Paint pouring or string painting?

Posted: December 18, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: paint pouring | Tags: paint pouring, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Yupo Paper | 9 Comments

I have seen a little bit of chat in comments about my recent paint pouring panels. Are they what we know as paint pouring or are they string painting? I am a newbie at this so I’m not the best one to ask. I do have one more string painting panel for you today along with what is known as a ‘dirty pour’. I thought both turned out rather nice and this is just adding to my desire to try all these methods again plus a few more techniques I have found on the interwebs.

The string paint pouring panel above was completed with just the two colours, a base of deep pink paint on a yupo panel then a piece of string dipped in white paint, laid in twists and turns on the wet panel then carefully dragged off leaving a trail of paint behind it.

This second panel is a ‘dirty pour’ created when several colours are poured into a cup together, cup is turned upside down onto the yupo panel then lifted to let the paint escape in all directions. A little tilting this way and that can change the size and shape of the pattern but really I didn’t do much; the magic just happened. I also didn’t do much to turn the panels into cards, a tiny sentiment stamped in monarch versafine clair ink on the top card and a stacked die-cut sentiment on the second card.

I know I keep mentioning this but I would like to thank my card making, blog reading friends for supporting me in the Dressember campaign this year. I am wearing a dress every day this month and my fundraising total is steadily moving towards the $1800 goal I have set for myself. Readers of this blog have blown me away with their involvement. The money raised world wide will be given in grants to organizations doing amazing work in the locating, rescuing and empowering of human trafficking victims. If you would like to give to this life changing work visit my campaign page here. If you would like to check and see the daily dresses, I’m posting them on Pinterest and Instagram. I’m sending out cards to all my donors so one of today’s cards could be yours!!

Supplies

Paper: heavy weight yupo (legion), neenah solar white cardstock, purple cardstock

Stamp: snippets (PB)

Die: deco frame (PB)

Also: stick it adhesive sheets (for the little die-cut)

Crisp or misty

Posted: December 12, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: majestic mountains, pine cones | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 11 Comments

I pulled out the wonderful new trees from Darkroom Door’s ‘majestic mountains’ set to create today’s cards. I wanted to create two forest scenes, one on a crisp cold night, the other on a misty day. There are some similarities in the techniques and inks as well as differences which enabled me to create both looks. I began both times with cold pressed watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid. I like to have a few circles cut from frisket film on hand to mask a moon so I positioned one in the top right corner then tore a post-it note and positioned it diagonally across the panel. I stamped the two larger trees in versafine clair inks along the edge of the post-it mask so the trunks did not show and used one green for the largest tree and another green for the smaller.

Next I removed the post-it mask and painted water along the lower edge of the stamping and upwards to fill the sky. Then while the paper was wet I added weathered wood, faded jeans and old paper distress stains to fill the sky. Once I had the sky blended I used the post-it mask again as an edge to stamp more trees including one of the smaller ones from the ‘majestic mountains’ set. Again after removing the post-it mask I painted water and blended some of the three stains into the water to create shadows behind the trees and snowbanks. To finish it off I dried the panel, removed the frisket film and masking fluid then added a sentiment from the DD ‘pine cones’ set.

Although the colours and stamps are very similar I worked very much ‘wet into wet’ to create the second card. I painted water and diluted stain over most of the panel adding stripes of faded jeans, weathered wood and old paper. While it was wet I stamped the trees repeatedly with memento northern pine ink making first and second generation impressions to get dark foreground and lighter background images. Each time I inked the stamp I wiped ink off the trunk so it would not stamp, that way the trees all looked like they were in deep snow.

Believe it or not both panels started out the same size but a blot here and a mistake there meant this second one underwent some downsizing.

You might have noticed a stamped envelope in the first photo. I am going to try hard to stamp an envelope and my name on the back of the card as soon as I complete it. I have never been good at this but it makes a lot of sense to do it!

Supplies

Stamps:majestic mountains, pine cones (Darkroom Door)

Inks: northern pine memento, shady lane & rain forest versafine clair

Stains: faded jeans, weathered wood, old paper

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white, dark green

Also: masking fluid, glass mat

A little more paint pouring

Posted: December 11, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Dies, paint pouring | Tags: paint pouring, Penny Black creative dies, Yupo Paper | 9 Comments

Yes, I have more from my paint pouring adventure to share! This one was done with metallic paints as you can see. When you pour or in this case ‘drag’ them onto the base colour the metallics don’t look very shiny but as they dry, well, you can see how lovely they are. To turn this one into a card I searched through my gold cardstock to find a match with the gold paint. I am a bit fussy with gold cardstock, some is too coppery, some too brown, too yellow, too light, too dark; you get the idea. The one that matched the best this time is a textured gold made by Tonic and it has a white back so I turned it into the card base. I also die-cut a ‘thank you’ from the same cardstock.

