Watercolour pencil cacti

Posted: August 30, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Happy together, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 12 Comments

I’ve worked with this stamp before, last time with bister powder to colour it. It took longer with watercolour pencils but the process was quite relaxing. I used my tried and true Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils from Faber Castell and limited my choices to light green, dark green, light blue, purple and brown.

I stamped the image from the PB ‘happy together’ set in crushed olive distress ink then used a paint brush with my watercolour pencils to add colour. I painted shadows in a mix of brown and purple then matted with some purple cardstock.

Now, help me out here, what is the right occasion for sending a cacti card??

Supplies

Stamps: happy together


Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah natural white, purple

Inks: crushed olive distress ink
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Also: Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils

Across town

Posted: August 28, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: City stacks, City Stacks dies, Coloured pencil | Tags: , | 5 Comments

These little houses and trees came from the Concord & 9th ‘City Stacks’ set. I love the possibilities with this set. You can stamp a simple single house or a detailed layered scene. I decided to line my images in one long line extending across the front and back of the my card.

I stamped in versafine clair nocturne ink and did all my colouring with polychromos pencils. I used the co-ordinating dies to create masks to make the stamping easier when tucking those trees in amongst the houses. I also die-cut a cloud edge from cardstock as a guide for my pale blue pencil coloured clouds. I have a class coming up in September where we will be watercolouring these cute stamps to create some city scenes. Check it out on my Upcoming classes page.

Supplies

Stamps: City Stacks (Concord & 9th)

Dies: City Stacks die set (Concord & 9th)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, masking paper
 
Ink: versafine clair nocturne

Pencils: Faber Castell polychromos

Happy, happy, happy

Posted: August 27, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: geometric stars, YAY for you | Tags: , | Leave a comment

I posted some cards a couple of weeks back made with stencils from My Favorite Things. Here is another using the geometric stars stencil. I sponged oxide inks through the stencil onto neenah solar white cardstock (colours listed below). For a bit of shimmer I spritzed the panel with my blue pearl-ex mix (made by mixing ‘interference blue’ pearl-ex with water).

I matted with purple cardstock and die-cut 4x h, a, p, p, y using the ‘little lower case letters also from MFT.  I stamped some words from the MFT Yay for you set to complete my enthusiastic sentiment.

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Supplies

Stamps:  Yay for you (MFT)

Stencils: geometric stars, (MFT)

Inks:  dusty concord, peacock feathers, blueprint sketch, faded jeans distress oxides & monarch versafine clair
   
Paper: neenah solar white cardstock, purple cardstock

Also: cutterpillar glow premium, mini ink blending tool, mini ink blending foams, interference blue pearl-ex powder
  

Peaceful village

Posted: August 23, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: peaceful village | Tags: , , | 10 Comments

This is the last of my vintage style watercolours (for now) and I think this one might be my favourite. I don’t have step by step photos for this one but the process is exactly the same as shown in the tranquil hamlet video I posted earlier this week.

I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper but stamped with walnut stain ink instead of vintage photo. The walnut stain ink is a darker brown so the whole scene is a little darker but still has the vintage sepia look to it. I stamped in a stamp positioner because there is a lot of detail in the stamp.

As with my previous vintage style scenes I blended the stamping with water which pulled colour into the interior of the buildings, trees and bridge. As I blended the walnut stain ink I also added colour from watercolour pencils, including blue, green, black, yellow and red. I was careful to blend colour right up to the edges of snowy areas so it would contrast with the bright white of the snow on roofs and hills.

Supplies

Stamp: peaceful village

Ink: walnut stain distress ink

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Pencils: Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolour pencils
Tools: stamping platform

Winter Solace

Posted: August 22, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour, winter solace | Tags: , | 4 Comments

My vintage snowy scenes continue with this new Penny Black stamp ‘winter solace’. I kept it simple once again with vintage photo ink plus some black for shadows and some blue for the sky.  The technique is similar to the one I shared in my recent video but because this is a more solid stamp it is necessary to blend the ink more carefully so as not to obscure the details in the stamp. I stamped in vintage photo distress ink on cold pressed watercolour paper.

