Roses for my Mother
Posted: August 28, 2015 Filed under: Efflorescence, Textures | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 15 Comments
As my mother lives on the other side of the world, the easiest way to send roses is on a card. I stamped and painted these back in February when my garden was under snow but my parents’ was probably looking great.
I worked on each petal and leaf separately, stamping one rose at a time in distress stain, blending and moving the colour with a waterbrush and then doing the same with the leaves. This way I was able to avoid any colour ink running from one petal to another. (I used the technique described in this video tutorial but used finer brushes to work on the small images.) I painted a bud to bridge the gap between the lower roses and the top one. The background is sponged and splattered with pale blue ink. I stamped a texture stamp on the side panel to balance the finished panel.
Enjoy your weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Efflorescence, Eloquence, Textures (PB)
Inks: aged mahogany, worn lipstick, scattered straw, peeled paint, forest moss distress stains, memento summer sky & rhubarb stalk (Tsukineko)
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, burgandy cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
La Fleur Rouge
Posted: August 27, 2015 Filed under: La Fleur Rouge, World of Wishes | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 5 Comments
Penny Black seems to come out with at least one pretty new poinsettia stamp every year and this year’s, featured above, is called ‘La Fleur Rouge’. The stamp has three flower heads on it and I have stamped it three times on the panel. You can see from the white speckled effect that I started with masking fluid splattered on my watercolour paper. I stamped with distress stain three times but rather than re-inking the stamp I just spritzed with water between stampings. The result is lighter images the second and third times. I also spritzed the panel to get some of the stain to bleed into the surrounding area and painted pale green between some of the flowers. When all was dry I added some green splatter. To finish the card I matted with red to match the red die cut sentiment. To see how Jill Foster used this stamp check out the PB blog
Thanks for dropping by; I hope you’re having a great day.
Supplies:
Stamps: La Fleur Rouge (PB)
Creative Die: World of Wishes (PB)
Inks: Forest Moss, Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Peeled Paint distress stains/markers(Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Astral
Posted: August 25, 2015 Filed under: Astral, Bister | Tags: Bister, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
Penny Black has several negative space stamps in the new release which are fun to work with. Working with this one called ‘Astral’, I decided I wanted several colours behind the bright white bird and tree so built them up in several stages. I used the MISTI and stamped in a pale blue ink first. I inked the stamp again, this time with darker blues and purples then spritzed it lightly with a pearl-ex spray so the colours would blend a little and have some shimmer when stamped. I also spritzed the stamped panel so I could drop some mahogany bister in a few places. Finally I added some water droplets and dabbed them up straight away to create pale circles.
The Penny Black blog continues to feature new stamps and projects every day, the catalogue is now available, the new products are in the store and you still have the chance to win some stamps or dies. Fun times, stampers!
Supplies:
Stamps: Astral (PB)
Inks: Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Salty Ocean, Stormy sky distress inks (Ranger), Memento Summer Sky (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Bister watercolour powder, Interference Blue pearl-ex spray
Gild the Lily
Posted: August 24, 2015 Filed under: Bister, Foiling, Sun fire | Tags: Bister, Canson watercolour paper, Minc, Penny Black creative dies 11 Comments
I have something new to share today. There has been something of a Midas situation happening in my craft room. I brought home a Heidi Swapp Minc machine last week and warned my family that anything not nailed down was about to be foiled! It turns out their possessions are safe for now as I am currently experimenting with different ways to use the machine to do the type of foiling I want to do. I will share more over the weeks to come but I will say for starters that the Minc does a beautiful job.
As you know I have recently dived into watercolour powders and all the experimentation with them has resulted in a surplus of watercolour panels just sitting around waiting to be made into things. I pulled out one of those abstract panels and foiled a gold lily onto it using the ‘sun fire’ die from Penny Black. I am still learning and making mistakes so I won’t go into the how-to for today’s card but as I nail down the techniques that work for me I will share them here.
Prepare yourself for a little more shimmer and shine around here!
Supplies:
Stamps: A Sweet Day (PB)
Creative Dies: Sun fire (PB)
Inks: Bister watercolour powders
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Also: gold foil
Dried Grasses
Posted: August 23, 2015 Filed under: Nature's Gifts, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps 5 Comments
I have another wintry scene to share with you depicting a sunrise and some dried grasses in the snow. Now that I look at it again I realize the background is not unlike a bush fire scene. Not what I was aiming to create! Let’s just stick with snow shall we?
I masked the bottom snow banks with frisket film to keep them white while I painted the sky area using wet into wet techniques and distress stains. When the sky was almost dry I stamped the grasses, moved the snow mask, stamped some more grasses then spritzed so the colour would bleed a little. Even though grasses look brown and dried out in the winter, they often look very delicate and pretty against a snowy back drop, especially when they have a glistening layer of snow balancing on them. Everything is still green and blooming round here so I will try and post a few more summery cards before it’s all golden leaves and pumpkins!
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Gifts, Joyfilled (PB)
Inks: Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain distress inks & Ripe Persimmon, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Holly Tweet
Posted: August 22, 2015 Filed under: Holly Tweet, Prancers | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 12 Comments
Today’s card is a larger than usual square card stamped with the new ‘Holly Tweet’ stamp. I only wanted one bird so I inked and stamped the holly part several times with distress stains taking care to wipe any water or stain off the bird part of the stamp before each impression. On the last impression I inked the bird as well. The stamp is a sketch style outline stamp so I pulled colour from the outline as well as adding colour with a brush. Once the stamping was dry I painted the snowy hills in the background and stamped some pale trees in the same colour as the sky. I added a few bars of music to frame the scene. A sentiment would easily fit in the top right corner but I decided to leave it blank; sometimes it is nice to send a little painting on the front, leaving all the words for the inside. To see the versatility of the stamp visit the PB blog and check out Pete Roven’s gorgeous card. I am in awe of her fussy cutting and the way she skillfully layers papers and dies to build beautiful scenes.
Supplies:
Stamps: Holly Tweet, Prancers, Music Background (PB)
Inks: Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Festive Berries, Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Barn Door, Black Soot, Vintage Photo distress stains/markers(Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Deep Green cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Poinsettia panel
Posted: August 19, 2015 Filed under: Bursts of Red, Footnotes, Sparkler 10 Comments
I played around with a poinsettia stamp from last year’s Christmas release to create these cards. My plan was not to create two cards. Well to be honest I didn’t really have a plan; I just taped down a piece of watercolour paper and started stamping. All the stamping was done with distress stains which enabled me to fill in all the petals by either pulling stain from the outline image or adding it where extra was needed. After the poinsettias were painted I drew the centre clusters with a marker as it had been blended over. I treated the panel more as patterned paper than a ‘picture’ by adding some music and snowflakes in blue then painting over them to spread colour into the surrounding area.
Because of my lack of planning the finished panel did not really work as a square or wide rectangle so I sliced it up and was able to make two cards. I had some gold foil cardstock scraps which worked for matting and sentiments but the little square piece needed more than the pop of gold. It is quite hard to see but if you click on the card below you might just make be able to make out the navy die cut poinsettias I arranged behind the patterned panel.
Pink, blue and gold is an unusual colour scheme for Christmas but I think it works. What colours are you reaching for when making this year’s Christmas cards?
Supplies:
Stamps: Sparkler, Footnotes, Hello Winter (PB)
Creative Dies: Good Tidings, Bursts of Red, Exultations(PB)
Inks: Aged Mahogany, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky, Black Soot distress stains/markers(Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Patriot blue, Gold foil cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
#Pink Coat in New York
Posted: August 16, 2015 Filed under: On the Town, Skyline, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 22 Comments
I have another card for you created back in the dead of winter for a Dirty Dozen gallery on Splitcoaststampers. I had already created a NY skyline card the previous month but this I did this one when the theme was ‘For the love of friendship’ and it has a little story to go with it. I made other cards with the theme of friendship in mind but this card was made for one special friend.
When I found out my husband and I were going to New York City for our 25th wedding anniversary (the trip was a gift from our children) I asked my friend, Nan if I could borrow a coat. Despite living in Canada for 14 years the only coat I own is a ski jacket and I was not going to New York with my old ski jacket. My friend Nan, on the other hand has the most extensive coat collection I have ever seen. I borrowed a bright pink wool coat and it was freezing in NYC when we visited so I wore that coat all day long for four days. We took pictures on the Empire State, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Saks 5th Ave and in Central Park. I put some of them on my instagram with the #pinkcoatinNYC so my friend could see the fun her coat was having. Sadly I handed the coat back after the trip with this thank you card. The coat on the card actually turned out looking like the real thing. In real life though my husband is taller 😉
I created this scene on watercolour paper generously splattered with masking fluid so I could get the snow storm effect. I inked the stamps with memento markers then added shading and blending with a paintbrush and watercolour pencils.
It’s bizarre to post this card while it is 31°C outside!
Supplies:
Stamps: Skyline, On the town (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Dandelion, Tuxedo Black, Danube Blue, Rose Bud, Northern Pine, Summer Sky(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper, Epic Black cardstock(Neenah)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Kemper spatter brush, Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils
Winter Sunset
Posted: August 13, 2015 Filed under: Etched Branches, Prancers, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 11 Comments
I have another wintry scene today created back in January when it really did look like this outside! I used painter’s tape to mask the edges of the watercolour panel then frisket film to mask the snow while I painted the sky with colour picked up from my watercolour pencils. I stamped some trees before moving the frisket mask down to create more snow banks. Before I moved the frisket film each time I added twigs and scrub in the snow banks by stamping parts of the ‘Etched Branches’ stamp. Frisket film is a plastic film which is waterproof and sticky on one side making it perfect for masking with wet mediums like watercolour.
Occasionally I am asked in classes what to do when paint seeps under the masking tape around the edges of a panel. You can see it did so in a few places on the one above. Often I will do nothing and it will have some uneven edges to add to its uniqueness. If it looks too messy or unbalanced I sometimes trim or add a die cut to cover the offending area.
Don’t forget to keep checking the PB blog if you are interested in the new products from the ‘Especially for You 2015’ release. There are new cards everyday and a chance to win some new stamps and dies.
Supplies:
Stamps: Etched Branches, Amazing, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Walnut stain distress ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Also: Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils, Graffix frisket film
Snowy Hillside
Posted: August 11, 2015 Filed under: Tannenbaum | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 9 Comments
The fun continues on the Penny Black blog today with more new dies on display. I have another new die featured on today’s card; ‘Joyous Season’ will be available along with the remainder of the new release on August 25th.
I made my little scene with the Tannenbaum stamp again, inking with both green and blue stains and painting the sky and snowdrifts with lighter blue stains. My watercolour paper was splattered with masking fluid before I began and then rubbed off when all the ink was dry. Because I was mounting the panel on a dark blue card base I decided to die cut the sentiment straight out of the panel. It is barely noticeable in the photo but I went over the revealed blue letters with a clear wink of stella marker to give them a little sparkle.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum (PB)
Creative Dies: Joyous Season (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Vintage Photo distress stains(Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Heather Telford 