Pretty Paper Neighbourhood & a Wreath

Posted: November 16, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alexandra Renke, neighbourhood border, starry night, whirl wreath | Tags: Alexandra Renke cardstock, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 6 Comments

It’s all soft and subtle on the blog today. I have two projects featuring the beautiful Alexandra Renke cardstock the Foiled Fox recently started carrying in their store. The weight of the cardstock is somewhere between a good quality printer paper and a piece of cardstock. There is definitely enough weight to die cut nicely.

I chose the elegant ‘whirl wreath’ by Penny Black and cut one out of ‘pink dots’ cardstock. I attached it around the centre circle with adhesive but left the branches unattached ( so I will be careful putting it in a envelope) The background is ‘rose stripes’ which matches the pink dots perfectly. I cut the bow out of a piece of cardstock from my stash and layered a few together to give it some extra weight. I blended around the edge of the striped panel with tattered rose distress ink and attached everything to a cream cardbase.

I chose to add a natural twine bow to the die cut bow then had to co-ordinate the sentiment with antique linen distress ink.

For my little neighbourhood card I use three patterns of Alexandra Renke cardstock, the rose stripes, gray stripes and medium mud watercolour. I know it is hard to see the details of the die cuts in my photo but in real life the pink striped neighbourhood is clear against two lines of gray striped trees in front of a gray mud starry sky.

I have been wanting to try a white on white layered die cut scene and I probably still will but chose to try it with these pretty papers first. The neighbourhood is layered over two layers of trees cut with the ‘trees and hills’ dies which are layered over a gray piece cut with the starry sky night die attached directly to a white card base.

I featured some of the subtle colours and patterns from Alexandra Renke today but I do have some bold patterns and solids to share another day.

Have a great weekend.

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas sentiments, winter days (PB)

Dies: whirl wreath, neighbourhood border, starry night die, trees & hills die set (PB)

Cardstock: Alexandra Renke medium mud watercolor, gray stripes, rose stripes & Neenah solar white, cream, pink

Inks: tattered rose, antique linen distress ink, smokey gray versafine ink

Also: hemp twine

Deck the halls turnabout

Posted: November 14, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Deck the halls turnabout | Tags: Concord & 9th, Penny Black creative dies, Tsukineko Versafine inks, WOW embossing powders | 6 Comments

I’m on the Foiled Fox blog today, sharing these fun and festive cards made with the Concord & 9th ‘Deck the Halls’ turnabout stamp.

It is a cool trick to create a multicoloured background by turning your stamp 90 degrees each time but that is not the coolest thing I learnt in creating these cards. It was a happy accident resulting in an unexpected colour scheme that please me most.

The beauty of the turnabout stamp is not so much the full background you create because you can do that with a background stamp. The turnabout stamp allows you to ink a different colour each turn and have four different colours even distributed across your finished panel. For the first card I was traditional in my colour choices and stamped with versamark so I could emboss in gold then the rest of my turns were versafine clair glamorous, shady lane and rainforest. The gold gives the panel a lovely pop and I ended up embossing my die cut sentiment with the same gold as I didn’t have cardstock that matched exactly. I popped up my sentiment on some red foam but you could get the same effect with a couple of layers of red cardstock. To frame the stamped panel I swiped the glamorous ink pad around the perimeter and attached the panel to a cream card base.

The second card features gold, platinum, white and black embossing. The white doesn’t show up in the photos but in real life it’s very pretty. I would never have chosen black as the fourth colour in this mix but I accidentally inked the stamp with my black nocturne stamp pad thinking I had picked up my versamark. I think the effect is bold and modern. I also added black foam under the gold sentiment to pop it up a bit.

I often use black for silhouette stamping on a Christmas card but I think this might be the first time I have stamped little decorative motifs in black. What do you think? Would you include black in a multicolour Christmas panel?

Make sure you pop over to the Foiled Fox blog for extra tips and details.

