Farewell to summer: Hummingbird
Posted: September 21, 2015 Filed under: Footnotes, Sweet Visit, Zigs & zags | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Penny Black stencils, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 Comments
This card just says ‘cottage life’ to me especially as the few hummingbirds I have seen were at friends’ cottages. I inked the stamp with memento markers, spritzed, stamped then blended with water before another spritz to spread the colour further. To create a border I ran a watercolour pencil inside the masking tape which was holding the panel down then softened the pencil line with a paintbrush. In a surprising departure from my usual habits I sponged the card base through a stencil around the edges as well as adding a little text.
I hope you are enjoying some late summer like I am.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sweet visit, Heartfelt, Footnotes (PB)
Inks: Nautical Blue, Bahama Blue, Danube Blue, Paris Dusk, Olive Grove, Bamboo Leaves, Desert Sand, Rose Bud, Tangelo, Potter’s Clay Memento markers (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano hot press watercolour, Neenah natural White, Teal
Also: Zigs & zags stencil (PB), Gold and blue machine embroidery thread
Astral defined with pencils
Posted: September 18, 2015 Filed under: Astral | Tags: Bister, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 2 Comments
The new release from Penny Black includes several negative space stamps, meaning stamps with a lot of solid rubber where the image is the part that does not stamp. This one, ‘Astral’ is the most solid of them all and I have been playing with ways to add colour and texture to the large solid area. I stamped the one above weeks back when I created this card, but it was cast aside. When I picked it up again I decided to add shadows to the sides of the trees with coloured pencils. The background colour is a mix of memento inks, distress stains and bister powder. When adding coloured pencil I used a bit of black but mainly chose colours already appearing the in the background. I used the pencils here and there to deepen the colour and define the edges.
I stamped and painted another one in green yesterday and filmed on periscope while doing so. (To watch me on periscope you can download the ap for your phone then search for me by name or watch on the web here. In both those places the videos are available for 24 hours.) On the green one I added detail with watercolour pencils and splatter with a white wink of stella pen. It is quite a large stamp; I cropped the panel for the blue and pink card to fit a 5.5’x4.25″ card base but kept the whole image plus a border for the green card.
Supplies for pink card:
Stamps: Astral, Snippets (PB)
Inks: Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Salty Ocean, Stormy sky distress inks (Ranger), Memento Summer Sky, Versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Bister watercolour powder, Interference Blue pearl-ex spray, Faber Castell polychromos pencils
Supplies for green card:
Stamps: Astral, Snippets (PB)
Inks: Broken China, Salty Ocean, Crushed Olive, Pine Needles distress stains (Ranger), Memento Cottage Ivy, Northern Pine, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: White wink of stella pen, white embossing powder, green machine embroidery thread, Faber Castell watercolour pencils
Farewell to summer: Fuchsias
Posted: September 16, 2015 Filed under: Fuchsia | Tags: Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black creative dies 16 Comments
This one is a stamp-less card! I created a stencil for myself by cutting the fuchsia die from a piece of plastic then painting through it. I wasn’t able to achieve sharp edges or details but I wasn’t really after that look. Before using the stencil I wet the whole panel with water and painted blue and green paints around the edges. The middle wasn’t totally white but it was paler so my pinks would not end up changing too much. I used kuretake gansai tambi paints which are highly pigmented so it is easy to get some really strong colour. I did add a bit of definition to the petals after removing the stencil. I also painted some very very pale fuchsias through the stencil and added a little splatter. Before fuchsias fully open the lower petals form a little balloon which just screams out to be popped. Did anyone else pop them when they were a child?
Supplies:
Creative Dies: Fuchsia (PB)
Paint: Kuretake Gansai Tambi
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white cardstock, PB clear skies paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Poppies with love
Posted: September 14, 2015 Filed under: Efflorescence, Flourish, No Card Left Behind | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 16 Comments
I have another card featuring one of my favourite techniques, ‘watercolouring with distress stains‘. I worked on a panel of watercolour paper taped to a board and splattered with masking fluid. The stamp is an outline stamp which I inked with festive berries and ripe persimmon stain on the petals and peeled paint on the stems. I painted colour into the petals straight away so the outlines would blend with the colour in the whole petal. I drew a bud and a few leaves with a marker to fill the space more evenly. Once the flowers were almost dry I painted the background with desert sand ink and added some text also. I added black to the flower centres with a marker and blended with water to soften the edges a little.
When I removed the tape and the masking fluid I wasn’t entirely happy with the finished panel. Instead of trying to alter any part of the watercolouring I decided to add another element, the die cut flourish over the top. I tied the flourish in with a swirly sentiment and attached all the elements to a natural card base.
Supplies:
Stamps: Efflorescence, Footnotes (PB)
Creative Dies: Flourish, For You (PB)
Inks: Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon, Peeled Paint Distress stains, Desert sand ink, Tuxedo Black, Northern Pine memento markers (Tsukineko)
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Rose of roses
Posted: September 12, 2015 Filed under: Rose | Tags: Penny Black creative dies 6 Comments
I have something a little different to share today. I am currently prepping for classes I will be teaching this week using some gorgeous Italian papers. Our local scrapbooking store brought them in and I was so taken with them I designed a class around them. The card shown here is not part of the class lineup but does show off one of the papers. The papers all have a cream base colour which matches perfectly with Neenah natural white cardstock. I took a panel of patterned paper and die cut the rose from it, then inlaid a natural white cardstock rose in its place. I attached the patterned rose inside the card. I double matted with the natural white plus a green textured cardstock. I don’t often fiddle around with patterned papers but I am really enjoying pairing these papers with Penny Black dies. The papers have a bit of a vintage feel and come in all sorts of designs and themes.
Supplies:
Creative Dies: Rose, (PB)
Paper: Neenah natural white 110lb cardstock, green textured cardstock, Grafiche Tassotti paper
Autumnal grove
Posted: September 11, 2015 Filed under: Periscope, Snowy Grove, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Periscope, Ranger Distress inks 19 Comments
I have another card made with the beautiful new ‘snowy grove’ stamp. I filmed myself painting the trees on periscope so if you are quick you can catch that before it disappears forever. I intend to save some of my periscope videos and share them for longer on another site but I didn’t click the right button for that this morning. And maybe just as well because it was my first attempt and not my classiest presentation!
Anyway the technique is fresh in my mind so I will describe it here. I inked the stamp randomly with both walnut stain and rusty hinge ink. I stamped it on watercolour paper then used a waterbrush to blend the colour up and down all the trunks. The stamped impression wasn’t perfect but it didn’t matter because I painted over the trunks anyway. Once I had done that I painted the forest floor with the same inks and plenty of water. When it was all dry I sponged the background working in antique linen, wild honey and walnut stain, getting darker the further I moved from my ‘light source’.
Thanks for your lovely comments about yesterday’s card; can you tell I like this stamp!?
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowy Grove, Snippets (PB)
Inks: walnut stain, rusty hinge, antique linen, wild honey distress inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson hot pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstocks
Snowy Grove
Posted: September 10, 2015 Filed under: Snowy Grove | Tags: Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 24 Comments
A couple of days ago I posted a autumn themed card created with the ‘snowy grove’ stamp; today I have a snowy one. I only used two colours for this one which thankfully I wrote on the back of the panel because as is my habit I didn’t note down my technique straight away and now it is a bit hazy. The panel has been sitting around for a few weeks waiting for attention.
The panel was splattered with masking fluid first, you can see the fine white dots over the tree trunks. I then taped down the panel and positioned a frisket circle mask to create a moon. It makes more sense to position the frisket mask before splattering masking fluid so the dots of masking fluid don’t keep the frisket from sticking securely to the paper. With the moon mask in place I painted a blue sky with chipped sapphire and blueprint sketch distress stains. I let that dry, removed the moon mask and placed a hill shaped frisket mask lower down the panel. I stamped the snowy grove stamp over the mask then used a small paintbrush and both distress stains to give more definition to some of the trees. I also added shadow behind the snowbank with diluted blue stain. When that was dry I inked only some of the trees to stamp in the right hand foreground. I added a few snowy dips and a sentiment then popped up the whole panel with fun foam on a matching base. Edited to add: (I filmed a short video on periscope showing how I painted the trees. It will be up for 24hrs. It was my first periscope and is very amateur but I guess I can only improve)
I do love it when I see scenes like this in winter; I think a snow covered landscape is quite magical. But as I have said before I’m not wishing summer away at all. Last night I saw the most spectacular sunset I have witnessed in a long time. I was watching my son’s soccer game so was able to see the colours deepen and develop for over an hour. It was incredible. (I shared a few photos here.)
