Jubilant
Posted: April 9, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Jubilant | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 14 Comments
I think this is the first time this gorgeous stamp has appeared on my blog. I inked it up ages ago and had the simple dark brown image sitting around waiting for further inspiration. Because I inked the stamp with distress stain the ink pooled in some areas of the stamp more than others. I really like the effect of darker and lighter tones along with thicker and thinner lines so initially I didn’t want to add colour to the image. I eventually decided to colour a few flowers, cut them out and pop them up. I have said before I am not a fussy cutter, these three relatively simple blooms were enough for me. As if the fussy cutting wasn’t enough of a surprise I also decided to add half pearls which I coloured to match with an alcohol marker!
Supplies:
Stamps: Jubilant, Every Happiness (PB)
Inks: Memento Espresso Truffle Marker (Tsukineko) Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord Distress Stains (Ranger) Brown Marker TN8 (Spectrum Noir)
Cardstock: Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Sticks & Stones Mix & Match Paper
Also: Keepsakes Memories half pearls
Delightful & Verdant
Posted: April 6, 2014 Filed under: Delightful, Verdant | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Penny Black stencils, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 6 Comments
I’ve been having fun playing with background techniques lately. This one was done on wet watercolour paper with distress stains. After taping the panel down to a craft mat I wet the whole panel then painted three colours of distress stain across it in horizontal stripes. Next I spritzed some water and tilted it to let the colours and water blend. (Related tangent: When I first bought distress stains I was a little annoyed that the sponge applicator didn’t come off to allow me to access the stain. I tried to force it but I could just see myself ending up with stain all over my project, desk and clothing so I gave up. Yesterday I learned that you can in fact take the sponge applicator off without disastrous consequences. See video here.) I removed the sponge applicator from the Broken China stain and not only flicked some stain on the panel with a paintbrush, but also used the applicator which was covered in ink to stamp some circles. To finish I sprinkled salt on the panel and let it dry.
When it was dry I brushed the salt off to reveal the speckled effect and positioned the Verdant stencil for sponging with Radiant Neon Electric Blue and Memento Luxe Pear Tart. After I had sponged I stamped the co-ordinating stamp “Delightful” in Encore Gold ink and added some gold wink of stella dots and highlights also. Photos don’t always pick up the sparkle so trust me it does have some. Deciding how to mat it was tricky but I pulled out some wide organza ribbon which was originally around a bunch of flowers and cut some to fit the card base. I was getting ready to photograph the card when I remembered that you can do the ‘ink flicky thing’ with wink of stella pens…
Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful, Sweet Wishes (PB)
Stencils: Verdant (PB)
Inks: Memento Luxe Pear Tart, Radiant Neon Electric Blue & Encore Gold (Tsukineko)
Stains: Broken China, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Organza ribbon, Gold Wink of Stella pen
Softly, softly
Posted: March 29, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Softly, Watercolour | Tags: CAS, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 59 Comments
After a week of lovely features on the Penny Black blog I decided to continue playing around with the new large scale stamps. I created a panel with the Softly stamp on watercolour paper without a definite plan of how to use it. Once it was complete I turned it this way and that and used scraps of blank card to frame it so I could decide where to crop it to fit on a 4.25″x 5.5″ cardbase. It was at this point that I chose to have the image in landscape orientation rather than portrait. I like the flowers hanging down.
My watercolouring process began by inking the stamp with Memento Angel Pink and New Sprout markers. These colours are quite pale and when stamped made perfect outlines for me fill with colour. I used two pink watercolour pencils and two green, colouring first then blending with a waterbrush. I masked the leaves in the top left hand corner and stamped a couple more flowers.
I was tempted to add a pale watery border but I resisted. I was even more tempted to flick some pink and green droplets over the panel as that is currently my favourite thing to do . I was tempted to add a pretty organza ribbon but my inner Susan Raihala said, “Leave well alone.” She might have suggested bling, which of course she would have pulled off perfectly, but the bling-thing doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does to her so I just stopped. I didn’t want to risk spoiling what I had done.
Would you have added a little something more?
