2022 BuJo – February theme

Posted: February 8, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, Hand lettered, Penny Black, Soft Grace, Spread Cheer | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

I am a week late with my February BuJo set up; we are already 25% of the way through the month! I went with the snowflake theme as we have plenty of snow now and I assume more to come. It is a pretty simple layout on account of the need to get it done so I could record and plan in the journal rather than on scraps of paper!

I lay a piece of post-it tape across the page then used brushes to blend memento inks above the tape. I used three blue inks (listed below) and used the same inks to stamp snowflakes to decorate the top half of the page. I’ve found post-it tape to be very safe on these pages. Washi tape and painter’s tape (delicate) have both taken some surface off if I have not been careful. I wrote ‘February’ with the Bahama Blue memento marker but haven’t linked it as I am not sure where to get them these days. I was delighted to find mine still worked and had plenty of ink in it.

I ruled up the calendar grid as I often do then used strips of post-it tape to mask as I blended ink around the edges. Once again I stamped snowflakes from Penny Black sets to decorate the spread. As we are already a week into the month I added the to do list to the calendar page. The important thing at this stage is to do the ‘to-dos’ not to decorate them!

If you are in the middle of winter right now what are you up to? Are you hunkered down inside or braving the outdoors? I am definitely doing both; we have enjoyed several cross country skis and a few walks but I have also been busy with journal projects, sorting and organizing supplies and planning future classes and lessons.

Supplies

2021 BuJo – December theme

Posted: December 2, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: brilliance, Bullet Journal, delicate pines, Dingbat notebooks, Hand lettered, Penny Black, Taylored Expressions | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

I didn’t have a lot of time to spend setting up my December pages; I can’t even believe it is December honestly. It’s a busy week but I had a snowflake idea for the theme and a bit of a plan which you can see did not happen at all. But that is ok because I can save my snowflake plan for January or February or March or Ap…….

After creating the large panel for my recent stack of PB ‘delicate pines’ Christmas cards the stamp set was still on my table along with its buddy the PB ‘brilliance’ stamp set. I decided to use them together for some festive foliage. I used a mix of distress greens and blue along with a red marker for the berries and a white gel pen for the frost.

I reused a frisket film mask which I saved after creating October’s title page and stamped foliage from both PB ‘brilliance’ and ‘delicate pines’ sets. I blended over the stamping with prize ribbon distress ink then dotted white around the circle and on top of the red berries.

The to-do page and the calendar page have simple foliage stamping and some lettering with Pentel Flair pens.

I have used masking in quite a few of my pages this year; I might need to come up with a new favourite technique for next year. I hope your December is off to a good start. Because I can’t believe it is December I have a discount code for the Floral Faves class, Winter Wonder class and the Colour Clues class. If you use HTDEC you will get 20% off. If you are interested in giving an online class as a gift please get in touch so I can help you make it happen.

Supplies

2021 BuJo – February pages

Posted: February 6, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, Hand lettered, Nature's Beauty, Papertrey Inks, Penny Black, Stabilo .88 fine line pens | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

We are still in the thick of winter here in Canada so I chose a northern lights theme for my February journal pages. Like last month I masked a shape and did all the blending inside the shape. This time I masked a square and positioned a hilly mask to create a horizon. I used Papertrey Ink cubes and makeup brushes to blend the sky.

After blending a bold blue, green and purple sky I moved the horizon mask lower to lightly blend a snowbank shadow then positioned a die-cut mask for a deer and blended blue, then black through that. I did film the process just to give you an idea. It’s portrait orientation for instagram and it is 4x normal speed but you can see the steps.

Below are a couple more February pages completed using the same theme. As you can imagine the combination wish list and to-do list took a lot of ink blending which ended up being visible through the paper on the next page. Maybe they bled through because I used more ink on this page for greater depth of colour or maybe these inks are juicier than distress inks; I’m not sure but you can see the bleed through if you look at the February calendar page in the next photo. I’m not too worried about the bleed through, once I have recorded things on the calendar page it will be less obvious I imagine.

I used Stabilo point 88 finelines for the lettering once again but do intend to try some other pens I have on hand (confession – I have many types of pens and markers on hand!)

Last month I did a modified version of the traditional 7 x 6 grid for the January calendar page and a separate habit tracking page. This month I combined the calendar and habit tracker on a list style page. I will record any appointments and outings (you know, the exciting ones like the grocery store) on the left hand side and note down what we cooked, how much water I drank and whether I took all my vitamins on the right hand side. Do you struggle to drink enough water each day? I am the worst in my family but I have become much better since I put a reminder app on my phone. I also am quite good taking my supplements at breakfast but not so good the rest of the day!

