Tropical florescence
Posted: May 3, 2021 Filed under: Brutus Monroe, florescence, Penny Black | Tags: brutus monroe embossing powder, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
This is the second appearance of the beautiful hibiscus stamp from Penny Black (it’s called Florescence and it’s a stunner) and I’ve been working with it behind the scenes as I complete my next online class. To create this tropical look I smooshed worn lipstick and wild honey inks on my glass mat and spritzed water over them until they ran together then took a piece of hot pressed watercolor paper and swiped it through the diluted inks. To get good coverage and blends I tilted and spritzed more water on the panel then left it to dry.
With the panel in a stamp positioner I inked the large hibiscus and buds with worn lipstick ink stamped then inked the rest of the stamp with antique linen so I could see the whole image for some no-line watercolour. I painted one petal at a time with worn lipstick ink adding more towards the center of the flower. For the buds I used a mix of worn lipstick and wild honey.
For the leaves I stamped and painted with rustic wilderness distress and sometimes added worn lipstick to the blend so I’d have variation in the leaf colours.
That little sentiment seemed to lend itself to the tropical, surf shop vibe so I stamped once in worn lipstick, then moved the panel ever so slightly down so I could stamp again in white to create a drop shadow look. I definitely dried it and used an anti static tool before sprinkling the white embossing powder over the words otherwise it could have all ended up white.
I’m so excited to have another online class in the works; the projects are all filmed so it’s editing time, supply list creating time and intro filming time. I’ll have more details, dates and sneak peaks for you soon!
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Puppy’s Quilt
Posted: April 30, 2021 Filed under: Colorado Craft Company, puppy's quilt, sennelier watercolours, simple strips, Taylored Expressions, weathered | Tags: Colorado Craft Company, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, sennelier watercolours, Taylored Expressions 5 Comments
I created this sweet dog card for a friend to give her grand-daughter. You know it is unusual to see animals on my cards but this stamp had the perfect mix of watercolourable-quilt and not-too-difficult-to-paint dog. The colour scheme is all my own choice, no surprises there, but some of the technique was provided by the talented and prolific Sandy Allnock. When she created with this stamp she used the opportunity to teach how to paint a bold shadow. I decided not to add a bold shadow but just watching her paint the image was helpful. It made me realise there was absolutely no need to add more than one colour to each quilt square even though the fabric included patterns.
I stamped the image on hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine clair morning mist, a pigment ink which would not move when I added water and watercolour paint over the top. I used Sennelier watercolours for all the painting and to create a custom watercolour mat to frame the image also. I watched Sandy’s video more than once to help me paint the dog taking care to leave some areas bright white while the sections closer to the quilt were shadowy and grey.
The sentiment is from the Taylored Expressions ‘simple strips’ set stamped in versafine deep lagoon and cut with the co-ordinating simple strips die. If you haven’t seen the simple strips series from TE they are very clever; you get one large stamp with 18 different sentiments and one die that cuts them all into banner style strips. Very handy to have a bunch of strips on hand to add to cards. It isn’t noticeable in the photos but the blue watercoloured mat has some texture as I embossed it with the weathered embossing folder, also from Taylored Expressions.
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Garden fresh
Posted: April 28, 2021 Filed under: garden fresh, scripty | Tags: distress markers, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Stampin Up 7 Comments
Inspiration for today’s card came from a watercolour artist I saw on Instagram. Her name is Garima Srivastava and she paints loads of florals sometimes in cute little jars and vases. I saw one of her paintings then pulled out the new Penny Black ‘garden fresh’ clear set to create my own little trio.
I stamped on hot press watercolour paper with Papertrey soft stone ink, a pale grey that works well for no line watercolour. To paint inside the outline images I used a mix of distress inks and markers, sometimes picking up smooshed ink off my glass mat, other times inking the stamp with a marker to add some definition.
To finish the panel I stamped a sentiment from the new PB ‘ever thanks’ set in versafine clair morning mist ink then popped it up over the embossed mat made with one of my new embossing folders. (SU ‘scripty’). I’m looking forward to filling jars and jugs with flowers. Right now the daffodils are making a fine effort but a little too sparse to cut any for indoors.
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Florescence
Posted: April 16, 2021 Filed under: florescence, Karin brushmarkers, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Karin brushmarkers, Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 11 Comments
I hope you have already seen some of the gorgeous new stamps from the Penny Black ‘Delight’ release. I am thoroughly enjoying the large floral stamps and will be sharing projects here on the blog over the coming weeks. This beautiful hibiscus stamp is called ‘florescence’ and it is a joy to work with.