Supplies:
Stamps: Softly, Special Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Markers Angel Pink, New Sprout & Memento Luxe Pear Tart(Tsukineko)
Pencils: Albrecht Durer Apple Green 170, Moss Green 168, Middle Purple Pink 125, Pink Madder Lake 129 (Faber-Castell)
Paper: Fabriano 100% & 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
CAS(E) this sketch #70
Posted: March 27, 2014 Filed under: Queen Anne's Lace | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 11 Comments
Playing along with CAS(E) this sketch is getting to be a habit but I am not just playing along this week; I am privileged to be the guest designer for sketch #70
Seems like this sketch was made just for me. You won’t have to look far through my blog before you spy one or two layouts along the same lines. I pulled out an old favourite from my stamp collection and paired it with my new favourite technique, flicking watercolour paint! I stamped the Queen Anne’s Lace first in a mix of Memento Cottage Ivy ink and Peeled Paint Distress stain. Next I positioned post-it notes as masks to create the central square and flicked colour from three different watercolour pencils with a water brush. Finally I removed the masks and added the sentiment.
Make sure you visit the CAS(E) this sketch challenge blog to see all the wonderful creations from the design team.
Supplies:
Stamps: Queen Anne’s Lace, Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy (Tsukineko) & Peeled Paint Distress Stain (Ranger)
Pencils: Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils (Faber-Castell)
Cardstock: Fabriano Hot pressed 25%cotton watercolour paper
Watercolour background
Posted: March 24, 2014 Filed under: Delicate Florals, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 15 Comments
The background was the starting point for this card. I squeezed three colours of distress stain directly onto an acrylic block then pressed the block onto watercolour paper creating a pink, blue and green abstract background. Next I chose the stamp from Delicate Florals and stamped it in a couple of stages. First I inked only the blooms with Victorian Velvet distress stain and stamped them a couple of times. When the paper was dry I inked the whole stamp with versafine onyx black and stamped over the pink blooms. I inked in black again but selectively to stamp parts of a second spray of flowers on the left.
On the card base I stamped the same image a few more times in VersamagicWheat chalk ink.
Drop in on the Penny Black blog this week to enjoy the “How-to Hop” featuring the new large scale stamps and co-ordinating stencils. I will be sharing a card and tutorial mid-week.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Delicate Florals, Special Wishes (PB)
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black & Versamagic Wheat (Tsukineko) Victorian Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Just Add Water
Posted: March 17, 2014 Filed under: Noble, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 16 Comments
I can’t believe how long it has taken me to play along with Karen’s ‘Just Add Water challenge’ at One Layer Simplicity. Considering how often I use watercolour these days I should have several cards linked by now! Seems they have all been more than one layer lately.
Using watercolour paper as my card base I taped off a panel in the centre of the card front. I pulled out a stamp I hadn’t tried before, ‘Noble’ from the PB Happy Everything release, inked it with Memento markers and spritzed it with water. I added a few highlights to the leaves, a three sided border with a watercolour pencil and flicked a little extra colour around also. I decided the sentiment could be all watery too so inked it with two greens, spritzed it and stamped.
If you haven’t already played along head over to One Layer Simplicity now; you still have a week to get involved.
Supplies:
Stamps: Noble, Thinking of You (PB)
Inks: Memento Bamboo Leaves, Olive Grove, Angel Pink, Lilac Posies (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Albrecht Durer Olive green (Faber-Castell)
Paper: Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
May Arts Creative Collaboration
Posted: March 14, 2014 Filed under: Chat Bubbles, Hollyhocks, Love Expressions, Poppy Pattern, Promise Me, Tagged | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, May Arts ribbon, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 Comments
Penny Black and May Arts have been collaborating all week and today is my turn to show how easy it is to pair ribbons with stamping. I decided to make a few tags but if you are looking for more ideas check out both the Penny Black blog and the May Arts blog for all sorts of creative projects. (Instead of listing the supplies at the end of the post I have linked to them in the descriptions)
On both the tulip tag above and the poppy tag below I stamped Memento inks onto wet watercolour paper causing the colours to bleed and blend. When the paper dried a little I added foreground tulips or in the case of the poppies centre details and a blue distress stain background. As watercolour paper is rarely pure white I dyed the white cotton lace ribbon from May Arts in tea to give it a natural off white colour. The tulip tag features luxurious velvet ribbon from May Arts tied with a bow of crochet trim ribbon . The stamps are Promise Me and Special Wishes.
