Watercolour night sky

Posted: December 20, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Before the Snow, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 24 Comments

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 Snow, Season’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

Posted: December 18, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Needles and cones, Watercolour | Tags: CAS, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks | 14 Comments

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

Posted: December 15, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Stamped Landscapes, White Christmas | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks | 7 Comments

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

Posted: December 14, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Fantasy, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks | 18 Comments

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

Watercolour Snowstorm

Posted: December 13, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Tannenbaum, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 16 Comments

Today’s card is the last day of Winter Wonderland cards on the Penny Black blog and I created it using one of my favourite techniques: wet into wet watercolouring. I hope you have enjoyed the wintry scenes I shared this week. I love creating stamped landscapes, especially snowy ones so don’t be surprised if you see a few more while I still have snowy inspiration outside.

This scene was stamped and painted on watercolour paper starting once again with a generous amount of flicked masking fluid. After letting the masking fluid dry for at least twenty minutes I painted water onto the top three quarters of the panel leaving the area which would become foreground snow dry. I stamped the Tannenbaum stamp twice in green dye ink on the right hand side of the panel. The colour bled into the water creating the “background forest”.This happened as the green ink separated into blue and a mustard green. While the paper was still damp I stamped the tree again, this time on the left and then again on the right. These images have more definition. I added colour to the left hand tree with markers. Working with water colour techniques will never give you the same result twice, but that is part of the fun of it.

To create the snow banks I worked with blue ink and water, blending as I painted so that the blue became gradually lighter. When the whole panel was dry I sponged a little blue ink at the top and gently rubbed off all the masking fluid revealing “falling snow” over the scene. I added the sentiment before matting in green. This card is 4 1/2′ x 5 7/8′ to accommodate the scene created on a 5″x7″ watercolour block.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Northern Pine, Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Love Letter & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

Watercoloured Holly

Posted: December 9, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Flourish Holly, Holly Berries, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 7 Comments

A week of Winter Wonderland on the Penny Black blog starts today featuring the snow scapes I love to create.

The first snow scape is a watercolour featuring holly in the foreground and shadowy trees in the background. All but one of the cards this week feature falling snow made by flicking masking fluid onto the cardstock or watercolour paper before beginning any stamping or watercolouring. The masking fluid stays on the panel until all ink is dry at which point it is easy to rub off.

To make today’s cards I created one watercoloured panel which I then cut into two for a wintry scene and a holly background. I flicked masking fluid over the watercolour paper with a toothbrush and let it dry completely. I then wet the whole panel before stamping the holly stamp several times to fill two thirds of the area. The ink bled into the wet paper losing most of its definition. I added berries with a red marker then reinked parts of the holly stamp in green to stamp over the blended green of the first impression. To complete the snowscape I painted a blue watercoloured background stamping a little branch stamp to create a blurred distant wooded area behind the holly and snow. When I want to paint with Memento ink I press the ink pad onto an acrylic block so I can add water and pick up the ink with a paintbrush. Finally I removed the masking fluid, matted both panels and added die cut holly to the card below.

Supplies:

Stamps: Flourish Holly, A better world, Glad Tiding, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Creative Dies: Holly Berries die 51-019
Inks: Memento Cottage Ivy, Danube Blue, Love Letter & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black mix & match Spring Meadow
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

Watercoloured poppies

Posted: November 4, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blooming Garden, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 18 Comments

There are various ways to watercolour with stamps; the card above was done using a method I often use when I have an outline stamp. I taped the watercolour paper to my work table and brushed water across the whole panel. While still wet I stamped the background stamp then the poppies. I inked the poppy stamp by applying the orange stamp pad to the flower head and a green stamp pad to the stems. Because the paper was still damp the ink bled a little to make a soft edge. With water and matching watercolour pencils I added colour to the petals and the stems, blending and darkening shadow areas. When the paper was almost dry I stamped over the poppies stems and seed pods to give them a bit more definition. Once the paper was completely dry I sponged blue ink in the top left hand corner and green ink in the bottom right hand corner.

Supplies:

Stamps: Damask Pattern, Blooming Garden PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Tangelo, Cantaloupe, Olive Grove (Tsukineko)
Also: Matching Faber Castell water colour pencils
Cardstock: Fabriano 25% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper

Three square layout

Posted: July 18, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Delicate Florals | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks | 13 Comments

Quite some time ago I stamped the spray of round blooms from the Delicate Florals set on water colour paper. I stamped it three times in different colours and with different amounts of water added each time. The panel has been sitting around waiting for further inspiration. I sliced off the green section of the panel yesterday because I was inspired by this card of Sarah’s. I really like the squares lined up on the extreme right and the sideways sentiment. I didn’t cut my squares quite as small as Sarah because I wanted as much of the image as I could fit.

It’s been a while since I stamped the panel but I think it might have gone something like this:

1. paint a green wash on the watercolour paper
2. ink stamp in green and stamp onto the green wash while it is still damp
3. add letter background in grey
4. when dry stamp the branch in grey slightly offset from the green image.

Supplies:

Stamps: Delicate Florals, Letter Background, Thanks, thanks (PB)
Inks: Memento Bamboo leaves, Pear Tart, London Fog & Versafine Smoky Grey (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper