Wildflowers blue

Posted: April 2, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 10 Comments

This one is for my mother’s card stash. I try to keep her well stocked with cards but I know she is better than me at sending them so she goes through them faster than I do. As soon as I finished this one I knew she would like it; we both love flowers with blue in them, cornflowers, hydrangeas, delphiniums. I used one of the silhouette flower stamps from the Darkroom Door set, ‘Wildflowers vol 2’.

I inked the top half of the stamp in blueprint sketch distress stain, spritzed it lightly and stamped several times across the panel. Next I inked the stems in the lower half of the stamp, and a few dots above that, with forest moss distress stain and again stamped across the panel. For some variety in colour I dabbed some dusty concord distress stain on the flower sections and stamped than over the floral area. You can see in the closeup, the stamping is quite loose but the overall effect is a garden of blue flowers. Just what I wanted.

I’ll be getting this one and some others in the mail to you soon, Mum 🙂

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 (Darkroom Door)
Inks: blueprint sketch, dusty concord, forest moss distress stains (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) olive green cardstock

Cherish

Posted: March 29, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Delicate silhouettes, first blush | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 23 Comments

I have featured this stamp on cards a couple of times already but it is going to be one of those stamps that I reach for again and again. The flowers are perfect for a range of colouring techniques but pretty as an outline as well and the way the branch reaches across the panel is just so lovely.

I pulled out some distress products for this design and the stamp positioner so I could build it up colour by colour. I started by stamping the flowers in Victorian velvet distress stain, then the leaves with peeled paint distress stains and finally the stems with gathered twigs distress marker. Once the design was all stamped I blended colour into the petals, some I was able to pull in from the outline stamping, but if it was too pale I picked up some stain on my brush and added it. I did the same with the leaves and used a very fine brush to paint over the stamped stems and twigs. I let everything dry thoroughly before painting the background in faded jeans distress stain ( I think ). I also splattered a little blue stain around the flowers.

I wanted a little more foliage around the branch so I inked the leafy spray from ‘delicate silhouettes’ set in mowed lawn and pressed it around the spray then softened the stamping with a wet brush. I was in two minds whether to add a sentiment or not; I’m still not sure if I should have. But to keep it subtle I added it in the same watercolour paper with just a shadow of dark blue peeping out the side. If you have blossoms where you are I’m sure you are enjoying them; mine will appear eventually, I know!

Supplies

Stamps: delicate silhouettes, first blush
Inks: Victorian velvet, mowed lawn, peeled paint, mustard seed, faded jeans distress stains, gathered twigs distress marker
Die: forever friends
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano), blue cardstock

More Matelasse

Posted: March 28, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: A blizzard, bird flower doily, Brusho, CAS, Dies, Metropolitan, No two are alike, the gift | Tags: Brusho, CAS, Penny Black creative dies | 5 Comments

I have a few more cards made with matelasse style backgrounds topped with bright brusho elements. I once again chose intricate dies for the backgrounds. In the cards above and below I embossed watercolour paper with the no two are alike die. For focal elements I die-cut the city skyline, some snowflakes and a couple of words from a panel painted with turquoise and cobalt blue brusho.

The background below was embossed with the bird flower doily then matted with the same painted paper I die cut the dove from. All the dies I used for these three cards are listed and linked below.

I used my big shot/big kick to emboss these panels and my ‘sandwich’ was:

multipurpose platform with one tab showing and one flipped open out of the way
cutting plate
silicon mat
watercolour paper (damp)
die
cutting plate

Supplies

Dies: a blizzard, no two are alike, metropolitan, bird flower doily, love & joy, greetings, the gift

Paint: turquoise & cobalt blue brusho (colourcraft)

Also: Tombow adhesive dots, zig two way glue pen

Paper: hot and cold pressed watercolour paper

Matelasse cards & a winner

Posted: March 27, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, CAS, layered flower, Leaflets, the garden | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies | 8 Comments

I have a couple of cards made using die cuts today but first the winner of last Monday’s giveaway from The Foiled Fox. Thank you to The Foiled Fox for the gift certificate and thank you to everyone who participated. I enjoyed reading what is on your wishlists.

The winner is pansy47 who commented:

“I can’t seem to pick a favorite, but if I could it would be a die of some sort….background, words, scalloped rectangles, etc.”

