Birch and Brusho
Posted: September 1, 2016 Filed under: Grateful, Nature's Gifts, Nature's Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 Comments
The tree stamp I have to share with you today is not technically a ‘tree’, it’s really a pair of trunks but it is oh, so versatile when creating trees for landscape scenes. I stamped it multiple times on this panel but you could just as easily stamp a single tree, a bent tree, or even some logs lying on the ground.
Before stamping I splattered a piece of watercolour paper with masking fluid, cut a hill shaped mask out of a post-it note and positioned it at the bottom of the panel. I stamped birch trees across the panel in versafine onyx black ink which is waterproof. To mask the trunks I painted masking fluid over all the trunks and let it dry. The next steps I did over a long period of time, not because I had to but because I wanted to let it dry naturally each time I added colour. With the trees and the ground masked I sprinkled a little leaf green and yellow brusho over the panel, spritzed it and let it dry. Later I came back and did it again but added some gamboge to the mix. I did this several times, always letting it dry in between. This allowed me to create patches of colour rather than the one big blend of green, orange and yellow I would have created if I had done it in one go.
After all the panel dried I removed the masking fluid from the trees and added some brusho to the ground area. While it was still wet from spritzing I added a couple of grassy stamps with memento inks. The grasses blended into the damp paper. I waited until it was almost dry then stamped the same grasses again resulting in a bit more definition. To finish the scene I used some pigma micron pens to add thin twiggy branches between the trunks. Finally I removed the splattered masking fluid.
I wanted to add the sentiment without adding another layer but the colour of the grassy area was too dark. To lighten it I punched an oval out of frisket film then positioned the aperture piece over the watercolour panel so I could remove paint with a damp brush and a paper towel. The result was a lighter oval patch where I could stamp the one word sentiment in black.
The two birch trunks in the Nature’s Silhouette set are going to be so handy for adding birch trees to cards for any season. I’ve already tried it on a winter scene which I will share another day.
Supplies:
Stamps: Woodland Beauty, Nature’s Silhouettes, Grateful, Nature’s gifts (PB)
Paints: Leaf green, yellow & gamboge Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Potter’s Clay, Cottage Ivy Memento ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Moulin du Roy 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: masking fluid
Moonlit Rendezvous
Posted: August 31, 2016 Filed under: Rendezvous | Tags: Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
Isn’t this an amazing tree stamp? As I have said before you can never have too many tree stamps and happily the stamp designers at Penny Black seem to agree.
I chose to let this stamp be the star of the card and just made a pretty sky for the background. This was not a tricky card to make but I had to think about the order of operations. First I die-cut a circle from frisket film and firmly attached it to a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper. Frisket film is a clear plastic film with adhesive on one side and is used for masking areas on art work that you want to remain unpainted. After the circle mask was in place I splattered a little masking fluid around the top part of the panel. I wasn’t really wanting it to look like snow on this card, more like stars.
To paint the sunset/moonrise I worked from light to dark always overlapping and blending each colour with the last. I began with mustard seed distress stain, then worn lipstick, festive berries, seedless preserves and finally a little bit of chipped sapphire right at the top.
Once the painting was dry I removed the circle mask and masking fluid before stamping the tree. I used my MISTI to stamp because the stamp has very fine detail and the watercolour paper, even though it is hot pressed still has some texture. With the MISTI I was able to stamp and overstamp until I had a solid black tree. I trimmed the panel so the land at the base of the tree touched the edge of the panel and appeared to join up with my black mat. With the tree centred like it is I decided not to add a sentiment. I can’t wait to create other scenes with these beautiful trees.
Supplies
Stamps: Rendezvous (PB)
Ink: Versafine onyx black ink, (Tsukineko) mustard seed, worn lipstick, festive berries, seedless preserves, chipped sapphire distress stain (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed Canson Moulin du Roy watercolour paper, Neenah Epic black cardstock
Also: Grafix extra tack frisket film, Daler Rowney masking fluid
A day of woodland beauty
Posted: August 30, 2016 Filed under: Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 10 Comments
As this tree is one of my favourite stamps from the new Christmas release I decided to create a day scene and a night scene as part of my ‘Top Three’ feature on the Penny Black blog this week. For the night scene I painted the sky before stamping the tree, on this panel I did the opposite.
I began as I often do by splattering some masking fluid on a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper. I did some partial stamping with the tree stamp so I could make the base of each tree look like it was stuck in a snow bank. To do partial stamping or ‘faux masking’ I ink the stamp then remove some of the ink with a wet wipe, in this case I removed the base of the tree so no trunk showed and the bottom edge was a little different each time I stamped it. I chose memento northern pine ink again because the colour separates when I spritz a little water over it (which I did each time before stamping).
I let the trees dry then painted the sky in three blue stains blending and removing colour to make it look like there were clouds. I used a small round watercolour brush and painted right up to and sometimes over the edge of the branches so there would be some blending of colour as well as some white spaces which end up looking a bit like snow.
