Misty Mountains
Posted: December 20, 2016 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
I was happy to read in the comments that I am not the only one who hasn’t sent all their Christmas cards yet. I am making progress; I’ve written 67, sent 60 and have 12 left to write. The card I’m sharing today shows a little sentiment splicing; I’ve taken the ‘wishing you’ from the festive snippets set and added it to half of a stamp from the festive cheer set. The lettering in the two sets combine nicely along with the small capitals on the little words. You can get more from your stamps if you take a look at which sentiments might mix and match with each other. A stamp positioning tool makes this kind of thing easier but partial inking and masking works if you don’t have a handy dandy tool.
The landscape for this card was definitely a brusho experiment. I sprinkled blue and green brusho on my watercolour panel then moved water around with a paintbrush to create some hard edges and feather out other areas. After I’d created my misty mountains I did partial inking on the little tree stamp from the prancers set to fill in some forest on the mountain sides.
Supplies
Stamps: prancers, festive snippets, festive cheer
Inks: versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour papers (Fabriano),green linen textured cardstock
Also: brusho watercolour crystals (Colourcraft)
A night of woodland beauty
Posted: August 29, 2016 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial, Watercolour, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks, Tutorial, video 18 Comments
This week I am sharing my top three tree stamps from Penny Black’s new ‘Magic of the Season’ release. You know I love tree stamps so you wont be surprised that they were the first image I looked for when the new release arrived. The pretty spruce silhouette stamp immediately caught my eye and I knew it would be in my top three tree stamps. I have four stamped landscape cards to share this week and this little tree stamp features twice, today in a night time snowscape and tomorrow in a day time scene.
You will probably recognise another favourite tree stamp of mine in the background of this scene, it’s the little tree from the ‘Prancers’ set. I created a video to show you how I made this scene which features some watercolour effects along side some pigment ink stamping. I chose to pair pigment inks, which are waterproof, with watercolour painting so I could have pretty blends in the sky and snow but sharp tree images in the foreground and background.
Supplies
https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?1552642647875
Glimpses
Posted: August 17, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Into the sky, Nature's Silhouettes, Prancers | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 24 Comments
You have probably already caught up with the fact that Penny Black has two new collections of stamps and dies. When I first receive new stamps my head fills with ideas and designs to try and this time was no exception. I had a little pile of bookmark sized watercolour paper strips on my table so I decided to try some of my ideas on mini projects rather than full sized panels. That way I was able to play with a few stamps and several ideas in a short space of time. The strips I worked on have become the cards I’m sharing today and tomorrow. I have also had a chance to develop some of the designs into full sized panels. On the strip above I used an old favourite, the little tree stamp from the ‘Prancers’ set as background for the new birch trunk stamps.
I stamped the two trunks from the new ‘Nature’s silhouettes’ transparent set on watercolour paper already covered in spots of masking fluid. I masked the trunks with post-its while I stamped the fir tree in the background then painted colour at the top and bottom of the panel with a combination of brusho and distress markers. I added some shadow and twigs to the trunks to make them look more tree like.
On my second mini panel I masked a moon with masking tape then used distress stains to paint a blue and green sky over the splatters of masking fluid. I turned this into a little scene by adding the ‘Into the Sky’ stamp in blue and black ink. I love this delicate stamp of branches and decided to stamp it on both the bases for today’s cards. It mimics the twiggy branches on the birch trees above and continues some of the upward reaching branches in the panel below.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Prancers, Into the sky, Snippets (PB)
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Onyx black ink (Tsukineko) Black Soot, Rusty hinge, Spiced marmalade, Peeled paint distress markers, Evergreen Bough & Blueprint sketch distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
Spring in the city
Posted: May 29, 2016 Filed under: Prancers, Skyline, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 9 Comments
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.