Congratulations Pansy47, I will email you with the details and you will need to pick a favorite or two!

I came across a card recently with a completely embossed background like the one above. I was reminded that I can use my dies for embossing as well as cutting. After playing around with several dies I’ve decided the most impressive for this technique are the intricate ones that I don’t always reach for when cutting because of all the tiny pieces that have to be pressed out of the cardstock or die. As an embossed background I think it looks just like a matelasse quilt with all the quilting done on one colour fabric in the same colour thread. I added to my background a collection of flowers and leaves cut from a watercolour panel painted with scarlet brusho. If you haven’t embossed with your dies before just search ’embossing with dies’ to see how to do it with your particular die cut machine. To get a good impression I spritzed water on my watercolour paper first before putting it through the machine.

Supplies

Dies: layered flower, leaflets, the garden, flower bunch

Paint: scarlet brusho (colourcraft)

Also: Tombow adhesive dots

Paper: hot and cold pressed watercolour paper

Bible journalling

Posted: March 24, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bible journaling, Fragrant Flowers | Tags: Bible journaling, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 9 Comments

I have recently started some bible journalling. When I first saw the trend I decided I wouldn’t venture down that path but a couple of things changed my mind. The pastor of our church challenged us to read through the New Testament this year, a challenge I am enjoying and even managing to keep up with! I started jotting things down in a notebook as I read. Also I began taking notes during the sermons more carefully; there is usually an outline on the back of the weekly bulletin provided for notes. The problem was, even after I took the notes I brought them home and they piled up and eventually I tossed them out. Rather than continue that practice I decided to buy an interleaved bible which has a blank page after every printed page, and transfer my notes into that. I have been doing it for a month or so and it makes a difference for me to read the bible passage, hear the sermon, take notes, then come home and read through it all again as I add notes to my journalling bible. Most of the pages I’ve written on do not include colour illustration but I enjoy having the option of lettering, writing, drawing or stamping on the blank pages. The page I am sharing today has plenty of blank space left for notes on the passage highlighted in the stamped verse.

Now onto my process. I printed out a lined page to both guide my stamping and protect the page underneath.

I stamped the 1 Corinthians verse from the set, ‘Faith’, in versafine smokey gray on the blank bible page and and on a post-it note to use as a mask.

With the mask in place I stamped the floral bouquet from the ‘Fragrant Flowers’ set, also in smokey grey but a second generation impression. I did this three times to surround the verse.

I decided to use my Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils to colour my page but kept them dry. (you can click on the photo to view larger version) There are two types of leaves on the floral stamp so I chose two pairs of green pencils, yellow greens (apple green 170, moss green 168) and blue greens (Hookers Green 159, Juniper Green 165) I coloured with the lighter hue first then added shadow and definition with the darker.

For the yellow flowers I chose two oranges and coloured all the petals with canary yellow (108) then added shading with cadmium orange (111). In the centre of the flowers I switched to browns (Venetian red 190, sepia 175)

Purple and yellow are complementary colours so I chose blues and purples for the remaining flowers knowing it would give some visual impact to the page. (blue violet 137,Delft blue 141, sky blue 146)

Once all my colouring was done I shaded around the edges of all the leaves and flowers with cold grey IV 233 and added some colour around a few of the letters in the verse.

I balanced out the page with a section of the stamp coloured in the lower corner and will add journalling to the page some time in the future.

Supplies

Stamps: Faith, Fragrant Flowers (PB)
Inks: versafine smokey gray (tsukineko)
Pencils: Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils (Faber-Castell)
Bible: ESV journaling bible interleaved (Crossways)

Two fish, blue fish

Posted: March 23, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Fancy Fish | 12 Comments

I have a third alcohol ink background to share today. I think this one might be my favourite. I love the splash of colour above the waves. I didn’t set out to create the sea complete with wavy splashes above the surface; I just experimented with colours, ink and blending solution using a felt pad to lay colour over colour. The result was little bubbles but also excess spatter which is what made it so sea-like. I cut one fish out of sparkly dark blue cardstock and the other out of white.

I cut one fish out of sparkly dark blue cardstock and the other out of white. I ended up using the same blue cardstock for the card base and the white cardstock for a very narrow mat to frame the panel.