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowy Grove, Holiday snippets(PB)
Inks: Chipped sapphire & blueprint sketch distress stains inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: masking fluid
Greatest of these
Posted: September 9, 2015 Filed under: Love Chapter, Soft Wings | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 7 Comments
Today’s card is an example of wet into wet watercolour with some stamping added later for definition and texture. I wet the taped panel of watercolour paper then stamped a pale butterfly to give me an outline to paint over. I painted in pinks and purples and added background colour in teal. When it was dry I restamped in dark blue and did some partial stamping with the text stamp from the ‘love chapter’ transparent set.
I love watching the colour blend and blur when I stamp onto wet watercolour paper. If you haven’t tried it you should; it’s fun and you can always stamp over it if it is just too loose and flowy for you! I mentioned Periscope in my last post; if you’d like to know more about it I found this helpful tutorial.
By the way the latest One Layer Simplicity challenge is up and running with Ardyth. It’s all about numbers; check it out.
Supplies:
Stamps: Soft Wings, Love Chapter (PB)
Inks: Pine needles, Chipped Sapphire, Aged Mahogany, Worn Lipstick distress stains and inks (Ranger) Summer Sky memento ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Golden Woods
Posted: September 7, 2015 Filed under: Bister, Snowy Grove | Tags: Bister, Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 14 Comments
Snowy Grove (used on the card above) is one of my favourite stamps from the new PB release. I have already used it for a fall and a winter look and plan to include it in one of my upcoming Christmas card classes. To create this scene I created the soft gradation of colour behind the trees first by brayering memento dandelion ink over the bottom half of the panel and memento cantaloupe ink over the top half. I then inked the stamp with forest moss, gathered twigs and dried marigold distress inks and stamped. For the more watery blended look I inked the stamp again with vintage photo and spiced marmalade distress stains and stamped a second time (with the help of the misti). Because the stains sit on the paper for a while without soaking in I was able to grab a paintbrush and paint over the large trunks to fill in the empty circles that suggest snow. I pulled some of the stain down into the ‘ground’ area and, with some extra stain, filled the forest floor with brown stain then sprinkled some brown bister powder over the panel for extra texture.
By the way I have been enjoying watching a few amazingly artistic stampers create pretty things live or on replay using Periscope. I hope to film my first ‘scope’ some time this week. Maybe I’ll see you there. (If you haven’t heard of Periscope click on the link for a little overview)
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowy Grove (PB)
Inks: Memento Cantaloupe & Dandelion (Tsukineko ) Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs, Dried Marigold, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade distress stains and/or inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton cold pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstocks
Also: Brown Bister
Full Bloom
Posted: September 4, 2015 Filed under: Full Bloom | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
‘Full Bloom’, the stamp featured on this card, will be a great stamp to use year round. The hanging blooms could be flowers or berries just by varying the ink colour or details added. I chose to make it in fall colours with a contrasting background. I inked the stamp with distress stains, spritzed it, then stamped on watercolour paper. I inked the ‘ever useful letter background stamp’ with purple stain, spritzed with water, stamped then painted over the script to spread the colour and blur the letters. The masking tape holding the panel left a white border when removed; I added a purple mat and die cut sentiment.
Supplies:
Stamps: Full Bloom, Letter Background (PB)
Creative Die: For You (PB)
Inks: Spiced marmalade, Dried Marigold, Pine needles, Crushed Olive, Seedless preserves distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & purple card
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Heather Telford 