Tulip Sympathy card

I have used an alcohol ink background to add colour to this tulip card. Deciding on a colour scheme and image for a sympathy card can be difficult but flowers are given and appreciated at times of joy as well as sadness. Out of interest I looked up what meaning if any, has been assigned to yellow tulips. Apparently the meaning has changed over time but yellow tulips now stand for hope and cheerful thoughts.

To create the yellow, orange and green panel I dropped alcohol inks on a craft mat then swiped photo paper through the colours. Sometimes it is necessary to swipe several times or add a bit of rubbing alcohol to get coverage over the whole panel. I inked the Darkroom Door tulip stamp with jet black stazon ink then pressed the photo paper panel down onto the stamp. To finish the card I wrapped some black ribbon around a textured white mat and added a sentiment also in black.

Supplies

Stamps: tulips, bright blossoms vol 2 (DD)

Ink: alcohol inks by Ranger, jet black stazon

Paper: neenah solar white, photo paper, textured white paper

Classic garden

Posted: March 27, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Flower garden | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 3 Comments

A few weeks back I created two fairly glamorous cards with this fancy stamp, glamorous because of the platinum and gold embossing I paired with the very detailed stamp. Today’s card is simply stamped in one colour and embellished with another colour creating this classic navy, red and white combo.

I stamped on neenah solar white cardstock in chipped sapphire distress ink; it is a very detailed stamp so using a stamping platform helped me get good coverage.

Quite a versatile stamp I think…

Supplies

Stamps: flower garden, botanical script

Ink: chipped sapphire distress ink

Paper: neenah solar white, textured red

Also: stamping platform, red & white gingham ribbon

Wings & things

Posted: March 23, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Wildflowers Vol 1, Wings | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, liquid metals, Ranger Distress inks | 11 Comments

This is one of those cards that just evolved. I’ve had the butterfly stamps at hand while teaching a class with them. I did not have a definite plan; in fact, you may be surprised to hear it started with three butterflies stamped in rusty hinge distress ink. The panel sat around for a while then I decided to paint turquoise brusho and metallic sky liquid metal inside each of the brown butterfly outlines. I didn’t love that so I spritzed interference blue pearl-ex spray over all three butterflies to make the colour bleed into the surrounding area. Still not right, so I employed a technique one of my friends calls ‘drowning’ and spritzed the panel thoroughly. The result was a sparkly blue panel with muted butterflies now looking like background images.

I used pine needles and mermaid lagoon distress inks to stamp foreground images, more butterflies and some flowers. I framed the panel by sponging pine needles ink around the edges then splattered a little white gesso over it. As often happens with my cards I started thinking about a sentiment once there was no room left for one. Vellum to the rescue with an phrase embossed in silver.

Supplies

Stamps: wildflowers vol 1, wings

Inks: rusty hinge, mermaid lagoon distress ink, pine needles, versamark

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, vellum, neenah solar white cardstock

Paint: turquoise brusho, white gesso, metallic sky liquid metal

Also: silver embossing powder, interference blue pearl-ex powder mixed with water in a mister

Poppy blessing

Posted: March 21, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Parade of flowers | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 4 Comments

This is the second card I’ve posted featuring the ‘parade of flowers’ stamp from Penny Black. To create this one I used just a section of the stamped image and worked with the emboss resist method. I stamped in versamark and embossed in clear powder on hot pressed watercolour paper.

The painting is all done with watercolour pencils. I use a waterbrush or wet paintbrush to pick up colour from the pencils. I used 2-3 pinks to fill the flowers, a green for the stems, a brown for the seed pod and black for the poppy centre. I painted the background with a grey watercolour pencil, added a sentiment in versafine smokey gray ink, a pink mat and a little twist of twine.

Happy Spring!

Supplies

Stamps: parade of flowers, choose happy

Inks: versamark, versafine smokey gray

Pencils: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, pink cardstock

Also: clear embossing powder, twine

Tea time?

Posted: March 19, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Cup of tea | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Tombow dual brush pens, WOW embossing powders | 3 Comments

This card was practically complete weeks ago including a handlettered sentiment written with pen and ink. Unfortunately after leaving the ink to dry overnight I brushed my hand across the lettering only to see it smudge across my one layer card! I cut the strip of teacups out of the ruined card front and set them aside as I had other projects to complete. When I pulled them out again I decided to create an embossed mat to frame the teacups top and bottom then stuck the teacup panel on the embossed panel and then onto a new cardfront. I added a sentiment from the ‘cup of tea’ stamp set and finally finished my card.

