Watercoloured Holly

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

May peace be your gift

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.

holly background

Supplies:

Stamps: Flourish HollyA better worldGlad 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


Snow Storm

snow storm

This little scene ended up being considerably snowier than I first thought it would be, hence the title.  I double embossed the branches using the method shown here. Extra embossing powder stuck on and around the masking fluid droplets creating the appearance of very fine snow over most of the panel. The moon and snow banks were masked after the embossing using post it note masks. I did all the sponging with one colour, Memento Paris Dusk, and knew when I had finished that I needed some red somewhere to add a little contrast. I played around with adding a little red bird but seriously, what bird would be out in the snow at night during a storm? The answer was to add the sentiment in red. After messing it up on the panel I restamped and punched the sentiment out with a tag punch and totally covered my mistake.

To finish the card I tried several positions for the panel. To position it up the top or at the bottom meant leaving a large empty white space. I don’t usually mind doing that but neither up nor down looked balanced. In the middle looked better especially with a little texture above and below the panel.

Supplies:

Stamps: Berry Red Snow White, A wish for Peace (Penny Black)
Inks:  Memento Paris Dusk, Versamark , Versafine Onyx Black & Satin Red(Tsukineko)
Creative Dies: Nature’s Song
Also: Clear e.p., red ribbon


Runway inspired challenge

Runway inspired one layer

This week the Penny Black design team has been playing along with the current Runway Inspired Challenge.

My top card was made by sponging through a couple of masks cut with the blissful die and three different memento inks (listed below). The popped up tiles on the card below were made using the emboss resist method and the same  three inks.

Runway inspired tiles

Supplies:

Stamps:  Glory of modesty, Every Happiness, Flourish Birthday (PB)
Inks: Memento Angel Pink, Love Letter, Rhubarb Stalk & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Dies: Bashful, Black embossing powder


Five Butterflies

five butterflies

I tried for a while, recently, to make five butterflies work on a card and finally gave up and settled on three. With the help of the sketch from CAS(e) this Sketch #37 I managed to create a five butterfly card.

I have seen some wonderful cards lately where a die cut image reveals all the colour and pattern happening underneath so I decided to give it a try.

five butterflies closeup

I cut my butterflies first using the butterfly die from the Tagged set , then masked an area inside the card to line up with what would be revealed through the butterflies. The collage pattern I created in the masked area is a combination of the damask pattern background and the music background along with sponging in warm yellow and orange tones. A dots mask die cut from a post-it note was sitting on the desk so I sponged a few dots through that too although I admit they weren’t entirely necessary!
five butterflies inside

The sentiment just seemed like the right one to choose with those butterflies weaving through the air like that.

Where will I write the greeting on this card I wonder?

Supplies:

Stamps:  Damask PatternMusic BackgroundIn my Thoughts  (PB)
Inks: Memento Tangelo, Love letter, Dandelion, Cantaloupe (Tsukineko)
Dies: Dots, Tagged