Roses in bloom
Posted: April 18, 2018 Filed under: Brusho, Roses all over | Tags: Brusho, My Favorite Things, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 8 Comments
The first card I made using this lovely rose stamp from My Favorite Things featured bister powder; this one was done with a couple of brusho colours. I used the same technique for both and have been asked several times about the amount of powder and the amount of water. I hope to do a video soon showing my method with paint powders.
I used two colours on this panel, a red and a yellow. You can see there are some specs of blue also, I think they were on the surrounding scrap paper and just transferred to my panel. I embossed the roses all over stamp with clear powder on hot pressed watercolour paper then sprinkled red brusho in the centre and yellow brusho on the edge of the panel. I spritzed with water then tilted the panel to activate the powder. Where there was too much water or colour I used either a paper towel or a ‘thirsty brush’ to sop it up. (A thirsty brush is a paintbrush dipped in water then squeezed or dabbed dry so that it can absorb water or paint from the painting.)
I cut three layers of the rusty red cardstock with the ‘bloom magical’ die and stacked them. The sentiment from the PB ‘friendship flowers’ set works perfectly with the die so I stamped in black and slipped it under the stacked die cut.
Have a wonderful day.
Supplies
Stamps: roses all over (MFT) friendship flowers 30-223 (PB)
Dies: bloom magical 51-420(PB)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, neenah natural white, red cardstock
Ink: versamark, versafine onyx black
Paint: brusho
Becoming
Posted: April 12, 2018 Filed under: becoming | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 5 Comments
I am sharing this card on the Foiled Fox blog today, a great place to visit if you are looking for some inspiring content or some lovely products (in their online store). I am grateful to The Foiled Fox for supporting my creative work in a variety of ways and I want to let you know my blog includes affiliate links to their online store which give me a small commission.
Yet again I used my distress stains to work with a Penny Black floral stamp. You may have heard the distress stain daubers are being discontinued but the spray stains are not so I intend to refill my daubers from my spray stains; the stain is the same in both bottles. If you don’t want to get messy and do refills you can just paint stain onto your stamp with a brush or use an ink pad and spritz your stamp for a looser, more watery look.
I started in my stamping platform by inking the flower and bud with worn lipstick stain. I stamped then cleaned the stamp so I would not contaminate the dauber of the dusty concord distress stain when I added that next. I kept the dusty concord mainly around the edges of the flower and tip of the bud but it blended into the flower a little which is what I was after.
I added a sentiment in versafine clair monarch ink then popped up the whole panel on white foam before adding it to card base.
Supplies
Stamps: PB Becoming, Just Believe
Distress stains: pumice stone, forest moss, worn lipstick, dusty concord
Ink: versafine clair monarch
Paper:
Also: white foam
Spontaneous joy
Posted: April 11, 2018 Filed under: spontaneous joy | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 6 Comments
I am happy to share another video with you today. I know…that’s three this year and it’s only April. The future is looking promising. So far the three I have posted were all filmed on the same day but rest assured there are three more in process now. The stamp on today’s card is another pretty brushstroke stamp from Penny Black. I have a few techniques I use with brushstroke stamps ranging from very detailed to very loose and watery. This card has quite a loose look but it’s still clear we are looking at poppies!
I used a combination of mememto ink pads and markers and worked in a stamp positioner so I could build the colour up step by step. Check out the video to see my whole process.
Thank you for the encouraging comments left here and on youtube about my videos. I am so happy to provide them and thrilled to hear the techniques are making sense and inspiring you to try them yourself.
Supplies
Stamps: spontaneous joy, just believe
Inks: versafine onyx black, memento dandelion ink, memento tangelo, potter’s clay, espresso truffle, northern pine, olive grove markers
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: MISTI
Flower Pageant
Posted: April 9, 2018 Filed under: flower pageant | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 4 Comments
Yes, I used my distress stains for watercolouring again! I could definitely have used ink pads or markers but I really like the uneven amount of pigment and liquid the stains lay down when stamped. Odd isn’t it that I like the coverage to be uneven? With uneven coverage I think the stamping looks more handpainted. I used a stamp positioning tool because you can’t be sure with stain exactly what kind of impression you will get first go. I started with the large flower that is flanked by four little flowers. First I just inked the rose with spiced marmalade distress stain then used a paint brush and water to blend the stain out into pale petals. Next I added the dusty concord, festive berries and forest moss stain to the flowers and leaves surrounding the orange rose. I also blended them with a little water, just enough for them to soften into each other but not lose all definition.
To fill out the design I stamped one of the smaller stamps and blended slightly with water also. At this point I felt my design was looking a bit vintagy so I pulled out an older PB sentiment set incorporating a vintage style font and paired it with one of the new flourish border stamps.
A wide black mat tied it all together. I think these stamps might lend themselves to a repeat pattern on a larger piece of paper. Might have to try that.
Supplies
Stamps: flower pageant, flourish borders, sentimental
Distress stains: forest moss, spiced marmalade, festive berries, dusty concord
Ink: versafine clair nocturne
Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah black
You’re spectacular
Posted: April 6, 2018 Filed under: Brusho, fantastic, Zigs & zags | Tags: Brusho, Foiling, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Penny Black stencils 6 Comments
Does that background look a little skewed to you? It’s that exact feature that made me use it for an ‘eye sight’ themed card, something you might have to look at with your head on the side.
I taped the zigs & zags stencil from Penny Black onto a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper then spread deco transfer gel over. I carefully removed the stencil and let the gel dry. Once dry I lay a piece of white foil over the panel and ran it through my minc foiling machine. The result was a white on off-white chevron panel. Because I had created it on watercolour paper I was able to use brusho and a spritzer to make a multicoloured pattern. Once the panel dried and I decided on the ‘spectacle & eyesight’ theme. I wanted the die cut glasses to look a little fancy so I added adhesive sheet to the back of black cardstock then cut three pairs of glasses. I was just going to emboss them with clear powder but thought sparkly clear powder might be even better. After adhering the three die cuts together in a stack I pressed the top layer onto my versamark ink then dipped it in WOW clear sparkle powder. Even though the powder is clear it ended with a slight green sparkle to it. It looks a little different depending what base colour you emboss over. I pressed the glasses onto my versamark again and embossed in clear powder over the top of the sparkle.
My sentiment is just one of the eyesight themed sentiments in the ‘perspective’ transparent set from Penny Black. To complete the card I matted the zig zag panel in a co-ordinating colour, attached the sentiment then the glasses and attached it all to a white card base. Not my usual style but I had a lot of fun putting it together.
Supplies
Stamps: perspective
Dies: glasses (PB), 2″ square die
Stencil: zigs & zags (PB)
Paint: colorburst turquoise, olive green, ultramarine
Ink: versamark
Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah epic black, neenah solar white, olive green
Also: clear sparkle embossing powder, clear embossing powder, double sided adhesive sheets, MINC, white foil, deco transfer gel
Bodacious brusho
Posted: April 2, 2018 Filed under: bodacious, Brusho, CAS | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 8 Comments
This week I have a couple of painted die cut cards to share. To create this one I first sprinkled leaf green, sunburst yellow and rose red brusho over a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper and spritzed with water to activate the paint. The colours did blend together a little but I was able to keep some distinct red, yellow and green areas. Once dry I used the ‘bodacious’ die from Penny Black to cut several flowers. I also cut white flowers with the same die. When creating my layout I glued down a few white diecut flowers first then coloured ones over the top. I trimmed stems and buds so I could arrange the flowers at different heights and facing different directions.
I embossed a sentiment from the ‘smile today’ set in platinum, trimmed the white background panel and attached it to a white card base.
Supplies
Stamps: smile today!
Die: bodacious
Paper: hot pressed watercolour, neenah solar white, white linen texture paper
Paint: leaf green, sunburst yellow, rose red brusho
Also: platinum embossing powder
Poppy blessing
Posted: March 21, 2018 Filed under: Parade of flowers | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders 4 Comments
This is the second card I’ve posted featuring the ‘parade of flowers’ stamp from Penny Black. To create this one I used just a section of the stamped image and worked with the emboss resist method. I stamped in versamark and embossed in clear powder on hot pressed watercolour paper.
The painting is all done with watercolour pencils. I use a waterbrush or wet paintbrush to pick up colour from the pencils. I used 2-3 pinks to fill the flowers, a green for the stems, a brown for the seed pod and black for the poppy centre. I painted the background with a grey watercolour pencil, added a sentiment in versafine smokey gray ink, a pink mat and a little twist of twine.
Happy Spring!
Supplies
Stamps: parade of flowers, choose happy
Inks: versamark, versafine smokey gray
Pencils: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, pink cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder, twine
Floral Arrangement
Posted: March 15, 2018 Filed under: floral arrangement | Tags: distress oxide inks, liquid metals, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 11 Comments
I have a burst of colour and some sprinklings of sparkle to share today. I am enjoying the entries in the ‘Sparkle With Us‘ challenge but I would love to see more. There are still five days left to add your sparkly project to the gallery, just click over to see all the details.
