Summer Dream

Penny Black has a selection of magnolia stamps including ‘Summer Dream’, featured on today’s card. I used a memento inkpad and distress markers to colour it, making use of a stamp positioning tool to let me add colour little by little.

I inked the whole stamp with memento angel pink ink and stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. Angel pink is a very pale ink so it is good for layering over. I used worn lipstick, picked raspberry and aged mahogany distress markers to build up detail and shading on the flowers then peeled paint and forest moss markers to create two toned leaves. I finished off the flowers by drawing the stamen with a black marker. I added gathered twigs and black soot marker to the twigs and stems to complete the image. When I ink with dye based markers I spritz the stamp lightly before stamping so the colour begins to blend on the stamp. I sometimes use a damp brush to blend on the paper also.

The sentiment from ‘Smile today!’ is stamped in versafine clair nocturne and the panel popped up on foam over a natural coloured card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: summer dream, smile today

Distress markers: worn lipstick, picked raspberry, aged mahogany, gathered twigs, peeled paint, forest moss, black soot

Ink: angel pink memento, nocturne versafine clair

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: white foam

Knock knock

Posted: May 28, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Art Impressions WC stamps, border edgers | Tags: Art Impressions watercolor stamps, Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, My Favorite Things, Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Distress inks | 11 Comments

I’m collaborating with the Foiled Fox team today so you can read more about these cards on their blog. These are my first cards created with Art Impressions ‘Watercolor’ stamps. The stamps are designed for creating scenes; there are a lot of little stamps depicting stems, branches, foliage and flowers. The stamper can combine them however they wish, use a water soluble ink then blend with a little water to turn all the stamping into ‘watercolor paintings’.

I used a combination of foliage and flower sets to decorate two cards featuring doors from the Art Impressions ‘Door’ set. It was fun to create little scenes around the doors. One ended up being a rustic cabin type door and the other a simple white door at the end of a garden path.

I chose frayed burlap distress ink to stamp one of the doors and grey zig clean color real brush marker to ink the other door. I also used the zig markers for the floral and foliage stamps. I learnt on the Art Impressions youtube channel that the best way to stamp the flowers and leaves is to ink them, then stamp several times just slightly offset each time. That way you create more volume and variety in colour. After you have done your stamping (with watersoluble inks like distress and zig clean color) you can blend all the images with a damp brush to create the watercolour look.

I added some elements with the zig markers and watercolour pencils to fill out the scenes. front path, bricks and planks around the doors and a hand drawn window. Pop over to the Foiled Fox blog to read about my method in more detail.

I really enjoyed playing with these stamps to create my own scenes. The stamps are tiny but you can fill a garden quickly by stamping a mass of flowers and foliage then blending it every so lightly with water. I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you have already done some creating with the Art Impressions watercolour stamps or if you are feeling inspired to give it a try. I will definitely be back with more scenes.

Supplies

Art Impressions Stamps: WC Foliage set 3, WC Flower set 3, WC door set, WC Foliage set 1, Flower

MFT Stamps: Anything but Basic Friend set

Inks: frayed burlap distress ink, versafine sepia, versafine olympia green

Dies: Penny Black border edgers

Papers: cold pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white, green cardstocks

Also: zig clean color real brush pens, watercolor pencils

Pencil on black

Posted: May 23, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Appreciation, Coloured pencil, ebulliant | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps | 3 Comments

My coloured pencils feature more often in my projects these days. To create this card I stamped the Penny Black floral stamps in delicata white shimmer ink then coloured with my Faber Castell polychromos pencils. The feature image is from a 2-stamp set called ‘appreciation’ and the background image from a floral set called ‘ebulliant’.

I used a white pencil to lightly colour the flowers and leaves before adding other colours over the top. I also coloured over the border and sentiment with a sharp white pencil to make them pop a little more.

The delicata shimmer white ink definitely has shimmer to it and the overall effect of the pencils and ink on black is a bit like a printed fabric

Supplies

Stamps: appreciation 30-488, tranquility 30-484, ebulliant 30-747 (PB)

Inks

Paper: neenah black, red

Pencils: Faber Castell Polychromos

Belle

Posted: May 21, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: A Pocket Full, belle, Foiling, Zigs & zags | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Minc, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 4 Comments

The zigs & zags stencil has popped up again today as a background for this die cut and watercoloured flower. I applied deco transfer gel directly to my card base (neenah solar white 110lb) then ran it through my minc with white foil. The result is a subtle chevron background. I wanted my flower to match the white card base exactly so I used the same neenah solar white which meant I did not add much water at all when blending my zig pens after stamping. I used a mix of blue, pink and purple and a blue/green combo on the leaves and stem then just a damp brush to blend with water. I made sure the blending was dry before stamping the black centre several times then used the co-ordinating die to cut out the flower plus a white foam one to pop it up over the background.

The little black banner was die cut with one of the dies from the PB ‘pocket full’ die set. I have pulled out all my little label, banner and tag dies from different sets and grouped them together so I can quickly cut the right size for a sentiment. This sentiment from the handy ‘banner sentiments’ set is embossed in white powder.

Supplies

Stamps: belle, banner sentiments

Die: belle cut out, a pocket full

Stencil: zigs & zags

Paper: neenah solar white, neenah epic black

Markers: kuretake zig clean color real brush pens pink, blue, violet, cobalt blue, green, black

Also: transfer gel, white foil, foam, minc, white embossing powder

Alcohol ink splatter

Posted: May 18, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, branching out, cherry blossom | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Alcohol Ink, Yupo Paper | 3 Comments

I hope you have enjoyed my alcohol ink projects this week. I could have happily continued playing with colour combinations and different techniques but other projects beckoned.

Once again I used a colour combination curated by Ranger; this one is called ‘Cottage Path’ and includes slate, currant and meadow. I worked on the heavyweight yupo paper and dropped inks randomly over the panel to begin. Once there was plenty of coverage I used a small cheap paintbrush (plastic bristles) to flick rubbing alcohol as well as the ‘cottage path’ inks over the panel. The result is very fine circles over the top of the larger blobs of colour.

I matched my cardstock to the ink colours and die cut a tree from green using the Penny Black ‘branching out’ die then matted my panel with the same colour. On the other card I cut a couple of ‘cherry blossom’ die cuts plus a sentiment.

Supplies

Dies: branching out, cherry blossom, many thanks

Inks: Cottage path alcohol inks (Ranger)

Paper: heavyweight yupo (Legion) natural white (neenah), burgandy and green

Amazing Friend

Posted: May 16, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Anything but basic friendship | Tags: My Favorite Things, Ranger Alcohol Ink, Yupo Paper | 7 Comments

If you have played with alcohol inks you will know it’s hard to stop once you get started. When I was trying out my new heavyweight yupo from the Foiled Fox I decided to experiment with another colour combo packaged by Ranger. This panel features the three inks from the Miner’s Lantern set, stonewash, rust and pitch black. What I loved about these colours as I started experimenting was the variety of tones and shades I was able to get as the colours mixed.

To create the patterns I dropped the colours randomly on the yupo then blew air on the drops with a straw. You can use a can of compressed air or an air brushing tool also. If you blow on the inks when they are still wet they spread into flower shapes and create pale transparent patterns. I used some drops of rubbing alcohol also which dilutes and mixes the inks.

When the panel was dry I trimmed it to fit on a black card base and added a die cut sentiment and an embossed sentiment both from My Favorite Things. The word die (from the ‘friend duo’ set) I cut from black foam and black cardstock. Before I attached them to the panel I embossed the black cardstock word in clear powder to give it a shiny surface. I glued the foam down first, then the embossed cardstock ‘friend’ on top. I embossed a phrase from the MFT ‘Anything but basic Friendship’ set in gun metal embossing powder – a new colour from Ranger.

My favourite part of the panel is this top left corner with all the blues!

Supplies

Stamps: Anything but Basic Friendship (MFT)

Die: Friend Duo (MFT)

Ink: Miner’s Lantern Alcohol ink (Ranger), Versamark (Tsukineko)

Paper: Heavy weight yupo, Neenah black cardstock

Also: black foam, clear embossing powder, gun metal embossing powder (Ranger)

Yay for Yupo

Posted: May 14, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Foiling, YAY for you | Tags: Foiling, My Favorite Things, Ranger Alcohol Ink, WOW embossing powders | 5 Comments

I’m sharing some sweet patterned cards over on the Foiled Fox blog today. Pop over there to see how I made these alcohol ink and foil cards.

