Stencil & Watercolour wedding cards
Posted: March 27, 2026 Filed under: Classes, clematis burst stencils, Creative Expressions, cricut, Watercolour | Tags: Classes, cricut, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Stencils 1 Comment
I’ve been creating quite a few patterned panels using stencils and watercolour while designing a workshop. There have been many experiments and most, but not all, have turned out quite well. You can see in the photo below the Creative Expressions square ‘Clematis Burst’ stencil beside two panels. The bright one on the left was the first impression and the one on the right the second impression using paint remaining on the stencil.
As I never seem to have any wedding cards on hand when someone asks for one I decided to make both panels into wedding cards, one bold and one subtle. I cut the sentiments on the cricut and also the large red heart
When you look closely you can see both ‘prints’ are loose and a bit messy but I don’t mind the impressionistic look!
I used a gold gel pen to add definition to the flowers on the lighter print, not every petal but enough to make sure they looked like flowers!
I am teaching a Stencils & Watercolour workshop here in Ottawa in late April and early May, you can find all the details on the CLASSES page.
Some New Paint
Posted: May 19, 2025 Filed under: Effulgence, Penny Black, Rockwell art, Tim Holtz | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Rockwell art, Tim Holtz 4 Comments
Recently a friend introduced me to some new watercolour paints. It was during a class and she introduced us all to the new paints both by using them in her projects and by saying how much she loved them. Now it just so happened that my birthday fell soon after that class and suprise, surprise I received some new paints for my birthday! (And by ‘received’ I mean I asked my husband if he would like me to order myself some new paints as a gift from him. Of course he did!)
The new paints are from Rockwell Art, a Canadian company. They have a range of watercolour paints including a line they call ‘self evolving’ mineral pigments. The pigments granulate and break into different colours as you add water and the water moves the paint. Both cards featured today were painted with just one paint colour, ‘deep soul’. As I added water the paint separated into blues and burgandy-browns.
I applied the paint in curved stripes and sprinkled salt here and there while the paint was still wet to get the speckled effect.
Because I had worked from dark to light it seemed appropriate to add flowers looking towards the light. The die-cut flowers are from Tim Holtz ‘wildflower’ set and the stamped flowers below are the Penny Black ‘effulgence‘ cling stamps.
Stripes & Daisies
Posted: May 16, 2025 Filed under: Hand painted, Tim Holtz, Watercolour, wild flowers #1 | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted, Tim Holtz 2 Comments
Back in February, I posted a pile of watercolour possibilities; you can see them here. The very bright strip on this card is one of the panels I painted during a watercolour technique class. I didn’t note down the exact paint colours but it would have been a limited palette of only 3 or 4. My guess is a yellow, a blue and a pink.
I used only half the painted panel on this card which means I can make another card or decorate the envelope. The background is so bright I liked crisp white daisies on top, it was a bit like putting together a summer outfit. The daisies were cut with Tim Holtz wildflowers dies and it looks like I cut 2 from white and one from cream cardstock. When I added the photos to this post I thought, ‘oh no! Did I add a cream daisy in?’ I pulled out the actual card and the daisies are indeed all white. Sadly the angle and lighting when I took the photo seems to be suggesting otherwise.
To just have one daisy was too stark so I added the other two to create a little more texture but no competing pattern or colour. I might put a sentiment on when I send it or I might not; we will see. Thank you for all your lovely messages about my Dad’s birthday and the card I made. The community of people who read my blog are so thoughtful; I always love hearing from you.
The 90th birthday card
Posted: May 14, 2025 Filed under: Hand painted, Heather lowercase die set, Pink Fresh studio, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted, Pink Fresh studio 8 Comments
As some of my readers guessed when I was away recently I was visiting my family in Australia. One of the reasons to be there in April was my dad’s 90th birthday. Late March/early April ended up being a lovely time to be in NSW where the sun shone and the temperature hovered around the mid 20s! It was also a good time to be out of Ottawa where there were several ice storms and 15cm of snow more than once!
We celebrated Dad’s birthday with a lovely afternoon tea gathering attended by friends from recent years and years gone by, along with many family members including a brand new great grand daughter! We had an afternoon of food, fun and fellowship with songs, speeches, photos, a quiz and a slideshow. It really was a special occasion.
For his birthday card I painted some eucalyptus leaves (as I also did for the invitation) and added a die-cut 90 in co-ordinating colours. By the time I left to go home the sideboard in his living room was covered in cards and not a duplicate among them. How lovely to see so many of his friends and family celebrating with him or sending kind greetings for the occasion. And here’s another sunset photo taken close to Dad’s home.
The Tulip Mix
Posted: May 12, 2025 Filed under: AALL & Create, Echidna Studios, tulip background, Watercolour | Tags: AALL & Create, Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, sennelier watercolours 5 Comments
The tulip festival officially started here in Ottawa on Saturday but definitely not in my yard. There are potential blooms on a few lonely tulips but nothing looking showy or colourful yet. It doesn’t matter how many I plant, most do not shown up the following year! The tulips on today’s card are from Echidna Studios, the ‘tulip background digital stamp‘ printed on hot pressed watercolour paper.
I used a limited palette of Sennelier watercolour paints, creating a pink, an orange and a yellow from a mix of opera pink and gold ochre. The green stems and leaves were mix of greenish umber and prussian blue. I’ve been painting patterns and experiments in one of my handmade art journals so the paints were already on the table and in the palette.
