Mini Festive Fragrance
Posted: December 28, 2023 Filed under: festive fragrance, Penny Black, Sizzix | Tags: Penny Black stamps, sizzix embossing folder 5 Comments
Today’s card features ‘festive fragrance‘ a Penny Black brushstroke stamp, which I think could be used all year round especially if you choose colours accordingly. I used the following distress inks (either ink pads or markers) to ink the stamp: brushed corduroy, forest moss, rustic wilderness, mowed lawn, festive berries, aged mahogany, candied apple. I spritzed the stamp lightly before stamping on hot pressed watercolour paper. After stamping once I reapplied ink to the stamp if necessary to get more coverage but in some cases all that was needed was some blending with a paintbrush to fill the leaves or berries.
I definitely did more blending on the vases then ruled a thin line behind the vases to ground the image. You may have noticed on some of my recent cards I have embossed the panels after stamping and watercolouring. I did so on this one with the twiggy embossing folder from Sizzix/Tim Holtz (sorry I don’t know the name). I knew I was taking a risk embossing a perfectly good panel with a large non-symmetrical embossing folder but I think it worked.
You can’t tell from the photo but this is a smaller card than my usual A2 cards. This one is 5″x 3¾”, which is half an inch smaller in height and width. I’ve chosen to make some cards this size because I have some envelopes this size to use up and sometimes smaller is cuter. To see the image on an A2 card take a look at an earlier card here. Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp.
The Brushstroke Binge – Christmas 2023
Posted: December 22, 2023 Filed under: Penny Black, winter gem | Tags: Penny Black stamps, video 2 Comments
During my brushstroke stamping binge over the last few months I stamped this Penny Black stamp, winter gem, a few times, both the full stamp and just a portion as shown here. I made four cards very similar to this one changing only the colours in the pinecone and they were pretty but needed a little extra something. It just so happens I had uncharacteristically bought something sparkly after watching Tim Holtz say it reminded him of formica tables! It is a texture paste with sparkle in it but smooth, not at all gritty like glitter can be. I swiped it across all the little pinecone panels and they were pretty as can be. I did stamp the pinecone in distress inks so when I spread the texture paste across the panel the distress inks bled a bit but not so much as to spoil anything.
I made a short video of most of this year’s brushstroke Christmas cards and because it is short and not the usual Youtube orientation I can’t seem to embed it in this blog post but you can click over to watch it here. You’ll see the other versions of this card on the short video.
Most of the cards in the video have been featured on the blog but there are a few that didn’t appear here. I hope you enjoy my collection of brushstroke stamped. Thank you for dropping in to see what I have been creating. I hope your Christmas is full of joy and peace.
Today’s post features an affiliate links to Scrap’n’Stamp. If you buy through this link I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Christmas Storefront
Posted: December 21, 2023 Filed under: Christmas bush, Christmas storefront, Darkroom Door | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, digital stamps, Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper 3 Comments
This delightful Christmas storefront is a digital design from Echidna Studios. Once again my daughter took a photo and sketched it into a digital stamp. I was delighted with the result as I had taken photos of a similar store front in Wakefield Quebec last January and sadly my photos did not represent well the beauty of the decorated store.
I printed the image on hot pressed watercolour paper then painted the scene with Sennelier watercolours. I kept the palette simple, painting the building in pale brown and Payne’s grey so the decorations would stand out. I don’t think you can see in the photo but all the icy edges of the window are coloured with wink of stella markers both the white and the clear, for a little sparkle.
Once finished, the grey in the foreground seemed like a good place for the Darkroom Door sentiment from the ‘Christmas Bush‘ set stamped and embossed in red to match the bows and berries.
I mentioned in one of my posts that I sprained my ankle in November. An aircast has made it possible to walk on it but subsequent x-rays showed a fracture so it has now been in an aircast for over five weeks. I had a follow up and more x-rays today and have been approved to walk around without the aircast at home. So it is getting better…literally one step at a time. As you can imagine I haven’t really been strolling around pretty little stores this year, my family has been running errands for me and there have been a few deliveries to our door.
Bauble Beauty – video
Posted: December 20, 2023 Filed under: bauble beauty, Penny Black, Tutorial | Tags: Penny Black stamps, video 7 Comments
I have mentioned more than once my ‘brushstroke binge’ on this year’s Christmas cards. The Penny Black ‘bauble beauty‘ stamp was one I used several times and decided to make a video of my simple dye-ink watercolour technique. Keep in mind I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper; the inks don’t react the same way on regular cardstock.
Brushstroke stamps are so called because they appear to be stamps made from painted images. I often use dye inks when stamping them so I can add some water to the stamping and get a watercolour look. On the cards featured here I used a range of different inks but also vary the amount of water added on the stamp and at the blending stage. The card below features only one ink for the foliage, the magical northern pine memento ink. All the rest of the cards were stamped with the blue and green distress inks.
You can see on the two cards below I was more generous with water on the left hand card blending the ink over the whole tree shape. On the right hand card I left patchy areas unblended which kept the green inks more separate and made the tree slightly see through.
I painted pearlescent baubles on all the trees after the ink had dried. As the video shows some of the baubles disappeared at the stamping stage when the diluted ink spread over most of the tree shape. In those cases I filled the baubles I could see and added pearlescent circles on top of the blended tree where I thought more baubles should go.
The finishing touches on all the cards included die-cutting then embossing with the retired stampin up ‘subtle’ embossing folder. It creates a nice linen/canvas look; maybe there are other folders available that do a similar thing. I chose small sentiments from Penny Black sets, some stamped directly on the watercolour panel; others on little die-cut strips.
Today’s post features affiliate links to the following companies. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Foiled Fox & Scrap’n’Stamp.
Peaceful Conifers
Posted: December 18, 2023 Filed under: Coniferous Silhouettes, Echidna Studios | Tags: Echidna Studios, Foiling, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
This digital tree stamp from Echidna Studios is definitely a favourite of mine so here is another version of a masked moonlit winter scene. I printed the detailed ‘Coniferous Silhouettes‘ image on neenah solar white cardstock and foiled the print with black foil for extra blackness.
I punched a moon mask from a post-it note and tore snow masks from painters’ tape then used blending brushes and speckled egg, uncharted mariner and spun sugar distress inks to create the moonlit scene.
Looking at it as I write this blog post I realise there should be tree shadows in the foreground…a challenge for another day. Today’s post features affiliate links to The Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Peace & Joy everyone.
Cosy Cocoa & Cookies
Posted: December 15, 2023 Filed under: cocoa and cookies, cricut, Echidna Studios, Spellbinders | Tags: cricut, digital stamps, Echidna Studios 1 Comment
It’s hot chocolate season and my husband has already made a rich, yummy Mexican hot chocolate on two occasions. The cocoa and cookie cutting files from Echidna Studios are almost as appealing as the real thing! I have also made my first batch of gingerbread including plenty of tree and bell shapes.
These birds eye views of a mug and a saucer of cookies cut beautifully in different colours for layering a cup of cocoa complete with bubbles and marshmallows and a saucer of decorated gingerbread cookies.
My mug and saucer are dark green even though they might look black and I used three different shades of brown cardstock for the cup of cocoa. I thought the ‘ski lodge‘ embossing folder from Spellbinders made an appropriate background. My sentiments are also cut from green cardstock using the free ‘Agent Q’ font from Cricut design space.
For these cards I cut the image out on the cricut but the files can also be printed for colouring.
Today’s post features an affiliate links to Scrap’n’Stamp. If you buy through this link I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Collage Skates
Posted: December 13, 2023 Filed under: Dies, gel press, let's skate, Penny Black | Tags: gel press, gel printing, Penny Black creative dies, Taylored Expressions 1 Comment
This was one of last year’s Christmas cards made during my collage Christmas card class. All the strips of colour are from gel prints. If you look closely you can see some grungy texture and pattern. None of the prints were amazing by themselves but when combined I quite liked the mix and pattern.
I used the Penny Black die set ‘let’s skate’ to cut two skates from the collage panel then popped them up on an embossed panel and added a Taylored Expressions sentiment from her ‘simple strips’ Christmas stamp.