As I mentioned yesterday I won’t go into the how-to of paint pouring this time around but if I keep doing it I will definitely share what I learn. For those of you who have done some paint pouring this one was done by dipping some crochet thread in coloured paint, laying it on a base of black paint and gently pulling it through the black paint and off the panel.

I’m not sure of the brand of paints as I don’t own any (yet) but the matte colours came from a dollar store and the metallics from an art store. I was pleasantly surprised to find how many of the supplies could be bought from a dollar store or hardware store.

I have another paint pourer to recommend today and as I said yesterday be prepared to disappear into youtube land for quite some time! Mixed Media girl’s paintings are also mesmerising.

Supplies

Yupo Paper Pad – White, HEAVY – 5″ x 7″ [ FLD ]	Tonic Studios Craft Perfect Luxury… [ FLD ]	Penny Black Many Thanks Die Set [ FLD ]
Ken Oliver Stick It Adhesive Sheets… [ FLD ]

https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?1549439153802

Paper: heavy weight yupo (legion), gold satin cardstock (tonic)

Die: many thanks (PB)

Also: stick it adhesive sheets (for the little die-cut)

A little paint pouring

Posted: December 10, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: paint pouring, YAY for you | Tags: My Favorite Things, Penny Black creative dies, Yupo Paper | 10 Comments

I did some paint pouring yesterday with some friends who had done it before and had skills they were willing to share. I was excited to go and try it but fairly certain it would just be a fun experiment rather than a new passion. Not so sure anymore!! It is very addictive, a bit like alcohol inks and the way they keep moving and doing magical things.

I did several pours on heavy yupo and a couple of little canvases. They take a while to dry so I have turned only one into a card so far. I won’t go into detail about the technique or supplies; I’m too much of a newbie. If you want to learn about paint pouring then look up Myriam’s Nature on youtube and prepare to give up the rest of your day being mesmerized by her beautiful panels. My base for this design was white paint then I dipped threads into blue paint and gold paint and dragged them across the panel to create these pretty patterns.

I’ve turned this panel into a thank you card with a Penny Black die and a MFT sentiment. I am so happy to be sending out thank yous to people who have donated to my Dressember campaign raising money to help fight human trafficking. I am excited that so many of my donations so far have come from people I know through card making, some I’ve met at classes, others read my blog. It is a privilege to be part of such a caring, giving community. Thank you for getting involved. If you would like to donate please visit my campaign page. If you would like to see if I’ve been wearing the dresses each day I’m posting on Pinterest and Instagram.

I will show you more of my paint pouring panels in future posts. Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies

Paper: heavy weight yupo

Stamp: YAY for you (MFT)

Die: wishes (PB)

More skies & dies

Posted: December 6, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: berry flourish, Brusho, deer in tree, holly flourish, winter berry branch | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 4 Comments

I have a few more simple Christmassy cards to share; these ones are kind of the opposite to the ones in the previous post. I had a large watercolour galaxy panel with white splatter (aka ‘stars’) all over it. I die cut three branches from the panel to pop up on three white card bases.

I realise now it would have been a good idea to take a photo of the panel before I cut it up. It was a panel I painted with brusho a while ago, a mix of blues and pinks, light in the centre and dark around the edges with white paint splattered over the whole thing. The holly is a PB die called ‘holly flourish’, the mistletoe is ‘berry flourish’.

After I had die cut all three branches I chose a shape die a little smaller than each of the branches so some foliage would hang over the edge. I die cut a shape from neenah solar white cardstock and from coloured adhesive backed foam. The foam pieces that pop up the white panels are either burgandy or navy to co-ordinate with the paint colours.

To assemble the cards I first glued the die cut to the white cardstock shape then snipped off and saved any bits hanging over the edge. Next I adhered the white panel to the foam and then all to the white card base. Once the popped up panel was in place I stuck the snipped off bits directly onto the card base lining them up with the rest of the die-cut.

I made all these cards into thank yous. I’m hoping to need many as I am once again participating in Dressember, and will be sending hand made cards to all who donate to the campaign. If you are new to my blog you might not know that I have twice before taken on the challenge of wearing a dress every day in December as part of a worldwide campaign to raise funds for and awareness about the fight to end modern day slavery. If you are interested in donating I have set up a CAMPAIGN PAGE and I am posting photos on pinterest and instagram just so you can check up on me to make sure I’m wearing a dress each day! I have written a little more about Dressember on my other (sadly neglected) blog, Sentient.

