Watercolour Wonder

Posted: June 4, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Fluffy Passenger, Lace Trims, Watercolour | 10 Comments

I have two very different cards today both made using water colour techniques and effects. First a bit of whimsy, then some vintage. Both these will be added to the Penny Black Watercolor Wonder Board on Pinterest. If you have not visited the Penny Black boards lately you are in for a treat. They are a bunch of new ones full to the brim with inspiration.

For the watercoloured cyclist (Fluffy Passenger) panel I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black onto Watercolour paper. I embossed in clear then painted masking fluid over all the parts I wanted to paint or colour later.

When the masking fluid was totally dry I taped the panel to my craft table and wet the top half which would become the sky. Onto the wet paper I added Danube Blue and Rosebud pink ink letting it blend together to create a pale sunset. As I had only wet the paper half way down the inks did not bleed past the wet edge. When the sky was dry I cut a post-it mask in a hill shape so I could stamp the Paris stamp in the background.

To create the foreground I wet the lower section of the paper and painted on some London Fog plus some more blue and pink. When it was all dry I rubbed the masking fluid off and used Memento markers, inks and a gelato(skin colour) to add colour to the cyclist.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fluffy Passenger, Sweet Wishes, Paris (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Danube Blue, Rose Bud & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: London Fog, Lilac Posies, Dandelion, Danube Blue, Summer Sky, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder, Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid, Faber-Castell peach gelato

This new lace set from Penny Black is very pretty; there are seven different lace trims to play with. I thought they would be perfect for a vintage card. Before any stamping I flicked masking fluid over the piece of watercolour paper and let it dry. Next I wet the whole piece of water colour paper then stamped the lace stamp in Memento Desert Sand to fill the panel. When it had dried a little but was still damp I restamped some lace in Memento Potter’s clay and finally a small portion in Espresso Truffle. I added the rose in Espresso Truffle also, then used a marker and aqua painter to blend some colour onto the leaves and petals. I added the sentiment when the panel was dry but dropped a few water droplets on it for a little bleeding. When it was all dry I tore the bottom edge, sponged all the edges, added some spots of Potter’s Clay ink then removed the masking fluid to reveal little white flecks and specks.

Thanks for dropping in; I hope you are inspired to splash a little water colour around!

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet as Honey, Lace Trims, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Memento Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand, Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

Poppies in a field

Posted: May 27, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Field of Poppies, Penny Black, Watercolour | 22 Comments

Considering how much I like poppy images it is surprising that it took me a while to play with this stamp. I used one of my favourite watercolour techniques to create this little scene and paired it with one of my favourite sentiment stamps.

For this look, I paint water onto my watercolour paper first. I ink the stamp with markers and stamp it onto the wet paper. The ink bleeds immediately and some times the images are barely recognisable. After the paper has dried a little I stamp the image again and start blending the ink with a brush or aqua painter. At this point I add extra colour to petals and stems if necessary with markers or watercolour pencils. Before the paper has dried I add the blue sky with a paint brush and maybe a little sponging.

I didn’t have the exact colour of pink cardstock to mat the image panel so I just sponged the edge in the same Memento Rosebud ink that I had used for the petals.

Thanks for visiting and leaving me such l0vely comments. I loved all the border ideas submitted for my last One Layer Wednesday Challenge but have not managed to finish commenting yet. I’ll get there; thanks for your patience.

Supplies:

Stamps: Field of Poppies, Thanks, thanks (PB)
Inks & Markers: Memento Summer Sky, Bamboo Leaves, Cantaloupe, Rose bud, Potter’s Clay (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Faber Castell water colour pencils.

Mothers’ Day Watercolour

Posted: May 9, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blooming Garden, CAS, So Blessed, Watercolour | 9 Comments

Watercolour and poppies. A combination I love to use. Karen made a lovely watercolour poppy card this week also. Did you see it?

To create this panel I dampened the water colour block with a paintbrush and water, inked the poppy stamp with Memento inks: Bamboo leaves for the stems and Cantaloupe for the blooms and stamped it on the damp paper. The colour bled immediately so I waited a little while before stamping the poppies again in the same place. I then used water colour pencils to fill in the petals and buds before blending the pencil with a paintbrush. The background Summer Sky ink applied with a paintbrush. To paint with ink from a stamp pad I just stamp the pad onto an acrylic block then use a damp brush to pick up some colour and paint it on the panel.

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Garden, So Blessed (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Bamboo Leaves, Cantaloupe (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Summer Sun Mix & Match Papers

A Mothers’ Day card would definitely fit the bill for the challenge on the Penny Black blog. You can read about it here.

Watercolour sympathy card

Posted: April 3, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour, Winter Ledge | 30 Comments

Remember the week or so before Christmas when just about every card I made had the “Before the Snow” tree stamp on it? Well, I have been missing that stamp so I have a card for you today featuring some favourite stamps of mine in a non-Christmas setting. My aim was to create a forest scene but not necessarily a snow scene. When working with watercolour it isn’t always possible to predict how your colours will blend and spread. That white area in my scene could be snow covered hills in the distance or it could be just mist in the forest. Take your pick.

I started with wet watercolour paper. If you have played around with watercolour at all you will know that painting (stamping) onto wet paper will give you a very different effect to painting onto dry paper. Perhaps I can do a tutorial some time showing some of the different ways to work with watercolours. For now just take my word for it; if you want plenty of misty, dreamy, blended colour them stamp or paint onto wet watercolour paper. The colours will start blending and spreading as soon as they hit the paper (but they might not go where you want them to). I stamped green trees onto the right side of the panel, stamping and re-stamping without re-inking so I had dark and light foliage. I stamped a few tree tops over on the left hand side, again re-stamping without re-inking. I added blue ink to the top of the panel with a paintbrush. When the paper was almost dry I stamped some more trees on the right hand side in a darker green and added the branches on the left hand side.

To complete the card I matted in black and tied on a little sponged and stamped tag with silver cord.

This week’s One Layer Wednesday Challenge can be found over on Ardyth’s blog; it looks like fun and I hope to play along.

Supplies:

Stamps: Before the Snow, Winter Ledge, …wishes (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Northern Pine, Cottage Ivy, Nautical Blue & Versafine Olympia Green (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper,
Also: Silver Cord

Spring Blessings

Posted: March 27, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: April Showers, CAS, Watercolour | 19 Comments

I have made several attempts at stamping these sweet umbrella stamps but this is the first one to be successfully turned into a card. I propped up my watercolour panel slightly to encourage the ink and water to roll down the paper then wet the whole panel and stamped the blue inkpad directly on the top of the paper. The ink spread immediately, heading down as I intended, to look like rain. I stamped the red and yellow inks on an acrylic block then picked some up with a brush and applied it to the wet watercolour paper. When the blended ink was dry I stamped the umbrellas in red and black and added colour to them with water colour pencils blended with water. I cropped on all sides before matting it with white then popping it up on a white card base.

The Penny Black blog is full of clean and simple inspiration this week, check it out if you haven’t already.

This week’s One Layer Wednesday Challenge can be found over on Susan’s blog.

Supplies:

Stamps: April Showers (PB)
Inks: Memento Danube Blue, Love letter, Dandelion ink pads & Tuxedo Black Marker(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, blue gingham ribbon

Watercolour butterflies

Posted: March 24, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Free Flight, Watercolour | 40 Comments

I have more water colouring for you today but I didn’t use my pencils this time. I used three colours of Memento inks and a large acrylic block. I stamped the ink pad directly onto the acrylic block and then picked up ink with a aqua painter . The aqua painter already has water in it so the ink immediately diluted a little. Any way I am jumping ahead with my description.

Back to the beginning…I stamped the butterflies in versamark and and embossed in clear powder onto watercolour cardstock. At this point I hadn’t decided how to use the butterflies so I taped the panel down on my work table so it wouldn’t warp once I started painting. I worked on one butterfly at a time, painting it with water first then adding colour blue, green and purple to different sections of the butterfly and watching the ink blend. As the ink dried and the intensity of the colour decreased I added a bit more here and there with markers which I then blended with water.

Once I decided to cut around all three butterflies I knew I would not attempt to cut our their antennae ( you know I am not a “fussy cutter”). The Less is More challenge this week is to use beads so I found some tiny beads which matched and started searching for thin wire to thread them together. I ended up using a discarded violin string (not uncommon around here) but it was too thick so I unwound the very fine wire which is tightly wound around the inner wire. Too much information? Anyway it worked and I made little four-bead bodies with another bead for each antenna.

Supplies:

Stamps: Free Flight, In my Thoughts (PB)
Inks: Memento Elderberry, Cottage Ivy, Nautical Blue & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano Hotpress 25%cotton watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder, tiny beads and wire from a violin D string

Golden blessings

Posted: March 14, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blooming Garden, CAS, Penny Black, Watercolour | 12 Comments

I have a bright spring card today made using a colouring technique which is quick and easy but really pops on coloured cardstock. I stamped the flowers in versamark and embossed in white powder on Summer Sun mix & match cardstock. I used watercolour pencils to add colour to the flowers and leaves. Blending them with water is very simple as it stays contained within the embossed outlines.

Thanks for visiting today.

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Garden, Treemendous PB)
Inks: Memento Cantaloupe & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Summer Sun mix & match cardstock
Also: Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, white e.p., orange grosgrain ribbon

Home sweet home

Posted: March 10, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Sweet Home, Uptown, Watercolour | 14 Comments

I have another one layer watercolour card made on the Fabriano watercolour paper. This one combines watercolouring and sponging. I think the house ended up looking more like a “fixer-upper” than a sparkling new home but that’s ok. It’s still a home, sweet home.

I stamped the house in versafine smokey gray then used a mask to sponge a green hill. All the colouring is done with watercolour pencils blended with water and a little highlighting done at the end with the pencil dipped in water. To finish I cut a complete house mask so I could sponge the sky in blue.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies

Stamps: Uptown, Sweet Home (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Cottage Ivy & Versafine Smokey Gray (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Fabercastell watercolour pencils

Watercolour one layer

Posted: March 9, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blooming Garden, CAS, Watercolour | 17 Comments

The watercolour cards I’ve been making lately have been several layers as I usually create them on a 5″x7″ pad then cut and mat them with co-ordinating cardstock. I recently bought a larger pad of watercolour paper so, for this card, I cut and scored a 4.25″ x 5.5″ card and taped it to my work desk before watercolouring. I taped it to the desk carefully to create the border you see on the card. The card warped slightly due to the watercolouring but, because it was taped down until it was completely dry, the warping is minimal.

I stamped the branch from Blooming garden on the right and the left then masked both branches so I could stamp the branch again between the two branches adding only two more flowers. The flowers are stamped in versafine onyx black which is waterproof so it did not bleed when I started adding the colour. I used watercolour pencils to add pink and purple to all the blossoms and blended it with water. The stems are coloured with two browns, the background with blue. While the paper was still wet I sharpened three pencils over the image dropping slivers and specks of pink, blue and purple pigment onto the damp paper. I spritzed with water too and sat back to watch the bits of pigment bleed colour.

And, I almost forgot to add, this layout was inspired by CAS(E) this sketch #18

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Garden, Gratitude(PB)
Inks: Memento Elderberry & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano Hotpress 25%cotton watercolour paper
Also: Fabercastell watercolour pencils

Watercolour Dandelions

Posted: March 7, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Tweet Tweet, Watercolour | 26 Comments

I am having a great time playing with watercolour and Penny Black’s flower and nature stamps. I definitely experience some frustration along the way but I feel like I am making progress all the same. At times I have gone too far in my watercolouring and the colours end up muddy but happily I also find sometimes I have not continued long enough and the addition of one more colour or a bit more colour intensity is all I need to complete my project. It is important to remember that watercolour paint(or pencils) always dry paler so if it already looks pale to you when it’s wet it is only going to get paler!

To create the row of dandelions I embossed four in a row with clear powder. I coloured the centres of the dandelions with dark grey pencils(all the pencils I used were watercolour), then around and below the dandelions with light green. I found the green needed to be much stronger so created a little green “paint” by mixing water and the lead of the green pencil. I painted this on blending with water as I went. I sponged the sky and dropped water onto it to create a cloudy effect. To make the dandelions pop a little more I coloured over them with orange and yellow pencils blending with water. At this point I noticed that the centres of the dandelions didn’t stand out enough so used a black marker to darken them. Last of all I added the music background but I am not sure that it was needed??

Both my recent watercolour cards have had no sentiment; there is a space for one on this card so I might add one when I decide who will receive it.

Speaking of sentiments there is a new One Layer Wednesday Challenge over on Susan’s blog.

Supplies:

Stamps: Tweet Tweet, Music Background (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky ink & black marker, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Mix & Match cardstock
Also: Fabercastell watercolour pencils