Mountain Sunset

I’ve been enjoying this new mountain stamp from Penny Black, it’s aptly named ‘picturesque’. Although it works beautifully behind other stamps I wanted to show it alone first because when paired it with a sunset sky it really didn’t need more.

The wonder of mountains and sunsets reminds me of the mighty God who made and sustains this earth so I chose a sentiment that gives me the same encouragement.

To create this card I swiped a piece of watercolour paper through faded jeans, kitsch flamingo and scattered straw distress inks. While it dried I sprinkled salt on it to add some texture and pattern.

This is a larger card than my usual but the mountain stamp is also large so it spanned the 6¼” width. I stamped in Catherine Pooler juniper ink and decided not to blend over the stamping. The pinks of the watercolour looked like the sunset reflecting on snow so I kept the mountain crisp and added the sentiment from PB ‘inspirational sentiments’ in the same ink.

Tomorrow’s post will include this stamp paired with other scenic stamps for a moonlit farm view.

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Combining scenic stamps

Posted: August 16, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: farmland, homeward, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: distress markers, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 7 Comments

I’ve been playing with scenic stamps again, this time combining sections of two stamps to create a new scene. The Penny Black ‘farmland’ stamp forms the background scenery and the PB ‘homeward’ stamp makes up the foreground.

Out of habit (a successful one!) I used distress inks and markers to ink the stamps and add detail to the design. I kept the palette limited using two blues for the sky and several greens and browns for the rest of the scene. To see the process take a look at the video below.

I know some people find scenic stamps a bit daunting but the detail in the stamps themselves makes it possible to add a little or a lot of your own artistry. I hope you find the techniques shown in the video helpful.

You can see cards featuring the farmland stamp on its own here and to see the homeward stamp here.

I mentioned in the video that although I think the fields look authentic I have no idea what the crops might be. If you know of crops that would appear to be rust or olive coloured mention it below!

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Farmland Views

Posted: August 13, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: farmland, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 5 Comments

On Monday I posted a video featuring a new scenic stamp set from Penny Black. Today I’ve used the new ‘farmland’ stamp. I have two different colour schemes showing off the single stamp. In future posts I will combine it with other stamps for more detailed landscapes.

I created the background first using faded jeans, fossilized amber and vintage photo, colours I would use again in the stamping. (to see how I created the background check out Monday’s video)

Once the background was dry I put the stamp in a positioner so I could stamp one colour at a time. The farmers fields are vintage photo, crushed olive and mowed lawn. I used rustic wilderness for the trees on the horizon. A mix of stamp pads and markers made it possible to add detail to the house and trees. Spritzing and splattering over the fields gave them the texture which suggests crops.

On this second card I used a reference photo of farm fields including lavender alongside another crop. The colours are perhaps a little bold but I love trying to recreate a photograph with stamps. The background is paler this time (scattered straw and salty ocean) and the fields a mix of seedless preserves, dusty concord, rusty hinge, fossilized amber, peeled paint, rustic wilderness and vintage photo.

Once again I used markers to add final detail back into the trees and house. Can you picture the lavender fields of Provence? I have visited a lavender farm in Tasmania and you smell it before you see it!

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At Ease

Posted: August 11, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: at ease, Penny Black | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 21 Comments

Wouldn’t you love to have a sweet beach hut like this one? To be honest I would love to be at the beach, hut or not! Instead I am enjoying a great summer with just the perfect mix of hot and warm days. The garden is growing and it is great to be outdoors. To celebrate the joys of summer I have teamed up with the Foiled Fox to host a Summer Giveaway.

If you like this beachy theme make sure you pop over to the Foiled Fox blog. I am blogging there today but you can also catch the cute starfish card Shauna posted recently.

I kept things clean and simple for this beach hut card, it wasn’t my first go with the PB ‘at ease’ set; I completed a couple of other panels using more colours and elements in the scene. I think this simple approach is my favourite.

I stamped the hut in soft stone ink and did further stamping with distress inks. I used the salty ocean, rusty hinge and chipped sapphire distress inks to paint the hut, roof and railings as well as the fish decorations.

To add a background I placed some post-its over the hut so I could blend some ink for the sand and water. I used the torn edge of a post it to mask while blending. As I often do I popped up the panel on the same colour cardstock for a subtle ‘shadow’ frame. I added the sentiment from PB ‘enliven’ set because nothing says ‘great day’ to me like a beach themed card!

Make sure to leave a comment below telling me your favourite summer activity. I’ll put you in the draw to win a little spending spree at The Foiled Fox store!

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Honeycomb & Checkered

Posted: August 10, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: checkered, Darkroom Door, Feathers, gel press, honeycomb, Nature Walk, Stencils | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, gel press, gel printing, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 3 Comments

New stencils from Darkroom Door means new gel prints in my stack! I used greens, teal, beige and gold paints to print with the new honeycomb and checkerboard stencils. For the second card I used a mix of blue, beige, gold and coral paint for a rich print.

I used the stencil printing method demonstrated in this video and worked on printer paper with a 6″x6″ gel press.

After completing a fresh stack of gel prints I chose these two because of the beautiful mix of colours and textures. I pulled out Darkroom Door feather and wildflower stamps and stamped them over the top of the prints. I decided to emboss using co-ordinating versafine inks to make the images stand up a little over the print.

I chose sentiments from the DD sentiment strip stamp and embossed them to pop up over the stamped and printed panels.

Ever since I started gel printing with stencils I can’t get enough of the intricate detailed ones. These two new ones from Darkroom Door are very cool and create such great backgrounds!

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Sunset Over Wetlands Video

Posted: August 9, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: mountain magic, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 9 Comments

Scenic stamping can be so much fun and working with the new ‘mountain magic’ set from Penny Black is proving to be delightful. Even though the set mentions mountains, in this card I am using the wide hilly stamp to represent island strips in a wetlands environment when the sun is setting and hitting both water and land.

Once again I did the sunset sky first by swiping the watercolour paper through diluted ink. It is not possible to control the result with this method but it is possible to create stunning skies. Take a look at the video below to see the whole process.

I really enjoy working with scenic stamps, especially switching the time of day or time of year with colour choices and arrangement. I also like to look through my scenic and nature stamps in order to add more elements to the scene. I will be doing that with these two simple stamps from the ‘mountain magic’ set.

Hope today’s video inspires to you to swipe a pretty sky and stamp some scenery over the top!

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Lakeside Wander

Posted: August 6, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, wander | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

When I receive new scenic stamps from Penny Black I love creating a variety of scenes. I like to change mood and location first with colour and later with the addition of other scenic stamps. Both scenes in today’s post feature only one stamp, the new ‘wander’ cling stamp.

The stamp includes both the distant hills and the foreground with a tree. The space in between can be interpreted by the stamper to include whatever they wish. I have chosen to make it water in both my cards perhaps a river, a lake or ocean inlet.

To make both scenes I created a smooshed ink sky first. For the sunny sky and water above I smooshed salty ocean, scattered straw and mowed lawn on my glass mat then swiped the watercolour panel through the diluted ink. For the moodier panel below I smooshed faded jeans, mowed lawn and tea dye to create my background.

Once the sky dried I stamped the scenic stamp inking it with a mix of distress inkpads and markers. I add colours a bit at a time to build up dimension sometimes spritzing the stamp to move the inks and other times blending the stamped inks with a paint brush

To add reflections to the second scene I painted over the water with hmmm, water so I could drop ink into the wet area below the land and trees.

When I had finished the panel above I gave it some texture with the ‘subtle’ embossing folder so it looks like it has a canvas finish. The two cards definitely show different moods, the first being bright and sunny, the second darker but with drama in the water and sky. Which do you prefer?

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Artful August Circle Journal Page

Posted: August 5, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Art Journal, basket weave, Christmas bush, Darkroom Door, fragments, gel press, gelli plate, little swirls, mesh, Nature Walk, Paper Rose, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, gelli plate | 6 Comments

Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door is hosting ‘Artful August’, a challenge to make something arty each day in August. She has provided 31 prompts and I am going to play along as often as I can. Circles was the prompt yesterday so I cut circles from a just few of the many gel print panels I have piling up. I used only gelprints done on rice paper and they cut and adhered very easily.

Once I had cut circles in different sizes from different gel printed panels I stamped flower silhouettes from several Darkroom Door sets. Before gluing the circles to the pages I painted the pages with a base of gesso + light brown paint and added some scribbly circles by tracing inside circle dies.

I glued the printed, stamped circles with matte medium both on the back of the paper and over the top to seal it. To add a bit more interest around the circles I blended antique linen ink through a homemade paper stencil.

The prompts in the challenge are very open and participants are encouraged to interpret them in any way and with any medium. If you are on instagram you can view the submissions by searching for #artfulaugust or #rachelgreigartfulaugustchallenge

As I participate in the challenge I will have simple experiments along with some completed projects like this one. The fun is simply playing with the prompts. In making today’s journal pages I was very happy to use some pretty scraps, experiments and clean up pages from gel printing sessions. There are always too many to turn into cards but each one has a unique texture and colour mix.

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Seashells

Posted: August 4, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Catherine Pooler inks, seashells | Tags: Catherine Pooler inks, distress markers, Penny Black stamps | 8 Comments

Penny Black recently came out with new stamps that had me daydreaming of the beach. I was a shell collector as a child and still love wandering the shore looking for seashell beauty when I get the chance.

To bring these clear stamps to life I stamped initially in various colours of Catherine Pooler ink then blended out the colours to fill the shells. I smooshed the inks on my glass mat so I could use it as a palette and featured brown inks in all four shells but added different colours to make each one stand out a little. After blending colours for a while some of the initial detail was lost so I used a few distress markers to add some lines back in.

Once the shells dried I used a warm grey Karin brush marker to add shadows below the shells. I drew around the base of each shell in grey then blended it out with water before adding extra grey right beside the shell for depth.

I popped the panel up up an embossed background made with the ‘mod squares’ folder from Altenew.

Oh I would like to be beside the seaside!

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Fine Flowers watercolour video

Posted: August 3, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Darkroom Door, fine flowers vol 2, Tutorial | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, distress markers, Ranger Distress inks, Tutorial, video | 6 Comments

This pretty outline flower is from the Darkroom Door set ‘fine flowers vol 2’. There are six flowers in the set and I am working my way through trying out each stamp. I began inking and stamping this zinnia/dahlia style flower and was so happy with the colour combination I stopped stamping and set myself up to film. You can see the process in the video below.

I’ve exclaimed about inks that colour separate before( and go into more detail in my online class Colour Clues ) but one of my favourites in this regard is chipped sapphire distress ink. You can see in the close up below grey blue, navy blue, pale blue and purply blue. Hardly any effort required!

All the stamps in the set have the same sketchy style and tiny dots so I did not add any further fanciness. It really was a minimal supplies card in the end even though I did not start with that plan in mind.

By the way Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door is running a challenge throughout August called #artfulaugust. If you check her instagram you can see a list of prompts. I am going to join in as often as possible as it is an open ended no pressure challenge. I have already missed one day but I am not going to dwell on that I will just dive in when I can. Kathy Racoosin is also running the Daily Marker colouring challenge during August, another low pressure, designed for fun and relaxation challenge. I hope to participate in that when I can too. Let me know if you are joining in.