The teacups are stamped in versamark and embossed in platinum powder. After embossing one cup, I stamped and cut a tea cup mask, positioned it over the first cup then stamped a second and a third cup. I did all the colouring with tombow markers. When finishing the card a while later I tried my new versafine clair ‘monarch’ ink. I have always been happy with my versafine inks so I wondered what might be different about the new versafine clair inks. I have bought five colours to start with and so far I am very impressed with the sharp detailed stamping and no need for a second impression.

And by the way if you like a little sparkle, perhaps with embossing powder or something bolder, please check out the ‘Sparkle With Us’ challenge I’m hosting with The Foiled Fox. We’ve stretched it out for a wee bit longer so you still have a couple of days to join in.

Supplies

Stamps: Cup of tea

Inks: versamark, monarch versafine clair

Tombow markers: 679, 772, 515, 451, N75, N00

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper

Also: WOW metallic platinum embossing powder

Floral Arrangement

Posted: March 15, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: floral arrangement | Tags: distress oxide inks, liquid metals, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 11 Comments

I have a burst of colour and some sprinklings of sparkle to share today. I am enjoying the entries in the ‘Sparkle With Us‘ challenge but I would love to see more. There are still five days left to add your sparkly project to the gallery, just click over to see all the details.

I used some new and some older distress oxide inks to create my colourful background. My paper is hot pressed watercolour and my technique was pressing the oxide pad on a craft mat, spritzing with water then swiping my paper through the ink. I did this numerous times but always dried the panel between swipes, that way I was able to build up layers and pockets of colour. After I had added my last layer of oxide ink I put some diluted liquid metal (metallic sky) on my craft mat and swiped the panel through that; the result was some blue shimmer over the blue painted area.

To create my spray of flowers I used the Penny Black ‘floral arrangement’ die to cut three flower sprays from ‘parchment’ patterned vellum, one of the designs in the grafix assorted vellum pad. I snipped the die cut flowers to create a layered arrangement of small flowers and leaves. The die does cut a larger flower, but I didn’t use it on this card. I put all my die cuts in a box and splattered gold paint from the gansai tambi starry colors set over them. After they dried I attached the leaves and flowers on my panel and I added a drop of glue to some of the flowers and sprinkled gold micro beads onto the glue. I co-ordinated the sentiment with the beads by embossing it in gold. All the supplies are listed below.

Do you think I might be able to label this one mixed media?

Supplies

Stamp: smile today

Die: floral arrangement

Inks: tattered rose, candied apple, blueprint sketch, fossilized amber distress oxide, versamark

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, parchment patterned vellum, neenah solar white

Paint: gansai tambi starry colors, metallic sky liquid metal

Also: On point glue, gold micro beads, gold embossing powder

Foiled hexagons

Posted: March 13, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Challenges | Tags: Ranger Alcohol Ink | 5 Comments

Let’s do a little more sparkling! I am sharing this card on The Foiled Fox blog today for the ‘Sparkle With Us’ challenge we are hosting. We would love you to join in.

This card looks a little different from my usual. My inspiration came from one of my talented crafty friends, both the technique and the style. She was inspired by one of my online crafty friends. Inspiration abounds and sometimes foiled hexagons are the result.

In real life the sparkle and pink ink look lovely together; I had to take two photos so you could see all the sparkle but neither photo does the foil the justice it deserves. To see how I ended up with the gold highlights on my alcohol ink panel click over to The Foiled Fox blog.

To see some sparkly inspiration or add your own click the link below

Supplies

Stamps: happy snippets

Die: tagged (PB) or star cover plate (Neat & Tangled)

Alcohol Inks: currant & flamingo

Also: minc, gold foil

Exquisite

Posted: March 9, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: birds and banners, exquisite, Script | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 7 Comments

My final springy card for this week features this lovely big flower in two of my favourite distress stains, chipped sapphire and seedless preserves. I stamped this one on cold pressed watercolour paper so once again having the panel in a stamp positioner helped me get a good impression. I inked first with chipped sapphire over parts of the flower, stamped, wiped off the stamp and inked sections again but this time with seedless preserves. I ended up with some blue flowers, some pink and some a purple mix.

I blended the petals of all the flowers with a damp brush and let them all dry. I was going to leave all the centres white but it didn’t look right so I ended up painting them all darker with undiluted stain. To create a soft textured background I dropped a few drops of water around the flower then partially stamped the script stamp in the same ink stains. I dabbed out some ink with a paper towel and added some splatter as well. To frame the whole panel I ran the seedless preserves dauber around the edges then softened the colour with a damp brush.