Supplies

Stamps: deck the halls turnabout (Concord & 9th)

Dies: jingle bells, wreath noel (Penny Black)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, shimmer gold

Inks: versamark, versafine clair glamorous, shady lane, rain forest, nocturne

Embossing powder: gold metallic rich, platinum, clear, white

Also: black foam sheet, red foam sheet

Tools: MISTI

Simple and elegant poinsettias

Posted: November 5, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Christmas poinsettia, xmas poinsettia cut out | Tags: Alexandra Renke cardstock, Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 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

Stamping is for the birds part 2

Posted: October 31, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: A Bright Tomorrow, gift card pocket, Peerless watercolours, winter lookout | Tags: Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 5 Comments

The second installment of my ‘stamping is for the birds‘ series features the Penny Black stamp ‘Winter lookout’ with a little bird on the outside looking in. I have seen a few other beautiful cards using this stamp and wish I had added a little foliage but there is always next time. Take a look at this gorgeous card by Susie Lessard.

I stamped in versafine clair nocturne ink and embossed in clear powder then painted the bird and all the wood with my peerless watercolours. To create variation in the wood I painted with several browns and some warm mustard yellow as well. Once I had finished the woodwork I had to decide how I would do the window. I chose frosty patterns like we often get on our windows in winter so I used the delicate snowflake stamp from the PB set, ‘A bright tomorrow’ to emboss in clear powder. When I painted pale blue into the window area it resisted the snowflake shapes.

I tried a second colour scheme embossed in versafine smokey grey, featuring greys and blues and stamped some pine branches inside the windows as if garlands were hanging there.

I finished both cards with co-ordinating mats and sentiments stamped on little tags from the ‘gift card pocket’ die set. I think I have only once made a gift card pocket but I often use the little tags and banner dies from the set. I added some finer details to both cards with black and brown markers once the painting was all finished as sometimes embossing does not preserve all the definition.

Supplies

Stamps: winter lookout, a bright tomorrow, festive snippets, joy of peace (PB)

Die: gift card pocket (PB)

Ink: versamark, nocturne versafine clair, morning mist versafine clair, northern pine memento

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, neenah black, kraft, red, olive green

Paint: peerless watercolours

Also: clear embossing powder, brown marker, black marker, twine

Stamping is for the birds part 1

Posted: October 30, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: cheerful christmas, Peerless watercolours | Tags: Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 4 Comments

This week my blog is all about the bird stamps! It is a bit of a departure for me but there are some sweet birds flitting around my workroom so I decided to paint a few. This one from Penny Black is called ‘cheerful Christmas‘ and I’ve painted it with a robin in mind. The image is stamped in black, embossed in clear then painted with peerless watercolour paints. I kept my colour scheme fairly simple, a couple of greens for the leaves, a couple of reds for the berries and bird, a grey for the bird and background then some pale blue. I die cut the red mat with the elegant stitching dies from Penny Black and added a sentiment from the festive snippets set.

Peerless paints come in a very convenient format and provide beautiful blendable colour. I tend to forget them for a while and then binge on them with one project after another. They will be back with another bird tomorrow. You can see how I set up my peerless palette here

This little bird reminds me of a Ladybird book I had as a child called ‘The Wise Robin‘. I just had a hunt for it on our bookshelves and found it. The pictures in the book are all paintings and quite lovely. Then I did an online search for it and found it was published in 1950, sold for 2/6 but is listed for $72.51! I flicked through the book to remind myself of the story; the robin ends up in the house on the Christmas tree and delights the family with a song. Of course my experience when a bird has come into the house has never been delightful but that need not get in the way of a cute story!

Supplies

Stamps: Cheerful Christmas

Dies: elegant stitching

Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah cream, red

Ink: versafine clair nocturne

Paint: peerless watercolours

Also: clear embossing powder

A wreath two ways

Posted: October 24, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: winter chirp | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Peerless Transparent Watercolors, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 16 Comments

I have one wreath, ‘winter chirp’ from Penny Black, presented in two ways today. The first is neat and tidy, the other is loose and messy. I started with gold embossing and used similar colour schemes on each one.

They are both painted with peerless watercolour paints, which I love. I stayed inside the lines on the first card and went all loose and freestyle on the second. I almost gave up on the second but as I kept adding colours it did look a little less like a mistake! I almost didn’t post the messy one but in real life it actually looks artsy and fun.

I chose gold cardstock for some stacked die cut sentiments, also from PB, so the sentiment and embossing would co-ordinate. I also matted with gold and green (yes it’s green, not black) cardstock on a cream cardbase.

