AI + Stencils Blue Edition

Posted: January 31, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, crackle, Darkroom Door, geometric stars, grafix, mesh, MFT stencils, My Favorite Things, Pink Fresh studio, Stencils, tall flowers, Uncategorized, you are everything | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

After success with one of my detailed stencils over an alcohol ink panel I tried a few more all with a mix of blue inks. The one above features the Darkroom Door crackle stencil over a mix of cloudy blue and stream inks.

There is also a little bit of salt sprinkled on the panel where the stencil did not make consistent contact. This technique is definitely not for the impatient among us!

I am still working on Grafix white craft plastic and often starting over the top of a panel that already had ink on it. All the card bases are Neenah solar white.

The stencil above is MFT geometric stars and I positioned it over a panel of denim and stream inks with some leftover copper as well. The ‘print’ is not very consistent but I like the way a distinct line is right next to a blurry pattern.

I finished this one off with a die from the Pinkfresh Studio ‘sending’ die set.

I worked with the DD mesh stencil a couple of times because it didn’t make consistent contact on my first attempts. I found if I taped it over the alcohol ink panel onto a piece of scrap cardboard I could bend the cardboard slightly to make sure stencil stayed pressed onto the wet alcohol inks. I just popped the piece in the right sized container to keep it bent while it dried.

This one is a mix of denim, cloudy blue, silver and a tiny bit of stream down in the right hand corner. I added a sentiment from the DD ‘tall flowers’ set.

As you can see my fascination with this technique continues. I did pick up a couple more detail stencils the other day for this very purpose. I will also give it a try with some watercolour paints and paper. I’m sure the result will be different as the watercolour paints soak in but I think there could be a pretty and subtle pattern. Stay tuned!

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2021 BuJo – October theme

Posted: October 2, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Autumn Jewels, Bullet Journal, Dies, Dingbat notebooks, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 9 Comments

I had no trouble choosing a theme for October in my bullet journal, would it be leaves, leaves or leaves? I die-cut a surround circle mask to protect most of the page, a technique I used in August, April and January. I cut leaf masks from post-it notes using the ‘autumn jewels’ dies from Penny Black.

The same mix of inks carries through on all the pages blending yellows, brown, green and red over the masks with blending brushes.

I added hand lettered titles with a brown papermate flair pen and some shimmer with a nuvo gold shimmer pen.

When I cut the leaf masks I had both the negative space mask used on the pages above and the leaf itself which I used on the calendar page below.

There is a bit of shimmer on the title letters of October but it doesn’t really show up in the photos. It will make me happy each time I turn to the page. Have a lovely October.

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Blended Autumn Bouquet

Posted: September 30, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: autumn bouquet, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

Today’s card is a second look with the Penny Black ‘autumn bouquet’ stamp. I blended distress inks over a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper before doing any stamping. The colours are listed below.

After blending I stamped the autumn bouquet stamp twice on the panel with brushed corduroy distress ink then painted inside all the leaves, berries and wheat stalks with water. As I painted I also dabbed away water leaving the insides of the images lighter than the outside. I picked up some smooshed ink and dropped it back into the round berries and the wheat berries.

I splattered some water over the panel, let it sit then dabbed it away with paper towel leaving a random pattern of watermarks here and there. The embossed sentiment is from the PB ‘million thanks’ set stamped in fallen leaves versafine clair ink.

Thank you for dropping by. I am indeed grateful for all your support and kindness.

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Mountain Farm

Posted: August 20, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: farmland, Penny Black, picturesque, Stamped Landscapes, Uncategorized | Tags: , | 3 Comments

More mountains, this time the ‘picturesque’ stamp is paired with the ‘farmland’ stamp, once again in a blue and brown colour scheme. I began by making a smooshed ink background with faded jeans and fossilized amber inks.

Once the background was dry I inked the mountains in vintage photo, faded jeans and ground espresso inks taking care not to ink to the bottom of the stamp but instead leaving the lower edge unevenly inked. I did some blending with a paintbrush after stamping to make the mountains less defined.

I inked the farmland stamp in faded jeans along the top then fossilized amber, forest moss and vintage photo in the fields. Again I did a little blending with a paintbrush. Once finished I ran the panel through my die cutting machine with the ‘subtle’ embossing folder from SU to give it a canvas look; you can see the texture in the close up photo.

I hope you have enjoyed all the scenery on the blog lately. What are you hoping to see next? I won’t promise to deliver straight away but I’d love to know what interests you.

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Out the back door

Posted: July 27, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Floral inspiration today but not the stamped and painted kind. I thought I would give you a glimpse of my backyard garden. I am not a knowledgeable or careful gardener but after years of working and learning the half circle garden is thriving and blooming.

I am not the only one who has put time into this garden. For the last couple of years my daughter has spurred me on by spending hours weeding and mulching. During past visits my dad has done plenty of digging and weeding also.

Several friends with expertise have guided me along the way.

It’s not fancy but it is pretty. My mother, an avid gardener would be surprised but pleased so see how much time I spend on this pastime.

2021 BuJo – April daily record

Posted: April 17, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: blissful blossoms, Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Here is my month at a glance record with the April blossom theme. If you look closely you will see I left no space for April 1st so I tacked it on at the end of the March page and moved on!