To finish the design I splattered black paint, stamped an Aall & Create sentiment and ruled very fine black lines around the border with the a .01 micron pen. I hope you do have a beautiful day!
Delicate florals on Watercolour
Posted: May 9, 2025 Filed under: Delicate Florals, Penny Black, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, sennelier watercolours, Tsukineko Versafine inks 3 Comments
I have another floral stamp over a watercolour background; I don’t think I will ever tire of the combination. This background was created using a very different method to the previous card posted. Whereas the last one required careful blending of paint colours this one was definitely abstract and unpredictable. I randomly painted watercolours on a piece of clear acetate then smooshed it onto a piece of watercolour paper.
It took a few smooshings to start to build up pattern and depth of colour but eventually I had something I liked. Along the way I spritzed water to help the paint move and tilted the panel this way and that to spread it from one area to another. I didn’t like it when I first began but after several repetitions with the smooshing I could see it working as a pretty background.
Once again I chose a Penny Black stamp, ‘delicate florals’ as the focal point over the background, this time choosing dark blue ink because I love the matchy-matchy! If you compare with the previous card you can see I added visual interested once again with a horizontal line down low on the card. It doesn’t get in the way but it leads the eye from left to right. While I was away I enjoyed the roses still blooming in my Dad’s garden. The tallest bush gave some foreground interest to yet another sunset photo.
Pile of Watercolour Possibilities
Posted: February 27, 2025 Filed under: Classes, Hand painted, sennelier watercolours, Watercolour | Tags: Canson watercolour paper, Classes, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, sennelier watercolours 7 Comments
After teaching a couple of watercolour classes lately I have amassed quite the pile of panels. They are full of potential for card making. As well as painting separate panels I’ve also been creating abstract or background watercolours in a couple of art journals.
The purpose of the exercise has been two-fold. The main plan was to revisit a range of watercolour techniques in order to share them with others in classes. Additionally I chose to work small so we could complete quite a few practice pieces during class leaving us with ‘card sized’ panels to turn into cards later if we wished.
I have enjoyed the preparation and the classes so much that I have almost 100 panels on hand! My next in person class is going back to basics in regard to card making. I will cover assembly tips and tricks as well as design principles in order to create balanced and beautiful card layouts. It is exciting to have all these panels around just waiting to be transformed into cards.
As you can imagine I also have piles of gel prints, alcohol ink panels, collages and patterned papers that could be turned into cards. It’s rather nice to have all these options…
Whimsy and Watercolour
Posted: February 24, 2025 Filed under: Classes, Hand drawn, Hand painted, sennelier watercolours, Watercolour | Tags: Classes, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, sennelier watercolours 3 Comments
As I mentioned in January I have been playing with watercolour techniques then adding whimsical doodles over the top. Today’s card is another example. I switched the order in the title of the blog post because the whimsy has over powered the watercolour in this panel even though both elements are still obvious.
I used only three paint colours to paint the squares on the watercolour paper, some touching while wet, resulting in soft blends. All the colours you see were mixed from the same three paints – a blue, a pink and a mustard. The doodling was done with a black fine tip pen and a gold gel pen.
Even though the gold details from the gel pen are a minor part of the design they were the catalyst for choosing a gold mat and sentiment. In my upcoming in-person class I am teaching design principles and assembly techniques for card making and this thank you card is one of my examples. ( I wish I could remember who makes that pretty thank you die, but I’m not sure)
The bookshelf card
Posted: January 28, 2025 Filed under: Hand drawn, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand drawn, Hand painted 2 Comments
Last year I taught a workshop called ‘Watercolour & Whimsy’ where we experimented with colour mixing in art journals and on watercolour panels, some of which we turned into cards later. This panel began very simply as I mixed three or four paints to make a range of different colours. Because I stuck with a few paints I knew they would all look cohesive on the panel.
I used a half inch flat brush to paint rough rectangles in lines. I was inspired by schlemmer.art but where she turned her rectangles into houses, I turned mine into books!
I used a black fine tip pen and a white gel pen to decorate the book spines and turned three paint strokes into vases instead of books. A simple idea to paint, a relaxing theme to doodle and something I will definitely try again.
Tulips & more tulips
Posted: February 21, 2024 Filed under: Echidna Studios, sennelier watercolours, tulip background, tulip set, Watercolour | Tags: digital stamps, Echidna Studios, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, sennelier watercolours 11 Comments
If there are tulips already blooming where you live you must let me know in the comments! It will be another two or three months before they bloom around here. All the more reason to have some blooming here on the blog. The group you see on the card above are part of a new digital stamp called ‘tulip background‘ from Echidna Studios. The whole image is a landscape oriented design and I printed it on hot pressed watercolour paper to be 8½” wide which gave me plenty of choice when deciding which part to use on a portrait oriented card.
I used Sennelier watercolours to paint the design using various mixes of four different reds and pinky red paints. I also used one of the reds to give the green paint a more muted realistic tone. Once I had painted all the tulips and stems I used polychromos pencils to add extra shading and shadow. This is a technique I learnt from Kathy Racoosin and it always adds to the finished panel. I ruled a narrow black line around the panel to frame it.
The flowers below are from a co-ordinating digital set simply called ‘tulip set‘ also from Echidna Studios. The set includes three individual tulips. I didn’t paint this one, my daughter did, using watercolour pencils. She also fussy cut each of the three tulips to create a pretty layered arrangement. This post includes an affiliate link to The Foiled Fox, if you use it I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Heather Telford 