Autumn in the mountains

Posted: October 7, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: arbors, Penny Black, picturesque, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 5 Comments

Outdoors is pretty ‘speccy’ right now. We don’t have too much of the deep red yet but I have seen it here and there. I have got into the habit of going for a walk or run soon after breakfast so I’ve seen the increase in autumn colours over the last few weeks. Yesterday there was fog when I set out so everything was a bit more muted but by the time I headed home the sun was burning off the fog and the golden tones were shining.

The first step in creating this scene was to stamp the top half of the mountain stamp (PB picturesque) in faded jeans and speckled egg distress inks on hot pressed watercolour paper. I painted below the mountains with water softening the colours at the bottom so there was no distinct line where the mountains ended. I then painted over the top of the mountains with water and dropped some spiced marmalade, forest moss and ground espresso ink into the wet area to add colour.

I dried the panel before starting on the trees using the PB arbors stamp. I stamped with ground espresso, fossilized amber, spiced marmalade and crackling campfire, not all at once, a couple of colours at a time to build up the coverage. I spritzed the stamp before stamping but didn’t spritz the paper.

When I was satisfied with the trees I painted ground underneath them and dried the panel again before blending speckled egg ink in the sky and below the branches. To finish I splattered both water and fossilized amber ink to break up the expanses of blue.

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Blended Autumn Bouquet

Posted: September 30, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: autumn bouquet, Penny Black, Uncategorized | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks, WOW embossing powders | 7 Comments

Today’s card is a second look with the Penny Black ‘autumn bouquet’ stamp. I blended distress inks over a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper before doing any stamping. The colours are listed below.

After blending I stamped the autumn bouquet stamp twice on the panel with brushed corduroy distress ink then painted inside all the leaves, berries and wheat stalks with water. As I painted I also dabbed away water leaving the insides of the images lighter than the outside. I picked up some smooshed ink and dropped it back into the round berries and the wheat berries.

I splattered some water over the panel, let it sit then dabbed it away with paper towel leaving a random pattern of watermarks here and there. The embossed sentiment is from the PB ‘million thanks’ set stamped in fallen leaves versafine clair ink.

Thank you for dropping by. I am indeed grateful for all your support and kindness.

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Windswept

Posted: September 22, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Gilding Flakes, Penny Black, windswept | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 8 Comments

Today is officially the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and the leaves are flying here on the blog. I am featuring another new stamp from Penny Black, aptly named windswept. It is a simple rubber cling stamp depicting a branch and loose leaves. On my card the leaves are flying across the whole front and back of the card.

I taped the hot pressed watercolour panel to my glass mat as I planned to spray the panel with both water and ink. I sprayed quickly and lightly with spiced marmalade, scattered straw, rusty hinge, wild honey, vintage photo and stormy sky distress sprays. I sprayed some water over the top to blend some of the inks then dried with a heat tool creating some watermarks as I did so.

Once the panel was dry I stamped the branch across the panel starting on the left hand side (which ended up being the back of the card) then overlapping as I moved across to the right. I used distress inks in the same colours as the sprays to ink the branch a couple of colours at a time.

Once the panel was completely dry I decided to add some more leaves but with gilding flakes. It is a while since I used gilding flakes so I did a quick youtube search and tried two different methods. I preferred the second method which was to stamp with the Tsukineko essential glue pad then press the flakes onto the image. Gilding flakes travel far and wide if you are not careful so I had the vacuum cleaner at my side. I used the Cosmic Shimmer ‘red blaze‘ gilding flakes which are a beautiful mix of red, golds, bronze and brown metallic flakes, perfect for autumn. I finished off the card with a sentiment from the PB ‘ever thanks’ set.

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Gilded Wheat

Posted: September 20, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: gilded wheat, Penny Black, Stampin Up, subtle | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Stampin Up | 14 Comments

This beautiful wheat stalk, ‘gilded wheat’ is new from Penny Black. You know that feeling when you think maybe a project is complete but you’re not sure so you keep going? I had that feeling after I had finished stamping, painting and highlighting the wheat stalks. I just wasn’t sure whether to add a background or not.

I stamped the wheat in scattered straw and wild honey distress inks then blended with a paint brush. To add shadow to the sides of the leaves and the base of the wheat berries I used iced spruce ink. After painting I switched to watercolour pencils and added more shadow with a similar grey-green spruce colour.

I could have stopped there and not added the background painting which is kind of patchy but I liked the contrast of the gold colours and the grey so I kept going. Before putting the card together I stamped a sentiment from the PB ‘choose happy’ set and ran the panel through the die cutting machine in the SU ‘subtle’ embossing folder. Sometimes people ask me how I settle on my colour combos; this one was inspired by the small leaves at the top of the previous card. Who knew grey and gold would be so happy together?

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Autumn Bouquet

Posted: September 17, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: autumn bouquet, fragile branches, fresh ferns, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 12 Comments

Are the leaves changing where you are? I noticed this morning a few patches of colour on the predominately green trees. The mornings are quite fresh too and the sunsets are amazing. Today’s card features a new Penny Black stamp ‘autumn bouquet’ teamed up with a couple of favourite filler stamps, ‘fresh fern’ and ‘fragile beauty’.