I hesitate to ask but are you on the neat team or the artsy(messy) team?

Supplies

Stamp: winter chirp (PB)
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Dies: very merry, rejoice (PB)

Ink: versamark

Paint: peerless watercolours

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, gold cardstock, green cardstock

Also: metallic gold rich embossing powder, double sided adhesive sheets

When a plan goes awry

Posted: October 17, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Christmas berries, dancing daisies, gift card pocket, winter branches | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

Today’s card was the result of a thought I had after making a Christmas themed card featuring the berries seen on this one. The Penny Black berry stamp is called ‘Christmas berries’ so it is hardly surprising that I made a Christmas card with them but I wanted to see if I could put them to use in a non-Christmas card too.

I started by stamping the dancing daisies in blue, purple, green and yellow (they were all distress inks and I will make a guess at them in the list below but once again I didn’t write them down). After stamping I blended the petals and leaves with water and a paint brush. I masked the daisies as I had saved masks from a previous project, stamped the berries in pinky, purply colours so they wouldn’t look Christmassy and blended again with water.

Finally I added some ‘winter branches’ in brown ink. This is where my plan started to unravel. I didn’t want to mask all those berries and flowers to put the winter branches in the background so I stamped them over the top and blended them with a paintbrush also. With the blending they became more prominent than I wanted; without the blending they looked badly stamped because I was working on textured cold pressed watercolour paper.

I finished off the panel with some dark brown splatter then moved onto another project undecided whether to turn this one into a card or not. When I came back to this panel later I decided to break up the dominance of the brown winter branches with a sentiment panel. I used a die from the gift card pocket set to cut a decorative shape from hot pressed watercolour paper and adhesive backed foam then stamped a sentiment from the banner sentiments set. I ended up liking the idea and the colours of this card but it’s not my best layout.

Supplies

Stamps: dancing daisies, Christmas berries, winter branches, banner sentiments (all PB)

Inks: blueprint sketch, dusty concord, fossilized amber, forest moss, festive berries, gathered twigs distress inks & monarch versafine clair

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, hot pressed watercolour paper

Die: gift card pocket (PB)

Tools: adhesive backed foam, Misti

Brusho Floral Medley

Posted: October 12, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, floral medley | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 9 Comments

I have been asked a few times for a video showing how I use brusho for emboss resist panels. It is definitely one of my favourite techniques. I have used it with picture stamps and patterns, with one colour of paint powder or several; the principles are the same. I have added a list of emboss resist cards made with paint powders at the end of this post.

One key point to remember when using brusho over embossing is not to overdo the powder or the water. A little at a time means you can see what patterns and depth of colour are developing before you add anything more. In the video I show my method for moving colour around; I often pick up paint from an area with too much pigment and paint it somewhere else.

Obviously you if you sprinkle paint powder on a panel and then spritz with water it will not stay inside all the lines but that is part of the beauty of this technique. If this is a bit too loose and artsy for you try the same technique over an embossed pattern stamp.

Other cards featuring emboss resist with paint powders
happy cacti, embossed grevillea, roses in bloom, black brusho grid, shimmery summer glow, roses all over, flower garden, happy canada day, felicity, falling florals

Thank you for dropping by today; I hope the technique in the video is something you try one day. Let me know if you do; I’d love to hear or see how it went.

Supplies

https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?1552642647875

An apple a day

Posted: October 11, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: apples | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 6 Comments

Today’s card cannot guarantee you the health benefits of an actual apple but I hope it brings a smile. I stamped and painted it with distress inks and I’m sorry to say I didn’t record the colours. I was attending an all day crop and teaching a few mini classes during the day. My table was set up with inks and stamps and watercolour paper and I came and went from classroom to table resuming my card panels whenever I returned to my table. My best guess would be festive berries, mowed lawn, vintage photo, forest moss, gathered twigs and squeezed lemonade. Maybe I should tell you my process instead because apples come in a range of colours; there is no wrong answer! I used my stamp positioner and worked one colour at a time. I inked the apples in red and wiped any red ink off the leaves before stamping then I used water and a paintbrush to blend all the stamped ink to cover the apple skin. While the area was wet I dropped in some green ink to create some variation and shadow. I dried the red before inking all the leaves in the two greens, stamped and blended them with a paint brush also. I inked the stems in brown and stamped them over the leaves. Once the leaves were dry I also used some brown or maybe forest moss ink to paint the veins back on the leaves. I stamped the centre of the cut apple with brown ink and painted some onto the shadow at the bottom of the apple also. The flesh of the apple looked a bit too stark so I painted some yellow and blended a bit of the red from the edge into the white area as well.

