Vintage Beetle

Posted: June 5, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: vintage beetle | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

Isn’t she a beauty? This digital stamp ‘vintage beetle‘ is one from a new set in the Echidna Studios etsy store. My daughter took a photo of a VW beetle convertible recently and turned it into this digi stamp. There is stamp in the set. I haven’t coloured it yet but it is a cute rear view.

I rarely make slimline cards but this stamp definitely called for one. I think it would make a delightful fathers’ day card. It isn’t fathers’ day until September in Australia which has caught me off guard many times! I printed the car on hot pressed watercolour paper using the ‘manual feed’ and ‘heavyweight settings’ that pop up on the computer. I then created a very soft watercolour background by smooshing lost shadow and uncharted mariner ink on my glass mat, spritzing it with water to dilute and move it then swiping my watercolour panel through the ink.

I used mainly Zig clean color real brush pens to watercolour the car along with Kuretaki metallic silver on the hubcaps and black Koi coloring brush pen for the black watercoloured sections. For some fine black lines I use F-C Pitt artist pens. I do have a weakness for markers, especially waterbased ones so it was good to put some to work on this card.

Just between you and me I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out and would now like to take a little drive in one! Hope your Monday is off to a good start.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Close-up Blooms

Posted: May 10, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: bud & bloom, Echidna Studios | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

You’ve seen this digital stamp once before on my blog but it is much bigger this time. I printed it on hot pressed watercolour paper at a size that would fill the square card front. The set is called ‘bud & bloom‘ and this is just one of the three images in the set.

A bigger image fills the card front beautifully and is easier to colour. I enjoyed colouring this one while relaxing on the couch. I used zig clean color real brush pens which are highly pigmented. I was able to add intense colour to one side of the petals then blend it out with a waterbrush. It is easy to add a bit more ink if needed or add a different colour just by touching the tip of the brush pen to a wet area on the petal. The zig pens are easy to control and mine are lasting very well.

This time I kept the background clean and added a little Penny Black sentiment. If you haven’t visited the Echidna Studios etsy store lately pop over and see what’s new. There are a bunch of new stencil designs ready for cutting from a plastic film for stenciling or from cardstock to add to a card front.

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox & Scrap n Stamp)

Birthday Garden Gate

Posted: April 13, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Echidna Studios, garden fence | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

This is the second card I’ve made with the Echidna Studios ‘garden fence’ set of digital stamps. On the first card the images were smaller to fit on an A2 card and the arrangement was a little different. These digital images are great fun to work with as they are not transparent so when I position each pot it masks what ever is behind it.

I printed the image on hot pressed watercolour paper then did all the colouring with zig clean color real brush pens. Those pens are juicy! I added only small dabs of ink to the foliage and flowers and blended it with a waterbrush. I blended blue and green between all the fence posts to make the white pop and added a line of grey as shadow.

The sentiment is from an old faithful Penny Black set, banner sentiments. The curve of the stamp fitted nicely over the curve of the gate. The finished card is 7¼” x 4⅛” which is not a standard size I know. I will either make a custom envelope or put it in a slightly larger one.

Most of my garden is out from under the snow now so not too long before I can be working with real pots not digital ones!

(Compensated affiliate links from Foiled Fox, Scrap n Stamp)

Beach Squares

Posted: June 3, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: seaside, Simply Graphic | Tags: , | 7 Comments

I am having fun with the Foiled Fox again today showing you all four stamps from the Simply Graphic’s seaside set. I used the lighthouse and the beach huts stamps in Wednesday’s cards. Today I arranged all four stamps in the stamp positioner then stamped with versamark on cold pressed watercolour paper before embossing in gold powder.

I used zig clean color real brush pens for all the colouring in the squares. The pens are highly pigmented so a little dab goes a long way. It doesn’t matter so much the exact colours I used to paint the squares but I took care to repeat the same colours in more than one square so the group looks cohesive. I used the same blues in all four squares, yellow in three of the squares and grey on the lighthouse and the bird. (Zig pens used: light blue, cobalt blue, blue, green, yellow, light brown, brown, light gray, carmine red)

Once all the colouring was done I popped up the square panel on a few pieces of cardstock then attached to a 4¾” square cardbase. Make sure you pop over to the Foiled Fox blog and shop for inspiration and more lovely clean designs from Simply Graphic.

Supplies

Blossom birthday

Posted: October 16, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: all the birthdays, Brutus Monroe, Concord & 9th, meadow blossoms, Papertrey Inks | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Even as my flowers fade and disappear I am still inspired to make floral cards. I’ve teamed up with the Foiled Fox today to share a blog post here and over there. If you are looking for all the creative process details pop over to the Foiled Fox blog. Today’s card features the C&9 ‘all the birthdays’ set again. It has only been in my house a week or so and already it has helped me out several times. Having one set with at least ten different ways to stamp happy birthday is a winner. There are probably more than 20 combinations when you look at all the separate word stamps and single letters in the set.

