Playing with the skyline 1

Watercolour skyline 1 Heather Telford

As you can see I have been playing around with one stamp: Skyline, a Penny Black slapstick cling stamp. It took some trial and error to achieve four designs. There were another four that ended up in the recycling. As I have said before with watercolour there is a lot of trial and error.

Watercolour skyline 2 Heather Telford

For these designs I  stamped only the top part of the stamp each time. Today’s panels I initially stamped onto wet paper; tomorrow I will post the ones stamped onto dry paper. The paper was not soaking wet but damp enough for some bleed to occur. On the second card I used Memento markers in a few places when the paper was almost dry to darken the colour and add a few missing edges. I then blended the marker ink with a little more water. On both of these designs I painted a pale wash over the sky area after stamping the buildings.

Supplies:

Stamps: Enjoy Life, SkylineThanks, thanks  (PB)
Inks: Memento Elderberry, Rhubarb stalk, Danube Blue, Summer Sky, Dandelion, Angel Pink, Cantaloupe, Bamboo leaves, London Fog, Paris Dusk, Bahama Blue & Versafine Majestic Blue  (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% & 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper


Watercolour daisies 2 ways

Watercolour daisies 1 Heather Telford

These two cards demonstrate the difference between two watercolour techniques. (Sorry there is no video tutorial for these two) The top card was created using the ‘wet into wet’ technique and the bottom card the ‘wet into dry’ technique.

Wet into Wet card
I wet the whole panel of watercolour paper,  inked the stamp in orange and green Memento inks then stamped it onto the wet paper. Immediately colour bled and spread. I waited a little while before restamping the image and painting more colour onto the petals and stems with distress inks. I blended with water and worked with the colours for a while before I was satisfied with the flowers. I dampened the background area again before adding some blue to blend with the colours from the flowers.

Watercolour daisies 2 Heather Telford

Wet into Dry card

I stamped the image once again with Memento inks but this time onto dry paper. I used a small paintbrush to paint distress stains onto the image. I blended colours and added water inside the lines but rarely let the colours bleed out into the rest of the panel. I flicked ink onto the panel when the flowers were complete.

I did both these panels as experiments and as I was doing them I did not think the ‘wet into wet’ would make it onto a card. It was just looking too messy. I kept going with the inks and background and finished it anyway but was not too hopeful. When I came back the next day and saw the two attempts dry I was quite happy with both. If you are interested in these techniques just play around with the water: a little more, a little less, sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Festival, Summer Fun, Friendship(Penny Black)
Inks: Distress stains Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Vintage Photo & Memento inks Bamboo Leaves, Tangelo
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Mix and match Grand Canyon paper


Elegant Garden

Enchanted garden Heather Telford

The latest Penny Black release features some elegant hearts and flowers in time for making Valentine cards. Visit the Penny Black blog for details of their latest challenge and chance to win stamps.

I had a scrap of watercolour paper covered with flecks of masking fluid. I dampened it then stamped the Corinthians verse  as background. When the paper was a little drier I stamped the flowers inked with green and red. I used a paintbrush to add more  ink to the leaves and petals. When it was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid and added the sentiment.

I recently changed my blog address; I am still with wordpress but the blog is self hosted now. If you are reading this you were probably redirected without any trouble but if you would like to update your reader or bookmark the new address is cards.heathertelford.com

Thanks for all the encouragement following my first watercolour tutorial. I am  so glad you enjoyed it and appreciate the positive feedback.

Supplies:

Inks:  Memento Rhubarb Stalk, Bamboo leaves (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Enchanted Garden, From the Heart, Love Chapter
Cardstock: Neenah Classic CreamFabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black Mix & Match Olive Grove paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid


Winter Watercolour Tutorial

Winter Watercolour Heather Telford

Here is the first of my watercolour tutorials. I have used only one image stamp and one basic technique. There are several different techniques I use when creating watercolour scenes and cards because  different stamps lend themselves to different approaches. I plan to cover more techniques in future tutorials.

I stress in the video that watercolouring is never the same twice and you cannot predict how the colours will blend and bleed in each scene. It is worth playing around with for a while to work out the amount of water to add to the paper, how long to let it dry between stamping images and how much colour to add and blend when creating backgrounds.

Here is a list of other cards made using the technique shown in this tutorial. NoelWatercolour Night SkyWatercolour SnowstormPoppies in a FieldWatercolour Sympathy.

Thanks for dropping in.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Before the SnowFlourish Thank you (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Danube Blue & Versafine Majestic Blue  (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid


Noel

Watercolour Noel Heather Telford

I would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for visiting here and encouraging me with your comments. I appreciate all the kind words, I am happy to answer questions when I can and yes, I am hoping to make some tutorials in the new year! I have met many lovely people through blogging, most only in the virtual world but some I have been privileged to meet in person. I hope to get to know more of you in the year to come.