I used the same blissful blossom stamp from Penny Black that I used on the title page and to-do list. This time I masked some strips for blending pink before writing the days and the month title. You can see some evidence of bleed through in the top left corner but it’s just blossom so I like the shadowy effect.

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Rain or Shine

Posted: April 9, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Coloured pencil, Penny Black, rain or shine, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

Paper piecing? Fussy cutting? Cute teddy bears? What is going on? I can’t honestly say other than I was inspired by the April CAS mix up challenge and my current enjoyment of pencil colouring on kraft.

I stamped the PB ‘rain or shine’ stamp on kraft cardstock and Madison patterned paper in jet black archival ink. I started cutting the umbrella out of the patterned paper and realised my (lack of) fussy cutting skills would not do a good job of cutting around the bear’s heads. Instead I cut just the front of the umbrella out and coloured the stamped inside part of the umbrella with a white, a blue and a pale blue pencil. I used two browns for the bear on the left and the lighter brown plus a mustard for the bear on the right. A little pink and white on the faces and I completed my first pencil coloured PB bears!! Do you think cute might be a new direction for me 😉

The sentiment is from the same set, stamped in the same ink. To add rain I taped the panel onto my glass mat and positioned a piece of post it tape along the top edge to mask as I ruled lines with a fine white gelly roll pen. Taping the panel to my glass mat and using a t-tuler made the rain pretty straightforward. As I mentioned at the top of the post I’m entering the CAS mix up challenge with this one.

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Garden Variety

Posted: February 24, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: fresh ferns, garden variety, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

I’m enjoying having new flowers to arrange, stamp-wise, that is. Penny Black’s new ‘Daydream collection has some lovely floral stamps including the ‘garden variety’ I’ve used for today’s card alongside ‘fresh fern’, another new one. I used distress inks and markers to ink the stamps; I generally pick at least two colours for the flowers and two colours for the foliage then give the stamp a spritz so the inks begin to blend.

Once I’ve stamped the images I decide whether to blend further with a paint brush and water, for this card I kept it minimal but sometimes I do more blending for a looser watery look. I stamped the ferns after the flowers which required some partial stamping and as well as a little masking to make the ferns appear to be behind.

I finished the panel off with splatter then stamped a sentiment and stacked it up on three layers. I have an art journal page in process with the ‘garden variety’ stamp which I will hopefully finish and share with you next week.

Have a great day; thanks for spending some of it here on the blog with me.

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Bethlehem scenes with Karin brushmarkers

Posted: December 17, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Ink to Paper, Karin brushmarkers, lighting the way, Penny Black, three kings, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

I’ve continued to experiment with the Karin brushmarkers from the Foiled Fox, this time using them for watercolour backgrounds. These three backgrounds feature combinations of rosewood 272, cyan 207, royal blue 045 and black 030.

I tried different methods of applying the marker to the hot pressed watercolour paper and found that to achieve smooth transitions from one colour to the next it was better to touch the markers to wet paper. It still worked applying the marker first then the water but I prefer the very soft blends made when the paper was already wet. I don’t think I will often use the markers for backgrounds as it probably uses up ink at a faster rate but little scenes like the one above did not require much application.

The tiny star was masked by die cutting a star (PB Xmas tree border set) from frog tape (painter’s tape for delicate surfaces) then positioning it firmly on the panel before painting. I stamped the manger above in versafine clair nocturne once the panel was totally dry.

To get a soft image of the Bethlehem stamp I stamped it in chipped sapphire distress ink while the background was still slightly wet. On the panel above I took a wet paint brush and painted a hill shape across the lower part of the panel waited then painted another one even lower down. I didn’t need to add any ink the paint brush just dragged ink from the Bethlehem image. I popped up each panel with two pieces of cardstock, attached it to a white luxe card base then added sentiments from the Ink to Paper Be Merry Mini set.

The current Christmas card designs are looking minimal for two reasons, I still need quite a few cards and I like simple and elegant!

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Lighting the way

Posted: December 7, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: lighting the way, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

If you have been visiting my blog for a while you might remember I used to create a lot of cards using sponging techniques. I’ve been returning to those techniques lately but putting my blending brushes to work instead.

To create the one layer card above I masked off four sides of my neenah solar white card base then blended papertrey ‘berry sorbet’ ink over the panel. I switched to papertrey ‘Americana’ ink next but avoided blending the top middle area then finished the perimeter of the space with ‘enchanted evening’ ink which is a blue ink. Blending the dark blue over the brownish red made a dark brown, perfect for the night sky. I stamped the Bethlehem stamp from Penny Black’s lighting the way set in versafine clair nocturne ink.

The second colour scheme is also a combo of papertrey ink cubes: lemon tart, lilac grace, plum pudding and royal velvet. I finished both cards with a sentiment from the PB holiday snippets set and stars drawn with a white gelly roll pen. I enjoyed doing these so much that I looked through my stamps and did more with a different silhouette stamp set. I’ll have them ready to show you soon. I don’t know that the blending brushes are any quicker than sponging but I find them easier to use and the results are very smooth.

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