To create this large 4½”x 6¼” card I used Karin brush markers to both stamp and paint the image. With the hot pressed watercolour panel in a stamp positioner I stamped first in Papertrey soft stone ink so I could see the outline image then inked the flower and buds with the magenta and magenta red markers. When I am inking a stamp with a marker I always turn the marker tip on its side to protect the point. I inked the leaves and stems with both lush green and henna markers to create more of a muted green. When painting the leaves and flowers I drew ink from the stamped lines as well as adding it to the panel directly with the brush markers. I also dabbed ink away to create water marks and gradation in the petals and leaves. I stamped and painted the anther and filament (yes I looked that up) in magenta and canary markers. To finish the flower painting I strategically placed some large and small water droplets on the leaves and petals. After letting them sit for 30 seconds or so I dabbed them up with a paper towel to reveal pale dots here and there.
To fill the top of the panel I stamped and painted the buds a couple more times leaving a blank space bottom right for the large thank you sentiment from the new ‘ever thanks’ set. I stamped in versafine olympia green; I’ve heard the original versafine inks are being phased out so I will keep stamping with them while I have them but buy the versafine clair inks from now on.
Both the Foiled Fox and Penny Black are hosting giveaways right now so click on the links I created for a chance to win.
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Pansy Gaze
Posted: April 8, 2021 Filed under: pansy gaze, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Stampin Up 4 Comments
Today’s little card features a sweet stamp from Penny Black. I did the stamping and painting on a thin strip of cardstock thinking I might make a bookmark but as I filled in the background decided to just make a smaller than usual card. This one is 3¾” x 4¾” cut to frame the pansy panel evenly.
I stamped the pansy stamp in weathered wood distress ink then painted the petals with seedless preserves and blueprint sketch ink which was smooshed on my glass mat for convenient pick-up. I painted the leaves with a mix of forest moss, lucky clover and peeled paint. I added wild honey and black soot to the centres after painting all the petals and wish I’d achieved a bit more of a pop with the yellow but continued anyway.
I smooshed the weathered wood ink pad on the glass mat several times to make plenty of the grey-blue ink available for painting a background and then proceeded to paint water first then ink as I went round the image. I was not after a seamless look (obviously!) but more of a rough sketchy look so there are some watermarks, hard edges and bleeds from the green ink. I ran the panel through the big kick with the ‘subtle’ embossing folder from SU for a canvas look; you can see it on the close up.
I saw the first flower in my garden today; it’s a little white star flower…happy sigh.
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Vintage layers
Posted: April 5, 2021 Filed under: Darkroom Door, French Script, global postmarks, mesh, Nature Walk, Papertrey Inks, scratches, you are everything | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink 12 Comments
Today’s cards developed bit by bit over a week or so. I worked on flower panels one day, middle layers another day, let them sit a few days, searched for ribbon another day and finally a week later put them together still adding stamping, splattering and blending right up until I called them finished!
I featured the silhouette floral stamps from the new Darkroom Door ‘you are everything’ set. There are four floral stamps along with eighteen word stamps I mentioned in a previous post. The flowers above are stamped on cold press watercolour paper with papertrey inks. I used pale peony and pure poppy on the petals and olive twist on the stems. I spritzed lightly before stamping then blended further with a paintbrush on the paper. I used the same technique on the purple flowers in the second card but worked on hot pressed watercolour paper.
For the vintage and collage details on the card I above I used olive twist and fine linen inks to add painted areas, stamped text, splatter and blending with a brush.
The flowers above are stamped in pale peony, royal velvet and olive twist and I stuck with fine linen and royal velvet as the inks on the layered areas also.
I’ve listed all the stamps I used to add texture and interest to the floral panel and the layers underneath. You can see some of my favourite ‘filler’ stamps including French script and global postmarks. I also splattered water and white paint for some watermarks and subtle blots!
To finish both cards I punched a couple of holes in the top to thread some fabric through. I didn’t have a cream silk or sheer ribbon so I ripped some strips of what might be silk but I can’t remember. The ripped edge worked fine with my vintage layered look.
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Delighted with Daisies
Posted: March 30, 2021 Filed under: Christmas bush, daisy delight, Darkroom Door, Papertrey Inks | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink 5 Comments
This is the second card I’ve created with the new Darkroom Door background stamp ‘daisy delight‘. Once again I ended up using the whole stamp because it is just so happy and bright. At some stage I must try cutting a strip or some squares because I’m sure that would look pretty too.
Using the stamp in a positioner with hot pressed watercolour paper I first inked the centres of the daisies with an orange ink cube. I wasn’t careful to ink only the circles; I just gave each daisy a twist of orange ink then stamped. I cleaned the stamp and inked sections with raspberry fizz ink then stamped and finally inked remaining sections with bright buttercup ink. I gave it a spritz of water to help the inks blend before stamping the last time.
To fill the petals I smooshed the same three inks on my glass mat then used a paintbrush and water to paint loosely inside the petals and centres. I also mixed new blends with the pink, orange and yellow inks.
To put the card together I die cut a rectangle from the centre of the panel, popped in up on three layers of cardstock and wrapped some white and silver twine around it before attaching it to the card base. The sentiments are from the DD ‘Christmas bush’ set and they are perfect for many occasions; possibly a birthday this time.