I pray that you will know the peace that Jesus can give this Christmas and that you will experience God’s blessing in your life in the new year.

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum, Noel (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Love Letter & Versafine Majestic Blue  (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

Instructions for a similar scene


Merry Christmas with holly

merry holly panel Heather Telford

These two cards are the result of some playing around with distress stains on watercolour paper. For the one above I stamped the holly (in memento ink) and coloured it(with distress stain) first, added the background (distress stain) with a paintbrush and stamped the letter background (memento ink) over everything. For the ornaments below I painted a wash of blue first and stamped the holly and music over the wash. Because the distress stain and the memento ink are both dye inks the colour intensified when I painted green over the blue background. The baubles were cut using the Penny Black die “ornaments.”

I finally sat down yesterday and wrote in 90% of my Christmas cards. I still have a few  to write.  Yes, I know there are only a few days before Christmas Day, but there are twelve days of Christmas aren’t there?

holly and music baubles Heather Telford

(the card above has balance issues; can you see them?)

Supplies:

Stamps A Wish for Peace, Music Background, Letter Background, Dear Friend (PB)
Creative Dies: Ornaments, Love & Joy (PB)
Inks: Memento Pistachio, Summer Sky, Lady Bug (Tsukineko)  Broken China & Peeled Paint Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Penny Black mix & match olive grove paperFabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Red ribbon from Lorraine’s stash

Watercolour night sky

Watercolour snowy forest Heather Telford

Yes, another watercolour snowscape! This one is a great example of how the pigments in the ink separate into different colours when added to wet watercolour paper. I stamped the ‘Before the Snow’ stamp in Memento Northern Pine ink onto wet paper. The dark green ink separated into mustard and blue leaving the background trees mustard and adding another blue tone to the sky. The snow at the base stayed white as I did not wet that part of the panel before stamping and adding ink.  Once the first trees were stamped I added blue ink to the sky The foreground trees were added when the paper was almost dry.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Supplies:

Stamps: Before the SnowSeason’s Wishes  (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Northern Pine,  Danube Blue & Versafine Olympia Green (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match olive grove paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid


Watercolour pine bough

Watercolour pine bough Heather Telford

I have another watercolour card today created using a similar technique to this card. I had a piece of  watercolour paper was already covered with little flecks of masking fluid so I wet the panel, inked the pine bough stamp with Memento markers and stamped it onto the wet paper. It bled quite a bit so I let it dry a little then re-inked and stamped again to give definition to the pine cones and needles. I painted the background with diluted distress stain which blended in some places with the stamping. Because I chose to mat my picture panel I did not want another border around the sentiment so I stamped the sentiment on a post-it note and cut out the centre  text creating a window mask to stamp through.

My daughter made some cute cookies this week.

Supplies:
Stamps: Needles and cones, Glad Tiding (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, EspressoTruffle & Distress Stain Broken China  (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid


Tiny watercolour

Watercoloured snowman Heather Telford

Penny Black has a set of two slapstick cling stamps depicting sweet snowy scenes. One shows a church and decorated tree, the other is above. I used distress stains and  Memento markers to colour this little snow scape after I had embossed it with clear powder. I added water as I coloured, to blend and spread the ink. I think the foreground ink blend makes the snow man  look like he is standing on ice rather than snow. After a storm last night we have plenty of both snow and ice.

You might be interested to know that One Layer Wednesday is currently having a make-over. The team has some exciting new plans we will share when we kick off again in the new year.

Supplies:

Stamps:  White Christmas, Silent Night (PB)
Inks: Distress stains Faded Jeans, Broken China,  & Memento Markers Cottage Ivy, Lady Bug, Tangelo, Dandelion & Versamark
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Solar White


Snowy Fantasy

Snowy fantasy Heather Telford

 

I know my Winter Wonderland week on the Penny Black blog is officially over, but I do have a snowscape or two still to share.

This panel was done on water colour paper with a mix of Distress stains and Memento inks. I positioned a hill mask first before I stamped the tree in Versamark then inked only the trunk and branches in dark brown and stamped it again a little lower. I filled the rest of the sky with snow by repeatedly  inking and stamping only a corner of the Fantasy stamp in versamark. I then embossed the tree and snow in clear powder. To create the sky I wet the top of the panel with water and started blending dusty concord and broken china distress stains. I stamped the flourish several times in Memento sweet plum while the paper was still damp. I then removed the mask and painted shadows with diluted distress stains to create the snow banks in the foreground.

Apparently another snow storm is heading our way tomorrow so it will continue to look like a winter wonderland  around here!

Supplies:

Stamps: Fantasy, Dancing Deers, White Christmas (Penny Black)
Inks :  Memento Sweet Plum, Espresso Truffle, Versamark (Tsukineko) Dusty Concord, Broken China Distress Stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Papers Fuschia Fantasies, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder