You are nothing short of amazing

Posted: April 8, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: exhilaration, Penny Black, Script | Tags: , , , , , | 12 Comments

I got together with some friends a while back for a crafting afternoon, seems like an age ago now! While there I stamped the two panels you see here. For a while they were forgotten as I was working on other projects then I fiddled around to create two quite different cards. The basic technique is the same for both panels and involves stamping and restamping without reinking in between impressions. The card above began as a vintage looking panel stamped in antique linen ink. I smooshed some antique linen distress ink on my glass mat, spritzed with water then swiped my panel through it to pick up inky stains. I dabbed some areas with paper towel which makes them dry a more yellowy colour. I partially inked the Penny Black script background stamp in antique linen and stamped on one side.

Once the background was dry I used the PB stamp, ‘exhilaration’ to stamp some coloured flowers. I inked the flowers with a Papertrey Americana ink cube and chipped sapphire distress ink then the stems with a gathered twigs distress marker. I wiped ink off the stamp in some areas so the image would be patchy on purpose, spritzed then stamped on the panel. I did both the left hand side and right top corner then, without cleaning the stamp spritzed it again and stamped paler images which immediately appear to be in the background. I stamped a sentiment on an ‘antiqued’ scrap in versafine vintage sepia ink, added a twine bow and popped it up on some foam tape.

Now that I have described my process for the first card you can probably see that I used the same technique for the blue card but only used one colour, Papertrey ink ‘blueberry sky’. I didn’t start by making a vintage style background, I just jumped right on in with the first stamping. I spritzed  the stamp and did another print, then another and one more very pale one and that was it! I added some splatters but nothing more to this pretty blue panel. It was very quick and probably took longer to find a matching cardstock. Once I found a co-ordinating blue I stamped part of a sentiment from the PB ‘sentiment’ set and embossed in alabaster powder. I finished the sentiment by stacking three die cut ‘amazings’ from the PB OMG die set.

I love this technique for adding depth and dimension to flat stamped panels. I have a video coming next week demonstrating a similar process so stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting here today, I hope you are safe and well where you are and thanks again if you are on the front lines taking care of health, food and safety needs. You are nothing short of amazing!

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Lovely Lilacs video

Posted: April 3, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: lovely lilacs, Penny Black, Tutorial, Watercolour | Tags: , , , , | 25 Comments

I am so happy to have a video for you today especially as so many of us are staying home to stay healthy. I hope this simple technique and pretty card featuring Penny Black’s ‘lovely lilacs’ set will inspire you in your creating. Check out the video below and then read further for the different colour combinations I came up with. They all require a light and a dark colour in the same ‘family’ for the flowers and a green for the stems. That’s it; so simple and so pretty!

The inks are listed in the video and linked below but just for reference while you are reading, on the card above I used milled lavender distress ink, seedless preserves & peeled paint distress markers and shady lane versafine clair ink for the sentiment. All the cards are stamped on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper. The sentiments are from two different PB sets, ‘carefree wishes’ and ‘magical friendship’.

As I have been home a lot more than usual I have been spending quite a bit of time making videos. I’ve said before they take me a long time and that is still true but I am feeling more confident with the editing software since I’ve spent days sitting in front of it! Other than the mammoth grocery runs ( I did one today that I am hoping will feed the four of us for two weeks) and some outdoor exercise, I haven’t been out and about at all. I am sure it is the same for many of you.

The card above is the first one I did with this technique and it was stamped with shaded lilac distress ink, blueprint sketch & forest moss distress markers. I think this might be my favourite colour combo.

This red and pink one ended up with splatter and was stamped with worn lipstick distress ink and aged mahogany & forest moss distress markers.

I’m not sure that lilacs come in all these colours but when has that ever stopped me. The colour pairs are spun sugar + worn lipstick, tumbled glass + salty ocean and milled lavender + dusty concord.

I hope you find this technique appealing; please let me know if you try it and if you come up with new colour combinations.

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Dazzling postcard

Posted: March 20, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: dazzle, Penny Black, Script, vintage postcard | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

I am sharing these tulip cards over on the Foiled Fox blog today. You know I like it over there, I enjoy the inspiration on their blog, the range of products in their store and the interaction with the Foiled Fox staff and their readers. Make sure you pop over there.

To create a vintage background I smooshed antique linen distress ink on a glass mat then spritzed water over the ink before swiping a hot pressed watercolour panel through the it. I dried the panel before repeating the step. Next I inked the ‘script’ background stamp in antique linen ink, spritzed it then stamped it on one side of the panel. I let everything dry before moving onto the tulips. The stamp is a new one from Penny Black called ‘dazzle’; it is large and features two tulips and two buds. Neither of today’s cards show you the whole stamp; I was after the look of patterned paper rather than a complete image. You will see the whole stamp on another card in the future.

I inked the stamp with scattered straw, wild honey and forest moss distress ink, spritzed it lightly then stamped over the edges of the panels. I also wiped ink off the stamp before pressing it down so the tulips would appear to be floating not anchored to the base of the panel. On the second card I blended over the stamped tulips with water to create a transparent look but on the card above I left them looking ‘lacey’. After the ink dried I splattered both panels with wild honey and forest moss inks.

To finish the card above I stamped part of the new ‘vintage postcard’ stamp in vintage photo archival ink. On the card below I added some hemp twine and a popped up sentiment panel also stamped on ‘aged-looking’ paper.

You have already seen this sentiment once this week; it does seem appropriate for the uncertain circumstances we are experiencing right now. I made both cards before the virus situation escalated in North America but I hope having these cards and those words end up on the blog this week is an encouragement to you.

In the close up above you can see clearly the variation of colour achieved by picking up diluted antique linen ink on my watercolour panel; there seems to be a purply tone in there! I love this kind of background and it is so easy to do. Thank you for dropping by today. I appreciate you all and am encouraged to hear that these posts are providing you with some inspiration during a difficult time.

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Herb garden

Posted: March 18, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: herb garden, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 7 Comments

Here is another new stamp from Penny Black and definitely one of my faves from the new release ‘Secret Garden’. I’m not much of a gardener, certainly not in the class of my mother and father but I do plant herbs every spring and use them in my cooking during summer and fall. Before the snow came at the beginning of winter my daughter decided to transplant a few into pots and bring them inside. They really didn’t enjoy the transfer but they struggled on. I don’t think they have enjoyed the neglect either we as fail to water them for weeks at a time. Despite our patchy efforts they seem to be hanging in there. I assume I should prune them hard soon then look after them a bit better leading up to their return to the outside world.

I did not have the same issues keeping these three pots looking healthy. I used distress inks pads and markers to do some watercolouring. I knew I wanted the herbs to all be different greens but I didn’t want them to clash with each other so I picked four green inks and used a different pair on each herb for continuity. The parsley was pine needles and mowed lawn, rosemary was iced spruce and peeled paint and basil was mowed lawn and peeled paint. When inking the stamp I dabbed both inks on the leaves, stamped then used a paintbrush to blend the inks with water to fill the leaves.

All the pots were done with barn door, hickory smoke and vintage photo ink. I inked the stamp with the three distress inks but also picked them up from a glass mat so I could paint each pot adding shadows and depth. I also painted shadows below each pot with hickory smoke ink and a little vintage photo. I thought about adding some background but I just love those little pots sitting there looking healthy all by themselves to I left them alone just adding ‘thinking of you’ from the mini set ‘wildflowers’.

I just took another look at our sad stringy herbs; advice is welcome!

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Where flowers bloom

Posted: March 16, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: exhilaration, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

The appearance of sunny skies and warmer temperatures over the weekend have been a pleasant change; maybe spring has sprung. Life seems to have changed a little since I was posting on Friday! Events have been cancelled, churches, schools, libraries and recreation centres have closed for the next three weeks at least and store shelves have some significant gaps.  Here in Ottawa the number of people infected with the virus is still low but growing each day.

This simple card is stamped with a new brushstroke stamp from Penny Black called ‘Exhilaration’. It is a spray of flowers which curves in a ‘s’ shape. I stamped it once from the top left corner then just a partial image crossing the bottom left corner.

You probably won’t be surprised by any of the process today as I used the same technique I often for brushstroke stamps. I did the stamping on hot pressed watercolour paper in the stamp positioner using distress markers to ink the stamp. I was pleasantly surprised how well the colours worked and how nice the blends were after minimal inking and spritzing.

The colours I used were festive berries and dusty concord on the flowers and  peeled paint, crushed olive and forest moss on the leaves and stems. I did spritz the stamps a little before stamping so the inks would blend. Using three greens worked well giving the simple leaf shapes more interest. The criss-crossing of stems gave me an indent which worked perfectly for a sentiment. I stamped the sentiment from the ‘blooming sentiments’ set in Spanish moss versafine ink.

Take care, I’ll be back with more in a few days.

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Petal Poetry

Posted: March 9, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, petal poetry | Tags: , , , | 12 Comments

Introducing ‘petal poetry’ from Penny Black, another floral beauty from the new release ‘Secret Garden’. This one is a brushstroke stamp which means the image is taken from a painted image. I like to stamp each brushstroke stamp I receive in a single colour, just a medium tone, nothing too light or dark, to see all the detail before I start creating with it. Having a monotone print of the image beside me when I work is very helpful. I always use a stamp positioner for this type of image so I can work on a bit at a time and I don’t feel any pressure to ink every bit in the right colour first go.

To create this panel I started by inking the flowers with shaded lilac distress ink and the leaves with peeled paint distress ink, then stamped without any spritzing. With the pale image of the peonies on my hot pressed watercolour panel I inked the edges of the petals in wilted violet distress ink and added forest moss ink to the leaves with a marker then stamped again. From this point on I added ink to the stamp with distress markers to define the petals, I had shaded lilac and dusty concord markers to help show edges and shadows. I did some spritzing of ink on the stamp but also blended the colour on the panel with a paintbrush. To see the sort of process I used check out a couple of my videos with similar stamps (blossom branch and spontaneous joy)

 

I kept on adding dabs of colour and blending with water until I was happy with the result. With this one I know I stopped myself from spritzing too much so the petals would still have some definition. And I didn’t even splatter! Such restraint! Once it was dry I added the centre of the flowers with a black soot distress marker and stamped a sentiment from ‘million thanks’ in versafine clair nocturne ink.

I hope you are enjoying the new floral stamps from Penny Black; there are indeed other images in the new release and I will eventually tear myself away from the florals to share some with you.

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Blooming Bunch

Posted: March 4, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: blooming bunch, Penny Black | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

It’s time for a new release from Penny Black! This one’s called Secret Garden and it is full of gorgeous floral stamps and dies (and other cuteness). I will be sharing projects here on the blog in the coming weeks.

This lovely bucket of tulips turned out to be the perfect stamp for distress ink no-line watercolour. I inked the flowers one at a time in either festive berries or abandoned coral then blended ink from stamping along with a little extra from smooshing on my glass mat. I kept the panel (hot pressed watercolour paper) in the stamp positioner as I was painting my way through the flowers. I blended the stamped ink within each flower and added more ink towards the base of the petals. I tried to work on flowers that were not adjacent to each other so the inks didn’t run into each other. When all the flowers were done I inked some of the outlines again with a marker and re-stamped to add a bit of definition here and there.

I used forest moss distress ink for the stems and leaves. Forest moss is quite a dark ink so I diluted it for some of the leaves and was able to get depth and shadows.

Painting the bucket was my favourite part of the process; it isn’t fiddly and the mix of vintage photo and stormy sky ink made it look old. To ground the image I ruled a line with a black soot marker then blended the ink downward and painted a shadow at the base of the bucket with some stormy sky ink and a tiny bit of abandoned coral ink. I finished the card with a sentiment from the new ‘blooming sentiments’ set. It is one sentiment but I did some masking in order to stamp the large word at the top and the rest of the text at the bottom of my card front in versafine clair versafine clair misty morning.

See you again soon with more from the PB ‘Secret Garden’.

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Beloved View – 2 ways

Posted: March 2, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: beloved view, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

 

I haven’t done scenic stamping for a while so ‘beloved view’ from Penny Black called out to me. I decided to stamp it two ways, that way you can see the versatility and I will have two more birthday cards. To begin I smooshed some mermaid lagoon and weathered wood distress inks on a glass mat, diluted the ink with water then swiped the watercolour paper through the inks to create the look of a cloudy sky. I dried the panel then put it in a stamp positioner so I could build up the scene a colour at a time. First I inked the fence in gathered twigs and ground espresso distress inks then, after stamping, blended the browns with a brush and water. Next I inked the foliage of the tree in peeled paint and forest moss inks, spritzed and stamped. I let that dry a little then used a brown marker to ink some of the branches before stamping again. For the foreground foliage I used a mix of pine needles distress ink along with peeled paint. I did a bit more blending with a paint brush then dried the whole panel.

I switched to blending brushes to add the rest of the detail including brown ink along the lower edge and mermaid lagoon around the edge of the sky. I added two hills by blending over the edge of a torn post it note first in weathered wood ink then on the right with hickory smoke ink.

The sentiment is from PB ‘special sentiments’ and is stamped in versafine vintage sepia ink. Now I’m sure this never happens to you but as I was stamping the sentiment a second time I got it slightly off set. Several unappealing fixes popped into my head but I decided to keep stamping the sentiment so with extra ink the two ‘prints’ would join together. This would not have been totally successful if I had left them only stamped but once I embossed with clear powder the text no longer appeared to be a double image! Phew, crisis averted.

On my second card I created an abstract background first then, once dry, I stamped ‘beloved view’ over the top in versafine clair nocturne ink to create a silhouette,

The ‘impressionistic’ background was painted with distress stains, salty ocean, chipped sapphire, vintage photo and peeled paint. I spritzed water and painted them without trying to create a scene other than keeping the brown stain in vertical strips a bit like trees. Once I had the background covered I sprinkled salt over the wet panel to add some texture.