To complete the card I stamped a sentiment on a fancy little die cut banner and popped it up over the stem of the flower.

Supplies

Stamps: exquisite, script, banner sentiment (Penny Black)

Die: birds & banners

Inks: chipped sapphire & seedless preserves distress stains, majestic blue versafine ink

Paper: cold & hot pressed watercolour paper

Aviary

Posted: March 8, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: aviary, Coloured pencil | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 7 Comments

I have been using my coloured pencils more often recently. For this card I used them to add finishing touches and details after I had painted the majority of the design with watercolours. I used my gansai tambi paints for the watercolour then polychromos pencils for the details. I even wrote down the numbers just in case you were interested but really you don’t need my choices you could just use your own favourites.

One thing I did which worked in my favour was limit my colour palette. I mixed colours I had already used rather than continually adding new ones. This helps with the cohesiveness of the finished panel. I started by stamping the ‘aviary’ stamp on hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine smokey grey. I painted the area surrounding the birdhouse first with blue and green paint. I kept it mainly blue and used a ‘wet into wet’ method, painting around edges first with water then adding paint. A medium sized brush that comes to a good point can help with this as there is a lot of space to cover but also some tricky areas to navigate. Also if your brush is too small or doesn’t hold liquid well you will be forever picking up more water or paint.

Once the background was dry I painted the flower pots in brown and added shadows with the blue I used on the sky. After that I painted the birdhouse, once again with the brown and blue then added black for some darker shadows and definition. I decided to limit the flowers to pink and purple painting the taller plant on the left with a diluted purple paint and the magnolia on the right with touches of dark pink blended out with water. I left the centre flowers to do with coloured pencil. I used the same green from the background to paint the leaves and a combination of colours already used to paint the birds.

I couldn’t decide on a colour for the foreground the pots are sitting on so I used the dirty paint water. It turned out to be a teeny bit on the purple side but mainly on the dirty side so it didn’t clash with anything else. I added shadows with black. With all the basic painting done I switched to coloured pencils to add fine details. I picked pencils that matched the paint colours and went over some outlines or added tiny details inside leaves and flowers.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Supplies

Stamps: Aviary

Inks:

Paints: Kuretake gansai tambi 20, 36, 57, 46, 63

Pencils: Faber Castell polychromos 108, 158, 188, 274, 136, 142, 141, 231, 101

Parade of flowers

Posted: March 7, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Parade of flowers | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 5 Comments

The flowers continue to bloom across my blog this week and it’s making me pretty keen for spring to arrive. Today’s poppies are as realistic and detailed as you are likely to see from me! A little different from my distress stain loose and watery florals. I used a stamp positioner to stamp ‘parade of flowers’ in antique linen distress ink on cold pressed watercolour paper; because of the texture of the cold pressed paper I stamped a few times to guarantee a complete image.

All the painting was done with Dr Ph Martins Hydrus watercolours. When undiluted the colours are very vibrant so I put only a drop of each colour in a palette then added water. To keep the colour scheme muted and cohesive I limited my paint choices. The petals are painted with ‘deep red rose’ and the leaves and stems a mix of phthalo green, deep red rose and Venetian brown. The centres of the flowers are gamboge, with dark details added in ultramarine and Venetian brown.

I worked on one petal at a time painting first with water then dropping in some deep red rose paint. I blended the colour to the edges then added more paint if necessary to create shadow or deeper colour near centre of flower. While each petal dried I worked on a non-adjacent one. When all the petals were dry I added some more red here and there to create a bit more depth and when that dried I used a very fine tipped brush to paint veins on some of the petals. I wanted to stamp the sentiment on a matching panel so I painted diluted deep red rose paint on a scrap of hot pressed watercolor paper the die cut three tags using die from ‘gift card pocket’ set. With the stamp postioner I was able to stamp ‘With Love’ sentiment from ‘special wishes’ set on tags one at a time so when together they would over lap each other.

I wrapped twine around top of painted panel, attached the three sentiment tags over the top and attached the panel to a natural coloured card base.

Don’t forget to pop over to the ‘Sparkle with Us’ challenge hosted by The Foiled Fox and me. There is already some sparkly inspiration linked up but we’d love to see more.

Supplies

Stamps: parade of flowers, special wishes

Die: gift card pocket

Paper: rough 100% cotton watercolour paper, hot pressed watercolour paper

Ink: antique linen distress ink, imperial purple versafine ink

Paints: deep red rose, gamboge, pthalo green, Venetian brown, ultramarine Dr Ph Martins Hydrus watercolors (soon to be available at The Foiled Fox)