A wilderness path

This peaceful wilderness path is a scenic stamp from Darkroom Door. I’ve used it in three different ways to create some seasonal backgrounds. For the card above I created an alcohol ink background on yupo in the blues and greens of summer. I stamped the path stamp over the alcohol ink panel in stazon jet black ink. I hand wrote the little sentiment with a fine micron pen.

To create my golden fall scene I used distress oxide inks on glossy photo paper. I pressed the orange and yellow inks onto a craft mat, spritzed them and swiped my photo paper panel through the ink. Most of the colour soaked into the paper immediately but I set it aside to dry for a while and found there was a chalky residue that stayed on top. I wiped that off and was left with a background to which I stamped over with stazon jet black ink.

My chilly winter scene was created using brusho powders on a craft mat. I sprinkled some blue and purple on the mat, spritzed it then swiped some photo paper through the colour. The first print is usually quite intense so I think the one below must have been a second impression.

These cards are also on the Darkroom Door blog today so pop over there for all the complete supply list.

Santa’s Visit

Posted: August 21, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Santa's visit | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 3 Comments

I think this quiet little scene is going to be a popular one this Christmas. It looks so peaceful and pretty, just like it does around here after a fresh snowfall (which will be welcome in four months time and not before!) I kept my colour scheme simple for this one and stamped first in Paris Dusk memento ink. I then did some blending with a wet brush over the scene to solidify the image a bit before adding black ink. I did some partial inking of the stamp to get shadows on parts of the trees and houses.

I wasn’t sure about the navy blue die cut sentiment because it does get a bit lost. In real life however it is popped up on a couple of white layers and sparkled with a clear wink of stella pen so I let it stay!

I am currently lakeside and away from my workroom and internet for a week. I decided to take only this book and these supplies for a little artsy down time.

Supplies

Stamps: Santa’s visit (PB)
Die: Blessed night (PB)
Inks: Paris dusk, Tuxedo black memento inks (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano), navy cardstock
Also: clear wink of stella brush pen, stick it adhesive

Holly Sprig

Posted: August 18, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: holly sprig | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 9 Comments

I have another new brushstroke stamp to feature today and I’ve used one of my favourite mediums to colour it: distress stains. I began as in my previous card with a panel already splattered with masking fluid. I painted a pale yellow wash over the panel then dried it. I inked the ‘holly sprig’ stamp with peeled paint and festive berries distress stains, spritzed the water colour panel and stamped. Because the panel was wet the images bled into the surrounding area giving me blurry background images. I dried the panel before stamping the foreground images in the same colours along with pine needles stain for some variation in the leaf colour.

After the panel dried I added some definition to the berries and leaves with distress markers and some green splatter. Finally I removed the masking fluid, die cut ‘Tis the Season’ from red cardstock and framed the panel with a matching red mat.

Supplies

Stamps: holly sprig (PB)
Die: tis the season
Inks: festive berries, peeled paint, pine needles, scattered straw distress stains & candied apple, peeled paint distress markers (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: masking fluid

Berry Speckled

Posted: August 16, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Berry speckled, Uncategorized | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 9 Comments

This branch, ‘berry speckled’, is definitely one of my favourites from the new Penny Black release ‘Be Merry‘. It is pretty on its own but will combine well with other Christmas foliage I’m sure. I decided to watercolour with it, and used a stamp positioning tool to help me add colours one at a time. I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper with masking fluid lightly splattered over it. First I inked the berries in festive berries distress stain and stamped them, next I did the pine needles in peeled paint distress stain and finally the twigs in gathered twigs distress marker. I dried all the initial stamping then added the background blue by painting water close to the edges of the stamping then adding stormy sky distress stain to the wet areas.

Once all the ink and stain was dry I added definition to the berries with a candied apple distress marker. I removed the masking fluid to reveal little white dots, added the sentiment in smokey gray versafine ink and matted the panel in red.

Supplies

Stamps: berry speckled, peace & love (PB)
Inks: festive berries, peeled paint, stormy sky distress stains & candied apple, gathered twigs distress markers (Ranger) smokey gray versafine (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: masking fluid

Peaceful moment

Posted: August 14, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, peaceful moment | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps | 14 Comments

Brusho on photo paper can create really intricate patterns and soft blended backgrounds. I used the same few colours of brusho for the backgrounds on both cards but one was the first impression and the other a left over colour swipe. The first impression pattern was achieved by pressing the panel of photo paper down on top of the spritzed brusho. I didn’t move the panel from side to side just pressed it down into all the activated brusho. After lifting the panel and setting it aside I swiped another piece of photo paper through the remaining paint to pick up a soft blended look. There was not quite enough variation for my liking so I added a bit of blue brusho to the mat, spritzed and swiped again to get darker colour at the base of the panel.

I stamped the new ‘peaceful moment’ stamp over the brusho backgrounds in jet black stazon then added mats and sentiments to complete the cards. Make sure you check out the rest of the new products from the Penny Black releases along with the opportunities to win a spending spree.

Supplies

Stamps: peaceful moment, snippets, all great things, spiritual snippets
Paper: glossy photo paper (Kirkland) epic black cardstock, natural white cardstock (Neenah), yellow cardstock
Ink: black stazon, versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paint: yellow, gamboge, leaf green, cobalt blue brusho (Colourcraft)

Adorned Abode

Posted: August 11, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: adorned abode | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps | 4 Comments

When I was working with brushos on my impermeable craft mat recently I swiped a piece of watercolour paper through some blue paint just to clear it up. I set it aside to dry then decided it would make a suitable background for this sweet little birdhouse scene. Even though I used hot pressed watercolour paper it still has some texture so I used my stamp positioner to stamp the scene several times in versafine ink. I pulled out my polychromos pencils to do the colouring. As I was adding colour over a blue background, I wanted the opacity of the polychromos rather than the transparency of watercolour pencils. I used several browns for the birdhouse, red, white, black and grey for the bird, two greens for the leaves then switched over to gel pens. The berries are coloured with red, the snowflake decorations with silver and a bit of snow here and there with a white gel pen. In a few places I had obscured the black stamping with my colouring so I used a black micron pen to redraw some lines.