Rather than use watercolour pencils to add extra colour, I pressed black soot, vintage photo and broken china onto my glass mat to use as needed.

When blending the vintage photo ink I dabbed with a damp paintbrush instead of blending. I didn’t want the ink to cover the walls of the church uniformly, instead I left areas white and added black for shadows wherever I thought there would be some.

I added black under the eaves, under the windows and on the corners.

I used a pencil to lightly draw a roof line to give me a guide for painting blue sky. I painted right up to the pencil line and edges of building with water then added broken china ink to fill sky.  I dabbed the blue ink around the edges of the trees with the point of the brush.

I blended water over the stamped sections of trees taking care to leave the white areas to look like snow.

To add some snowbanks to the foreground I painted a few lines of vintage photo ink with a fine tip brush then blended them with water.

To complete the card I added a sentiment from the new ‘Christmas sentiments’ set.

I’m looking forward to trying some other looks and colour schemes with this stamp.

Supplies

Stamps: winter solace, Christmas sentiments
 
Inks: vintage photo, black soot, broken china distress ink
  
Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper

Also: cutterpillar glass mat

Snowy cottage

Posted: August 21, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: snowy cottage, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: , | 4 Comments

I’m continuing to feature stamps from the new Penny Black release. Today I have the second of my vintage style watercolours, this one stamped with a large clear stamp from the transparent set, Snowy Cottage. You can watch the video I posted yesterday to see the technique and refer to the step by step photos below to understand my process.

I used a stamp positioning tool to make sure the detailed stamp was fully printed on my hot pressed watercolour panel. I used vintage photo distress ink but other brown distress inks can give a similar vintage appearance.

I began by using a damp brush to blend the stamped ink over all the stonework of the cottage and wall. I picked up a bit of black off a watercolour pencil to add to any shaded areas.

Next I added red to the door and blue to all the windows, again picking up colour from the tips of my watercolour pencils.

I used a darker blue to fill the sky with colour, painting first with water around the edges of the trees and roof then adding blue to the damp area so it would blend and move to fill the sky. While the sky was wet I picked up vintage photo ink on the paint brush and dropped it into the sky above the chimney.

I also blended the areas adjacent to the snow to create contrast from snow banks to shadow. I picked up colour from a green pencil to add to all the trees, taking care to leave some areas white in each tree.

Finally I used a vintage photo distress marker to redraw the lattice on the windows.

To complete the card I trimmed the panel then matted it with brown cardstock and added it to a natural white card base.

I hope you enjoyed my second vintage style scene, I’ll be back tomorrow with another.

Supplies

Stamps: Tranquil Hamlet

Ink: vintage photo distress ink

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstock

Pencils: Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolour pencils
Tools: MISTI, Cutterpillar Glow premium

Tranquil Hamlet Video

Posted: August 20, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, tranquil hamlet, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

You’ve probably heard by now there is a new Penny Black release in town! Two actually, a big beautiful Christmas release and a fun fall release. The catalogues can be viewed here. I’ll be featuring vintage style snowy scenes all week here on the blog even though the sun is shining and the grass is green outside!

This lovely stamp called ‘Tranquil Hamlet’ is stamped in vintage photo ink and coloured with Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils on hot pressed watercolour paper. Watch the video to see how

Thanks for dropping by; I’ll be back tomorrow with another snowy scene.

Supplies

Stamps: Tranquil Hamlet

Ink: vintage photo distress ink

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Pencils: Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolour pencils (199, 159, 154, 151, 126)
Tools: stamping platform
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Birthday prints

Posted: August 17, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: happy birthday to you, painted prints | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

I’ve been playing around with the layering stamps from MFT ‘painted prints’ again. I had a bit of an idea in my head when I started but I changed it a couple of times along the way. It’s on hot pressed watercolour paper because at first I intended to add water. I began by stamping the roses in worn lipstick and added the second layer with stamped off aged mahogany.

Next I did the leaves in shabby shutters with second layer in forest moss. I did the little yellow flowers with wild honey; some are dark some a light because I stamped them twice each time I inked, a first and a second generation print. I gave them little stems and with shabby shutters and forest moss.

I filled it in with tiny dusty concord flowers stamped twice just slightly offset to get two-toned flowers in all the gaps. To make the half hidden sentiment I stamped with versamark and embossed twice with WOW clear ultra high powder. To make the clear embossed sentiment show up I sponged antique linen ink over it; that was a bit too subtle so I switched to wild honey. Still too subtle I grabbed the wild honey marker and drew some shadows around two edges of each letter.

‘Cos I was feeling fancy I made a matching envelope and stamped a great big ‘Happy Birthday to you’ inside the card. I discovered something cool to do with these stamps while I was making this card so there will be more to share another day. Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies

Stamps: paint prints, happy birthday to you

Inks: worn lipstick, aged mahogany, wild honey, scattered straw, dusty concord, shabby shutters, forest moss, antique linen distress inks, versamark

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: WOW clear ultra high embossing powder

Stencils & Oxides

Posted: August 16, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: geometric stars, MFT stencils, Moroccan mosaic | Tags: , | 5 Comments

I have new MFT stencils and oxide inks in the house, a good combination for sure as the oxide inks blend so very nicely. The stencils are the focus on today’s cards but I’m sure I’ll have them providing subtle backgrounds on cards in the future. I’m over on the Foiled Fox blog today talking about these cards and my choices for each one. The first card features MFT  ‘geometric stars’ stencil. The next two cards are made with the MFT ‘Moroccan mosaic’ stencil.

I used mini ink blending tools and Neenah solar white cardstock to create all the cards.

I have some of the new oxide colours so I was keen to try them out. Above are all new stormy sky, spun sugar and dusty concord. (Ahh stormy sky, you are so perfect)

I paired the new crushed olive with the older forest moss. (There is also some antique linen in the middle there but it’s covered up by the HAPPY!) I had fun mixing and matching with some MFT sentiment sets to create all my messages and I love the way the stencilling underneath affects the stamping over the top.

For my final card it was again new oxides, tumbled glass and crushed olive. If you have never blended with oxide inks, you probably should; it’s very satisfying.

I was happy with these colour combos; I’d love to hear which oxides you like to put together.

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Birthday to you, Yay for you (MFT)

Stencils: geometric stars, Moroccan mosaic (MFT

Inks: spun sugar, stormy sky, dusty concord, crushed olive, forest moss, antique linen, tumbled glass oxide inks
     
Paper: neenah solar white cardstock

Also: cutterpillar glow premium, mini ink blending tool, mini ink blending foams
  

Painted Prints

Posted: August 14, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: painted prints | Tags: , | 7 Comments

To create this card I worked with a bold red, orange and purple palette on rough watercolour paper with distress ink pads, a little different to the blues, pinks and hot pressed choices I often make. The stamps are from the Painted Prints layering set from My Favorite Things. I started by stamping the roses in scattered straw with the second layer in spiced marmalade. After stamping I blended with a wet paint brush. Next I popped in the purple flowers stamping off with dusty concord for the first layer then using the same ink at full strength for the second layer. The red flowers I used only the second layer stamp with festive berries ink.

The stems or leaves are either forest moss or frayed burlap, stamped then blended with some water. I used a tiny stamp, which I think is for sepals or maybe flower centres, to stamp little flowers in stormy sky ink. I also splattered a little frayed burlap ink over the panel; you know I like a little splatter here and there.

The floral panel is popped up on a piece of orange adhesive backed foam and attached to a cream base. To finish off the card I embossed a sentiment from Anything but basic Friendship set on a strip of purple cardstock in opaque white powder.

Supplies

Stamps: painted prints,

Inks: scattered straw, spiced marmalade, dusty concord, festive berries, frayed burlap, forest moss, stormy sky distress inks, versamark
   
Cardstock: rough watercolour paper, neenah natural white, purple

Also: opaque white embossing powder, orange fun foam

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