Dawn & Dusk
Posted: April 4, 2017 Filed under: cattail clique | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 10 Comments
The star of today’s cards is the pretty cattails clique die from Penny Black. I cut it as a silhouette out of black cardstock for my dawn card and painted it for my dusk card later on in this post.
To create my dawn background I taped down some rough watercolour paper. More often than not I use hot pressed(smooth) watercolour paper but I decided this time to let the texture of rough paper add to my project. I taped across the panel about two thirds of the way down so I could paint the sky first. I used the wet into wet technique and painted first mustard seed, then worn lipstick, spiced marmalade and dusty concord distress stains onto the panel. In some places I blended the colours into each other but left one area lighter and more yellow to represent the sun. When that was dry I removed the tape and positioned it over the top section to reveal the lower section. I painted again with the same colours but blended it more to represent the reflection of the sky in the water.
I applied a double sided adhesive to black cardstock then die cut the ‘cattails clique’ out of it and attached it to the watercolour panel and added a sentiment in black ink.
For my dusk card I used cold pressed watercolour paper but this time started by splattering masking fluid over it. I then painted stormy sky and faded jeans distress stain over the panel diluting it with water towards the bottom. On separate pieces of cold pressed watercolour paper I painted gathered twigs distress stain across the top of each panel and mowed lawn distress stain over the bottom of the panel. Once they were dry I cut two more ‘cattails’ pieces to layer over my sky panel.
Before assembling the card I rubbed all the masking fluid off the blue painted panel to reveal ‘stars’ in the evening sky. I layered and offset my cattail die cuts, attached them at the bottom of the panel and matted the scene in dark blue cardstock.
I love creating scenes with stamps and dies so the cattails die makes me happy.
Supplies
Stamps: Spiritual snippets (PB)
Dies: Cattail Clique (PB)
Inks: mustard seed, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, dusty concord, stormy sky, faded jeans, mowed lawn, gathered twigs distress stains, versafine onyx black ink
Paper: rough & cold pressed watercolour paper, black cardstock, blue cardstock
Also: masking fluid, double sided adhesive sheets
Matelasse cards & a winner
Posted: March 27, 2017 Filed under: Brusho, CAS, layered flower, Leaflets, the garden | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies 8 Comments
Little Secret
Posted: February 27, 2017 Filed under: a little secret, CAS | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 14 Comments
I’m playing with layers in today’s card, both layers of stamping and layers of painting. I used a couple of colours of distress stain to create the background on hot pressed watercolour paper. I painted with both chipped sapphire and stormy sky, keeping the colour dark on the left and pale on the right. After I had done one layer I dried it then painted another layer. While the second layer was still wet I stamped the ‘a little secret’ stamp in chipped sapphire ink, taking care as I inked it to leave the birds uninked. I let that dry and stamped again in chipped sapphire to get an image which didn’t soften and bleed. With the panel dry I dropped some water droplets onto the painted background then after a minute or so dried them with paper towel. The watermark left behind looks like light or a moon in the distance. To finish I stamped the full stamp in versafine onyx black ink.
You can see the deckled edge in the close up above. I buy quite a bit of hot pressed watercolour paper in large sheets and each sheet has two deckled edges which occasionally I incorporate into my projects. I mounted the panel on a white card base and left it without a sentiment.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies
Stamps: a little secret (PB)
Inks: chipped sapphire, stormy sky distress stains and inks(Ranger), versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paper: Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper
A Moment in Time
Posted: February 23, 2017 Filed under: A moment in time, Brusho | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 13 Comments
So far this week I have shared three new brushstroke stamps from Penny Black and three different techniques for ‘painting’ with them. I say painting because that really is what I do with brushstroke stamps; I choose a water soluble medium and apply colour in such a way as to create the look of watercolour painting. Today’s card was done using my ‘stamping with water’ technique. I put the pretty, new stamp, A Moment in Time, in my MISTI and painted water on it. As I applied the water with a paint brush I noticed it was beading rather than spreading over the rubber. I realised it was a brand new stamp and needed a little bit of prepping before I used it. I don’t always do this because sometimes the first coat of ink will do the prep for me. I keep a piece of fine sandpaper on hand (it is very fine and has been used many times so it does not damage the stamp at all) to rub gently across the surface of the rubber, then I simply clean with some stamp cleaner. Another way to prep the surface is to use an eraser to rub all over the stamp before cleaning with stamp cleaning solution.
Once I had prepped the surface of the stamp I was able to coat it with water and stamp it on a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper. I could see the watery poppy image on my panel so it was simple to sprinkle brusho powder in the right place, gamboge over the flower head and leaf green over the stem. I watched and waited as the brusho activated then added more water to the stamp and stamped again. I moved my panel so I could stamp another poppy and followed the same procedure. Once the brusho powder stopped reacting I dried the panel with a heat tool, tapped off excess brusho powder and used a paint brush to fill in a few petals. I added a leaf using the same technique then a few droplets of water in the centre of the poppies and some black brusho where I had made it damp. I dried the whole panel before creating a sky by sprinkling some turquoise brusho then spritzing it. I wanted to protect the poppies from coming in contact with too much water so I painted water around the edges then pulled the turquoise colour into the water keeping some areas light while letting others be more intense.
