Creating a Swatch Book – Video

Recently I received a 6″x9″ Mixed Media Journal from Grafix and decided to turn it into a swatch book. It’s maybe not the most artistic use for the new mixed media journals but I am hoping it will be useful for me as I create projects and teach classes using alcohol inks and non-permeable surfaces.

As you can see from the top photo the journal is disc bound which means I can add new pages as I buy more products! I filmed my swatching process so you can see how I am using my mixed media journal.

So far I have swatched alcohol inks, including mixatives and alloys. In doing so I realised how many were almost empty, which means of course I can get a few new ones!

I’ve also swatched alcohol markers and paint markers. I’m not swatching all my markers on the craft plastics and dura-lar pages as many of my markers are made for paper. (that’s another swatch book waiting to happen)

I work with the paint markers on craft plastic and glass so I swatched on black craft plastic and clear dura-lar.

The mixed media journals also come in 6″x6″ and are a new product so I can’t tell you exactly where to find them right now but I do know DeSerres, Crop A While and Foiled Fox all carry Grafix products as do most art stores so you could ask them to get one in for you.

I am excited to keep adding to mine and to use it when ever I’m working on plastic surfaces.

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Checkered Bookmarks

Posted: October 15, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: bookworm, Butterflies, checkered, Darkroom Door, Stencils, tall flowers | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils | 6 Comments

For a change and because I’ve seen a few beautiful stamped and painted bookmarks lately, I decided to make a few of my own. My preference is always a very flat bookmark. I have had fancier bookmarks over the years with layers and lace but I like the book to close nice and flat over the bookmark. These ones are one layer of hot press watercolour paper without even the raised surface of embossing.

I taped a piece of watercolour paper to my glass mat using washi tape and the grid on the mat to keep the tapes even as they divided the panel into three strips. I blended distress inks through the Darkroom Door small checkered stencil onto the panel, two colours for each strip then blended more ink to fill the spaces. I chose a different theme for each bookmark but used reading quotes from the Darkroom Door ‘Bookworm’ set for each one. (all the stamps and inks are listed below)

After painting over all the images with distress ink I used a black pen to darken the edges and a white gel pen to add highlights and dots.

I am always keen to hear book recommendations so feel free to leave them in the comments. Last time I asked several readers suggested authors who were new to me that I ended up reading and enjoying.

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Autumn in the mountains

Posted: October 7, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: arbors, Penny Black, picturesque, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 5 Comments

Outdoors is pretty ‘speccy’ right now. We don’t have too much of the deep red yet but I have seen it here and there. I have got into the habit of going for a walk or run soon after breakfast so I’ve seen the increase in autumn colours over the last few weeks. Yesterday there was fog when I set out so everything was a bit more muted but by the time I headed home the sun was burning off the fog and the golden tones were shining.

The first step in creating this scene was to stamp the top half of the mountain stamp (PB picturesque) in faded jeans and speckled egg distress inks on hot pressed watercolour paper. I painted below the mountains with water softening the colours at the bottom so there was no distinct line where the mountains ended. I then painted over the top of the mountains with water and dropped some spiced marmalade, forest moss and ground espresso ink into the wet area to add colour.

I dried the panel before starting on the trees using the PB arbors stamp. I stamped with ground espresso, fossilized amber, spiced marmalade and crackling campfire, not all at once, a couple of colours at a time to build up the coverage. I spritzed the stamp before stamping but didn’t spritz the paper.

When I was satisfied with the trees I painted ground underneath them and dried the panel again before blending speckled egg ink in the sky and below the branches. To finish I splattered both water and fossilized amber ink to break up the expanses of blue.

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2021 BuJo – October theme

Posted: October 2, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Autumn Jewels, Bullet Journal, Dies, Dingbat notebooks, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: Bullet Journal, Dingbats notebook, Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Distress inks | 9 Comments

I had no trouble choosing a theme for October in my bullet journal, would it be leaves, leaves or leaves? I die-cut a surround circle mask to protect most of the page, a technique I used in August, April and January. I cut leaf masks from post-it notes using the ‘autumn jewels’ dies from Penny Black.

The same mix of inks carries through on all the pages blending yellows, brown, green and red over the masks with blending brushes.

I added hand lettered titles with a brown papermate flair pen and some shimmer with a nuvo gold shimmer pen.

When I cut the leaf masks I had both the negative space mask used on the pages above and the leaf itself which I used on the calendar page below.

There is a bit of shimmer on the title letters of October but it doesn’t really show up in the photos. It will make me happy each time I turn to the page. Have a lovely October.

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Blended Autumn Bouquet

Posted: September 30, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: autumn bouquet, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

Today’s card is a second look with the Penny Black ‘autumn bouquet’ stamp. I blended distress inks over a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper before doing any stamping. The colours are listed below.

After blending I stamped the autumn bouquet stamp twice on the panel with brushed corduroy distress ink then painted inside all the leaves, berries and wheat stalks with water. As I painted I also dabbed away water leaving the insides of the images lighter than the outside. I picked up some smooshed ink and dropped it back into the round berries and the wheat berries.

I splattered some water over the panel, let it sit then dabbed it away with paper towel leaving a random pattern of watermarks here and there. The embossed sentiment is from the PB ‘million thanks’ set stamped in fallen leaves versafine clair ink.

Thank you for dropping by. I am indeed grateful for all your support and kindness.

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Big Leafy Hugs

Posted: September 27, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, French Script, Leaves, scratches, warm wishes | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

No need to guess where my current inspiration is coming from. I went for three walks last week through the same woods and could see the colours spread over just five days. These leaves are all stamped by one stamp in the Darkroom Door ‘leaves’ set on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper. For each impression I inked with a combination of wild honey, old paper and barn door distress inks. After stamping I blended over the image with a pearlescent water mix.

Once I had filled the panel with coloured leaves I stamped over them with the same stamp but just old paper ink which filled the remaining white area with pale leaves. I added more texture with some script, some scratches (both DD background stamps listed below) and some gathered twigs splatter.

Once the panel was dry I sewed around the edges then made a couple of tags featuring a sentiment from the DD ‘warm wishes’ set and a small leaf from the DD ‘leaves’ set. I hope you see some delightful colours outside this week whether they are autumnal or springy!

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Windswept

Posted: September 22, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Gilding Flakes, Penny Black, windswept | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 8 Comments

Today is officially the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and the leaves are flying here on the blog. I am featuring another new stamp from Penny Black, aptly named windswept. It is a simple rubber cling stamp depicting a branch and loose leaves. On my card the leaves are flying across the whole front and back of the card.

I taped the hot pressed watercolour panel to my glass mat as I planned to spray the panel with both water and ink. I sprayed quickly and lightly with spiced marmalade, scattered straw, rusty hinge, wild honey, vintage photo and stormy sky distress sprays. I sprayed some water over the top to blend some of the inks then dried with a heat tool creating some watermarks as I did so.

Once the panel was dry I stamped the branch across the panel starting on the left hand side (which ended up being the back of the card) then overlapping as I moved across to the right. I used distress inks in the same colours as the sprays to ink the branch a couple of colours at a time.

Once the panel was completely dry I decided to add some more leaves but with gilding flakes. It is a while since I used gilding flakes so I did a quick youtube search and tried two different methods. I preferred the second method which was to stamp with the Tsukineko essential glue pad then press the flakes onto the image. Gilding flakes travel far and wide if you are not careful so I had the vacuum cleaner at my side. I used the Cosmic Shimmer ‘red blaze‘ gilding flakes which are a beautiful mix of red, golds, bronze and brown metallic flakes, perfect for autumn. I finished off the card with a sentiment from the PB ‘ever thanks’ set.

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Gilded Wheat

Posted: September 20, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gilded wheat, Penny Black, Stampin Up, subtle | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Stampin Up | 14 Comments

This beautiful wheat stalk, ‘gilded wheat’ is new from Penny Black. You know that feeling when you think maybe a project is complete but you’re not sure so you keep going? I had that feeling after I had finished stamping, painting and highlighting the wheat stalks. I just wasn’t sure whether to add a background or not.

I stamped the wheat in scattered straw and wild honey distress inks then blended with a paint brush. To add shadow to the sides of the leaves and the base of the wheat berries I used iced spruce ink. After painting I switched to watercolour pencils and added more shadow with a similar grey-green spruce colour.

I could have stopped there and not added the background painting which is kind of patchy but I liked the contrast of the gold colours and the grey so I kept going. Before putting the card together I stamped a sentiment from the PB ‘choose happy’ set and ran the panel through the die cutting machine in the SU ‘subtle’ embossing folder. Sometimes people ask me how I settle on my colour combos; this one was inspired by the small leaves at the top of the previous card. Who knew grey and gold would be so happy together?

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Autumn Bouquet

Posted: September 17, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: autumn bouquet, fragile branches, fresh ferns, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 12 Comments

Are the leaves changing where you are? I noticed this morning a few patches of colour on the predominately green trees. The mornings are quite fresh too and the sunsets are amazing. Today’s card features a new Penny Black stamp ‘autumn bouquet’ teamed up with a couple of favourite filler stamps, ‘fresh fern’ and ‘fragile beauty’.

I kept the autumn bouquet stamp in the positioner so I could stamp each element one at a time. There are three types of leaves plus the wheat and the berries. All were done with a combination of inks. Often I ink the image using markers then smoosh the corresponding ink pad on my glass mat to give me ink for painting inside the stamped image.

I used partial stamping to add the fern fronds and twigs. I usually ink the bit furtherest from the existing stamping then fill more in each time I stamp so as to avoid stamping over the top of other elements. This is because I am often too lazy to mask the stamping I’ve already done.

After painting and blending inside all the stamped images I used blending brushes to add iced spruce to two edges and splattered some over the panel. I trimmed and popped up the panel on a white luxe card base.

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for dropping by.

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Butterfly art journal page

Posted: September 15, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Art Journal, Butterflies, Darkroom Door, diamonds, French Script, gel press, Mixed Media, starry night, Stencils, Wildflowers Vol 1 | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing, Mixed Media | 4 Comments

My art journal is a place where I experiment with new techniques and mediums. It’s also a place for taking ideas further after making a card or creating a gel print. For this butterfly themed page I experimented with layering. I don’t find layering easy so it is a good technique to be playing with in my journal. You can’t see all the layers clearly on this page but there are layers of rice paper under gesso as well as on top of it.

Another technique which I am just beginning to play with is sewing on cards and mixed media pieces. Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door is a master at it and provided loads of inspiration during her recent Artful August challenge. I have tried sewing on paper with my precious Pfaff sewing machine but it didn’t like it so a few weeks ago I bought a second hand machine especially for sewing heavy and unusual materials. The machine is an old one but it is very sturdy and hums along beautifully.

I began by tearing up a large gel print done on rice paper. It featured diamonds on one side and stars on the other, both patterns made with large Darkroom Door stencils. The colour scheme was blues, reds and gold. I glued the torn pieces around the edges with gel medium then painted over them with diluted gesso. After the gesso dried I stamped a few butterflies then added more gesso over the top.

I spritzed over the pages with a faded jeans and broken china distress sprays, only enough to add a bit of speckle here and there, not so much as to cover the colour and pattern underneath. I stamped more butterflies from the DD butterflies set in colours similar to those in my gel print patches.

Once the stamping was done I sewed borders around two pieces of gel printed rice paper then glued them on the pages. I stamped, cut out and glued down sentiments from the DD wildflowers vol 1 stamp set.

Oh, and I stamped the DD French script stamp a couple of times on each page in gold to co-ordinate with the gold on the gel prints. Not a ton of layering or sewing but I am learning how to paint over background layers just enough to make them fade but not so much that they disappear. I realise looking at these photos that the gel print on the left looks like a pocket… it’s not but that’s an idea for another page.