Warm wishes for a cold winter’s day
Posted: January 3, 2015 Filed under: CAS, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour, Winter Song | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 35 Comments
These birch trees are my favourite element of the intricate Winter Song stamp so I decided to isolate them for a scene of their own. I inked them with a weathered wood distress marker and left the rest of the stamp uninked. Weathered wood is a pale grey which is perfect for painting and drawing over the top. As usual I stamped on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper. The background colour is distress stains painted on with a waterbrush. I defined the edges and markings on the trees with a black marker, painted some grey shading on the trunks then added the sentiment in black. I am fussy about the cardstocks matching so I mounted this panel on a thin burgandy card then made the card base from cold pressed watercolour paper which is the same colour as the panel but adds some texture.
Thank you for the kind Christmas wishes left on my blog and in my inbox. I appreciated them all. I hope your new year is off to a good start; mine has been pretty busy with a bunch of stamping and creating I can’t share with you just yet!
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Song, Joy Filled (PB)
Inks: Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Victorian China, Aged Mahogany, Weathered Wood distress stains (Ranger) Tuxedo Black memento marker (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Strathmore cold pressed watercolour paper, burgandy cardstock
Glad Tidings
Posted: December 24, 2014 Filed under: Nature's Gifts, Prancers | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 17 Comments
From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you for joining me here at “Bits & Pieces” during 2014. I am so grateful to have such encouraging and inspiring readers. Thank you for visiting, commenting, requesting, inquiring and praising. I love to hear from you and I am thrilled you find inspiration and ideas here on my blog.
I am excited about 2015; I have dreams and schemes for arting and crafting which I will certainly be sharing with you. December has been a busy month at our house so I have not had so much to share on this blog. I am over two-thirds of the way through my Dressember challenge wearing dresses and raising money for the International Justice Mission. I have been blogging about that on my other blog, Sentient.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Gifts, Prancers, Glad Tiding (PB)
Inks: Scattered Straw, Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire distress stains(Ranger), Versafine Onyx Black (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Silver textured cardstock (Penny Black)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, white organza ribbon
Berries in snow
Posted: December 17, 2014 Filed under: Berry Merry Christmas, Silent Night | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 4 Comments
This ‘Berry Merry Christmas‘ stamp has been one of my favourite stamps this season and I don’t seem to be the only one. I have seen many lovely cards and projects starring this image. The panel above is from the pile of bits & pieces I’ve had waiting quite a while for attention, consequently I can’t remember my process. It appears to be ‘wet on wet’ stamping onto watercolour paper with distress stains. I have stamped the image at least twice and allowed the colours to bleed a lot on the left hand side. I did the snow splatter a little differently for this one; I splattered white gesso over the panel after the inks had dried. I still used the splatter brush but the gesso sits on top of all the stamping. I finished it off by adding a sentiment, matting in brown and attaching it to a white card base.
I think writing in a few more of my Christmas cards is what I should be doing now. There are only eight days until Christmas after all!
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Berry Merry Christmas, Silent Night (PB)
Inks: Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Broken China, Vintage Photo distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Avon Brilliant White 110lb, Dark brown card
A little bird
Posted: December 9, 2014 Filed under: CAS, No Card Left Behind, Winter Song | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 11 Comments
Do you recognise this little scene? It is a portion of the large “Winter Song” scenic stamp. I was experimenting with ways to the colour the stamp back when I made this card. I wasn’t happy with the whole panel but cropping it gave me a smaller scene I could work with. Coming up with a layout that worked I’m sure took me as long as the original painting. I tried portrait but really wanted landscape orientation. A partial red mat didn’t overwhelm the panel and the words provide balance and carry the red highlights across the card. It wasn’t until I was searching for a sentiment that I realized that these three word stamps positioned in the right order have built in framing. It only took me about ten practices off the card base to get the positioning right!. I embossed them in clear powder so they have a pretty shine.
