Ferns

Posted: July 20, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, CAS, Wilderness Vol.2 | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

Here ends a week without internet at home! I think some internet free time is definitely a good thing but I’d rather it be planned than thrust upon me.  One happy outcome is the stack of edited photos I have ready to slot into blog posts.

This one is an alcohol ink on yupo panel. The abstract panel has been sitting in my ‘pile of possibility’ for some time so I don’t remember which colours of ink I used. Just guessing though, I would say pool and juniper but I might be wrong about juniper. There’s a blue and a green for sure, possibly two blues. I used opaque yupo paper but it is still worthwhile to back it with white cardstock to keep the colours bright so I did that before matting it with teal.

I stamped the fern from Darkroom Door’s Wilderness Vol 2 set. It is a lovely delicate image. I used stazon ink on the yupo and it spread ever so slightly but as you can see not enough to lose the fine detail of the stamp. At first I didn’t have a sentiment but the white space below the panel did look a bit empty so I added a simple thank you. Stamps and inks are linked below.

Supplies:

Stamps: wilderness vol 2, thank you (Darkroom Door)
Inks: pool & juniper alcohol inks (Ranger) blue Hawaii stazon, deep lagoon versafine (Tsukineko)
Papers: opaque yupo, neenah solar white cardstock, teal cardstock

 

The pickle people

Posted: July 12, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, CAS | Tags: , | 14 Comments

I have a fun one for you today. I did this little panel way, way back when I first started playing with alcohol inks. I dropped ink on yupo paper then blew it with  compressed air to create some random shapes. Only later did I see I had created pickle people.

You’re welcome.

Butterfly Trio

Posted: July 11, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, butterfly trio | Tags: , , | 9 Comments

After waiting patiently through a longer than usual spring, summer finally seems to have arrived in Ottawa. The sunny days are punctuated with frequent rain but at least it is shorts and sandals weather! The background for today’s butterfly card seems pretty summery to me.

I used alcohol inks on yupo paper to create the background then attached the yupo to white cardstock before die-cutting the butterfly trio from the panel. I also die cut the butterflies from  white fun foam so I could pop the trio up out of the background. I did not replace the little die cut shapes in the wings but matted the whole panel in teal instead to create a frame that matched the wings and the sentiment.

I hope the sun is shining where you are.

Supplies

Dies: butterfly trio, doodles (PB)
Inks: sunshine yellow, stream, pesto alcohol inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: yupo, solar white (Neenah), teal cardstock

Daisy thank you

Posted: July 6, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: dancing daisies, Feathery, thank you squares | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

Daisy Thank you Heather Telford

I have summer flowers to share again today. The autumn card I posted yesterday won’t be needed for months. I want way more summer before I see autumn leaves! I used distress stains not markers for today’s card so the images are looser and less defined.

I still worked with a stamp positioner so I could add a colour at a time. I began by inking the petals in scattered straw distress stain, stamped then inked more of the petals in spiced marmalade, spritzed the stamp and finally while the petals were still damp in places I added ground espresso for the flower centres. I inked and stamped the stems and leaves in mowed lawn distress stain. When the daisies were dry I stamped some extra grasses with the ‘feathery’ stamp in forest moss and mowed lawn distress stain.

I was undecided about adding ribbon or a sentiment until I remembered this clever little die that cuts the negative space around the word ‘Thank you’ but does not separate it from the panel. It just added the interest I needed while showing more of the orange card stock I matted the panel with.

Supplies

Stamp: dancing daisies,Feathery (PB)
Die: Thank you squares (PB)
Inks: scattered straw, spiced marmalade, ground espresso, mowed lawn, forest moss distress stains
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, orange cardstock

Simply Irresistible Winners

Posted: July 5, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Challenges, The Foiled Fox | 5 Comments

 

The Simply Irresistible Challenge I co-hosted with The Foiled Fox wrapped up on Friday but then Canada Day and Independence Day happened so today is the day to announce some winners. I have featured our three winners below but make sure you check out the announcement on The Foiled Fox blog for more details.

Thank you to everyone who participated. The best part of any challenge, I think, is the inspiration that comes from all the entries. There were cards with embossing covering just about the whole layout and others where embossing added a subtle and effective background or highlight. There was silver, gold, black, white and clear embossing and a range of mediums applied to ‘resist’ it.  I know it is a common thing to combine challenges and many of our participants did; that just makes you extra clever in my opinion.

It was a difficult task to choose three winners but we narrowed it down by looking for original ideas, technical skills and eye catching details. In no particular order the winners of $50 gift certificates from The Foiled Fox are:

Rosali, whose geometric quilt style card was the perfect choice for the emboss resist technique. I love the way the colour is trapped in sections and draws the eye toward the sentiment.

Congratulations, Bonnie, your card is so beautifully balanced and coordinated, with a small perfectly placed embossed panel to frame your white flower.

Pam, your bold black, white and green colour scheme caught my eye immediately and your smooth blended background is a gorgeous example of the emboss resist technique.

Below is a winner’s badge to display on your blog.

 

Even though we hadn’t planned it, we really wanted to highlight one more card, so please check out Hilary’s lovely emboss resist creations here. Both The Foiled Fox and I felt they were worthy of an honorable mention.

Thank you again for participating, we had fun and might just do this again one day!

Poetic

Posted: July 5, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: poetic | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

I think brusho paints are the perfect medium for autumn leaves. The variation in colour from even one little tub of brusho reminds me of the beautiful variation in autumn leaves. Brusho can be blended for smooth transitions from light to dark or left unblended which ends up looking like the blemishes found on many leaves. When deciding how to paint the new leaf stamp, Poetic, I knew brusho would help me achieve the look I wanted.