Did you know Darkroom Door has a blog where they post oodles of inspiration for using their huge range of stamps and stencils? They also have a newsletter so you can receive emails full of inspiration.
Thanks for joining me today, see you again soon.
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Handwoven
Posted: March 29, 2021 Filed under: Christmas bush, Coliro paints, Darkroom Door, Finetec paints, handwoven, Papertrey Inks, you are everything | Tags: Coliro paints, Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink, Stonehenge black watercolour paper 8 Comments
Today’s cards feature the new ‘handwoven’ background stamp from Darkroom Door it two quite different ways.
To create this first card I inked the handwoven stamp with blue and green papertrey ink cubes, spritzed the stamp then pressed it on hot pressed watercolour paper. The result was some green areas, some blue areas and some pretty blended areas where the inks overlap. The blue-green background created a pretty pattern as it was and I could have just added a sentiment and called it complete but I decided to take the risk of adding some flowers. I would understand if you wish I had left it flower free because it is a busy panel but I like the look of a patterned geometric roof or canopy over the flowers.
The flowers are from the new DD set ‘you are everything’ as are the words. The words in this set are great; there are eighteen negative space words that can be stamped and cut out to make countless sentiments. I embossed both the flowers and the words to give them more prominence over the busy background.
The second card I am planning to use as an Easter card. Filling the spaces of the handwoven pattern with pearlescent paint reminded me of a stain glass window so I looked through my sentiments and found this one in the DD ‘Christmas bush’ set and decided it works for many occasions, including Easter. I stamped the handwoven stamp on black watercolour paper in versamark then embossed in clear powder before painting all the little spaces with Coliro paints and a fine point brush. It did take a while and I didn’t do it in one sitting as the fiddliness factor was high!
I matted both the patterned circle and the sentiment in gold shimmer cardstock and embossed the front of the card base using the ‘subtle’ embossing folder from SU.
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Under the same sky
Posted: March 23, 2021 Filed under: Darkroom Door, long distance, vintage planes | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
After pairing the cool new ‘long distance’ sentiments from Darkroom Door with a map stamp I took another look at the strip of sentiments (there are eleven) and picked out a couple that would work with planes and a sunset sky. I must admit my matchy-matchy side was pretty happy these two sentiments are in the same font and the three on my map card were also in the same font.
I taped a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper to my glass mat and painted six colours from top to bottom of the panel with plenty of water to dilute and mix the colours as I went. I used the Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolours for the sky and the colours are linked below. I put only a drop of each in wells of the palette then added three or four drops of water. Considering the paint brush was also dipped in water before picking up paint you can see these liquid watercolours are highly pigmented. I painted the whole panel twice starting with the phthalo blue each time and finishing with the gamboge. While the panel was still wet I scrunched up a tissue and dabbed paint off. You can see the tissue takes out a lot of colour bringing the dabbed area almost back to white.
Once the panel was totally dry I trimmed it and stamped two planes from DD vintage planes and two sentiments in versafine clair nocturne before embossing over the black ink in clear powder.
I was thinking about a comment my dad left on the long distance + map card about the recipient being able to return the same message to the sender on receipt of the card and I wondered about a ‘send it on’ idea. It is a bit different to what my dad suggested but instead of writing in the card I will write on a piece of loose paper inside the card and suggest the recipient remove my note and add one of their own before sending the card on to another person. For fun the senders and recipients could note their names on the back of the card. Hmmmm, perhaps I should try it with the map card and maybe this one too.
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Daisy Delight
Posted: March 22, 2021 Filed under: Brusho, daisy delight, Darkroom Door, you are everything | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
When I have a new line-art background stamp my first choice is usually to try emboss resist with brusho paint powders. This new background stamp from Darkroom Door is called ‘daisy delight’ and has plenty of loops and lines for trapping brusho.
I embossed the stamp in clear powder on hot pressed watercolour paper. With scrap paper spread under the panel I sprinkled brusho powder over the panel, both turquoise and sea green. I spritzed water over the brusho and sat back to watch the magic happen. As the brusho diluted I saw pockets of colour appear which were exactly what I wanted. You can see different shades of blue and green as well as a few pops of yellow. There were a few blank or pale sections so I sprinkled more brusho, spritzed more water and then waited again to see what happened. Once the paint was really soaking in I took a small brush and started filling some of the petals where the colour hadn’t reached all the edges. In a few places I took bold colour from a petal and used it to fill a petal somewhere else.
I dried the panel with a heat tool then trimmed it and did a test on a trimmed scrap to see if I would like black background in amongst the flowers. I went with it and coloured in the few areas that are not part of the flowers with a black Karin brushmarker. To finish the card I wrapped white/silver twine around it and popped up some embossed words from the new DD ‘you are everything’ set.
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Heather Telford 