Classic car

Posted: March 25, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: classic cars vol 1, Darkroom Door, diamonds, gelli plate, number medley, starry night, Stencils | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

I have some mixed media goodness for you today. I know it’s pretty flat and doesn’t involve any fibres or other funky textured things but it is mixed media and currently my favourite mixed media option – gel printing. I spent a day with a friend a few weeks ago, and we printed up a storm on our gel presses. This is one of my backgrounds patterned with Darkroom Door stencils then stamped with DD stamps.

The textures in the background were made with the DD small stars stencil, diamond stencil and some corrugated cardboard. This background was cut from a bigger panel and I chose a section that had a pop of yellow in the corner; it’s only a small thing but it provides some contrast and leads the eye from left to right.

Once I’d trimmed my panel I stamped one of the cars from ‘classic cars vol 1’ in versamark ink and embossed in white. The background is so busy I needed to do something to make the car stand out a bit more so I coloured it with a white pencil which softened the area inside the stamped car just enough to make a difference. I added numbers from the new ‘number medley’ set in black so they would subtle but noticeable. The sentiment also from ‘classic cars’ set is embossed on a strip of the gel print then matted in white and popped up on some foam tape.

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Unforgettable

Posted: March 23, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, unforgettable | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

Today’s card features a large outline stamp from Penny Black called ‘unforgettable’. When I read the stamp name I can’t help but start singing the Nat King Cole song, even if only in my head. I positioned the stamp to cover half the card front but if used on a landscape oriented card it would almost fill the whole front. I used one of my tried and true techniques to watercolour the image with distress inks.

I worked with a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper in the stamp positioner and inked components of the design with distress inks and markers. I ink the outlines as accurately as possible with the ink colour I’m going to paint that section with. I inked some of the flowers with seedless preserves and others with wild honey. The leaves are bundled sage with some forest moss ink. When painting the petals I blended ink from the outline, and when that wasn’t enough picked up some from my glass mat where I smoosh the inkpad.

I enjoy doing no-line watercolour with a pale ink like antique linen distress but I also like this method. It can be fiddly inking each flower and leaf in different colours but if you use a mix of markers and ink cubes you can pretty good coverage. I always have a wipe or sponge on hand to wipe ink off the stamp if it’s gone out of bounds.

The sentiment is from the new ‘million thanks’ set which features two large versions of ‘thank you’ and two of ‘thanks’. The rest of the set is phrases to be paired with ‘thank you’.  I have much to be thankful for right now as I am safe at home with most of my family knowing my eldest is safe at home elsewhere. We have what we need and know that isn’t the case for everyone. I hope you are staying healthy, hopeful and home!

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Dazzling postcard

Posted: March 20, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: dazzle, Penny Black, Script, vintage postcard | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

I am sharing these tulip cards over on the Foiled Fox blog today. You know I like it over there, I enjoy the inspiration on their blog, the range of products in their store and the interaction with the Foiled Fox staff and their readers. Make sure you pop over there.

To create a vintage background I smooshed antique linen distress ink on a glass mat then spritzed water over the ink before swiping a hot pressed watercolour panel through the it. I dried the panel before repeating the step. Next I inked the ‘script’ background stamp in antique linen ink, spritzed it then stamped it on one side of the panel. I let everything dry before moving onto the tulips. The stamp is a new one from Penny Black called ‘dazzle’; it is large and features two tulips and two buds. Neither of today’s cards show you the whole stamp; I was after the look of patterned paper rather than a complete image. You will see the whole stamp on another card in the future.

I inked the stamp with scattered straw, wild honey and forest moss distress ink, spritzed it lightly then stamped over the edges of the panels. I also wiped ink off the stamp before pressing it down so the tulips would appear to be floating not anchored to the base of the panel. On the second card I blended over the stamped tulips with water to create a transparent look but on the card above I left them looking ‘lacey’. After the ink dried I splattered both panels with wild honey and forest moss inks.

To finish the card above I stamped part of the new ‘vintage postcard’ stamp in vintage photo archival ink. On the card below I added some hemp twine and a popped up sentiment panel also stamped on ‘aged-looking’ paper.

You have already seen this sentiment once this week; it does seem appropriate for the uncertain circumstances we are experiencing right now. I made both cards before the virus situation escalated in North America but I hope having these cards and those words end up on the blog this week is an encouragement to you.

In the close up above you can see clearly the variation of colour achieved by picking up diluted antique linen ink on my watercolour panel; there seems to be a purply tone in there! I love this kind of background and it is so easy to do. Thank you for dropping by today. I appreciate you all and am encouraged to hear that these posts are providing you with some inspiration during a difficult time.

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Herb garden

Posted: March 18, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: herb garden, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

Here is another new stamp from Penny Black and definitely one of my faves from the new release ‘Secret Garden’. I’m not much of a gardener, certainly not in the class of my mother and father but I do plant herbs every spring and use them in my cooking during summer and fall. Before the snow came at the beginning of winter my daughter decided to transplant a few into pots and bring them inside. They really didn’t enjoy the transfer but they struggled on. I don’t think they have enjoyed the neglect either we as fail to water them for weeks at a time. Despite our patchy efforts they seem to be hanging in there. I assume I should prune them hard soon then look after them a bit better leading up to their return to the outside world.