This last branch die is called ‘winter berry branch’ also from Penny Black. The sentiment is from the ‘banner sentiments’ set and is stamped in chianti versafine clair ink.

And now a bonus card made with my last watercolour sky piece. I matted it on two sides with burgandy cardstock then cut a snow bank and the ‘deer in tree’ die from neenah solar white cardstock. It is a pretty die but would the deer be standing in a tree? I think not!

Supplies

Stamps: banner sentiments (PB)

Dies: holly flourish, berry flourish, winter berry branch, deer in tree (PB)

Ink: chianti versafine clair ink

Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah solar white, burgandy cardstock

Paint: brusho, white gesso

Also: on point gule

Skies & dies

Posted: December 4, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, holiday hello, neighbourhood border, winter trees | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies | 9 Comments

I have three simple cards to show you today, simple that is if you have some watercolour backgrounds sitting around as I often do. Even if you don’t it would not take too long to create a large multicoloured panel with brusho, distress stains or some other watercolour medium then when its dry splatter white paint over it to look like stars or snow.

I trimmed my background panels then added a hand cut snow bank to the card above plus the deer from the Penny Black ‘holiday hello’ set. I know it is very minimal but I rather like the way the deer could be looking up into the vast sky.

On the second card all I added to the star filled sky was the PB ‘neighborhood border’ die. All the die cuts are neenah solar white cardstock. For some I used liquid glue, others I attached using stick it adhesive.

I added the shooting star when I created the watercolour sky with the same white paint.

The background sky for this final card is the last scrap of a large panel I painted very randomly with turquoise and blue brusho. I tore a strip of white cardstock to create the snow bank, die cut a tree to tuck behind it and a sleigh to sit on top. The tree is the smaller one from the PB set, ‘winter trees’ and the sleigh is also from Penny Black.

I’m going to leave these without sentiments for now; they might be handy to use as thank you cards after Christmas.

Supplies

Dies: winter trees, sleigh, neighborhood border, holiday hello (PB)

Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah solar white

Paint: brusho, white gesso

Also: stick it adhesive, on point gule

Sparkle stencil birthday

Posted: December 3, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: mandala | Tags: Alexandra Renke, distress oxide inks, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

I know what you are thinking. What could have inspired me to create a sparkly pink and purple birthday card? A sweet five year old girl! She loves texture so I am hoping the raised glitter embossing, surprisingly silky sparkle ribbon and the raised sentiment will also appeal.

I used a beautiful quarter circle stencil by Alexandra Renke which I am looking forward to using on future projects. I blended four colours of distress oxide inks on neenah solar white cardstock first as I wanted to add the glittery embossing powder over the top. I made sure the ink was totally dry and also used a powder tool before pressing versamark ink through the stencil onto the panel. The embossing powder is WOW fairy dust which is very silvery and sparkly despite what my photos show.

I wrapped the panel with a bit of silky smooth glitter ribbon brought home from France by my partner in craft, embossed the MFT sentiment in silver powder and popped it up over the ribbon. All the product names are linked below. I realize this may not seem like a little girl card, after all there are no princesses, unicorns or cute animals. Since my children became grownups I haven’t really made many child cards. Do you make cards for children? What sets them apart from your other cards?

Supplies

Stencil: mandala (AR)

Stamp: birdie brown greetings galore

Inks: blueprint sketch, picked raspberry, dusty concord, seedless preserves distress oxide inks & versamark

Also: Ranger silver embossing powder, WOW fairy dust embossing powder, silver ribbon

Pine cones

Posted: November 30, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: pine cones, yuletide greetings | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 5 Comments

I just cracked open this set from Darkroom Door yesterday and I’m so happy with these lovely images. The set contains three pine cones, two pine needle stamps and six sentiments yet to be inked. I worked on cold pressed watercolour paper and used distress inks to stamp and paint.

I splattered masking fluid over this panel first then, when it was dry used my MISTI for the stamping. I stamped the pine cone first with vintage photo and ground espresso distress inks (not oxides). I stamped several impressions because of the texture of the paper then stamped the pine needle stamp around the pine cone in forest moss and pine needles ink. I didn’t use careful masking but did position a post it note over the pine cone while I stamped the needles that appear to be behind the cone. With all the stamping done I blended some of the pine cone with water and spritzed over the pine needles.

To fill the background I painted shabby shutters and pine needles ink with plenty of water to dilute and move it around. After removing the masking fluid I added a sentiment from the Yuletide greetings set in shady lane versafine ink.