You’ve probably noticed my apple looks like it is in a snow storm. I worked on cold pressed watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid, probably not entirely necessary for a close up apple image but I’m claiming artist’s licence. I had splattered masking fluid over a batch of cold pressed panels in preparation for the all day crop as I was planning to work mainly on snow scenes. When I went to assemble the card I thought the apple needed a bit of shadow to ground it so I painted some diluted festive berries and chipped sapphire ink because they were in reach on my desk. As is often the case for me, I left any thoughts of a sentiment until the end. After a search through my sentiment dies I settled on ‘you’re sweet’ then matted the panel in the same green cardstock.

Do you have an apple a day? I usually do but sometimes there are peaches or mangoes or nectarines that distract me from the humble apple.

Supplies

Stamps: apples

Die: you’re sweet

Inks: festive berries, mowed lawn, vintage photo, forest moss, gathered twigs, squeezed lemonade distress inks

Paper: cold pressed watercolour paper, green cardstock

Tools: stamp positioner, masking fluid

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Autumn Sprigs

Posted: September 28, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Xmas sprigs | Tags: Catherine Pooler inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 23 Comments

Our gratitude week continues both here and on the Foiled Fox blog. Next week we will return to our regularly scheduled programming but the gratitude themed posts will stay open for comments until the end of Friday October 5th. The Foiled Fox is giving away a $25 gift certificate to three of our readers who leave a comment here on my blog and/or on the Foiled Fox blog telling us something they are grateful for. It does not have to be related to art and craft at all. We will randomly choose a winner from each gratitude post and announce them on Tuesday, October 9th. Now before I move on to the card details I will add that I am very thankful for the people I have met through art and card making, those of you I know through this blog as well as those I have met in person at classes or crops. It is a great community that I love being involved in.

To create today’s gratitude themed card I used a Penny Black Christmas set. The only part of the set that is particularly Christmassy is the bauble hanging on one of the branches. I left that stamp out and used the other two that feature only leaves and berries. I used autumn tones too, three Catherine Pooler inks: spruce, bellini, shea butter. I started by inking the larger of the two stamps in shea butter ink then dabbed some spruce and bellini here and there on the leaves and berries. I spritzed the stamp with water then stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. The inks had begun to blend after spritzing; I blended them more on the paper with a paintbrush. While there was still ink on the stamp I spritzed it and stamped again resulting in a paler image. I blended the pale leaves and berries with a brush too. I repeated the process with the large stamp then did the same thing with the small stamp and ended up filling 75% of the panel. You could leave the blending step out, I just like to get the look of painted leaves.

I did a little splatter in both spruce and bellini then moved on to the sentiment. To make sure my die cut sentiment and accent strips matched exactly I swiped the spruce inkpad onto some watercolour paper then let it dry. The CP inks are very juicy and gave great coverage. I added double sided adhesive to the back of the spruce coloured watercolour paper then die cut the word ‘thankful’ twice. The die is ‘thankful heart’ combined but I did a little surgery and removed the heart. I layered the two die cuts then worked out where I would put them on my leaf panel. There was an area where the ink and water had splodged so that was the perfect area to cover up with a sentiment. As I was using some stamped words right up next to the die-cut words I did the stamping first in my positioner so I wouldn’t have to try stamping around die-cuts already stuck down! I wonder how I knew to do that?! The stamped words are half a phrase from the very useful ‘happy snippets’ set.

I cut a very narrow strip of spruce inked paper with my paper trimmer (linked below) and used a dot adhesive to attach two pieces to the top of the panel. I know ribbon or twine might have looked nice but my matchy-matchy heart wanted spruce green so inked paper was the way to go. I trimmed the panel to match the card front exactly, which seems to be my preference currently and now I have another card to send to someone I am thankful for.