I started by stamping the leaf three times on hot pressed watercolour paper in Morocco memento ink. I overlapped the leaves but without re-inking the stamp so I ended up with one dark leaf (foreground) and two paler leaves as my guides for painting. I painted the leaves from left to right adding one colour of brusho to one leaf at a time. I sprinkled dark brown on the first leaf and used a waterbrush to blend it out to the edges of the leaf keeping some areas variegated. I dried the leaf completely before starting on the second one with terracotta brusho and following the same process. Again I dried the panel completely before doing the final leaf in sandstone.

After I had painted all the leaves I sprinkled a little of each colour of brusho over the corresponding leaf and spritzed with water from above. The result was some extra texture on the leaves and some colourful splatter over the edges. To add realism I used a fine brush to paint some veins on the leaves. Finally I created a stacked die cut of the word Grateful and matted in dark brown and the same rust as for the die cut.

Supplies

Stamp: Poetic (PB)
Die: words of gratitude (PB)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, natural white cardstock (Neenah) dark brown and rust cardstock
Ink: Morocco memento ink (Tsukineko)
Paint: dark brown, terracotta, sandstone brusho (Colourcraft)

Lustrous

Posted: July 4, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Lustrous | Tags: , , | 9 Comments

Thank you for your lovely feedback about yesterday’s flower lanterns. Today’s card features a different stamp from the Penny Black ‘Poetic’ release but a similar technique. Although I love working with distress stains, at times I go for the markers instead because I can apply colour to smaller sections with more accuracy. I used markers today beginning with a picked raspberry distress marker for the petals and buds and stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper using a stamp positioning tool. I blended the raspberry ink with water, let it dry then stamped again with raspberry but only where I wanted darker shading. To add even darker areas I painted seedless preserves distress stain directly on the roses and buds.

Once the roses were dry I switched to forest moss distress marker and inked the stems and leaves. After stamping I once again blended with water and added extra ink for definition and shading. Finally I stamped the rosehips with candied apple distress ink and blended them.

After completing one complete stamped image I decided to add more roses but this time leave out the rosehips and leaves. A stamp positioner makes this straightforward as I was able to ink only the parts I wanted to stamp and again build up my colour and shading in the same way as for the first roses.

To finish the panel I splattered a mix of picked raspberry and seedless preserves ink over the panel then added a sentiment. I have mentioned before how important colour matching is to me and I wanted a forest moss coloured sentiment but I wanted to use the crisper versafine pigment ink to achieve it. Using the stamp positioner yet again I stamped congratulations in Spanish moss versafine then over the top in vintage sepia versafine and ended up with just the right shade of green.

I will be back tomorrow with some more brushstroke beauty from Penny Black’s Poetic release

Supplies

Stamps: lustrous, banner sentiments (PB)
Inks: picked raspberry, seedless preserves, forest moss, candied apple distress markers and stains (Ranger) Spanish moss & vintage sepia versafine ink (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, pink cardstock

Lanterns

Posted: July 3, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Flower lanterns | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

Flower lanterns is a new brushstroke stamp from Penny Black. I happen to have some dried flower lanterns in my craft room so I was able to keep my colours fairly accurate on this one. I love how delicate they look and enjoy the fact that most of my dried ones have kept their shape and colour for a few years now.

I painted these with the help of a stamp positioner to enable me to build up colour one step at a time. I started by stamping the flower heads in wild honey distress ink applied with a marker. This gave me a pale print of all the lanterns as a base for stamping and painting more colour. I continued to use distress markers to add spiced marmalade and rusty hinge ink. I stamped sections then blended with a damp brush slowly but surely adding colour until the lanterns took form. I switched to forest moss distress marker for the stems and leaves and also drew some veins onto the lanterns.

I finished with some splatter of forest moss ink over the panel and a rust coloured mat to frame it.

Supplies

Stamp: flower lantern
Inks: wild honey, spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, forest moss distress markers
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, rust cardstock

Happy Canada Day

Posted: July 1, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Felicity | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

Supplies

Stamps: Felicity (PB)
Dies: Dies: celebrations (PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white and red pepper cardstock, vellum
Inks: versamark (Tsukineko) 
Also:  white embossing powder, clear wink of stella

Morning glory emboss resist

Posted: June 27, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: flower medley | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Yes, it’s another emboss resist card, this time a delicate, ‘stay inside the lines’ one. I embossed the morning glory stamp from the transparent flower medley set with clear powder over black ink. I coloured with watercolour pencils, a blue and a purple for the flowers and a couple of greens for the leaves.

When I trimmed my panel I decided it need a little something in between the flowers so added some black nuvo crystal drops here and there in different sizes. Within minutes I managed to put something down on top of the panel which smeared some of the black drops! I let it finish drying then trimmed it and separated the two sections on a black card base. Now when I use nuvo crystal drops I take my panel and place it on the other side of the room where I am less likely to dump something on top of it.

Just in case you missed my last few posts I am embossing all the things at present because I have a challenge happening with The Foiled Fox right now and I would love you to get involved. You have three more days to add your emboss resist card to our link up. Hope to see it there soon.

Supplies

Stamps: flower medley, delicate flowers
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, epic black neenah cardstock
Inks: onyx black versafine, 
Paints: Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils (Faber Castell)
Also: ebony nuvo crystal drops, clear embossing powder

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →