Snow Berries
Posted: August 17, 2015 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
I have another snowy card for a sweltering day (here in Ottawa anyway!) Perhaps gazing at that frosty landscape will help you feel cooler??
The branches above were stamped with, ‘Berry Bevy’, a new stamp from the ‘Especially for You 2015’ collection currently being revealed on the Penny Black blog. I created a wintry moonlit scene by masking a piece of watercolour paper with both circular and hill shaped masks of frisket film. With the masks in place I painted a distress stain sky; the snowflakes you see were made by masking fluid splattered onto the panel before I began. I removed the moon mask before stamping the Berry Bevy stamp in versafine ink. Once the main image was stamped I removed the hill mask and painted a shadow for a foreground snow bank, masked it and added a few more twigs poking out of the snow. When it was all dry I painted each of the ‘berries’ with the pearly white paint from my gansai tambi watercolour set. It has a nice shimmer and looks silver or white depending on the angle of the card. There are more inspiring projects on the PB blog today including Mimi’s beautiful take on this stamp and some stunners from Jill.
Supplies:
Stamps: Berry Bevy (PB)
Inks: Broken China, Tumbled glass, Seeded preserves, Dusty concord distress stains/inkpads (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & black card
Also: Kuretake gansai tambi watercolour paints, Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Grafix frisket film
Winter Sunset
Posted: August 13, 2015 Filed under: Etched Branches, Prancers, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 11 Comments
I have another wintry scene today created back in January when it really did look like this outside! I used painter’s tape to mask the edges of the watercolour panel then frisket film to mask the snow while I painted the sky with colour picked up from my watercolour pencils. I stamped some trees before moving the frisket mask down to create more snow banks. Before I moved the frisket film each time I added twigs and scrub in the snow banks by stamping parts of the ‘Etched Branches’ stamp. Frisket film is a plastic film which is waterproof and sticky on one side making it perfect for masking with wet mediums like watercolour.
Occasionally I am asked in classes what to do when paint seeps under the masking tape around the edges of a panel. You can see it did so in a few places on the one above. Often I will do nothing and it will have some uneven edges to add to its uniqueness. If it looks too messy or unbalanced I sometimes trim or add a die cut to cover the offending area.
Don’t forget to keep checking the PB blog if you are interested in the new products from the ‘Especially for You 2015’ release. There are new cards everyday and a chance to win some new stamps and dies.
Supplies:
Stamps: Etched Branches, Amazing, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Walnut stain distress ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Also: Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils, Graffix frisket film
A Very Merry
Posted: August 10, 2015 Filed under: A Very Merry | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 3 Comments
On the Penny Black blog for the remainder of August you can see one new product after another as the ‘Especially for You 2015’ release is revealed. This week is all about new dies and there are a whole stack of new word dies featured on the PB blog today. One of the new word dies happens to be ‘A Very Merry’ on my card above. The pine bough is a new stamp too but I can give you details about that another day. There is a giveaway to coincide with the new release too so pop over to the blog.
If you have visited here before you will know my watercoloured cards range from quite neat and controlled to rather free, watery and loose. This is one of those loose ones that almost didn’t make the cut. However there was something about it, just enough definition in a couple of pine needles and cones to keep me from tossing it. It is stamped and painted on watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid. Before I stamped any images I spritzed some water and some spots of distress stain over the panel. I painted some tumbled glass distress stain also to fill in parts of the background. I let it dry a little before inking the pinecone stamp with distress stains and stamping it three times. It was quite wet so I dropped some bister powder into the wet areas to give some extra depth of colour. When it was almost dry I stamped over the initial images to add more definition in a couple of places. To complete the card I attached the panel to a dark brown card base and die cut the sentiment out of the same colour.
Supplies:
Stamps: Brush Pines (PB)
Creative Die: A Very Merry(PB)
Inks: Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough, Vintage Photo, Tumbled glass, Black soot, Gathered twigs distress stains/markers/inkpads (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & Brown card
Also: Blue and Green bistre powder, Winsor & Newton masking fluid.
Winter view
Posted: August 8, 2015 Filed under: Prancers, Skyline, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 Comments
Here is another wintry scene I created back in January for Splitcoaststampers. My first month with the Dirty Dozen was January and all the projects had to be finished and uploaded by the 13th. When I was planning my time and projects I did not know our children had planned a trip for my husband and I to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays. They had purchased air tickets, broadway tickets and a hotel room in New York for four days! Some cards were finished before I left on January 6th and a couple, including the one above, were finished when I returned. Inspired by our trip I created this card for the ‘All Cooped Up’ theme and could not imagine a better place to be cooped up in winter than an apartment overlooking Central Park. As you can see from our photo we enjoyed walking through the park in bright sunshine. Freezing cold but sunny.
To create this scene I splattered masking fluid on watercolour paper with a spatter brush, then, when it was dry stamped partial imprints of the skyline stamp spritzing both the stamp and paper to make sure my colours blended. I used a brush to pick up and add more colour around the buildings to create the impression of a grey day. Before stamping the bottom buildings I added a snow bank mask so the base of the buildings and the trees would appear behind it.
Supplies:
Stamps: Skyline, Summer Fun, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Tuxedo Black, Paris Dusk (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper, Epic Black & Solar White cardstock(Neenah)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Kemper spatter brush
Cosy Cottage
Posted: August 4, 2015 Filed under: Christmas Cottage | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 11 Comments
From January to June this year I was honoured to be a member of the Dirty Dozen at Splitcoaststampers. My term on the team is over now but I will forever be a Dirty Dozen Alumni which brings its own opportunities and privileges. Right now there are all sorts of challenges going on especially for fan club members. Alumni have dreamed up wonderful projects and multiple challenges are being released each day.
While I was a member of the Dirty Dozen I created projects with a different theme each month. This is one of the first cards I shared; the theme was “All Cooped Up”. I made it during the bleak midwinter, a far cry from our current hot midsummer! I stamped with one ink then pulled colour from the stamped image with a small paintbrush to fill in the trees, cottage and path. I kept it clean and simple when finishing the card by matching the ink colour exactly with a cardstock mat.
Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Cottage, Enjoy Life (PB)
Inks: Vintage Photo Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural White 110lb card stock, Tan cardstock
Color burst poppies
Posted: July 30, 2015 Filed under: Color Burst, poppy pair | Tags: color burst, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 7 Comments
This watercolour powder experiment displays on one card some of the different effects you can get with color burst powders. Depending on how much water you add you can get fine dots of colour or very watery blends of colour. I sprinkled the powder on a piece of watercolour paper and spritzed lightly at one end but more generously at the other. The fine dots must have got hardly any water, the little irregular shapes a bit more water then the purple and blue areas were fairly saturated. All the purples and shades of blue came from only pink and blue powders.
I die cut poppies from the watercoloured panel and some from foam as well then attached them all together with stick it adhesive.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snippets (Penny Black)
Creative dies: Poppy Pair (Penny Black)
Inks: Color burst watercolour powders(Ken Oliver), Salty ocean distress (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper
Also: Stick it adhesive sheet (Ken Oliver)
Brusho in the garden
Posted: July 28, 2015 Filed under: Brusho | Tags: Brusho, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies 6 Comments
I tried out yet another watercolour powder recently when I got together with some arty crafty friends. Brusho seems to be similar to Color Burst and has a lovely range of bright colours. The panel featured on the card above was cut from one of my first experiments. I sprinkled green, blue, orange and yellow brusho powders on watercolour paper then spritzed and tilted the paper to let the colours blend a little. I did walk away (to eat chips) and let it dry alone. You can see some sections of the paper remained without colour.
The multicoloured panel seemed a good match for the intricate garden die I had not used before now. I tried backing it with green and white but the contrast of the black card base was the most effective.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snippets (Penny Black)
Inks: Brusho watercolour powders
Cardstock: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper
Creative die: In the garden (Penny Black)
Poppy Painting
Posted: July 18, 2015 Filed under: Poppy Time | Tags: Bister, color burst, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers 14 Comments
More bister, this time in combination with color burst powder and zig clean color real brush pens. This panel of poppies was almost tossed because at one point it looked a mess. I stamped two poppies using a pink zig pen to ink the stamp. I filled the outline in using both the pen and some pink colour burst powder. I also painted the stems in green but it all looked a bit dull and I wasn’t sure how to add interest. I decided to lose some of the definition by spritzing the whole thing with water. The poppies bled in all directions and it really wasn’t an improvement at all! I set it aside and worked on something else while it dried. When I came back to it I decided to add another partial poppy as well as the bud and seed head. I painted loose leaf shapes and added green and blue bister powder around the bottom and top of the panel. To sharpen the poppy images a little I painted darker colours below the edges and added the veins back in.
Those poppies keep finding their way onto my cards; I don’t know how it happens…
Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy Time (Penny Black)
Inks: Color Burst & Bister watercolour powders
Cardstock: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper
Also: Zig clean color real brush markers
Christmas Bister
Posted: June 29, 2015 Filed under: Before the Snow, Bister, CAS, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Bister, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 22 Comments
I know it is odd for me to throw a Christmas card up on the blog in June but I had to pair the green and blue bister powders with the beautiful ‘Before the Snow’ tree stamp. After watching the way the bister powders reacted in water I wanted to see if I could stamp an image with water then drop some powder onto the watery image. It took a bit of fiddling around, several re-stampings and a paintbrush for some extra shaping but my experiment did work and I will keep playing with the technique.
I had splattered my watercolour panel with masking fluid in advance so I would have flecks of snow. The powders created pretty blues and greens that I was not able to match with one ink pad so I stamped my sentiment twice first in green then in blue and ended up with a suitable match.
Don’t worry I’m not switching to winter stamping; I’ll be back with bright summery images soon!
Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Spanish Moss (Tsukineko) Blue and Green bister powders
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & Green card
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
Thank you flowers
Posted: June 17, 2015 Filed under: CAS, Poppy Pattern | Tags: CAS, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 8 Comments
June is my last month as a member of the Dirty Dozen at Splitcoaststampers. I joined the team in January for my six month term. I have really enjoyed being part of the group and have been stretched by the monthly themes. Some of the themes saw me creating cards I would never have chosen to make otherwise which was a great exercise for me. It was also wonderful to see all the projects created by the rest of the ‘Dirty Girls‘. For the June theme I created a friendship card using the ‘poppy pattern’ background stamp. I turned a left over scrap into the card above.
As you might have gathered I love to ink my stamps with distress stains because the print I get is usually fluid and easy to blend. To stamp the panel above I used the misti and inked the stamp one stain at a time which enable the stains to blend on the paper as each colour was added. I have been enjoying pairing pinks with oranges lately, something I would never do if choosing what to wear, but a combination which I love on paper. I used a pink, a yellow and an orange stain on the flowers, one green for the leaves then added black to the flower centres once the yellow was almost dry. I don’t use my misti all the time but it is so very helpful with large background stamps which I rarely manage to stamp well the first time.
Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy Pattern, Heartfelt (PB)
Inks: Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint distress stains & black soot distress marker (Ranger) Versafine Onyx Black (ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Heather Telford 