I have a couple more pages to get done for February which I hope to share next week. Thanks for dropping by. Let me know if you are a bullet journal user; I’d love to hear what you use it for.

Supplies

(Compensated affiliate links used when possible)

Shimmer trees

Posted: December 28, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Coliro paints, Finetec paints, Hand lettered, Hand painted | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

The pearlescent paints and black watercolour paper are still on my work table so I’ve continued to experiment with them. To create this little scene I taped all four sides of a square panel with painter’s tape to mask off the area in the centre. The surface of the black watercolour paper is very soft and likely to lift when tape is removed so I press the tape against my clothing before using it so it is less tacky and when it comes to removal I heat it with a heat tool as I slowly peel it off.

I painted the snowy ground and circle moon first with silver pearl from the Finetec Artist Mica set of 12, then the foliage of the trees with blue green, moss green and midnight blue from the Coliro Ocean set of 6. The tree trunks are chocolate from the Coliro Earth set. I finished by dotting stars over the sky with Sakura gelly roll pens then wrote the words ‘thank you’ with a very fine nib and the same moss green pearlescent paint.

I hope you are having a relaxing few days as the year winds down. We are back in lockdown in Ontario so life is very quiet; I’m continuing to get the word out about the Dressember Campaign. My fundraising total has grown to $1962.10 and tomorrow, December 29 is a matching day, so if you’d like to donate, tomorrow is a great day to do it. Donations in Canada will be matched up to $50, 000 starting at 9am PT on Tuesday Dec 29.

Supplies

(Compensated affiliate links used when possible)

Wreath & Wings

Posted: November 4, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Coliro paints, Hand lettered, mirthful, wreath & wings | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

I’ve combined a new PB stamp, ‘wreath & wings’ with a new PB die, ‘mirthful’ for simple elegant style Christmas card.

I used distress inks and markers to ink the wreath elements and birds, keeping the stamp in the positioner so I could work a bit at a time. I inked the stamp, stamped the image then did a bit of blending with a paintbrush to fill the leaves, berries and birds.

I used a gold gel pen to colour some of the berries then continued the gold highlights in the die cut word. The die has decorative diamond cut outs so I cut gold ones to add to the burgandy letters and framed the panel in the same burgandy cardstock.

For the second card I decided to use the curve of the wreath as a hanging garland. Using a centering ruler to help me with positioning I stamped half the wreath on the centre top edge of the watercolour panel, then stamped another part loop either side.

Once again I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper so I could blend the ink on the leaves. I used ocean coliro pearlescent paint on some of the leaves and berries for a little shimmer.

I wrote the sentiment for this one using the darkest blue marker from the Staedtler watercolour 36 brush pen set and matted the panel in a dark blue cardstock.

Even though I don’t like to over do my designs I’m wondering if the blue card is a bit sparsely decorated. What do you think?

Burgandy Card Supplies

Blue Card Supplies

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Masked hand painted circle

Posted: June 1, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Hand drawn, Hand lettered, sennelier watercolours | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

A few weeks ago I posted a floral wreath I’d painted and asked your opinion on adding a sentiment. In the end I didn’t risk stamping or writing one because I didn’t want to spoil the finished wreath with an inky mistake. So….can you guess why I have a large sentiment strip stuck across this floral circle I painted?

To create the floral circle I drew a circle in pencil on cold pressed watercolour paper then painted liquid frisket (masking fluid) to a width of about half an inch around the outside of the circle. I used my Sennelier watercolours to paint three large roses first then moved onto other flowers, leaves and berries until the circle was fairly full. With a random design like this one whether it is painted or stamped it makes sense to start with the largest images to make sure you can fit them in then finish off will little leaves, dots or tiny flowers to fill any spaces at the end.

Once the painted circle was complete I practiced a ‘happy birthday’ greeting on scraps of watercolour paper with my nib pen and some black ink until I was happy with the size and style. I had only written 2½ letters before a large blob of black ink landed on the panel where the letter ‘p’ should have been! As you probably guessed that is the reason I have a large birthday banner obscuring some of my pretty flowers.

Supplies


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A happy anniversary

Posted: November 15, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Hand lettered, numbers, Penny Black, spontaneous joy | Tags: , , , | 9 Comments

What a treat it was to design and make this card at the request of a friend of mine. Her daughter, also a friend of mine celebrated the 20th anniversary of her adoption day yesterday so an extra special card was needed. Inspired once again by the beautiful round card made by Peet Roeven I chose the PB stamp ‘spontaneous joy’ and a red and gold colour scheme. I worked in a stamp positioner to add colour to the flowers gradually beginning with worn lipstick distress ink for the petals then candied apple distress ink for extra depth and shadow. I blended a little with a paintbrush and water but I didn’t want to lose the detail by blending over all the stamping.

I used mowed lawn and peeled paint distress ink for the stems and leaves; two greens adds interest even on those small areas. I added black dots to the centres of the flowers then some gold dots with finetec pearlescent paint. To finish it off I splattered some of the same gold paint. I have been pulling out my finetec paints quite often recently, not so much for the main elements but for details and finishing touches. I used the same gold and a pen & nib to write my own sentiment strip.

While all the inks were out I stamped a flower on a second panel of watercolour paper and on an envelope. I used a set of circle dies to cut the main panel and back panels into large circles and to cut a circle out of the centre of the front panel. I used a piece of embossed gold cardstock to cut extra circles and the number ’20’ using the PB ‘numbers’ die set.

To assemble the card I scored across the top of the the back circle, applied adhesive above the score line and attached the two panels together. Having the score line on the back panel means the front decorative panel doesn’t need to bend at all. I also sliced a very slim bit of the bottom of the back circle so the card will stand up and not roll away!

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Supplies


https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?1559654439292

Floral Faves giveaway – Bouquet Ballet

Posted: March 15, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: bouquet ballet, Inktense pencils, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 16 Comments

This little bouquet is one of my favourites from the recent Penny Black release. With its combination of flowers I thought it was perfect for wrapping up my current giveaway with the Foiled Fox. All you have to do to enter is visit my earlier post or The Foiled Fox post and leave us a comment telling use your favourite flower. We will close the comments on Sunday night and announce two winners next Tuesday.

I’m not absolutely sure what the flowers are in this bouquet, perhaps a hydrangea, a couple of poppies and some little bell shaped flowers. Once again I embossed the outline stamp with platinum powder; it’s so classy, I just keep choosing it. I stamped off the edge twice to get a border design and used Inktense pencils for the watercolouring.

I built up colour on the pink flowers and leaves in layers letting each one dry before adding another. On the blue flower I painted it all pale blue then added dots of the same blue pencil to the centres. I painted around the outside of the bouquets with a mustard pencil and blended it out to nothing with water. I added some fine splatter over the flowers using the same pencils.

Inspired by a beautiful hand lettered sentiment on of Shauna’s recent cards I used a dip pen and wrote the sentiment in gold ink on a strip of co-ordinating cardstock. I splattered some of the same champagne gold gansai tambi ink over the panel before putting the card together with a gold mat and a burgandy card base.

Supplies

Bliss birds

Posted: July 22, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: happy bliss, Tagged | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

I have a couple of distress oxide backgrounds to share today, topped with a whimsical line stamp from Penny Black. To create the backgrounds I applied spiced marmalade and worn lipstick diox inks to watercolour paper then spritzed them enough to make the colours blend but not so much as to flood the colour off the page.

I stamped the ‘happy bliss’ stamp in versafine onyx black ink over the coloured background and popped up the panels on white card bases. I die cut the little black banners and added a stamped sentiment on one and a handlettered phrase on the other.

Hope you are having a fabulous day.

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Bliss (PB)
Dies:  Tagged, Shades (PB)
Pens: Exclusive Calligraphy nib holder (Foiled Fox)
Ink: Spiced marmalade & worn lipstick distress oxide inks (Ranger) Versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black and solar white cardstock
Ink: DrPh Martins bleedproof white for calligraphy

Hand painted floral

Posted: March 17, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: CAS, Hand lettered, Hand painted | Tags: , | 12 Comments

Today’s card features a hand painted flower and a hand lettered sentiment. I am open to suggestions as to what type of flower it is; it looks like it could be a dahlia, or perhaps a peony or pink cornflower. I am also a bit hazy on what I used to paint it – sorry – again! It was just a painting exercise that turned out looking like a real flower so I decided to turn it into a card. It could be distress stain or peerless watercolours. I matted the flower panel in a teal to match the leaves then popped a handlettered sentiment on a die cut tag.

Hope you are having a delightful day.
By the way The Foiled Fox is having a St Patrick’s Day sale this weekend, go check it out. Foiled Fox kindly sent me the Peerless watercolours that may or may not have been used on this card. They also sent me the beautiful nib holder that definitely was used to write that sentiment.

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