I wavered on adding a sentiment then decided not to cover any of the picture or fill the one bit of blank space. I’ll put a greeting inside instead. I finished it off with two mats and stamped an envelope to match.

This stamp is part of the new Be Merry release from Penny Black which is now available in their online store. Check out the Penny Black blog for details on their giveaway.

Supplies

Stamps: adorned abode (PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) epic black cardstock (Neenah) textured red cardstock
Ink: onyx black versafine (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Polychromos pencils (Faber Castell)
Pens: white Kirarina WiNK (Kirarina) silver, red hybrid metallic (Pentel), black micron pen

Dressed in snow

Posted: August 10, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 14 Comments

Yes, it’s a snow scene, which means there are new Christmas stamps in the house! Penny Black is showing off their new collection ‘Be Merry’ over the next few weeks and giving away gift certificates to celebrate the new products. This lovely scene is a single stamp and I have inked it in a simple colour to show how easy it is to create a pretty snow scene.

I’ve mentioned before how much I like memento ‘northern pine’ ink for wintry tree scenes; when you add water to it, it separates into a teal blue and a brown. One colour becomes three and gives you green foliage, brown bark and the look of blue snow or sky. I stamped the large image on hot pressed watercolour paper with the help of a stamp positioner then spritzed carefully over the trees on the left and far right.

I wanted to preserve some white areas so I spritzed from quite a distance and covered the some areas with my hand as I did it so that I wouldn’t lose the look of snow on the lower branches. To finish off the scene I matted with dark green cardstock and attach to a white card base. I know I’ll be working with this stamp again!

Supplies

Stamp: Dressed in Snow (PB)
Ink: Memento Northern Pine (Tsukineko)
Paper: Hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano)

Distress Oxide background

Posted: August 8, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Butterfly trio, Sweet Perfume | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 8 Comments

I’ve been playing with distress oxide inks again and its all because of the wonderful folk at the Foiled Fox. I loved the first 12 colours released but when I saw salty ocean, peacock feathers and seedless preserves in the second release I was pretty happy. I am guest blogging over on the Foiled Fox blog today with all the details about this card.

Our family has been enjoying a visit from my sister-in-law, Dale for a few weeks. She came from Australia via Alaska and we have had the chance to do a few little trips around Ontario and Quebec while she’s been here. One afternoon while we were home I was downstairs in my workroom trying to nail this card. I loved the soft blends in the background but deciding on features for the foreground was not happening. Dale came down to see what I was doing and we ended up collaborating to complete the card.

Supplies

Stamps:Sweet Perfume, Butterfly Trio (PB)
Die: Many Thanks (PB)
Inks: spiced marmalade, abandoned coral, wild honey distress oxide inks (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white cardstock, brick red cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder (WOW)

Wildflowers blue

Posted: August 7, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bright Blossoms vol 1&2, Brusho, French Script, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

I have a couple more cards that came out of my session with the Darkroom Door Wildflowers vol 2 stamps recently. I began by making blue watercolour backgrounds with brusho paints on hot pressed watercolour paper. Rather than apply the paint directly to the paper, I sprinkled it on a craft sheet, spritzed, then pressed the paper into the paint. I was able to pick up paint that was almost in crystal form as well as soft blended sections.

In the Wildflowers vol 2 set there is a large and a small version of the same flower so I used the small stamp on the panel above to create a base of flowers in chipped sapphire and stormy sky distress inks. I shook water droplets onto the panel to create pale watermarks here and there. Once the panel was dry I wiped an anti-static powder pillow across it and embossed the flowers and a sentiment from Bright Blossoms vol 1 in silver over the top of the blue. The silver catches the light depending on the angle but is tricky to capture with the camera.

On my second card I created the painted background the same way then stamped the flower three times in different distress stains. Once again I embossed over the top with silver, this time using a partial stamping of the French Script background stamp. I framed both panels in silver cardstock and added silver thread around the second panel before attaching to white card bases.

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 , French Script, Bright Blossoms vol 1 (Darkroom Door)
Inks: chipped sapphire, stormy sky distress inks & blueprint sketch, seedless preserves, aged mahogany distress stains (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Paper: Neenah solar white, hot pressed watercolour paper, brushed silver cardstock
Paint: prussian blue, cobalt brusho (Colourcraft)
Also: silver cord, silver embossing powder

Blue sky birthday

Posted: August 2, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Tsukineko Stazon inks | 9 Comments

Here is another ‘wildflower’ card from the bunch I made last week. Sometimes it is fun to get out one set of stamps and play around with colours and techniques to create a range of looks. The flower is from the Darkroom Door ‘Wildflowers vol. 2″ set and the sentiment from the DD “Happy Birthday” set. I created this background with brusho paints on glossy photo paper using an impermeable mat. I sprinkled some turquoise and violet brusho on the mat, spritzed it, then swiped the photo paper through the paint to pick up the colour.

I chose a grey ink rather than black to stamp but after the final result after a few impressions looks almost black.

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 Happy Birthday (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Cloudy Sky Stazon ink (Tsukineko)
Paper: Neenah solar white, Kirkland glossy photo, texture blue cardstock
Paint: violet, turquoise brusho (Colourcraft)