Seaside

Posted: June 23, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, seaside, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 9 Comments

This image brings back so many memories for me. I love the ocean and beach so approaching the water down a sand covered path makes me very happy. I spent my first ten years in Tasmania and we had beach holidays at St Helens. After we moved to Canberra our family would go to Bateman’s Bay then in later years Bateau Bay and Port Macquarie. When I visit my Dad on the Central Coast we will sometimes walk along Soldiers Beach or just drive there to watch it during a storm.

To create a sandy background I swiped a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper through some smooshed yellow inks. It gave an uneven coverage which I left to dry before stamping. Using a stamp positioner I stamped first the fence posts in grey and brown then inked and stamped the grasses with a couple of green markers. I stamped the sea in uncharted mariner(of course) then the shadows in the sand with fossilized amber.

The initial stamping on hot pressed watercolour paper is always a bit patchy so I keep the panel in the positioner so I can restamp certain areas to build up depth of colour. I also use a paintbrush or markers to add colour directly to the panel. I painted the sky with broken china ink and finally added white dots to the ocean with a white gel pen. Now if I could just get to the ocean as easily as stamping the ocean…

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Alcohol Ink Gel Print

Posted: June 19, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, artsy stems, gel press, little lowercase letters, My Favorite Things, Tim Holtz | Tags: gel press, gel printing, My Favorite Things, Ranger Alcohol Ink, Tim Holtz | 3 Comments

Last Monday I posted a faux batik look created on the gel plate. Today’s card is not faux alcohol ink; I did create a design on the gel plate with alcohol inks then picked it up with acrylic paint. Alcohol inks dry quite quickly so they are fun to fiddle with on a gel plate.

I can’t remember exactly which inks I used but I imagine there was a blue and yellow alcohol ink involved and perhaps ‘stream’ which is a deep teal colour. I sprinkled them on the gel plate, added some isopropyl alcohol to get the colours moving and then used a homemade stamp to add the flower shapes. In my online gel printing course I have a whole lesson about making and using homemade stamps with acrylic paints. Using them with alcohol inks is also an option as shown on this card. The speckled look over the panel is from adding a spritz of isopropyl alcohol to the plate before letting it dry.

I pulled the print with gold acrylic paint which has given the whole panel a goldish tint and in real life a bit of shine and shimmer. To finish the card I added a die-cut flower and letters in a co-ordinating colour. The letters were cut with MFT ‘little lowercase letters’ which might not be available anymore but I have linked to a similar set.

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Batik on the Gel Press

Posted: June 12, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gel press, leaves and lines, Tutorial | Tags: Echidna Studios, gel press, gel printing | 4 Comments

Just because my new online class is published doesn’t mean the gel plates have been put away. I am always thinking up new ideas to try on the gel plate and the problem is finding the time to experiment. I sat down last week and filmed myself while gel printing with some stencils. This large batik-like panel is one of the prints I made.

The stencil is one I designed myself called ‘leaves and lines‘. I cut it out of grafix matte durar-lar on the cricut. The beauty of a digital cutting file and cutter is the same design can be cut in different sizes. For the print above I used a 9″ x 11″ gel plate and the stencil was slightly smaller than the plate. Some of you might remember that I have a new youtube channel as I lost my old one. It has a mix of older (from the archives) videos and new ones (freshly filmed). It has been a bit quiet lately but thanks to all who have visited. Please spread the word so I can build the community back up.

The crackly effect that makes the design look a bit batik-y is from the tissue I used to lift paint around the stencil. I don’t yet have a plan for this large print but I am thinking it would make a nice book cover.

The digital cutting file is available in Echidna Studios etsy store and is printable as well if you wanted to print it instead of cut it. I have cut it twice but only used the larger of the two stencils so far. You can see them in the photo below. The smaller one is shinier as it is pristine and cut from Grafix stencil film (slightly heavier than matte dura-lar) The one of the right was used in the video and is blue from paint stain. If you are interested in more gel printing techniques with stencils or just more gel printing techniques I’d love you to check out ‘Gel Print Journey‘ my new self paced online course.

I haven’t done any real batik lately but I did quite a bit in high school and of course had a long batik wrap around skirt! Anyone else remember that look? Not surprisingly mine was white and blue just like today’s gel print.

Meadow

Posted: June 9, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: meadow, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger archival inks | 8 Comments

I have what I call a pile of possibility in my workroom consisting of panels that could be made into something. The smaller ones are housed in a shoebox; there are watercolour backgrounds, stamped and coloured panels, alcohol ink panels and hand painted experiments. This panel has sat in the box for years unstamped but looking very much like a sunset. I can’t remember whether it was painted with watercolour paints or swiped with watercolour inks. I imagine the pale centre circle was dabbed out with a brush or paper towel but I really can’t be sure.

I stamped the Penny Black ‘meadow’ stamp on the panel with peeled paint archival ink then coloured inside the leaves with zig clean color real brush markers. I added spots and dots to the flowers and sky with gel pens, a white, a gold and a copper.

I stamped a sentiment from the PB ‘enjoy builder’ set on a left over strip. Hope you can take some time to do what makes you happy this weekend. Here are a couple of suggestions. (wink)

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Good Day Bouquet

Posted: June 7, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: good day bouquet, Penny Black, Time | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Staedtler watercolour brush pens | 3 Comments

Good day bouquet is a pretty vase stamp from Penny Black. I used a strip of hot pressed watercolour paper and kept the deckled edge which is on the large sheets I buy then cut into smaller pieces for card panels and other projects. I smooshed uncharted mariner and lost shadow distress inks on my glass mat, diluted it with water then swiped the watercolour panel through the ink. There was a fine splatter of masking fluid on the panel which is most noticeable on the side of the vase.

I chose to use water-based brush markers to colour the stamp. As the distress markers are being discontinued I have been testing out alternatives for inking stamps. Water-based markers can be helpful in inking small areas on a stamp. For the flowers, leaves and stems I used Staedtler water-based markers; the pack I bought has 36 colours so I was able to use three different pinks for the flowers and a couple of greens for the stems. I used uncharted mariner for the vase and then later for the ‘time’ stamps I added to the background. When I ink my stamps with markers I spritz the stamp before pressing it onto the panel and sometimes blend the stamped image with water also. I inked the centres of the flowers with black, then after stamping used the small tip end of the black marker to add more detail.

To finish I added some water splatter which I dabbed away with a paper towel and some ink splatter because you know I love to splatter! If you are in Ottawa don’t forget you have the opportunity to pick up some crafty bargains this weekend at the Saturday garage sale, details below.

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Vintage Beetle

Posted: June 5, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: vintage beetle | Tags: Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers | 3 Comments

Isn’t she a beauty? This digital stamp ‘vintage beetle‘ is one from a new set in the Echidna Studios etsy store. My daughter took a photo of a VW beetle convertible recently and turned it into this digi stamp. There is stamp in the set. I haven’t coloured it yet but it is a cute rear view.

I rarely make slimline cards but this stamp definitely called for one. I think it would make a delightful fathers’ day card. It isn’t fathers’ day until September in Australia which has caught me off guard many times! I printed the car on hot pressed watercolour paper using the ‘manual feed’ and ‘heavyweight settings’ that pop up on the computer. I then created a very soft watercolour background by smooshing lost shadow and uncharted mariner ink on my glass mat, spritzing it with water to dilute and move it then swiping my watercolour panel through the ink.

I used mainly Zig clean color real brush pens to watercolour the car along with Kuretaki metallic silver on the hubcaps and black Koi coloring brush pen for the black watercoloured sections. For some fine black lines I use F-C Pitt artist pens. I do have a weakness for markers, especially waterbased ones so it was good to put some to work on this card.

Just between you and me I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out and would now like to take a little drive in one! Hope your Monday is off to a good start.

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Gel Print Journey

Posted: May 31, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Elizabeth Craft Designs, florals 13, gel press, online class, pretty plaid, Spellbinders | Tags: Classes, gel press, gel printing, online class, video | 4 Comments

As I have mentioned a few times lately I have a new online class available. It’s called Gel Print Journey. I added the promo on Youtube today and thought I would share it here with you my blog readers as well. It is a class for both beginners and enthusiasts (and those who like me, tried it once and took a while to try it again). The card shown above is just one of the projects I made after a gel printing session. I grabbed the red print from the embossing folders lesson and the green print from one of the stencils lessons and die-cut all my elements to make a birthday card. Although there are project ideas at the end of the class the focus of the lessons is all gel printing. I just thought I would share one of the projects with you today because it is a bright happy card!