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
All is calm
Posted: December 23, 2015 Filed under: All is Bright, Prancers, Soft Whisper | Tags: Canson watercolour paper, Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 8 Comments
This one went in the mail this morning so there is no way it will get to where it’s going by Christmas but hopefully before new year. I used my new Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolours for the sky. I will write more about them once I have done some more experimenting. Sky, background and snow banks were done as described in this post but the black foreground tree was stamped last.
Hope all is calm at your place…
Supplies:
Stamps: Soft Whisper, All is bright, Prancers, (PB)
Inks: Black Soot, Stormy sky distress inks (Ranger) Onyx Black Versafine ink (Tsukineko)
Paint: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolour paints
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Reach for the stars
Posted: December 8, 2015 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps 11 Comments
Today’s card reminds me of photos I have seen taken with a fish eye lense so the world all leans into the photograph. I could have added the colours of northern lights as I sometimes would but I stuck to the more common blues of a night sky. It was a fairly simple card to make. I positioned a circle mask then splattered masking fluid on a piece of watercolour paper, once the masking dried I painted blue gansai tambi paint in circles around the moon to fill the panel. To finish the card I stamped black trees and a sentiment, matted and added the panel to a black card base.
We have had some beautiful sunset skies lately; I haven’t taken many photos but I have tried to imprint them on my mind to recreate with paint and ink at a later time. It is weird to be into December and not have snow or even the need to wear gloves yet. No-one in our house is complaining about the lack of shoveling but my son is wanting to start on the outdoor rink and my husband is keen to ski. What does it look like where you are? White Christmas or green?
Supplies:
Stamps: Prancers, Eloquence (PB)
Inks: Black Soot ink (Ranger) Versafine Onyx Black (ImagineCraft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Neenah Epic Black cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints
Stamping the stories: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Posted: December 5, 2015 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes, Uptown | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 25 Comments
This scene is from a book, a whole series in fact, that is well loved by our family. I read the books to the children; they read them once they were able. We listened to the radio theatre series from Focus on the Family and when the movies came out we watched them. We knew the books so well that we were quite nitpicky about the movies but we enjoyed them despite the deviations from the original. If there is someone who does not recognize this little vignette, the series is the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. For those who recognised it straight away, which is your favourite Narnia story? My son’s favourite is ‘The Horse and his Boy, my older daughter’s ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, my younger daughter’s, ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ and for me ‘The Dawn Treader’ but ‘Last Battle’ is a close second. You see there is something for everyone. If you haven’t read them, get on it!
When the story begins it is ‘always winter but never Christmas’ in the magical land of Narnia. The white witch has made it so. Lucy meets Mr Tumnus the faun under the lamp post you see in the scene above. I painted it with distress stains over a generous splatter of masking fluid and used the ‘oh so useful’ trees from the ‘Prancers’ set in the foreground. I followed this card up with an art journal page because it was so much fun to paint.
This is the last of my stamping the stories cards; it has been fun to share them. Thank you so much for visiting and joining in the conversations.
Stamping the stories cards: Mary Poppins, Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, Lord of the Rings
Supplies:
Stamps: Prancers, On the town (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Mahogany, Scattered Straw, Salty Ocean, Iced Spruce distress stains (Ranger), Northern Pine, Versafine Onyx Black (ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah patriot blue
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Brusho Northern lights
Posted: November 7, 2015 Filed under: Brusho, Prancers, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
I have another brusho card to share today with a different look. I blended all the colour on this panel rather than leave the speckled patterns of the previous cards. The brusho colours are intense so I didn’t use much to create this sky. I sprinkled some blue, green red and purple over a panel splattered with masking fluid, then blended with water as I would with other watercolour paints. I stamped the trees and sentiment in black then, once the ink was dry I removed the masking fluid to reveal a scattering of stars or perhaps snow.
Supplies:
Stamps: Seasons Wishes, Prancers (PB)
Mediums: Brusho powders, Versafine Onyx Black ink
Cardstock: Hotpressed Canson , Neenah Solar White, Epic Black
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
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
Heather Telford 