I did not have the same issues keeping these three pots looking healthy. I used distress inks pads and markers to do some watercolouring. I knew I wanted the herbs to all be different greens but I didn’t want them to clash with each other so I picked four green inks and used a different pair on each herb for continuity. The parsley was pine needles and mowed lawn, rosemary was iced spruce and peeled paint and basil was mowed lawn and peeled paint. When inking the stamp I dabbed both inks on the leaves, stamped then used a paintbrush to blend the inks with water to fill the leaves.

All the pots were done with barn door, hickory smoke and vintage photo ink. I inked the stamp with the three distress inks but also picked them up from a glass mat so I could paint each pot adding shadows and depth. I also painted shadows below each pot with hickory smoke ink and a little vintage photo. I thought about adding some background but I just love those little pots sitting there looking healthy all by themselves to I left them alone just adding ‘thinking of you’ from the mini set ‘wildflowers’.

I just took another look at our sad stringy herbs; advice is welcome!

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Where flowers bloom

Posted: March 16, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: exhilaration, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

The appearance of sunny skies and warmer temperatures over the weekend have been a pleasant change; maybe spring has sprung. Life seems to have changed a little since I was posting on Friday! Events have been cancelled, churches, schools, libraries and recreation centres have closed for the next three weeks at least and store shelves have some significant gaps.  Here in Ottawa the number of people infected with the virus is still low but growing each day.

This simple card is stamped with a new brushstroke stamp from Penny Black called ‘Exhilaration’. It is a spray of flowers which curves in a ‘s’ shape. I stamped it once from the top left corner then just a partial image crossing the bottom left corner.

You probably won’t be surprised by any of the process today as I used the same technique I often for brushstroke stamps. I did the stamping on hot pressed watercolour paper in the stamp positioner using distress markers to ink the stamp. I was pleasantly surprised how well the colours worked and how nice the blends were after minimal inking and spritzing.

The colours I used were festive berries and dusty concord on the flowers and  peeled paint, crushed olive and forest moss on the leaves and stems. I did spritz the stamps a little before stamping so the inks would blend. Using three greens worked well giving the simple leaf shapes more interest. The criss-crossing of stems gave me an indent which worked perfectly for a sentiment. I stamped the sentiment from the ‘blooming sentiments’ set in Spanish moss versafine ink.

Take care, I’ll be back with more in a few days.

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Butterfly mail

Posted: March 13, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, French Script, global postmarks, number medley, warm wishes, Wings | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

I started today’s card by creating a colourful watery background with distress stains smooshed on my glass mat. ( I am still using up my distress stain daubers but the spray stains will work just as well). I let the panel dry then added some water droplets which sat for thirty seconds before I dabbed them off with a paper towel to create pale watermarks.

To create the collage like background I inked Darkroom Door stamps with both distress stains and distress inks (salty ocean, mustard seed, crushed olive, broken china and hickory smoke). Some stamps I inked then spritzed with water, others I stamped then spritzed the panel with water and dabbed away colour with a paper towel. To create the collage background I used the new sets ‘global postmarks’ and number medley along with ‘French script’ background stamp. The butterfly stamp is from the ‘wings’ set and was stamped three times. I didn’t re-ink between impressions but I did spritz with water so each butterfly is paler than the previous one.

I swiped some of the same inks onto a scrap of watercolour paper before stamping the sentiment from the ‘warm wishes’ set and popping it up decorated with a bit of mustard cord.

Darkroom Door has some beautiful collage stamps but if you want to make your own collage prints then the recent global postmarks and number medley are perfect. Make sure you check out the rest of the latest release and all the inspiration on the blog.

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Exquisite envelope

Posted: March 11, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: exquisite envelope, Penny Black | Tags: , | 6 Comments

A few weeks back I stamped leaves and flowers over some loosely painted squares. Ever since I made the card I have wanted to try again with black paper and shimmer paint. The previous card featured ‘banner blooms‘ a clear outline set from Penny Black. Today’s card features a similar set called ‘exquisite envelope’. I’m sure I will use the sets together at some point.

To create today’s card I worked on a panel of cold pressed black watercolour paper with Coliro pearlescent paints from both the ‘ocean’ and ‘earth’ sets. I did not use a stencil to help me paint the shapes this time I freestyled them and tried to keep the edges basically in line with each other. After painting seven shimmery shapes I chose stamps that would fit the shapes. I know it would have made sense to create the shapes to fit the stamps but did I think of that? Ah no. It worked out though with some post-it note masking if a stamp was too big for the shape.

