Tulip festival time
Posted: May 10, 2017 Filed under: Tulips | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains 10 Comments
The tulip festival starts here in Ottawa in two days. Of course there are tulips already blooming but the very chilly turn our weather took last week might have kept a few from blooming earlier. I have only a few tulips in my garden so I was seriously annoyed to see a squirrel pull a bud off a stalk this morning. I quickly ran outside and yelled but he just scampered further from me and proceeded to eat the whole thing!
I used distress stains to ink the Tulips stamp from Darkroom Door for this card. I have heard that Ranger is discontinuing the dauber version of the distress stains which makes me sad. I love inking stamps with the dauber to create soft watery looks. I have most of the daubers in the distress stain range but I plan to complete my set before they become unavailable. The spray stain bottles will still be available so I will use them to refill my daubers. I used my MISTI so I could stamp the stains one at a time starting with mustard seed on the petals. Next I added spiced marmalade to the base of the petals, stamped and followed with peeled paint on the stems. I blended all the stain into the petals for fill the outline stamping then let it dry before add a blue frame. I used salty ocean stain on the frame part of the stamp then blended it with water around the tulips after stamping.
I found I had a nice match in ribbon so wrapped some around a white panel and added two knotted pieces. I popped the tulip panel on the white and attach all to a white card base.
Hope the flowers are blooming where you are.
Supplies
Stamps: Tulips (Darkroom Door)
Inks: mustard seed, spiced marmalade, peeled paint, salty ocean distress stains (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white cardstock
Also: turquoise grosgrain ribbon
Classes update
Posted: April 21, 2017 Filed under: Classes, Darkroom Door, Penny Black | Tags: Classes, Darkroom Door stamps, Penny Black stamps 7 CommentsI’ve been busy with classes lately including one in Toronto where I had a wonderful time with some delightful artists and crafters making watercolour cards. I’m hoping to head back there to teach before too long.
Here in Ottawa I am in the middle of Brushstroke Blooms classes using some gorgeous Penny Black stamps. There are spaces in tomorrow’s Saturday morning class and Monday’s afternoon class. If you are interested go to my Classes page.
On May 6th, at Aunty Em’s Scrapbooking store in Cornwall I will be teaching the Brushstroke Blooms class pictured above and the Watercolour Resist class shown below. Contact the store for more details.
On May 11th & 12th at Crop A While store in Orleans and May 13th & 15th at Riverside United Church in Ottawa I will be teaching the Floral Festival class pictured below featuring Darkroom Door stamps. Contact Crop A While to sign up there or click over to my Classes page to sign up for a Riverside class.
Thank you to all of you who support my classes, I love meeting you and creating with you. To those who are waiting patiently for online classes, do not give up hope! I want to supply some as soon as I can.
Watercolour wildflowers
Posted: April 5, 2017 Filed under: Correspondence, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains 10 Comments
I have a couple more wildflower cards today using stamps from the Darkroom Door set, Wildflowers vol 2. I did some wet into wet watercolour stamping to create backgrounds which give the impression of more plants behind the ones featured in the foreground.
I dropped peeled paint, scattered straw and spiced marmalade distress stain onto a wet watercolour panel and let it move around and blend. When it was still damp I inked one of the wildflower stamps in spiced marmalade and peeled paint stain and stamped it on the panel. The image blurred a little but still looked like flowers. I let the panel dry completely before stamping similar but larger flowers in the same stains but with added rusty hinge stain at the base of the flower head.
To give the panel an aged look I added images from the ‘Correspondence‘ set in vintage sepia ink with water drops and splatters of stain over the top. I tied some vintage linen thread around the panel and matted with brown to finish it off.
Although I used some of the same techniques for the cattails card I didn’t add any vintage elements so it has a cleaner more modern look over all. I still started with a watery blend of distress stains (broken china, scattered straw and spiced marmalade) over the whole watercolour panel. I stamped the cattails stamp a couple of times into the damp background which gave it a bit of depth and movement I think. Once the stamping was dry I stamped again over the top to get sharper foreground images.
Thanks for dropping in today.
Supplies
Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 , Correspondence (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw, Vintage photo, Broken China distress stains (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) brown cardstock
Also: vintage linen thread
Wildflowers blue
Posted: April 2, 2017 Filed under: CAS, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains 10 Comments
This one is for my mother’s card stash. I try to keep her well stocked with cards but I know she is better than me at sending them so she goes through them faster than I do. As soon as I finished this one I knew she would like it; we both love flowers with blue in them, cornflowers, hydrangeas, delphiniums. I used one of the silhouette flower stamps from the Darkroom Door set, ‘Wildflowers vol 2’.
I inked the top half of the stamp in blueprint sketch distress stain, spritzed it lightly and stamped several times across the panel. Next I inked the stems in the lower half of the stamp, and a few dots above that, with forest moss distress stain and again stamped across the panel. For some variety in colour I dabbed some dusty concord distress stain on the flower sections and stamped than over the floral area. You can see in the closeup, the stamping is quite loose but the overall effect is a garden of blue flowers. Just what I wanted.
I’ll be getting this one and some others in the mail to you soon, Mum 🙂
Supplies
Stamps: Wildflowers vol 2 (Darkroom Door)
Inks: blueprint sketch, dusty concord, forest moss distress stains (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) olive green cardstock
Butterfly Border
Posted: March 14, 2017 Filed under: Butterfly garden | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks, WOW embossing powders 10 Comments
I have a couple of cards today featuring the border stamp ‘Butterfly Garden’ from Darkroom Door. The stamp is quite large, as it was designed with scrapbooks and art journals in mind. It is such a lovely stamp I wanted to feature it on cards also. I used an emboss resist technique on both cards, stamping in black ink then embossing in clear powder. The embossing resists liquid when I add it over the top making it possible to paint and blend over the image to create a colourful background.