I made many collage cards last year because I have so many gel prints to collage and many dies that worked for cutting. There were trees, bells, stars, poinsettia, stockings, baubles and more trees! I hope this is another idea you’ll try with your gel prints or any patterned papers or tapes. Washi tapes work well because the adhesive is already there!
Holly Leaves – framed
Posted: December 12, 2023 Filed under: Echidna Studios, holly leaves, Karin brushmarkers | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Karin brushmarkers, Penny Black stamps, sennelier watercolours 1 Comment
This is my second pair of cards featuring the new ‘holly leaves‘ digital stamp set from Echidna Studios. In an earlier post I shared the foiled cards which were overfoiled by accident but came out looking very shimmery and still accepted watercolour. For today’s cards I printed the holly images larger and didn’t foil them. I once again used Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper and Sennelier watercolours to paint the two images.
If you remember the foiled post you might notice I made the same colour choices, an unrealistic blue-green and a more realistic green-green! A little hint if you are painting berries, it is always nice to have a darker and a lighter side to suggest dimension but even without that a little black or white dot can make them immediately more realistic.
I chose to mat these panels and found a suitable blue green but ended up blending mowed lawn distress ink over a piece of light green cardstock to create a matching green for the card above. Blending ink to create matching mats is something Ardyth does all them time. She is full of clever strategies. I chose to add a shadowy background around the blue-green leaves using a grey Karin marker and water to dilute and spread the ink. The sentiments are from PB ‘jolly snippets‘ and ‘light of Christmas‘ sets.
Today’s post features affiliate links to The Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Berry Branches
Posted: December 11, 2023 Filed under: a berry branch, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 10 Comments
It’s another old favourite, maybe I say that a lot but when it comes to Penny Black brushstroke foliage stamps need I say more? This one is called ‘a berry branch‘ and I’ve featured it once a few years back on two different cards. How is that possible? I know it did turn up in classes a few years back and it was definitely part of this years ‘Painting with Stamps’ in-person class. Some of my previous posts have shown first and second generation prints from the same ‘inking’ and the two cards above are another example.
I keep the stamp in the stamp positioner and after stamping one panel I place another one in the same corner, spritz the still inky stamp and then stamp a paler more diluted impression. Often the second one ends up being my favourite. I used distress inks which work so well with added water.
When using this technique you can’t always control where the colours will blend into each other but I don’t let that worry me. I quite like the areas where green blends into brown into red.
Some of the panels got the splatter treatment, all were embossed with the canvas embossing folder and I added small PB sentiments either to the panel or just underneath it. Just one stamp but definitely a pretty one! Today’s post features affiliate links to The Foiled Fox. If you buy through these links I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Holly Leaves – foiled
Posted: December 7, 2023 Filed under: Echidna Studios, holly leaves, Taylored Expressions | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, sennelier watercolours, Taylored Expressions 5 Comments
The foiling on these cards didn’t work properly yet here they are on display on my blog. I decided the foiling error was pretty enough to use anyway, I just can’t tell you for sure how to achieve this accidental look! The images are new digital stamps from Echidna Studios, called ‘Holly Leaves‘. I printed both images on hot pressed watercolour in my laser printer then foiled with gold foil. Whether it was a smudgy print or a different type of foil I’m not sure but foil attached to the background as well as the outline image.
As you can see, I was still able to watercolour the images using Sennelier watercolour paints. Even though the camera didn’t capture it, the whole outline image is foiled plus some speckling in the background.
I’m not sure that holly comes in the blue green colour I chose for the card above but I like a bluey green so I keep choosing it on my projects. The green shown below might be more realistic.
I added some gold metallic thread then finished both cards with Taylored Expressions sentiment strips.
I have also painted these holly images without foiling but I think this post is long enough so I will share those cards another day. I’ve noticed lately that when my posts are quite long an ad appears before the end of the post. Sadly I have no control over that. If I don’t want ads I have to pay extra to not have them. Just think of my posts like a magazine page, ads do pop up here and there.
I don’t make money from the ads but I do make a small commission if you click one of my links from Foiled Fox or Scrap’N’Stamp. When you buy a digital stamp or cutting file from Echidna Studios both my daughter and I get very excited and congratulate each other! You might have heard the line, ‘When you buy from a small business, an actual person does a little happy dance.’ We dance!
Heather Telford 