I finished the card off with the ‘wonderful’ die cut and some handlettering to complete my sentiment. I have received some lovely comments in the last week or so and I want you to know how much I appreciate them. I have read the requests for videos also and hope to get onto some as soon as my class prep is up to date. Thank you for visiting, commenting and making my day!
Supplies
Stamps: A moment in time (PB)
Pens: Fudenosuke brush pen hard tip (Tombow)
Paint: gamboge, leaf green, black & turquoise brusho (Colourcraft)
Die: Awesome (PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano) orange cardstock, neenah natural white cardstock
Floral border
Posted: February 9, 2017 Filed under: Centerpiece, Stitched Edges | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Sakura Koi watercolour paints 18 Comments
Between Christmas and New Year I did some major re-organising in my work room and changed the way I store my stamps. I am still working out a few details and wondering the best way to store my wood block stamps but other than that the new system seems to be working well. One benefit of doing some serious sorting was re-acquainting myself with my supplies. I pulled out a stamp from a few years ago and my Koi watercolour travel set to make this card.
The stamp is a bouquet of flowers in a vase but as you can see I left the vase out of the picture and just worked with the flowers to create a border. With masking I could have positioned the flowers even more closely but I was hoping to finish this card fairly quickly so I just stamped the flower part of the stamp with the MISTI then moved my watercolour panel and stamped again. I used distress ink to stamp so I could blend it while painting. To keep it simple I used two colours of paint on the petals switching back and forth between a pink and a pale orange. I painted olive green into the leaves but then went around the edges and over the stems with a marker. To complete the flowers I painted black dots and yellow centres.
It really was a fairly quick panel to paint, the time consuming part ended up being the way I mounted it between a strip of pink and a die-cut edge of pink. I should have just attached it over the top of a pink panel but I made it less bulky but more fiddly by cutting both the watercolour panel and the pink cardstock with the edge die then aligning them on the card base. The Happy Little Stampers challenge this month is watercolour with an optional twist of die-cutting, so I’m popping over to add this one in.
As I write this I am sitting beside an amaryllis which looks like it might just burst out in bloom today. It is a gift from one of my artsy accomplices and it has been growing very steadily since the new year. It’s nice to have a real flower inside when all outside is snow and ice!
Supplies
Stamps: Centerpiece, words of kindness (PB)
Creative Dies: stitched edges (PB)
Inks: abandoned coral distress ink (Ranger) Olive grove memento marker, versafine Spanish moss (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural White 110lb cardstock, pink cardstock
Also: Koi watercolor field sketch travel kit (Sakura)
Lovely Neighbourhood
Posted: February 1, 2017 Filed under: Color Burst, Neighborhood love | Tags: color burst, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 2 Comments
These cute little dies are part of a set called Neighborhood love; I love the little house and building dies Penny Black has brought out even though they challenge my fear of the fiddly factor. I started this card by positioning a frisket film circle mask on a piece of watercolour paper. I sprinkled ultramarine blue powder and a tiny bit of merlot over the panel and spritzed it lightly from above. I spritzed only until I could see some patterns appearing but stopped before all the spots of colour started joining together. I used a heat tool to dry it, pointing the tool down at the panel not from the side to reduce the chance of the wet paint moving across the panel. It reminds me of a mosaic.
I painted another small piece of watercolour paper with merlot colorburst powder then die cut the buildings from the piece and attached them across the bottom of the panel.
I removed the mask then wanted to hand letter a sentiment inside the moon; I ended up not being game and chose this sweet sentiment from the ‘forever & always’ set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Forever & Always (PB)
Die: Neighborhood Love (PB)
Paints: Merlot & Ultramarine Blue Colorburst powders (Ken Oliver)
Inks: Versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah epic black cardstock
Also: Grafix frisket film
Poinsettia gift set
Posted: December 2, 2016 Filed under: Winter Joy | Tags: Artline Stix brush markers, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black stamps, Tombow fudenosuke brush pen 20 Comments
Although I had posts popping up on the blog while I was away for a month all the projects had been created and photographed before I left for Australia. I did take some art materials with me and spent a little bit of time creating this gift set for my sister-in-law. I was able to catch up with her a couple of times, once for dinner and a concert where she lives and again for my last day in Australia, a girls day out in Sydney. We had a great time together and I was happy to have finished this little set as a thank you gift.
I only took two stamp sets with me, one stayed uninked but the poinsettia from ‘winter joy’ was perfect for this set of cards. I stamped it on some label paper and cut it out so I would have a mask to enable me to layer the images and stamped all but one design in vintage photo ink. The one pale card was stamped in antique linen so I could create ‘white’ poinsettias.