I used heavy weight yupo paper which was great to work with and I love the shine of foiling over alcohol ink!

I ran my alcohol ink panel through my Minc on the zero heat setting but you don’t have to have a minc; you could use your die cutting machine to apply pressure or just burnish with your fingers to get the foil to stick to the alcohol ink.

The ‘Yay for you’ set from My Favorite Things gave me all sorts of options for sentiments; I settled on a baby card and an achievement/congratulations card. You can read my step by step instructions over at the Foiled Fox.

Supplies

Stamps: Yay for you (MFT)

Paper: heavy weight yupo, neenah natural white, pink, olive green

Inks: shell pink, willow, cloudy blue alcohol inks (Ranger), delicata golden glitz ink

Also: WOW gold embossing powder, gold foil, minc

Flower perch

Posted: May 9, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: flower perch | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 15 Comments

I have a tried and true colouring method for you today. I know I have shared this technique before but it’s a favourite of mine so here it is again! I even have a video where I demonstrate this technique with a different stamp.

I stamped the ‘flower perch’ image in vintage photo and did all the painting with watercolour pencils. I used a damp brush to pick up colour from the pencil leads. When I paint onto the stamped image the colour from the pencils mixes with the vintage photo ink giving everything a brown tinge.

After I had completed the bird and branch I decided to add the script stamp to the back ground. I avoided the bird by placing post it notes here and there and by only pressing part of the stamp onto the panel each time. I can’t remember if I had taped the panel down at the beginning or whether I did it just before adding the script. Either way I had tape around the edges which enabled me to mask a plain frame around the panel when I sponged the border and splattered vintage photo ink here and there. I even remembered to stamp an envelope to match!

Supplies

Stamps: flower perch 40-593, script 40-470

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Ink: vintage photo distress ink, vintage sepia versafine ink

Pencils: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils (178, 190, 191, 195, 131, 187, 174, 141, 233)

Garden gems

Posted: May 4, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: garden gems | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 4 Comments

It’s been flowers, flowers and more flowers this week, all part of the new Nature’s Art release from Penny Black

To wrap up the week I have a card that features the ‘garden gems’ rubber cling stamp and was coloured with distress stains, just four colours applied to the stamp one by one then spritzed to get a loose watercolour look.

I used fired brick and carved pumpkin stains on the flowers then forest moss and peeled paint stains on the leaves. By using the stamp positioner I was able to stamp the lighter colour first then dab the darker stain on the stamp and print again adding some shadow and variety to leaves and petals. I drew the black centres straight onto the panel with a black marker and added a sentiment in black also.

Even though it meant losing some of the design I cropped the panel to a square, backed it with foam and attached to a square card base.

Supplies

Stamps: garden gems 40-591, smile today 30-461 (PB)

Stains: fired brick, carved pumpkin, forest moss, peeled paint distress stains

Marker: black soot

Ink: nocturne versafine clair
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: foam sheet

Summer Glow

Posted: May 3, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: summer glow | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 8 Comments

Yes, I’ve got more flowers to share today from the new Penny Black release, ‘Nature’s Art‘. This one is a large rubber cling outline stamp. I decided to try a combination I’ve heard about numerous times but never attempted: zig clean color real brush pens on bristol paper. I work on watercolour paper a lot of the time as you know but I’ve heard that blending the zig pens is easier on bristol. Well, it is. I embossed the image with clear powder on bristol paper then used five different colours to fill in the flowers and leaves. I started with purple pen at one end of each petal and tea rose at the other end (in this case the end closest to the centre of the flower). I blended the two colours together with a damp brush then added orange dots down the centre of the petals. I added a small amount of brown to the centre of the flower also.

I coloured the leaves in green then added brown here and there before blending with a damp brush.

As a finishing touch I die cut the ‘scrolls half edger’ decorative piece out of purple cardstock which had double sided adhesive on the back. I matted the panel in the same purple then snipped pieces of the die-cut to lay over the base of the panel.

I’m looking forward to seeing irises pop up in my snow-free garden before too long; there is no snow on it now!

Supplies

Stamps: summer glow 40-610 (PB)

Die: scrolls half edger 51-446

Ink: versamark

Markers: zig clean colour real brush pens (tea rose, brown, green, violet, orange)

Paper: bristol, neenah solar white, purple

Also: clear embossing powder, double sided adhesive sheet