To create the warm toned card above I stamped the butterfly garden stamp in spiced marmalade ink beside the embossed image then added distress stains over and around the stamping. I left soft blends in most places but added extra stain inside the butterflies. Once the background was dry I splattered some water drops to create a few watermarks.
On this second card I wanted to feature as much of the large stamp as I could so I designed a wide card that would fit in a business envelope. I once again added distress stains over the embossed image trapping colour inside the butterflies and amongst the fern fronds. I die cut the panel into three squares then framed with before adding them to a natural coloured card base.
Supplies
Stamps: butterfly garden, happy birthday (Darkroom Door)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, pale green, black and rust cardstock
Ink: versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko), Spiced Marmalade distress ink & Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw, Aged Mahogany, Broken China, Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, Peeled Paint distress stains(Ranger)
Also: clear embossing powder, gold cord
The world with you
Posted: February 17, 2017 Filed under: Hand lettered, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Hand lettering, Ranger Distress stains 13 Comments
This vintage looking map card is for my husband’s birthday today. I am not suggesting he is vintage, far from it as he is only one week older than me! I used the world map background stamp from Darkroom Door and distress stains to give it an aged look. I began by stamping the image on hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine onyx black. Versafine is a pigment ink so I knew it wouldn’t bleed when I added stain and water over the top. I added vintage photo distress stain over most of the panel first then followed it with more distress stain and water (colours listed below) loosely filling the oceans in blue and the land in yellow and green.
When the panel dried I added some water splatter and stain splatter. Up until this point the process had been fairly quick but then I started playing with sentiment ideas. The one on the card is probably attempt no.217! I went through several different wordings and a couple of paper types and nibs before I resorted to something simple. Once I had written it satisfactorily I dropped water on it, extra stain and added a little postmark which just happens to be from a place where I lived the year before we were married. Sweet words like “I’d travel the world with you” were not to be. Don’t get me wrong I would travel the world with him and did travel from one side to the other 16 years ago. My simple wish with a pointed pen and ink and lots of love!
Supplies
Stamps: World Map, Correspondence (Darkroom Door)
Inks: versafine onyx black (tsukineko) vintage photo, broken china, mustard seed, bundled sage, ground espresso distress stains & inks (Ranger) Mocha writing ink (Parker)
Pens or pencils: handmade nib holder (Foiled Fox)
Papers: hot pressed 100% cotton watercolour paper (Fabriano) natural white 110lb cardstock(Neenah)
Shining lights
Posted: February 10, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, Hand lettered, Tribal | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
I’m still having fun with the African stamps from Darkroom Door, this time combining a loose watercoloured background with a sharp silhouetted tree in the foreground. I stamped the ‘tribal’ background first on watercolour paper in several colours of distress ink. Once the whole pattern was stamped I painted over it with water and the colours blended from into each other.
I let the background dry completely before dropping some water strategically here and there. When water comes in contact with distress ink it reacts and dilutes the ink. By letting the water sit for a minute then dabbing it up with a paper towel I was able to create light patches which look a bit like lights in an already abstract sky.
I stamped the tree over the ‘sky’ once it dried then painted the ground with black soot distress stain. My sentiment, inspired by the ‘watermark lights’ was handwritten in McCaffery’s Penmans black ink.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tribal, African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Distress wild honey, spiced marmalade, fired brick inks, black soot distress stain (Ranger) versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: neenah natural white cardstock, neenah epic black cardstock, fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper
Writing ink: Mc Caffery’s Penman’s ink black
Nib holder: Exclusive handmade from Foiled Fox
Elephant congrats
Posted: January 30, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, CAS, Tribal | Tags: CAS, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
With fond memories of the One Layer Simplicity challenge I decided to make a one layer card for the current Case This Sketch challenge.
I masked my card base and stamped the ‘tribal’ stamp from Darkroom Door in distress inks. I stamped one colour after another just inking part of the pattern each time. With the mask still in place I sponged over the stamping in the colours listed below. Next I repositioned my first mask and added a second mask to reveal a thin strip of cardbase above the pattern then sponged with fired brick distress ink. To complete the design I stamped an elephant and a sentiment in fired brick ink.
Some goals are reached with much elephant-like plodding rather than the speed of a gazelle!
Supplies:
Stamps: All Occasions, Tribal, African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Distress wild honey, spiced marmalade, fired brick, vintage photo inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: neenah natural white cardstock
African Trees 2 Ways
Posted: January 23, 2017 Filed under: African Trees, Darkroom Door | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 14 Comments
I have something new to share with you today, some stamps from my homeland! No, not Africa, Australia. The images are of African trees but the stamps themselves are from Darkroom Door in Australia. I have recently added Darkroom Door designs to my teaching schedule so I will also be sharing some projects here on the blog. My first class with Darkroom Door stamps is in February; it features these trees and you can find it on my Upcoming Classes page.
I decided to make two cards of similar design but with different techniques. On the one above I painted a distress stain background to create a graduated wash then stamped the trees in distress inks. I did first and second generation stamping to get some paler more distant trees. I stamped and spritzed the darker foreground trees then painted grass at the base.
The second card doesn’t include any watercolouring. I began by brayering a pale green sky, dark at the bottom and pale at the top. I used first and second generation stamping again to add background trees then sponged some ground at the base and stamped darker trees followed by even darker ground. I like the misty feel of this one; I haven’t been to the African plains but I think maybe they look a bit like this in the early morning or perhaps when its very dry and dust is in the air.
Supplies:
Stamps: African Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Memento new sprout, bamboo leaves, olive grove (Tsukineko) & Distress peeled paint, forest moss stains and inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white cardstock, co-ordinating green cardstock
Heather Telford 