Once the salt dried I rubbed it off and did the silhouette stamping. The paper is hot pressed watercolour so it has a little texture; to get a solid image of the foreground scene I had to stamp several times in black and the stamp positioner made that possible. The sentiment from PB ‘heartfelt’ is also stamped in nocturne ink. I trimmed the panel so the card base would create a very narrow frame all around.

My stash is always a little short on masculine cards so these two are sure to come in handy. And by the way, my cards are now for sale in two Ottawa locations, A Curated Nest on Wellington Street and Crop A While on St Joseph Boulevard. Thanks for dropping by today

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Poppy birthdays

Posted: February 25, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: little lowercase letters, My Favorite Things, phrase builder you, Pink Fresh studio, poppy background, YAY for you | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments

 

When I pulled out the MFT ‘poppies background’ stamp my intention was to do some loose watercolour with splashes and dabs here and there. As you can see I didn’t manage that; I stayed inside the lines. It was not a fiddly job though, painting this panel. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get it done. I put the stamp in the stamp positioner along with a piece of cold pressed watercolour paper. Using the papertrey ink cubes I was able to ink the flowers in ‘scarlet jewel’ and the buds, stems and pods in ‘ripe avocado’. If the inks ended up on the wrong section I either wiped it off or let it be because a little green in the flowers or red in the stems doesn’t matter.

I blended one petal at a time which sounds time consuming but they are large petals so it wasn’t bad. As I finished blending the ink into one petal I picked up a little bit of ‘blueberry sky’ ink and dropped it into the wet petal at the inner edge. When I came to the poppy centres I got mixed up and did the centres black and the surrounding dots in yellow so to fix it I went over the yellow with little black dots then went over the black center with a gold gel pen to turn it yellowish! Adding a sentiment took me an age, not because it was too fiddly but because I couldn’t decide how to arrange it and my embossing game was definitely off. I ended up with ‘you’ from Pink Fresh ‘phrase builder: you’ set overlaid with a sentiment from MFT ‘YAY for you’ set.

The second panel definitely involved more slap dash watercolouring but I still managed to stay inside the lines. I stamped the whole image in distress peeled paint which blends very easily with water. As I wanted some depth of colour in the centres of the flowers I smooshed faded jeans and chipped sapphire distress inks on my glass mat and picked up ink to paint shadows on the petals. I inked up the centres of the poppies with a chipped sapphire marker then chose a dark blue (not black) cardstock to die-cut the letters for the sentiment.

The die-cut letters got a little lost when placed straight on the busy background panel so I attached them to a piece of vellum first. To line them up I perfectly magnets held the vellum in place on my Wendy Vecchi magnetic board and, because it was vellum I was able to see a whole grid of lines to get them straight vertically and horizontally. I was pretty happy with this arrangement and might just have to do all my sentiments on vellum to experience the same satisfaction! I put ‘stick it’ adhesive on the back of the dark blue cardstock before I cut the letters so I would not have to deal with glue or tiny bits of tape for each letter. That would not have given me any satisfaction at all!

Even though green poppies are a bit of an oddity I think that one ended up being my favourite.

In other news make sure you pop over to the Penny Black blog to enter their giveaway; you have until March 1. I will be sharing plenty of new PB product in the weeks to come.

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Sending Love

Posted: February 10, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, number medley, warm wishes | Tags: , , , | 11 Comments

I posted a clean and simple two tone card last week featuring a new Darkroom Door set, ‘warm wishes’. The detail of the stamp was very apparent in my earlier card but this time I am showing it off with a watercolour look. The set includes five flowers ( I think they are clover) of different shapes and sizes. I have used a rounder flower on this card and stamped it several times to create a blurry background then twice with detail in the foreground.

I began by taping some hot pressed watercolour paper to my glass mat then spritzing it unevenly with water. When it was fairly wet I inked the flower stamp in worn lipstick, aged mahogany and peeled paint distress inks then stamped it repeatedly over the wet panel. I re-inked the stem to stamp several times in the bottom left hand corner.  To frame the design I painted some stormy sky distress stain around the edges. After the panel dried I transferred it to a stamp positioner so I could add a couple more flowers. I used the same three distress markers to ink the flower and stem then added darker green with a forest moss marker.

For some added interest I used a number stamp from another new Darkroom Door set, ‘number medley’. I know I am going to enjoy using this set to add texture and detail to a whole lot of projects. You probably wouldn’t have guessed the stamp is made up of numbers because I stamped with distress stain and did some spritzing to make the ink move a little.

To complete the card I added a sentiment from ‘warm wishes’ in faded jeans archival ink then popped up the whole panel with some white foam. I feel like transforming this design into an art journal page; what do you think?

For more inspiration with this new set head over to the Darkroom Door blog.

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