatters of colour from the pencil and water droplets for an aged look.

 vintage flower box flat Heather Telford

The word ‘smile’ is laser cut from matboard and glazed with crackle glaze.  Thanks for joining me this week; I’m so pleased you are enjoying my vintage theme.

Supplies:
Stamps: Flower Box (PB)
Inks:  Vintage Photo distress ink,Vintage Photo distress stain (Ranger) Elegant writer pen (Speedball)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper
Also:  Albrecht Durer watercolor delft blue, raw umber, dark orange pencils (Faber-Castell), Rock candy clear crackle paint(Ranger)


Vintage Elegance

Vintage elegance Heather Telford

Today’s vintage style card has a slightly different look to it because I gave the watercolour paper some colour before I began. While I was working with vintage photo ink and different stamps I just cleaned each stamp with a wet wipe. The wipe became quite ‘vintagy’ itself but before I threw it away, I tried wiping it across a piece of watercolour paper to see how much colour transferred. The result is the yellowed look on this card.

Vintage Elegance 2 Heather Telford

I let the paper dry completely before stamping the ‘Elegance in motion’ stamp in vintage photo ink. Once again I used the elegant writer pen but only on a couple of leaves. The rest of the colouring was done with a blue water colour pencil, a pale first layer then more intense details.

vintage elegance close up Heather Telford

I added some lines using the ‘library card’ stamp then splattered and blurred the stamping in a few places. I was happy to find some blue ribbon in just the right tone and some linen twine for a little accent on the side. You can find my earlier ‘vintage watercolour’ cards here:birdhouse, butterflies, tulips, jubilance, poppies.

Supplies:
Stamps: Elegance in Motion, Life’s journals (PB)
Inks:  Vintage Photo distress ink,Vintage Photo distress stain (Ranger) Elegant writer pen (Speedball)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, brown cardstock, Neenah natural white cardstock
Also:  Albrecht Durer watercolor phthalo blue pencil (Faber-Castell), blue ribbon, linen twine


Vintage Jubilance

Vintage Jubilance Heather Telford

More vintage flowers on display today with a slightly different technique to try. As with my previous vintage style watercolours (birdhouse, butterflies, tulips) I stamped the image in vintage photo distress ink. Other water based dye inks in brown would probably work but I like the ease with which I can dilute and spread the vintage photo ink or stain.

Vintage Jubilance 2 Heather Telford

After stamping, instead of pulling ink from the outline into the flowers and leaves, I pulled ink out into the background leaving the flowers and leaves white. The contrast of brown with white makes the flowers pop and look whiter than they would if they were not surrounded by colour. It is a simple technique you could try with any colour ink.

vintage jubilance closeup Heather Telford

I would love to hear if you try some ‘vintage style watercolour’. Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies:
Stamps: Jubilance (PB)
Inks:  Vintage Photo distress ink,Vintage Photo distress stain (Ranger)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, brown cardstock


Vintage tulips

vintage tulip Heather Telford

I have some more vintage style watercolour cards to share this week. Last month I posted a video tutorial showing a method for creating a vintage look with brown dye ink and watercolour pencils. I have created a few more cards along the same lines dreamed up some variations as well. To see the original card and video tutorial click here.

vintage tulip 2 Heather Telford

For this tulip card I used almost the same method as shown in the video but left out the elegant writer pen (as I did in this butterfly card). I stamped the original tulip images in vintage photo distress ink then blended the ink in the outline stamping with colour from both pink and brown watercolour pencils. I painted some distress stain around the edges of the watercolour panel and splattered some as well.

Vintage tulip closeup Heather Telford

Thanks for dropping in; I hope you’ll come back each day this week for more vintage style designs.

Supplies:
Stamps: Flower Gala , Soar (PB)
Inks:  Vintage Photo distress ink,Vintage Photo distress stain (Ranger)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, brown cardstock, coral cardstock
Also:  Albrecht Durer watercolor medium flesh, VanDyke pencils (Faber-Castell)


Stamping with alcohol inks

red flowers Heather Telford

A few months ago I tried all sorts of fun techniques with alcohol inks and I am keen to get them back off the shelf to try some more. Today’s cards are all examples of stamping with alcohol inks, using die-cut felt as the ‘stamp’.

brown leaves Heather Telford

I did all the stamping on glossy photo paper which allows the inks to move and blend a little but nowhere near as much as the on yupo paper. Yupo paper is a synthetic paper which is totally waterproof so the ink does not soak into it at all but spreads across it as it dries. The photo paper does absorb ink even as the glossy surface lets it spread and blend a little.

 green leaves Heather Telford

By varying the amount of ink you drop on the felt die-cut you can get a lacy effect or a full print. By adding a little blending solution to the felt you can dilute the colour and get a blurry effect within the shape. The possibilities are extensive with this technique.

Supplies:
Stamp: Words of Kindness, Sentiment Collection, Happy Snippets (PB)
Die: Autumn Jewels , Pinwheel (PB)
Ink: Alcohol inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Glossy photo paper, coloured cardstock, Neenah solar white & natural white


Autumn Mist

Autumn mist Heather Telford

Don’t worry I am not switching over to fall cards. I just happen to have made a card in autumn colours with a misty look about it so the line from Puff the Magic Dragon sprang to mind. I created both of today’s cards with the ‘shade canopy’ stamp from Penny Black. The little scenes are framed with the white edge made when I tape the watercolour paper down with painter’s tape.

Autumn mist closeup Heather Telford

I used markers to ink the stamp and for the backgrounds on both cards. The autumn card is coloured with memento markers and the summer one with tombow dual brush pens.

summer field Heather Telford

It is possible to get quite a lot of definition in the foliage by inking the stamp and adding little or no water or, as I did, use more water on the stamp and achieve a looser more impressionistic look. On the summer card I coloured the sky and hill first then added the tree over the top. For the fall card I painted the sky last, adding it around the foliage.

summer field closeup Heather Telford

Supplies:

Stamps: Shade Canopy, Words of Kindess(PB)
Inks:   Tangelo, Potter’s Clay, Espresso Truffle, Northern Pine Memento markers Versafine Onyx black (Tsukineko), 173, 452, 126, 228 dual brush pens (Tombow)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper


Stencilled

 stencil star Heather Telford

If you haven’t tried stencils with your alcohol inks you might be surprised at the lovely effects you can get. Let me warn you though, they might not do what you want them to, but they will probably do something cool. There is a bit of trial and error involved when working out how much blending solution or rubbing alcohol to apply through the stencil. Too much and it spreads under the stencil and you lose the pattern definition. Too little and you will not remove enough colour to get a pattern. It is worth playing with applicators too. Applying solution with a q-tip will take much longer but you will have more control.

stencil star b Heather Telford

I started with a deep blue pattern on yupo paper with little patches of burgandy ink. When it was dry I positioned the ‘hypnotic’ stencil over one corner then removed colour with blending solution on a felt applicator. I kept an eye on the felt as I pounced it through the stencil because it was picking up blue ink. If it got too blue it wasn’t removing ink anymore. I like the batik look with some lines of blue in the white spaces

purple stencilled heather Telford

On these two purple toned panels I used the same technique but was not as careful to keep the stencil still on the one below. The pattern from the stencil is just a mix of abstract shapes. The blue panel at the top of this post is all about the stencilled pattern but these two messy purple ones are just here because I love the colours. Before I die cut the word ‘hello’ out of the purple cardstock I positioned a strip of ‘stick it’ adhesive on the back where the word would be. That made it easy to attach the panel to the card base and pop in the little loops and circles that were cut out. I saved the purple ‘hello’ cut out of the card below and stuck it inside the card above.

purple hello Heather Telford

Supplies:

Stencil: Hypnotic (PB)
Stamp: Happy Snippets (PB)
Die: Doodles (PB)
Ink: Alcohol inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Yupo, mauve cardstock, Neenah solar white


Hummingbird treat

hummingbird treat Heather Telford

I went searching for my bird feeders yesterday but couldn’t find them. I have been a bit discouraged in the past when my bird feeders have doubled as squirrel feeders. The hummingbird feeder is a different deal to the seed feeders of course as it needs syrup. I do know where that is so perhaps I can tempt some hummingbirds to hover in my garden.

These hibiscus and the hummingbird were inked with memento inks, spritzed with water then a little blending added after stamping. You can see I added a generous amount of splatter around the leaves too.

hummingbird treat closeup Heather Telford

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet visit(PB)
Inks: Nautical Blue, Espresso Truffle, Cottage Ivy, Bamboo Leaves, Cantaloupe, Tangelo, Potter’s Clay Memento markers (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper


Spring in the city

City in spring Heather Telford

I created this card way back in the dead of winter when I was using the ‘soft whisper’ tree stamp to create snowy scenes. I set it aside and it got buried under other projects. I need to post it now as Ottawa seems to have had its 15 minutes of spring and marched straight in to summer.

There is a lot going on in the scene so I had to think through my order of operations. I used the MISTI to stamp the tree several times adding black, grey and pink ink separately. When the tree was finished I stamped again with versamark then embossed in clear so I could easily paint a wash over the tree. I kept the variegated wash in the top half of the panel merging from blue to pink to apricot then stamped a skyline of grey buildings below it. I filled in the space around the buildings with pale grey ink then added black trees in the foreground.

City in spring closeup

I hope you are enjoying some pretty scenery where you are.

Stamps:  Soft Whisper, Skyline, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Memento Angel pink, London fog, Tuxedo black, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Paint: Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolours
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, black cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder


Umbrellas

Umbrellas Heather Telford

I love pretty umbrellas and umbrella motifs in general so when I created this card I wanted to give them all bright colours. I did some masking to get all my umbrellas in amongst each other then watercoloured each one a different colour. I painted the sky first wet into wet then splattered some blue stain over it when it was almost dry but not quite. The umbrella scene is framed in white from the initial taping with masking tape then matted in black and attached to a natural card base.

At present I only have a black umbrella but there are such lovely coloured ones as well as the cute ones with paintings and the like on them; I think it is time for a new one. Ideally I’d choose a red raincoat(with polka-dot lining), red boots and a red and white polka-dot umbrella. In actual fact I don’t have any of those things!

Supplies:

Stamps: April Showers,    Sprinkles and Smiles ( PB)
Inks: Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon, Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, Seedless preserves, Spiced marmalade distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper,  Neenah Classic Crest Natural White 110lb smooth, Neenah Epic Black