I used some new and some older distress oxide inks to create my colourful background. My paper is hot pressed watercolour and my technique was pressing the oxide pad on a craft mat, spritzing with water then swiping my paper through the ink. I did this numerous times but always dried the panel between swipes, that way I was able to build up layers and pockets of colour. After I had added my last layer of oxide ink I put some diluted liquid metal (metallic sky) on my craft mat and swiped the panel through that; the result was some blue shimmer over the blue painted area.
To create my spray of flowers I used the Penny Black ‘floral arrangement’ die to cut three flower sprays from ‘parchment’ patterned vellum, one of the designs in the grafix assorted vellum pad. I snipped the die cut flowers to create a layered arrangement of small flowers and leaves. The die does cut a larger flower, but I didn’t use it on this card. I put all my die cuts in a box and splattered gold paint from the gansai tambi starry colors set over them. After they dried I attached the leaves and flowers on my panel and I added a drop of glue to some of the flowers and sprinkled gold micro beads onto the glue. I co-ordinated the sentiment with the beads by embossing it in gold. All the supplies are listed below.
Do you think I might be able to label this one mixed media?
Supplies
Stamp: smile today
Die: floral arrangement
Inks: tattered rose, candied apple, blueprint sketch, fossilized amber distress oxide, versamark
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, parchment patterned vellum, neenah solar white
Paint: gansai tambi starry colors, metallic sky liquid metal
Also: On point glue, gold micro beads, gold embossing powder
Exquisite
Posted: March 9, 2018 Filed under: birds and banners, exquisite, Script | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
My final springy card for this week features this lovely big flower in two of my favourite distress stains, chipped sapphire and seedless preserves. I stamped this one on cold pressed watercolour paper so once again having the panel in a stamp positioner helped me get a good impression. I inked first with chipped sapphire over parts of the flower, stamped, wiped off the stamp and inked sections again but this time with seedless preserves. I ended up with some blue flowers, some pink and some a purple mix.
I blended the petals of all the flowers with a damp brush and let them all dry. I was going to leave all the centres white but it didn’t look right so I ended up painting them all darker with undiluted stain. To create a soft textured background I dropped a few drops of water around the flower then partially stamped the script stamp in the same ink stains. I dabbed out some ink with a paper towel and added some splatter as well. To frame the whole panel I ran the seedless preserves dauber around the edges then softened the colour with a damp brush.
To complete the card I stamped a sentiment on a fancy little die cut banner and popped it up over the stem of the flower.
Supplies
Stamps: exquisite, script, banner sentiment (Penny Black)
Die: birds & banners
Inks: chipped sapphire & seedless preserves distress stains, majestic blue versafine ink
Paper: cold & hot pressed watercolour paper
Aviary
Posted: March 8, 2018 Filed under: aviary, Coloured pencil | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
I have been using my coloured pencils more often recently. For this card I used them to add finishing touches and details after I had painted the majority of the design with watercolours. I used my gansai tambi paints for the watercolour then polychromos pencils for the details. I even wrote down the numbers just in case you were interested but really you don’t need my choices you could just use your own favourites.
One thing I did which worked in my favour was limit my colour palette. I mixed colours I had already used rather than continually adding new ones. This helps with the cohesiveness of the finished panel. I started by stamping the ‘aviary’ stamp on hot pressed watercolour paper in versafine smokey grey. I painted the area surrounding the birdhouse first with blue and green paint. I kept it mainly blue and used a ‘wet into wet’ method, painting around edges first with water then adding paint. A medium sized brush that comes to a good point can help with this as there is a lot of space to cover but also some tricky areas to navigate. Also if your brush is too small or doesn’t hold liquid well you will be forever picking up more water or paint.
Once the background was dry I painted the flower pots in brown and added shadows with the blue I used on the sky. After that I painted the birdhouse, once again with the brown and blue then added black for some darker shadows and definition. I decided to limit the flowers to pink and purple painting the taller plant on the left with a diluted purple paint and the magnolia on the right with touches of dark pink blended out with water. I left the centre flowers to do with coloured pencil. I used the same green from the background to paint the leaves and a combination of colours already used to paint the birds.
I couldn’t decide on a colour for the foreground the pots are sitting on so I used the dirty paint water. It turned out to be a teeny bit on the purple side but mainly on the dirty side so it didn’t clash with anything else. I added shadows with black. With all the basic painting done I switched to coloured pencils to add fine details. I picked pencils that matched the paint colours and went over some outlines or added tiny details inside leaves and flowers.
Thanks for dropping by today.
Supplies
Stamps: Aviary
Inks:
Paints: Kuretake gansai tambi 20, 36, 57, 46, 63
Pencils: Faber Castell polychromos 108, 158, 188, 274, 136, 142, 141, 231, 101