Once all the sky was dry I stamped a single tree in the foreground and made it darker by re-stamping in the same colour. I painted a snow bank either side of the foreground tree with stain then added some shadows at the base of the trees using diluted northern pine ink as my paint. To finish I removed the masking fluid, added a sentiment in brown then popped it up on a cream card base.
If you didn’t catch my night time scene with this stamp, you can find it here along with a video tutorial.
Supplies
Stamps: Woodland beauty, Nature’s Silhouettes (PB)
Ink: memento northern pine (Tsukineko) tumbled glass, broken china, salty ocean distress stain(Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper
Also: Daler Rowney masking fluid
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
Shimmer and shine
Posted: August 24, 2016 Filed under: Sweet Perfume | Tags: Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 9 Comments
I’m excited to be guest posting on the Foiled Fox blog today. To find out how I got the pretty shimmer on this card check out the post here.
Stamps: Sweet Perfume, Happy Snippets(PB)
More Glimpses
Posted: August 18, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
I have two more cards made from my experiments with new stamps on watercolour strips. Both today’s strips and yesterday’s were splattered with masking fluid before I started. For the deer card I also added a circle of masking tape before painting the sky in blue, purple, pink and yellow watercolour paint. I painted the horizon edge in blue and tilted the strip up so the paint flowed toward the moon, one colour blending into another
Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and tape then stamped the branches from ‘woodland beauty’ and the deer from ‘ nature’s silhouettes’ in black before painting some shadows in front of the deer’s legs.
I used a similar process for the single tree scene, painting the sky first while leaving some unpainted paper at the bottom to be the snowbanks. Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and positioned a post-it mask below the horizon and stamped the single tree from the ‘woodland beauty’ set over the mask. Once I removed the mask I painted shadows on the snow in the foreground and behind the tree.
The four little panels in today’s and yesterday’s posts are a taste of the new stamps and the types of scenes I expect to be creating over the next few months. I really enjoyed working small; have you tried it?
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty, Joy Filled (PB)
Paints: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolour paints
Inks: Versafine Onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
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
Stacked die cuts
Posted: August 14, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, shall we dance | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies 9 Comments
When I first tried this technique I did it the same way many did, by cutting multiples die cuts from cardstock and gluing them on top of each other. I now use a quicker method where I die-cut the image out of foam which replaces the stack of cardstock die cuts. I always find it a little tricky to stack the very fine stems and letters; the foam stretches a bit and the cardstock is very hard to line up. Despite these fiddly factors I managed to get it all in place to create this subtle floral design on another abstract watercoloured panel.
This was one of those panels where the brusho patterns turned out to be very pretty so I didn’t want to lose much by stamping over it or cropping. Raising a die cut image is a great solution when you want to preserve some pattern but still have a focal image.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles & Smiles (PB)
Die: Shall we dance
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Deep Lagoon ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: stick it adhesive sheet, adhesive backed fun foam
Round the watercolour world
Posted: August 8, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, love to travel, mini community, Watercolour | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies 5 Comments
I have more watercolour die cuts to share. This card has a much higher fiddliness factor than the previous ones and has convinced me that I should never video myself making a shaker card! Rather than trying to describe my trial and error process for making this shaker card I will just list the layers I used from little die cuts right down to the card base. The mini community and ‘the world’ were cut from brusho panels.
watercoloured ‘mini community’ & ‘love to travel’ die cuts with stick-it adhesive on the back
black cardstock panel
acetate
foam with circle die cut from centre
watercolour panel to be ‘the world’
card base
I saved the little die-cut bus and cars to put inside the shaker area with the glitter, sequins and micro beads. It wasn’t until I started shaking it that I realised the bus and cars would end up in countless pile ups!
Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)
Die: Mini community Love to Travel (PB)
Paints: Brusho (Colourcraft)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white, Neenah epic black
Also: stick it adhesive sheet, glitter, sequins, micro beads
Watercolour Fuchsias
Posted: August 5, 2016 Filed under: Fuchsia, Watercolour | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
I’ve been cutting up watercolour panels again; it really is a great way to use up experiments or abandoned projects. Sometimes I have panels that were my ‘practice’ for something else or part of a class where I demonstrated a technique but then moved on. The colours in the panels are pretty but the pattern might be a bit random or unattractive. Using a die cut means I can cut from the sections where I really like what the colours are doing. These panels were painted with Gansai Tambi paints.
I put stick-it adhesive on the back then cut all these fuchsias from a couple of panels featuring the same blue green tones. I arranged them then attached them all to a white panel and then to a white card base. My photography didn’t pick up the texture on the white panel as it is quite subtle but it is a cute trick if you want to try it. The cutting base panel for my die-cutting machine is very well used all over so when a piece of cardstock is run through the machine the base transfers an intricate pattern of intersecting lines which creates subtly textured cardstock. I am going to include this card in the Casology ‘Watercolour’ challenge.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)
Die:
Heather Telford 