You probably recognise the title of today’s post as being taken from one of Dr Seuss’ delightful books. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue fish was one of my early favourites and one I used when teaching each of my children to read.

Supplies

Dies: Fancy Fish
Inks: willow, turquoise alcohol inks (Ranger)
Paper: white yupo, neenah solar white, silver envelope

Fancy Fish

Posted: March 22, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Fancy Fish | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Alcohol Ink | 7 Comments

I have another alcohol ink background to share today. If you didn’t see the yesterday’s card you might want to click here (there’s a giveaway provided by The Foiled Fox so it’s worth a visit!) When I saw the new fancy fish dies from Penny Black, I immediately thought of the patterns possible with alcohol inks and blending solution. To create this kind of pattern I started with plenty of dark and light blue ink on my yupo paper then dropped some blending solution on a felt pad and pounced that all over the panel. The blending solution creates little bubble shapes in the ink. The felt pad also picks up blue ink from the yupo paper and prints it down again so more little bubbles.

I die cut the fish and sentiment from a silvery grey envelope I had saved; it had a bit of texture and a little shimmer to it. The die set, Fancy Fish includes two detailed fish and a teeny tiny fish; I have a card tomorrow featuring the third fish.

Supplies

Dies: Fancy Fish, Dream big
Inks: indigo, pool alcohol inks (Ranger)
Paper: white yupo, neenah solar white, silver envelope

Silhouette blossoms & Foiled Fox Giveaway

Posted: March 21, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Spring blossoms | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Alcohol Ink | 59 Comments

I am a guest of the wonderful Foiled Fox crew again today. To find out more about this silhouette blossom card you will need to pop over there. Once you are there you will want to browse through the lovely projects on their blog and wander the listings in their store.

Shauna from the Foiled Fox is offering one of my readers a $35 gift certificate from the Foiled Fox store this week. To enter the draw you need to check out their store then come back here to my blog and leave a comment letting me know what item you would put on your wishlist. You have until the end of Sunday March 26th EDT to let me know what you have your eye on. We will announce a winner next Monday.

I have linked to the products I used below, you will find them all in the Foiled Fox store.

Supplies

Stamps: Spring blossoms, Happy snippets (PB)
Dies: gift card pocket set (PB)
Inks: stonewashed, cranberry & eggplant alcohol inks, Jet black archival ink(Ranger), versamark (Tsukineko)
Paper: neenah solar white cardstock, neenah epic black cardstock, white yupo paper
Also: Wow white pearl embossing powder, silver thread

Hand painted floral

Posted: March 17, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Hand lettered, Hand painted | Tags: Hand lettering, Penny Black creative dies | 12 Comments

Today’s card features a hand painted flower and a hand lettered sentiment. I am open to suggestions as to what type of flower it is; it looks like it could be a dahlia, or perhaps a peony or pink cornflower. I am also a bit hazy on what I used to paint it – sorry – again! It was just a painting exercise that turned out looking like a real flower so I decided to turn it into a card. It could be distress stain or peerless watercolours. I matted the flower panel in a teal to match the leaves then popped a handlettered sentiment on a die cut tag.

Hope you are having a delightful day.
By the way The Foiled Fox is having a St Patrick’s Day sale this weekend, go check it out. Foiled Fox kindly sent me the Peerless watercolours that may or may not have been used on this card. They also sent me the beautiful nib holder that definitely was used to write that sentiment.

Happy Day Tulips

Posted: March 16, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Tulip Queue | 6 Comments

I am back with another spring card for the March CAS Watercolour challenge. There are new projects from the design team also so head over and check them out here: CAS Watercolour March reminder

I used tulips on my first card for the challenge and here I am back again with another tulip card but the look is different. I stamped the image in versafine onyx black ink on hot pressed watercolour then used Peerless watercolour paints to fill the scene. I wasn’t overly careful to stay inside the lines or even fill the shapes. When all the tulips and leaves were dry I added some aqua paint all around then keeping the watermarks as part of the design to suggest clouds. I did a little stamp surgery to create a shorter sentiment from one of the ‘happy thoughts’ stamps.

I hope you will check out the cards the design team made and also the entries in the challenge so far. Then I know you will be so inspired you will add one of your own ‘spring’ cards.