If you haven’t tried gel printing at all, GASP, this class will take you through the basics and provide you with oodles of textures and techniques to try. If you have tried gel printing I am sure you will enjoy putting your dies, stencils, embossing folders, recycling and plants to work to create one of a kind prints.

I added the red petals and green leaves to an embossed white background to keep them looking fresh and bright. There are little prills in the centres and a sentiment from Paper Rose studio.

As blog readers you have just one more day to use the TEAMBLOG10 discount code but if you read this after May has ended just pop over to youtube to see the code I shared over there. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. I will continue to share gel printed cards and projects here on the blog and have some upcoming videos on youtube as well.

Have a great day!

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Clean Up Fairies

Posted: May 26, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: berry leaves, fairy buds, Lavinia, silhouette thistle, star group miniature, three dancing fairies | Tags: gel printing, Lavinia | 4 Comments

No, sadly I don’t have any clean up fairies; that would be a win! This little moonlit scene is stamped with Lavinia stamps on one of my gel printing ‘clean up sheets’ and I couldn’t resist the name. As I gel print I clean the brayer on clean up sheets off to the right of my plate. I use thickish drawing paper and when the sheet is well covered but still looking pretty I move it and start on a new sheet. So, yes, I have many clean up sheets to turn into cards or other projects.

I am still learning my way with Lavinia stamps; there is an art to the layering and arrangement. One of the fairies looks like she is doing a little cleaning of the fairy bud but the other looks like she is diving off the high tower. I know there is a plethora of Lavinia inspiration videos out there so maybe I should watch a few.

I stamped all the bold images in black and used blue and green inks to stamp some sprinkly stars and shadowy leaves in the background. The clean up sheet was mainly blue, pink and green so I cut a circle mask and blended more green around it to suggest a moon. I used sparkly gel pens to colour in some of the fairy buds and the fairy wings.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox, Ecstasy Crafts* & Scrap n Stamp)

*if you visit the Lavinia products at Ecstasy Crafts make sure you use the heathertecs10 discount code at check out

Potted Pretties in Pencil

Posted: May 24, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Coloured pencil, how sweet, Penny Black, potted pretties | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps | 5 Comments

This is the new ‘potted pretties’ stamp from Penny Black; it is pretty isn’t it? Although I love the soft blends of loose watercolour I also find pencil colouring very satisfying too, especially on kraft cardstock.

I use Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and chose a dark and a light pink along with white for the petals, two greens for the leaves and a tan with white for the pot. Once I had almost finished I added some more shadow to the centre of some flowers and the shadows of the leaves with a dark burgandy pencil – a trick I learned from Kathy Racoosin, colouring wizard.

If no-line watercolour is more your thing then I am colouring the same image in that style too. I’ll post it on the blog soon.

Don’t forget to check out my new online course if you haven’t already. The discount TEAMBLOG10 is still valid for a 10% discount at checkout. Thank you to those of you who have joined already. I am excited to hear from or see some prints once you’ve had a chance to dive in!

And another event you might be interested in if you are local is the Community Paper Crafting Garage Sale on June 10.

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Mushrooms & Pods

Posted: May 23, 2023 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, Darkroom Door, fairy toadstool, gel press, Lavinia, mini meadow mushroom, online class, pods stencil, woodland fern | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, Lavinia, online class | 6 Comments

I often combine my gel prints with stamping and on this card there is a bit of brand matchy-matchy which really works for a whimsical look. The print is a ghost print made while filming my new class Gel Print Journey. There is a surprising amount of paint and pattern on this ghost print; sometimes they are a lot more ghostly!

The gel print was made with the Lavinia stencil ‘pods’. Last week when stamping with a friend I was able to pair the background with some Lavinia stamps. I don’t own any…yet but I did enjoy the fun of arranging little scenes with their pretty silhouettes.

If you are not familiar with the world of ghost prints or stencil prints or even gel printing, check out my new online course. The TEAMBLOG10 discount is available until the end of May so now is a great time to join me.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox, Ecstasy Crafts* & Scrap n Stamp)

*if you visit the Lavinia products at Ecstasy Crafts make sure you use the heathertecs10 discount code at check out