I kept the autumn bouquet stamp in the positioner so I could stamp each element one at a time. There are three types of leaves plus the wheat and the berries. All were done with a combination of inks. Often I ink the image using markers then smoosh the corresponding ink pad on my glass mat to give me ink for painting inside the stamped image.

I used partial stamping to add the fern fronds and twigs. I usually ink the bit furtherest from the existing stamping then fill more in each time I stamp so as to avoid stamping over the top of other elements. This is because I am often too lazy to mask the stamping I’ve already done.

After painting and blending inside all the stamped images I used blending brushes to add iced spruce to two edges and splattered some over the panel. I trimmed and popped up the panel on a white luxe card base.

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for dropping by.

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Trailing leaves

Posted: September 10, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: mountain magic, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes, trailing | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 9 Comments

The PB ‘trailing’ stamp featured in this card is definitely a versatile one; it works both hanging down as is here and growing up from the ground.

This card was very simple to make but I love the pretty blends and ‘weeping’ nature of the leaves. I inked the stamp with mowed lawn, chipped sapphire and iced spruce distress inks and stamped it on hot pressed watercolour paper. Soon after stamping I used a wide watercolour brush to paint water downwards over the stamping. The brush pulled ink from the stamping, blending and diluting it in the process.

Once the panel was completely dry I inked the hills from the PB ‘mountain magic’ set in both mowed lawn along the base and then chipped sapphire along the top. I painted over the top with water and pulled the mowed lawn ink below the stamped image to look like the edge of a lake. As I am writing this I’m thinking about trying exactly the same design but in warm autumn tones…

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Lakeside Mountain

Posted: September 3, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, picturesque, quietude, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 12 Comments

How did this happen? Another scenic card just snuck in while I wasn’t looking! I think it might be the fault of this mountain stamp, ‘Picturesque’. It is possibly the perfect stamp to put behind all other scenic stamps! And I haven’t even touched on winter scenes yet!

I stamped the mountains first in hickory smoke distress ink, painted inside the whole area with water and then added some chipped sapphire here and there. Once the ink dried I stamped the ‘quietude stamp in chipped sapphire, rustic wilderness and rusty hinge. I painted chipped sapphire in the sky and the lake and then painted more trees along the shore in the distance and pulled some of the ink into the lake to look like reflections.

Doesn’t it look relaxing, like dusk with cloud cover? Hope you have a lovely weekend.

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Gouache Hand Painted Wreath

Posted: September 1, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Finetec paints, Gouache, Hand painted, Penny Black | Tags: Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Gouache paints, Penny Black stamps, Stonehenge black watercolour paper | 7 Comments

I’ve been experimenting with gouache paint. I posted a few cards with gouache painted backgrounds early last month and now I have a painted wreath to share. The Foiled Fox kindly sent me the set of gouache and I have been practising colour mixing and painting very simple shapes and patterns. You can find me on the Foiled Fox blog today with more tips and tricks about this card.

Even though I am still a gouache newbie I decided to film the process for painting a simple wreath. I only used four different gouache colours, a green, a yellow, a red and white along with one pearlescent paint. In the video you will see the process and all the colours listed by name.

You certainly don’t have to use gouache on a black background but it does really pop! I think my next path of experimentation might be to use watercolour and gouache in the same project. On a slight side note, I don’t set out to do such tiny details; I can’t help myself. My art teachers in high school and college always told me to use bigger, bolder strokes!

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Grid & Floral mix

Posted: August 30, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, contemporary, Dies, Penny Black, rosa | Tags: Papertrey ink, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 3 Comments

It was fun to pull out a floral and a background stamp for a new card design. I was planning to stamp the PB ‘rosa’ stamp a few times across the panel but ended up putting it snugly on the right hand side leaving room for the grid patterned ‘contemporary’ stamp on the other side.

Before any stamping I smooshed some salty ocean, scattered straw and mowed lawn inks on my glass mat, spritzed water then swiped watercolour paper through the mix of colour. I let the colours dry for a while then dropped water on top and then absorbed it with a paper towel leaving pale water marks all over the panel.

I stamped the flowers in a mix of canyon clay and raspberry fizz inks (Papertrey ink) and the leaves and stems in rustic wilderness and bundled sage. I added copper pearlescent paint to the centres of the flowers as well as splattering some on the panel. I also added some black to the centres to define the flowers a wee bit more.

I added the PB ‘contemporary’ stamp to complete the panel along with the ‘THANKS’ die-cut from copper cardstock. You can see the fall colours are easing their way in but the summer colours are not leaving just yet!

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Through the rushes

Posted: August 27, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: mountain magic, Penny Black | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

I could say this is my last scenic post for now but it probably isn’t! It is the last one I have on hand but I’m sure there will be more soon, especially as I start using these stamps with autumn tones. I woke up to a cool morning today, the first time in a week; summer isn’t over but there are hints of changes to come

This one is definitely a summer by the lake scene. I watercoloured the sky first with salty ocean and scattered straw ink (technique shown here). Once that was dry I stamped the mountains in a combination of rustic wilderness, mowed lawn and rusty hinge inks. I added the rushes in the foreground stamped in rustic wilderness, rusty hinge and ground espresso.