For the second card I switched pine needle stamps but kept the same pine cone. I stamped the needles first in mowed lawn and pine needles distress ink. Again I didn’t want to cut some fiddly masks so I did partial inking instead to position the pine cones in amongst the needles. I blended them with a fine tip paint brush then splattered some green and brown inks over the panel. I wanted a splash of gold so I embossed a sentiment from Yuletide greetings in ultra high gold embossing powder which is chunkier than some.

I also splattered some embossing fluid on the panel and tipped the same powder on to the splatter and heated it. Some of my blobs of embossing fluid were a bit big so I ended up with squishy gold dots on the panel. (definitely one for hand delivery!)

Supplies

Stamps: pine cones, yuletide greetings (DD)

Inks: pine needles, forest moss, vintage photo, mowed lawn, shabby shutters & shady lane versafine clair ink

Markers: gathered twigs, ground espresso

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper

Also: masking fluid, embossing fluid, WOW metallic gold rich ultra high powder

Tree Trio

Posted: November 29, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Christmas background, trio of trees | Tags: My Favorite Things, Ranger Distress inks | 14 Comments

Today’s cards are made with a cute set from My Favorite Things and some oxide inks. I didn’t set out to make watercolour cards but it seems I just can’t help it! I stamped the little tree skeleton stamp in versamark then embossed in clear powder. Next I inked the triangle tree stamp in peeled paint and peacock feathers oxide inks and stamped over the top of the skeletons. Then, not willing to leave the trees, I gave them a watercolour look by blending the two colours within the triangle with water.

I used the same two inks to create a blended sky over the embossed MFT Christmas background stamp. I painted the snow banks in amongst the trees by picking up ink off my glass mat.

I followed a similar process to create this blue card. I inked the triangles with blue print sketch and stormy sky distress oxide inks, blended them and stamped the tree skeleton over the top with blueprint sketch. The background is once again embossed then swiped through some diluted blue print sketch and stormy sky distress oxide ink on my glass mat.

The final card is a very simple design but again I started with two tone blended trees (a different tree stamp). This time my colours were bundled sage and lucky clover oxide inks. Once the trees were dry I stamped the dot stamp over the top with candied apple oxide ink and added a sentiment in the same ink.

I decided to make the sentiment shiny by embossing in clear powder, then restamped all the dots so I could emboss them too.

These cards are a bit different from my usual style but reminded me how much fun can be had with the oxide inks.

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas background, trio of trees (MFT)

Inks: versamark & peeled paint, peacock feathers, stormy sky, blueprint sketch, bundled sage, lucky clover, candied apple distress oxide inks

Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock, olive cardstock, blue cardstock

Also: clear embossing powder, glass mat

Winter Tree

Posted: November 28, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: xmas poinsettia cut out | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 15 Comments

It is hard to believe I haven’t shared this beautiful tree stamp already. It is a large rubber cling stamp called winter tree and it looks snow laden when stamped. It is a very detailed tree but my treatment has it looking a little more impressionistic. To create the card above I lay the tree stamp on my cold pressed watercolour paper and positioned masking paper around the edges of the stamp. When I lifted the stamp there was a tree shaped space exposed.

I splattered masking fluid over the panel so there were lots of drops in the shape of a tree. When I removed the masking paper I splattered a few more drops of masking fluid around the tree. I placed the panel and stamp in my stamp positioner and dotted distress stain on the stamp. For this tree I used mustard seed, mermaid lagoon, pine needles and blueprint sketch. I stamped a couple of colours at a time until the tree was completely stamped albeit in a loose and watery way. To fill in the background I wanted the same colours but more diluted so I put stain on my glass mat so I could pick it up with a paint brush.

I painted around the tree with water touching the edges of the tree with the paintbrush so the colour would bleed into the sky. To fill the sky I picked up extra colour from my glass mat. When all the paint was dry I removed the masking fluid and added a die cut sentiment and a matching mat.

I followed the same process for the second card but used hot pressed watercolour paper and more colours of distress stain. I also stamped a few trees in the background using a tree from the ‘prancers‘ set and peacock feathers distress ink.

When snow completely covers our Christmas lights the colour does look a bit blurry shining through the snow. That’s what these cards remind me of.

Not that there are any Christmas trees or lights up around here yet. There are members of this family with strong feelings about Christmas decorations!

Supplies

Stamps: winter tree, prancers

Stains: mustard seed, blue print sketch, peacock feathers, pine needles

Die: merry Christmas (PB)

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, deep blue cardstock

Tools: MISTI, T ruler, stick-it adhesive, glass mat