I used a different crochet trim ribbon to tie the versatile Faux Burlap Wired Ribbon on the poppy tag. I left the wire in the edges of the ribbon at the top of the tag so I could shape wavy edges then cut a little mat for my sentiment out of the burlap. The stamps used are Poppy Pattern and Special Wishes.
To create the Hollyhocks tag below I stamped, coloured the tiny tag and dyed the crochet trim with Victorian Velvet distress stain. I used the Hollyhocks stamp as my main image, a little bit of a sentiment from the Eloquence set on the tiny tag and the Hugs diecut from the Love Expressions set. I cut both the tiny tag and the lower rectangle using dies from the Chat Bubbles set. All large tags were cut using the large tag die from the Tagged set
Pansy Bouquet
Posted: February 24, 2014 Filed under: Pansy Bouquet, Twirls, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 15 Comments
Today I am featuring yet another beautiful botanical stamp from the new Happy Everything collection. To create this panel I stamped the leafy border stamp from the Twirls set as background. I inked the pansy bouquet with markers, stamped it, then spritzed with water. Using a waterbrush and memento inks stamped on an acrylic block as a palette I filled in the pansies and leaves. When the panel was almost dry I added yellow centres with a marker. I splattered some light blue and green colour from watercolour pencils to complete the panel.
Readers in the Ottawa area might be interested to know I am offering some classes in March. You can view the projects and register on my new Classes page.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pansy Bouquet, Special Wishes, Twirls (PB)
Inks: Memento Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, Elderberry, Summer Sky (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils Moss green 168, Light Blue 147 (Faber-Castell)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match Spring Meadows paper
Watercolouring the Lily
Posted: February 20, 2014 Filed under: Every Happiness, First Dance, Twirls, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 10 CommentsAll this week on the Penny Black blog you can check out the designers’ favourites from the new Happy Everything collection. It will come as no surprise that I chose a brushstroke stamp that lends itself to the watercolour technique.
To create the pink card below I inked the ‘First Dance’ lily with a combination of distress ink and memento markers then stamped onto dry watercolour paper. I created a mask to cover the centre lily then stamped another lily on either side. With three lilies in a row I spritzed the panel with water and let the dark and light pinks blend a little. I used memento markers to draw over the stamen and stems and to redo the dots on the petals. To finish I picked up with a paintbrush a little diluted pink ink to paint around the top edges of the panel and some green around the bottom.
Supplies:
Stamps: First Dance, Every Happiness (PB)
Inks: Memento Bamboo Leaves, Lilac Posies, Angel Pink, Potter’s Clay, Pear Tart (Tsukineko) Worn Lipstcik Distress Ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match Fuschia Fantasies paper
The yellow and green lily below was created using the wet into wet technique. It is most apparent where the ink has bled from the stem and leaves. It also bled from the petals (Memento Dandelion) making them quite pale so I used Mustard Seed distress stain to paint over them and intensify their colour. The background panel is stamped with one of the new ‘Twirls’ border stamps.
Supplies:
Stamps: First Dance, Special Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Dandelion, Potter’s Clay, Espresso Truffle, Pear Tart, Bamboo leaves (Tsukineko)
Distress Stains: Mustard Seed(Ranger)
Creative Dies: Feather & Frames
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match Olive Grove
Soft Whisper
Posted: February 11, 2014 Filed under: Soft Whisper, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 19 Comments
I was very happy to see this beautiful big branches stamp in the new collection as I love trees stamps. I continued with the watercolour theme beginning by masking a moon and creating a blended blue sky. I then used post-it notes masks to create some sponged hills before adding the large “Soft Whispers” stamp. I inked the stamp in green and blue, spritzed it then pressed it on the panel. I used a stamp positioner so I could stamp again adding more emphasis to the edge of the main branch. To finish I sponged around the edges with nautical blue ink to frame the panel.
I am looking forward to pulling this stamp out again for both backgrounds and feature panels.
Supplies:
Stamps: Soft Whisper, Special Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Nautical Blue, Cottage Ivy, Summer Sky & Versafine Majestic Blue (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Heather Telford 