I wanted to combine a background image with a sentiment and ended creating my own background by repeat stamping with two stamps from the Concord & 9th ‘meadow blossoms’ set. Before heating the panel I stamped the word HAPPY from the new C&9 ‘all the birthdays’ set. I embossed with copper powder then coloured with ink from Papertrey ink cubes. The ink cubes are very juicy so I often smoosh them on my glass mat then pick up ink with a paint brush.

I filled the background with a grey zig clean color real brush pen and blended it with water. To complete the card I matted with with the dark blue cardstock I keep reaching for and finished the sentiment on a strip of the same blue. Having this new birthday set has got my birthday card production back on track. I have no excuses for not sending out birthday cards. Thank you Foiled Fox!

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Birthday tulips

Posted: June 15, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: blooming bunch, Penny Black | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

Are all your tulips gone?  None of mine flowered this year, not even the faithful two that predated our move into this house! I have planted quite a few over the years but I believe they became squirrel lunches. These ones are coloured with zig clean colour real brush pens. I chose an orange and a yellow then coloured some in just orange, one just yellow and a few with a mix of the two pens. The whole image was first stamped in antique linen distress ink which is so good for no-line colouring.

Once again I really enjoyed painting the bucket to give it an aged look with a mix of grey and brown pens. I drew the black centres in after colouring.

To frame the tulips I used two dies, a smaller one from the Waffle Flower A2 layer dies to cut the stamped panel and the other from Waffle Flower additional A2 layers to cut a very narrow green ⅛” mat.

The sentiment is from PB ‘birthday humor’ set but I stamped only part of the phrase and cut it with a die from the PB ‘pocket full’ die set.

Supplies

Winter Garden

Posted: October 21, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Penny Black, winter garden | Tags: , | 2 Comments

If you haven’t seen the incredible artistry of Peet Roeven you need to click over to her blog right now. Her attention to detail and precise fussy cutting is impressive. My card today is inspired by a recent card of Peet’s, mine is nowhere near as detailed as hers but I was able to show off this pretty ‘winter garden’ stamp in a circular setting just as she did. I never think of doing circle cards but the stamp is circular so it does make sense and Peet’s beautiful card nudged me to give it a try.

I worked on Koh-I-Noor Bristol Smooth Bright White Paper and embossed the image in platinum embossing powder. I was keen to see how the Zig clean color real brush pens worked on bristol as many artists prefer bristol to watercolour paper for the zig pens. The results were very pleasing the pens blend beautifully on bristol. I wanted pale pink flowers and tried light pink and tea rose then ended up using both for a blend from the slightly bolder pink to the paler tea rose. The berries I coloured with wine red, the rounded leaves with light green and the holly leaves with a blend of wine red and light green. I used brown for the pine cones and blended it with water for variation in depth. The needle leaves are olive green. The zig pens are very highly pigmented so a little goes a long way. I was able to colour the elements on the panel by applying a small about of ink then blending it to fill the space with a wet brush.

I die cut the image with a large circle die, used the next size up for the pale pink mat and the next size for two circles to form the card base. The back of the card base has a score line less than a centimeter (half inch) from the top so the card can be opened without the patterned panel having to bend at all. I also cut a very small margin off the bottom of the back panel so the card would stand upright on a small flat section. I embossed the sentiment from PB ‘Christmas Sentiments’ set, matted it then die cut with a circle die so it would line up with my circle panels.

What is the most unusual shape you have used for a card? I have to admit it is just about always rectangles and squares for me.

Supplies

Gerberas

Posted: September 11, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, gerberas, mesh | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

This pretty bunch of gerberas is one of the newest stamps from Darkroom Door. I would have shown it to you sooner but it arrived from Australia two days after I left to go to Australia! The inspiration for this colour scheme once again came from a simple web search. A photo popped up with pink, red, apricot and orange gerberas massed together. So that’s what I did.

I stamped in black ink and embossed in clear powder on hot pressed watercolour paper then used zig clean color real brush markers for colouring. I started each flower by colouring around the centre with the marker then blended out the colour with a brush and water. I was able to add more with the markers as needed. To give the flowers even more pizaazz I gave them all a layer of clear wink of stella. (the red and pink ones then got a coat of micro glaze because I kept touching them and getting pink and red stains on things that were not meant to be pink or red!) I wanted to mount the flowers on a background but didn’t want it to fight with the focal panel. The DD mesh stamp worked beautifully and reminds me of the decorative mesh that is sometimes wrapped around cut flowers.