I embossed a sentiment from ‘million thanks’ on neenah black cardstock and popped it up over the painted shapes. I wanted a gold frame around the panel but could not find the exact gold in my stash so instead I painted the same gold paint from the Coliro earth set around the edges of the black card front. Painting your own mats and borders with matching ink or paint is a great way to get a perfect match.

It is a bit tricky to show off the pearlescent paint to advantage in photos but it really does shimmer and shine in real life. If you are interested in creating some shimmery dramatic panels and cards consider joining one of my classes here in Ottawa during March

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Petal Poetry

Posted: March 9, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, petal poetry | Tags: , , , | 12 Comments

Introducing ‘petal poetry’ from Penny Black, another floral beauty from the new release ‘Secret Garden’. This one is a brushstroke stamp which means the image is taken from a painted image. I like to stamp each brushstroke stamp I receive in a single colour, just a medium tone, nothing too light or dark, to see all the detail before I start creating with it. Having a monotone print of the image beside me when I work is very helpful. I always use a stamp positioner for this type of image so I can work on a bit at a time and I don’t feel any pressure to ink every bit in the right colour first go.

To create this panel I started by inking the flowers with shaded lilac distress ink and the leaves with peeled paint distress ink, then stamped without any spritzing. With the pale image of the peonies on my hot pressed watercolour panel I inked the edges of the petals in wilted violet distress ink and added forest moss ink to the leaves with a marker then stamped again. From this point on I added ink to the stamp with distress markers to define the petals, I had shaded lilac and dusty concord markers to help show edges and shadows. I did some spritzing of ink on the stamp but also blended the colour on the panel with a paintbrush. To see the sort of process I used check out a couple of my videos with similar stamps (blossom branch and spontaneous joy)

 

I kept on adding dabs of colour and blending with water until I was happy with the result. With this one I know I stopped myself from spritzing too much so the petals would still have some definition. And I didn’t even splatter! Such restraint! Once it was dry I added the centre of the flowers with a black soot distress marker and stamped a sentiment from ‘million thanks’ in versafine clair nocturne ink.

I hope you are enjoying the new floral stamps from Penny Black; there are indeed other images in the new release and I will eventually tear myself away from the florals to share some with you.

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Nature’s glory

Posted: March 6, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: nature's glory, Papertrey Inks, Penny Black | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

This artistic spray of flowers is a new brushstroke stamp from Penny Black called ‘nature’s glory’. As you can see it is big enough to fill a 4 ¼” x 5 ½” card front but you could use just a part of it for a smaller panel. I like the way it curves leaving me an obvious place for a sentiment. I think I’ve mentioned before I don’t always think about sentiment placement in advance so the shape of this stamp helped me out.

I stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper using a stamp positioner to enable me to build up colour and detail. I used a combination of Papertrey ink cubes and distress markers to ink sections of the stamp. I started with the harvest gold ink cube for the flowers, scarlet jewel for the berries and a few flowers and ocean tides for the leaves. I spritzed the stamp very lightly before stamping on the panel. Some of the leaves ended up with petal colours on them, some flowers ended up with a bit of blue-green and the red of the berries bled into the leaves also. To add a bit more definition to a few of the berries and flowers I switched to distress markers to ink brown centres in the flowers, green on a stem or two and orange on a couple of petals. Once again I spritzed the stamp lightly before stamping so the extra ink would blend on the stamp before hitting the paper.

The sentiment, from the new PB sentiment set ‘magical friendship’ is stamped in versafine clair ‘misty morning’ and the whole panel popped up on a piece of foam.

Thanks for dropping by.

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Blooming Bunch

Posted: March 4, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: blooming bunch, Penny Black | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

It’s time for a new release from Penny Black! This one’s called Secret Garden and it is full of gorgeous floral stamps and dies (and other cuteness). I will be sharing projects here on the blog in the coming weeks.

This lovely bucket of tulips turned out to be the perfect stamp for distress ink no-line watercolour. I inked the flowers one at a time in either festive berries or abandoned coral then blended ink from stamping along with a little extra from smooshing on my glass mat. I kept the panel (hot pressed watercolour paper) in the stamp positioner as I was painting my way through the flowers. I blended the stamped ink within each flower and added more ink towards the base of the petals. I tried to work on flowers that were not adjacent to each other so the inks didn’t run into each other. When all the flowers were done I inked some of the outlines again with a marker and re-stamped to add a bit of definition here and there.

I used forest moss distress ink for the stems and leaves. Forest moss is quite a dark ink so I diluted it for some of the leaves and was able to get depth and shadows.

Painting the bucket was my favourite part of the process; it isn’t fiddly and the mix of vintage photo and stormy sky ink made it look old. To ground the image I ruled a line with a black soot marker then blended the ink downward and painted a shadow at the base of the bucket with some stormy sky ink and a tiny bit of abandoned coral ink. I finished the card with a sentiment from the new ‘blooming sentiments’ set. It is one sentiment but I did some masking in order to stamp the large word at the top and the rest of the text at the bottom of my card front in versafine clair versafine clair misty morning.

See you again soon with more from the PB ‘Secret Garden’.

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