I did my colouring with a mix of watercolour pencils and peerless watercolours on hot pressed watercolour paper. Because I hadn’t taken any sentiment sets with me I hand lettered all the sentiments, some more neatly than others! I picked up some kraft coloured square cards and envelopes from Eckersleys art store and raided my parents’ stash of coloured cardstock to create some mats. Even though I was working with minimal supplies I still managed to spread myself over half the dining room table at mum and dad’s house!
Supplies
Stamps: winter joy (PB)
Inks: vintage photo, antique linen distress ink (Ranger)
Paints: Peerless watercolours, Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils
Markers: Tombow fudenosuke brush pen, Artline Stix brush pens
Cardstock: fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper, Kaisercraft card & envelope pack
Winter celebration
Posted: November 22, 2016 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
The tree from the ‘woodland beauty’ set has definitely become a favourite of mine. (It features in my next Christmas card class this weekend and one spot just opened up) I started by painting a blue and purple sky over some masking fluid specks. I used the same blues to paint shadows over the mountains.
To create this little winter scene I stamped the tree in a mix of two greens and added water to blend the greens and add the shadow to the snow. To make the snowbank below the trees I partially inked the trees so the trunks weren’t stamped then painted some blue ink around the branches and as a sharp edge below the branches.
I painted some more pale blue snow banks then used part of a sentiment stamp to finish the panel. I’ve been back in Canada for over a week now and the snow has indeed come to Ottawa!
Supplies
Stamps: woodland beauty, festive cheer
Inks: versafine onyx black (Tsukineko), forest moss, pine needles distress markers (Ranger)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour papers (Fabriano), green cardstock
Paint: brusho watercolour crystal paint
Also: masking fluid
Baby, it’s cold outside
Posted: November 2, 2016 Filed under: Frosty day, What's in your cup | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, WOW embossing powders 7 Comments
I’m continuing my ‘Winter Warmth’ feature with a cup of hot chocolate and a steaming cup of tea. I had fun creating a couple more scenes with simple watercolour backgrounds and die cut focal images in the foreground. On today’s cards the background is rough watercolour paper so the ‘frosty day’ stamped images were speckled all over until I used a wet paintbrush to blend the ink over the sky area.
I die-cut the cup using the ‘what’s in your cup?’ die set. This set comes with the cup, cream, steam, teabag plus more detail pieces. I cut the pieces out of hot pressed watercolour paper, coloured them with distress markers and blended the colour with water.
I added a silver heart, cream and cinnamon to the pink cup then attached them all to the background panel. Because the die set comes with all the cute little extras I decided to make a second card this time with a cup of tea.
I stamped the background in black soot distress ink for this card and once again blended the sky area but left the rest textured.
I coloured the cup with red distress inks then added a sparkly embossed snowflake, a teabag tag and some rising steam.
I have one more ‘winter warmth’ card to share tomorrow.
Supplies
Stamps: frosty day, festive snippets
Dies: what’s in your cup?
Ink: Chipped sapphire, black soot, festive berries, old paper, gathered twigs, picked raspberry, vintage photo, hickory smoke distress inks/markers (Ranger) Versamark, versafine majestic blue, imperial purple & onyx black (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, rough watercolour paper
Paint: Finetec Artist Mica watercolour paint
Also: Clear gloss embossing powder, Clear sparkle embossing powder
Forest grove
Posted: October 7, 2016 Filed under: gift card pocket, Serenity, Snowy Grove, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
As you might know I use hot pressed watercolour paper 90% of the time because it is smooth and takes stamping so well, giving me a complete images. Occasionally, however, I like to pull out some cold pressed or even more occasionally some rough watercolour paper because the texture gives a whole different look. The labels hot, cold and rough, when attached to watercolour papers refer to the way the paper is pressed. Hot is flattened with heat and pressure making it the smoothest of all three. Cold is flattened with pressure but not heat and rough is flattened with less pressure than cold, making it the most textured of the three types.
I stamped the ‘snowy grove’ stamp on cold pressed paper in vintage photo ink. I then used the image as a starting point for painting some of the trees more distinctly. In some cases I joined a few trunks together with extra ink to create wider trees. I painted some foliage plus the forest floor with crushed olive and peeled paint distress stains and spritzed with water to blend and blur both the ground and the canopy. I cut the ‘serenity’ die from brown cardstock to add some framing and give the impression of looking into a grove of trees. The tiny tag is cut with the ‘gift card pocket’ die.
The trees around here still have plenty of green on them but we are beginning to see gorgeous colour too. Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving Canadians!
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowy Grove, Snippets (PB)
Dies: Serenity, gift card pocket
Inks: vintage photo, crushed olive, peeled paint distress inks & stains(Ranger)
Cardstock: Cold pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstock, green textured cardstock
Heather Telford 