I stamped a sentiment from the large DD ‘thank you’ set and threaded some sparkly black thread through the tag and round the panel. A friend gave me a stash of metallic threads recently and they are coming in handy for a little subtle sparkle.

For the second card I went with a more country style look. All the gerberas feature the same fossilized amber, vintage photo and rusty hinge colour scheme with the two brown inks used also to create a background. I stamped the whole gerbera stamp in fossilized amber  distress ink first then inked the centres in rusty hinge. I blended each petal with water and did the same with the centres then inked one side of the flower centres in vintage photo to add some dimension.

I tried a woodgrain background but it was too dark. By choosing to stamp the ‘thank you’ sentiment strip several times more of the cream background showed through. I inked the sentiment strip in vintage photo and rusty hinge distress inks and spritzed it lightly before each print. The result was blended and sometimes smudgy words. I gave both the flower panel and the background the splatter treatment then popped the gerberas up on a foam rectangle.

Gerberas are pretty classy flowers I think, they always seem to stand out in a bouquet.

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Just looking

Posted: March 13, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: just looking, Penny Black | Tags: , | 8 Comments

This sweet bird and branch come from the new PB set, ‘just looking’ and I’m happy to say the watercolour look I achieved for this card was pretty quick and easy. I used zig clean color real brush markers to ink the stamps. With the bird in the misti I inked a few sections with a brown and a grey, spritzed the stamp then stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. I then inked a few more sections with black and a light brown to make sure the whole bird was stamped. I blended the stamping with a small watercolour brush and a light hand. I wanted the colours to run together a bit but not a lot so I barely worked on them.

I dried the bird completely before stamping the leaves so the wet ink would not run from bird to branch or vice versa. I didn’t feel like cutting a mask so I partially inked the branch then stamped it beside the bird. I added more ink on the branch little by little to avoid stamping over the bird; the stamp positioner makes this easy. I did the same to add two more bits of branch then blended them with a bit of water. I splattered a bit of the rusty brown ink over the panel, stamped the sentiment from ‘butterfly garden’ set in brown stazon, added some twine then matted with a piece of copper coloured cardstock.

The water I was dipping my paintbrush in was left over from another project and had gold shimmer in it. You can’t see it in these photos but the bird and branches ended up with a bit of shimmer themselves. See, it pays to not clean up after each project!

Supplies

Simple and elegant poinsettias

Posted: November 5, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Christmas poinsettia, xmas poinsettia cut out | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Today’s cards show two different looks from the Penny Black ‘Chrismtas poinsettia’ stamp. The first is simple distress ink colouring popped up on a fun polka dot background and the second is a bit more elegant with bold colouring inside a gold embossed image. I stamped this first poinsettia in festive berries and shabby shutters distress inks on hot pressed watercolour paper then blended the ink with water to fill the petals. If I needed extra ink for shadows and depth I picked it up from my glass mat which acted as a palette.

When I inked the stamp I wiped off the festive berries ink from the centre of the stamp so I could add peeled paint ink with a distress marker. After I had done all the blending I coloured the circles in the centre of the flower with a gold gel pen. My favourite part of the card though is the polka dot paper; it is so pretty. It is just one of a series of papers by Alexandra Renke. The Foiled Fox sent me some Alexandra Renke papers to try out and they are lovely. I will share more of them with you in the coming weeks. The weight is between paper and cardstock so it die cuts well but doesn’t add too much bulk when you layer it.

I cut my poinsettias out with the co-ordinating die but they wouldn’t be too hard to cut by hand, especially if you have fussy cutting skills (which I don’t). I matted the polka dot panel in red and added a sentiment from ‘festive snippets’ in versafine crimson red.

I embossed my second poinsettia in gold powder then coloured with zig clean color real brush markers. As I often do I used two reds and two greens, colouring first with the light marker then adding the darker colour at one end before blending with water to fill the petals.

I applied adhesive to a strip of gold cardstock then trimmed it even narrower to position behind the popped up poinsettia. I embossed a sentiment in the same gold embossing powder used for the flower.

I am continuing to participate in Kathy Racoosin’s 30 Day colouring challenge. If you want some colouring inspiration pop over to her blog and check out her tutorials and link up. Let me know if you are participating.

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas poinsettia, festive snippets (PB)

Dies: xmas poinsettia cut out (PB)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Alexandra Renke pink dots, gold shimmer, red cardstock

Ink: festive berries, shabby shutters distress inks, , versamark, versafine crimson red

Markers: clean color real brush markers, peeled paint distress marker

Also: metallic gold rich embossing powder, glass mat

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