I guess I should mention how I coloured the panel. It was weeks ago so I am guessing a bit. I stamped the whole scene in memento summer sky first; you can see it at the base of the panel looking a bit like a shadow. The summer sky ink served as a guide so I could paint the scene with distress stains. I selectively inked the stamp to restamp after the painting, adding brown to the lower branches and black for the birch trees.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Song , Joy Filled (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, London Fog, Rich Cocoa, Versafine & Satin Red (Tsukineko) Barn Door, Broken China, Peeled Paint
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Avon Brilliant White 110lb, Neenah Chili Red 100lb
Pink & Gold Poinsettias
Posted: December 6, 2014 Filed under: Joyous, Red Star, World of Wishes 18 Comments
The panel pink panel on this card is one of the bits and pieces I had sitting around. When I was creating cards with the “Red Star” pointsettia stamp and distress stains I often stamped once or twice on a panel without re-inking. The distress stain pigment is intense and the liquid on the stamp is usually enough to get a few impressions. The panel on the card above would have been one of the third or fourth impressions, hence the pale watery pinks. (To see the more vibrant first and second impressions take a look at this card) I chose to embellish and mat with gold because there is a subtle gold sheen over the watercoloured panel made by spritzing with my pearl-ex interference gold spray (home made).
The gold poinsettias are cut from gold wrapping paper using the “Joyful” dies. Before cutting I applied an adhesive sheet to the back of the paper so I could easily stick the flower and stem onto the card. The effect looks a little like gilding because the paper is so much thinner than cardstock. The word ‘joy’ is also cut from the same wrapping paper.
I’ve linked to Simon Says Christmas challenge and Virginia’s View All Things Distressed challenge.
Supplies:
Stamps: Red Star (PB)
Inks: Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed, Barn Door Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural White 110lb card stock, Gold wrapping paper
Creative Dies: Joyful, World of Wishes (PB)
Also: Interference Gold Pearl-ex spray
Woodland Dusk
Posted: December 3, 2014 Filed under: Woodland Wonder | Tags: Penny Black stamps 24 Comments
The ‘Woodland Wonder’ stamp works beautifully for a restful or dramatic scene depending on the colours you add to the sky. The soft colours of dusk in the sky above seemed to fit with a sympathy or prayerful sentiment. The sky was a scrap waiting for a purpose; it was created when I stamped the image of the woodland wonder stamp on acetate to use with the stamp positioner. Several days later the ink was still wet on the acetate so I pressed it onto some wet watercolour paper. The blurry blues you see are the result. I added the black image then stayed within the colour scheme for matting and card base. I’m not sure what the ink on the acetate was but my guess is Memento Paris Dusk.
Supplies:
Stamps: Woodland Wonder, Eloquence (PB)
Inks: Memento Paris Dusk & Versafine Onyx Black(Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano hotpressed watercolour paper, Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, Mix & Match Periwinkle paper (PB)
Oh Christmas Tree
Posted: December 1, 2014 Filed under: Oh Christmas Tree | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Sharpies 8 Comments
Oh Christmas Tree, a beautiful slapstick cling stamp from Penny Black, is the star of the Penny Black blog this week. You can see this stamp featured everyday on projects created by the PB Design Team. I dreamed up tags in three colour schemes featuring only a portion of the stamp but the same technique. All three tags started on the same panel as you can see below.
I used watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid and coloured with three distress stains (Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass). I swiped the stains directly onto the paper then blended them with water. While the panel was still wet I stamped ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ four times in distress inks (Seeded Preserves, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Salty Ocean). When the panel was dry I switched to pigment inks that would not bleed or blend to stamp a defined image in similar colours of Versafine ink (Crimson Red, Spanish Moss, Imperial Purple, Deep Lagoon).
I cut the panel into four tags but the blue one did not advance to the next level. Each of the three remaining trees became a tag with rounded top corners and gold or silver highlights and sentiment. Using the colours in the background as a guide I darkened the edges of each tag with sponged distress inks. I highlighed the dots with gold or silver sharpies and added a splatter of distress stain and wink of stella pen over each tag. I think it was at this point that I removed the masking fluid to reveal the fine white specs. To continue the gold and silver details I stamped ‘Love’, ‘Joy’ & ‘Peace’ from “Joy Filled” and embossed with silver or gold embossing powder. I sprinkled embossing powder randomly and sparingly on top of the tags then heat set from underneath so as to not blow the powder off. To emboss the star I coloured it with a gold wink of stella marker then sprinkled gold embossing powder and heat set.
I gilded the edge of the tag with the co-ordinating sharpie then finished by adding matching ribbon and metallic cord.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy Filled, Oh Christmas Tree (PB)
Inks: Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass distress stains & Seeded Preserves, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Salty Ocean(Ranger) & Crimson Red, Spanish Moss, Imperial Purple, Deep Lagoon & Versamark(Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, gold & silver sharpies, gold and silver embossing powder, gold and silver wink of stella pens.
Pine needles & cones
Posted: November 27, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Gifts | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 12 Comments
This panel of pine cones and needles is one of the bits & pieces that was waiting to be turned into something. I made the panel quite a while ago so here is my best guess at how I did it. I splattered some masking fluid on watercolour paper then inked the pine cones with vintage photo distress ink spritzed them with water then stamped them on the panel. I did the same with the pine needles in, surprise, surprise, pine needle distress ink. At this point I may have painted a little tumbled glass stain around the needles and cones as a background. When the panel had partially dried I restamped sections of the pine cone for added definition. I switched to Memento Northern Pine ink to add some darker needles. When all was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid.
I trimmed it a little and matted it with brown and then tried to think of a background that would add interest but not compete with the panel itself. I tried embossing the needles and cones from the “Nature’s Gifts” set on the card base in a pearl powder. The powder is very pretty and I will try it again on another project but it didn’t work for this one. I ended up with no more pattern on the card base that the stripes of repeated sentiments. Keeping it clean and simple qualifies it for the Less is More challenge this week to be ‘Christmassy’.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Gifts, Winter Magic (PB)
Inks: Tumbled Glass distress stains & Pine Needle, Vintage Photo distress ink(Ranger), Memento Northern Pine, Versafine Vintage Sepia (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Avon Brilliant 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Sticks & Stones mix & match paper (Penny Black)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Falling Snow Video Tutorial
Posted: November 26, 2014 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tutorial 16 Comments
Today’s tutorial is one I created for Splitcoast Stampers. Splitcoast posts a new technique tutorial every Wednesday and in today’s I show how to create the look of falling snow on a watercolour card. I created both a photo and video tutorial for Splitcoast.
The video took me a few attempts so I have four slightly different versions of the card which supports my claim that watercolour techniques never give you the same result twice. The picture above is the first one I created and the one featured in the photo tutorial. It has quite a bit of masking fluid snow in the sky; the one in the video ended up with a lot less. I mention in the video that I have stopped using post-it notes to mask when I do watercolour scenes. I now use frisket film, a reusable, repositionable plastic film which doesn’t disintegrate when it gets wet. It is called Grafix Extra Tack Prepared Frisket Film.
I have another video showing in detail how to apply and remove the masking fluid here.
Supplies:
Stamps: Prancers, Hello Winter(PB)
Inks: Memento Nautical Blue, Bahama Blue, Northern Pine inks (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock, Olive Green cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Kemper Spatter brush
Together under the Northern Lights
Posted: November 25, 2014 Filed under: Together | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 21 Comments
I have a stack of watercoloured backgrounds and images on my work table waiting to be turned into something. Some are practice pieces that worked, others are left over from classes I taught and some are experiments still needing some tweaking. Most of them are wintery or Christmassy so now is the time to work with them. The background above is just one of the bits & pieces that was ready to be used. It was made with distress stains blended over splattered masking fluid. I cut out the deer with the ‘Together’ die and popped them up over the background then added two hand cut snow banks and some branches cut with the ‘Nature’s Song’ die. The challenge at Less is More this week is to use something Christmassy on your card. I think this qualifies.
I will have more projects made from the bits & pieces pictured below later in the week but tomorrow I’ll be back with a video tutorial.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy Filled (PB)
Creative Dies: Together, Nature’s Song (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass distress stains & Chipped Sapphire distress ink(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Avon Brilliant 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Bits & Pieces waiting for time and inspiration:
Heather Telford 