Alcohol Ink + Masks

Posted: July 13, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, artsy stems, classic motorcycles, Darkroom Door, grafix, Sizzix, you are everything | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

I’ve played with stencils and alcohol inks before so it wasn’t much of a stretch to try the same with masks. Masks are basically stencils without any frame around them. The ones I used for today’s cards are homemade from Grafix white craft plastic (also known as white opaque dura-lar).

I used the Sizzix ‘artsy stems’ dies to cut flowers from craft plastic. I also used craft plastic for the alcohol ink panels. I first tried this technique when making bookmarks for a Grafix video tutorial. I used the same funky die-cuts and alcohol inks so check out the video below for the process.

One thing I really like about working with Grafix craft plastic and matt dura-lar (in the final card) is that you can emboss on it. I make sure I preheat the heat tool so I can quickly activate the embossing powder. The craft plastic doesn’t melt or warp if you keep the heat tool moving.

All the sentiments are from Darkroom Door sets (linked below) two were embossed and the other stamped with a new ink from Ciao Bella. It took a while to dry on the craft plastic but I am impressed with the solid matte look once dry.

You can see on this last card I had to come up with a way to attach the semi transparent matte dura-lar to the coloured panel underneath. I didn’t want to use tape which would show so I poked a couple of holes through both layers and sewed the panels together with some silver cord.

All the alcohol ink panels are attached to white card bases embossed with embossing folders for some subtle texture and interest.

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Herbal Thank yous

Posted: July 11, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: coriander, Footnotes, Penny Black, Simply Graphic, thyme & rosemary | Tags: , | 5 Comments

I have teamed up with the Foiled Fox again to bring you some sweet herbal die-cuts. The little stems are from Simply Graphic. The coriander stem is a single die; the thyme and the rosemary are in a pack together.

Both cards have a fairly neutral colour scheme with the contrast coming from the turquoise cardstock and the mulberry (which looks brighter in real life)

I used ink and stamping to create a ‘ribbon’ across the base of the beige panels. I masked the area then blended ink on one card and stamped text on the other.

The twine details continue the neutral theme and the panels are attached to white cardbases.

There are more details on the Foiled Fox blog and more lovely nature dies from Simply Graphic in their store. I hope you pop over and enjoy a browse in both blog and store.

Now a post including two herb themed cards would not be complete without some chit chat about my herb pots would it? I have three large galvanized tubs for my herbs and the crop is growing very well. Despite the slow start to summer I have had oodles of basil along with oregano, rosemary, parsley, lavender, sage, mint and Thai basil. I picked enough basil for a homemade pesto the other night and was very proud of myself!

Let me know if you make any favourite recipes with homegrown herbs.

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Blooming Blue Again

Posted: July 6, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: blooming, Dies, how sweet, Penny Black, Tagged | Tags: , , , | 11 Comments

I’m still having fun with PB ‘blooming’ stamp. Once again I used blue inks but this time the combo was chipped sapphire and blueprint sketch. When blended I got blues and purples but not the pinks that seedless preserves provided. If you read my last post you might remember I unintentionally ended up with brown centres. This time I made sure I inked with fossilized amber and wild honey to create yellow centres.

I worked in the stamp positioner to make this panel and did all the green and blue inking and stamping first. I left the centres un-inked so I could add them after the petals were stamped, blended and dry. I don’t mind some blending but I didn’t want the blue and yellow to get too close and blendy because that would mean green centres. Once the yellow centres dried I used a black gel pen to add stamen.

I wanted to gussy this one up a little but still keep the clean look so I used a small piece of organza ribbon across the base of the panel then stamped on a banner die cut and tied it on with twine.

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Blooming Blue

Posted: July 4, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: blooming, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 9 Comments

Here is another take on the PB stamp ‘Blooming’. Last week I posted a card with a blended background, brown outline stamping and painted petals. For today’s card I stamped with distress inks which I then blended into the petals.

My original plan was to have yellow centres not brown; I guess I got distracted. After inking the petals randomly with chipped sapphire and seedless preserves I added some ground espresso ink to the centres, spritzed the stamp and stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. With the spritz of water the inks blend a little; with a paint brush I do the rest of the blending adding more ink if needed. That top flower got more brown than I would have liked but I was still happy with the overall blends.

Finishing touches include defining the centres with the bullet tip of the distress marker and adding white dots with a gel pen. The sentiment is from the PB set ‘so thankful’. I have a few more in this little series of watercolours with PB’s large outline floral stamps so I’ll see you back here soon.

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Blooming Big

Posted: June 29, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: blooming, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

As the title hints, the stamp is called ‘blooming’ and it’s a big one. I mentioned in my previous post how much I enjoy working with the large floral outline stamps from Penny Black. I stamped ‘blooming’ twice side by side in a landscape orientation. The stamp is almost as wide as it is high but I haven’t included all the stems on this card.

Before I stamped I smooshed distress inks on a glass mat, diluted them and swiped my watercolour panel through the ink to create a soft blurry background. Once the panel dried I stamped in archival ground espresso ink then painted the flowers with the same inks I had used in the background, abandoned coral and fossilized amber. To make the flowers bolder so they would stand out from the background I painted another layer of ink then added deeper colours to part of each petal. All the inks are listed and linked below.

I painted the centres in ground espresso distress ink then used brown and black markers to go over the flower centre details and add more veins to the petals. I added highlights with a white gel pen and once again decided against a sentiment for now.

The techniques used in today’s and Monday’s card are featured in my online class Floral Faves.

And in other news, filming has begun for my next online class. I am excited to share more about it soon!

Unique

Posted: June 27, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, tranquil buds, unique | Tags: , | 15 Comments

I’ve just spent some time watercolouring Penny Black outline stamps from their most recent release. I am a fan of the large floral stamps as there is plenty of space for blending colour inside the petals. There are also fewer tiny bits to paint which is important for someone who doesn’t quite have the eyesight I used to!)

I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper in a stamp positioner with distress ink pads and markers. The large image is the new ‘unique’ stamp from PB paired with an older PB stamp ‘tranquil buds’. I randomly inked the petals of the large flowers with abandoned coral and fossilized amber, the leaves with rustic wilderness and the flower centres with ground espresso. I stamped the large flowers twice to span across the panel.

After stamping I used water and a brush to blend the stamped ink to fill the petals, stems and leaves. Once the petals were almost dry I blended the centres of the flowers. I dried the whole panel before adding the tall flowers. I did have to do some masking to make sure the ‘tranquil buds’ appeared behind the larger flowers. I think they look like lavender so I used milled lavender and seedless preserves distress inks. Once the whole panel was dry I used a dark brown marker to add detail to the flower centres and a white gel pen for little dotty highlights.

As often happens I decided against a sentiment which means I can use it for any occasion or add one later when I know who I’m sending it to.

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Home is… journal page

Posted: June 17, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: alphabet medley, Art Journal, Darkroom Door, gel press, polka dot stencil, remington lowercase alphabet | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

The shenanigans continue in my Art Journal Adventures workshops. Last month the theme was collage & texture and the range of pages was amazing. We all chose different papers, colours and focal images but followed a similar method to put them together.

For this spread I relied heavily on my growing collection of gel prints. The little cottage picture is from a greeting card and I used it as a starting point when settling on colours. All the papers you can see are gel prints I made except for one kraft scrap down the bottom with text stamped on it. I added gesso as well as texture using modeling paste through the Ciao Bella patchwork stencil.

During each session of the class it was definitely a treat to walk around and be inspired by the ideas coming to life on all the pages. Some participants had their own stash of gel prints to draw from, others used some of mine. It was fun to see my prints pop up on other people’s pages. I loved it!

This week we are working on Tea and Coffee themed pages and next month it will be texture & movement. If you are close by and haven’t tried gel printing, I’m teaching another introductory class on July 9.

The sweet cottage with sheep at the gate looks nothing like my house! I do grow morning glory but that is about the only similarity. Home is definitely where my people are which means I have two homes very far apart. Although very much at home in Canada I claim Australia as home too, how could I not, some of my favourite people are there!

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Aromatic

Posted: June 13, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: aromatic, Footnotes, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 12 Comments

Today’s card is a companion in style to my two previous Penny Black floral cards. All three feature PB cling stamps and some sort of background filler. For this one I used a text stamp from the PB clear set, ‘footnotes’.

I used both distress ink pads and markers to ink the ‘Aromatic’ stamp while in the stamp positioner. To fit the image on my panel of hot pressed watercolour paper I masked at the base to make the vase a little shorter. The foliage and little flowers are so delicate I did not add any water blending after stamping but I did blend the red flowers and the vase with a paintbrush and water.

The text is stamped in weathered wood distress ink, a nice bluey-grey and splattered with the same ink. The text is actually from Pride and Prejudice which I am re-reading at the moment. While we had no power I noticed I had a copy on my e-reader so I started reading it; no bedside lamp required! Even though I know it well I am enjoying the conversations. After all who can resist hearing, ‘I am all astonishment!’ Are you a re-reader?

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Coffee art journal page

Posted: June 9, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Art Journal, coffee time, Darkroom Door, Mixed Media | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

I’ve been having a delightful time in my art journals and in the Art Journal Adventure workshops. We have gone in three different directions so far and the next one is coffee or tea themed. You can see an example of a tea themed page on my classes page and here is my first coffee page.

It doesn’t show up in the photo but the red cup is embossed and glossy and I want one just like it in real life! I used distress embossing glaze for both the words and the cup then had to create a visual triangle in red, do you see it?

I am currently not a coffee drinker which actually makes the quote all the more apt for me. I love the aroma! For Christmas I gave my husband a coffee subscription and each month the coffee comes in a cardboard package which smells delightful as does the mailbox !

If you are interested in joining in the art journal adventure please check out my Classes page where you will see the next two sessions or click on the Crop A While classes page.

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2022 BuJo – June theme

Posted: June 7, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, distinctive, Penny Black | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Only a few days late getting my bullet journal pages set up this month. My theme could only be lupins I decided, as my back garden is full of them.

Lupins self seed and mine have been doing so with enthusiasm for the last few years but this year is the best display yet. I had to dig some out the other day because they were blocking the lavender from any chance of sunshine.

I used the Penny Black stamp ‘distinctive’ and distress colours that weren’t quite the same but not too far off what I have in my garden. Once again I masked with post-it notes before stamping which gives a crisp clean edge. I am still enjoying my Dingbats notebook but I did see some notebooks with embossed cityscape covers the other day which called my name, especially the Melbourne one.

I used a distress marker along with a staedtler brushmarker for all the words and linework.

After a hot unseasonable three days back in mid May we have had only mild temperatures. We also had an incredibly violent storm, actually a ‘derecho‘ just over two weeks ago. Our house was without power for a week so that’s why you didn’t hear from me on the blog. We did not suffer any damage to our trees or house but our neighbours and neighbourhood did along with many parts of Ottawa, Ontario and Quebec. The garden got soaked and bent but it has bounced back as you see.

At this time of year my garden is full of pinks and purples but later in the summer there are more whites, reds and yellows. It was my first year with alliums so I am happy to see they came up. The pack I planted in autumn were mixed but I ended up with one white and all the rest purple.

By the way I have updated the Classes page for local in person classes and will be adding more in the coming weeks.

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