Shimmer and shine
Posted: August 24, 2016 Filed under: Sweet Perfume | Tags: Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 9 Comments
I’m excited to be guest posting on the Foiled Fox blog today. To find out how I got the pretty shimmer on this card check out the post here.
Stamps: Sweet Perfume, Happy Snippets(PB)
More Glimpses
Posted: August 18, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
I have two more cards made from my experiments with new stamps on watercolour strips. Both today’s strips and yesterday’s were splattered with masking fluid before I started. For the deer card I also added a circle of masking tape before painting the sky in blue, purple, pink and yellow watercolour paint. I painted the horizon edge in blue and tilted the strip up so the paint flowed toward the moon, one colour blending into another
Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and tape then stamped the branches from ‘woodland beauty’ and the deer from ‘ nature’s silhouettes’ in black before painting some shadows in front of the deer’s legs.
I used a similar process for the single tree scene, painting the sky first while leaving some unpainted paper at the bottom to be the snowbanks. Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and positioned a post-it mask below the horizon and stamped the single tree from the ‘woodland beauty’ set over the mask. Once I removed the mask I painted shadows on the snow in the foreground and behind the tree.
The four little panels in today’s and yesterday’s posts are a taste of the new stamps and the types of scenes I expect to be creating over the next few months. I really enjoyed working small; have you tried it?
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty, Joy Filled (PB)
Paints: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolour paints
Inks: Versafine Onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
Glimpses
Posted: August 17, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Into the sky, Nature's Silhouettes, Prancers | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 24 Comments
You have probably already caught up with the fact that Penny Black has two new collections of stamps and dies. When I first receive new stamps my head fills with ideas and designs to try and this time was no exception. I had a little pile of bookmark sized watercolour paper strips on my table so I decided to try some of my ideas on mini projects rather than full sized panels. That way I was able to play with a few stamps and several ideas in a short space of time. The strips I worked on have become the cards I’m sharing today and tomorrow. I have also had a chance to develop some of the designs into full sized panels. On the strip above I used an old favourite, the little tree stamp from the ‘Prancers’ set as background for the new birch trunk stamps.
I stamped the two trunks from the new ‘Nature’s silhouettes’ transparent set on watercolour paper already covered in spots of masking fluid. I masked the trunks with post-its while I stamped the fir tree in the background then painted colour at the top and bottom of the panel with a combination of brusho and distress markers. I added some shadow and twigs to the trunks to make them look more tree like.
On my second mini panel I masked a moon with masking tape then used distress stains to paint a blue and green sky over the splatters of masking fluid. I turned this into a little scene by adding the ‘Into the Sky’ stamp in blue and black ink. I love this delicate stamp of branches and decided to stamp it on both the bases for today’s cards. It mimics the twiggy branches on the birch trees above and continues some of the upward reaching branches in the panel below.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Prancers, Into the sky, Snippets (PB)
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Onyx black ink (Tsukineko) Black Soot, Rusty hinge, Spiced marmalade, Peeled paint distress markers, Evergreen Bough & Blueprint sketch distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
Watercolour Fuchsias
Posted: August 5, 2016 Filed under: Fuchsia, Watercolour | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
I’ve been cutting up watercolour panels again; it really is a great way to use up experiments or abandoned projects. Sometimes I have panels that were my ‘practice’ for something else or part of a class where I demonstrated a technique but then moved on. The colours in the panels are pretty but the pattern might be a bit random or unattractive. Using a die cut means I can cut from the sections where I really like what the colours are doing. These panels were painted with Gansai Tambi paints.
I put stick-it adhesive on the back then cut all these fuchsias from a couple of panels featuring the same blue green tones. I arranged them then attached them all to a white panel and then to a white card base. My photography didn’t pick up the texture on the white panel as it is quite subtle but it is a cute trick if you want to try it. The cutting base panel for my die-cutting machine is very well used all over so when a piece of cardstock is run through the machine the base transfers an intricate pattern of intersecting lines which creates subtly textured cardstock. I am going to include this card in the Casology ‘Watercolour’ challenge.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)
Die:
Watercolour Dance
Posted: August 3, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, CAS, shall we dance, Watercolour | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 21 Comments
It’s really quite hot here at present and this card some how makes me feel a little cooler. It’s either the watery splatter or the cool blues and greens. I used up another abstract watercolour panel to make this card; there is quite a pile of painted or stamped panels sitting on my desk waiting to be turned into something. As you can probably guess this panel was mainly green but had a bit of purply pink on it. I am pretty sure it was done with brusho because there are little bits of other colours mixed in which is one of the nice features of brusho paint – the colours are not purely one pigment.
I used the new ‘shall we dance’ die from Penny Black to cut as many flowers as I could. I didn’t need them all to be complete die cuts as I wanted some tall and some short. Before I cut them I put ‘stick it’ adhesive on the back of the whole panel to make things easier later. Once I had all the flowers I could squeeze out of the panel I played around with positioning until I was happy. I did it all on a plain white panel assuming that I would keep the background blank and let the colours in the flowers pop. It would have been ok that way but I decided to use my watercolour pencils to try a little splatter in similar colours to the flowers. It may not be strictly white space any longer but it is pretty.
I am going to let this card play along with not one, but two challenges.
The CASology cue card is
and the CAS Mix Up challenge is
I read the fine print and discovered that if you didn’t have sprays then splatter is just fine so we’re in!
Supplies:
Stamps: Words of Kindness (PB)
Die: Shall we dance
Paints: Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Cottage Ivy Memento ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: stick it adhesive sheet
Dandee Wishes
Posted: August 2, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, Color Burst, Dandee | Tags: Brusho, color burst, liquid metals, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 20 Comments
This is the birthday card we gave our older daughter today.
I painted the panel a while ago but just turned it into a card for her birthday. Both this blue one and the orange one further down the page were emboss resist experiments. What is fun with emboss resist and watercolour powders is the variation and depth of colour changes from one side of an embossed line to another. To see an awesome example of this, check out Lindsey’s card.
For both colour schemes I embossed the dandee stamps in clear powder on watercolour paper. I sprinkled blue and green brusho powders on the one above then spritzed water to activate the powders. I used a paintbrush to do some colour moving but not much; most of the design is the magic of the paint.
The orange and yellow card was done in a similar fashion but I used colorburst powders and added some yellow gold liquid metal when I added water. There is a shimmery patch of colour as well as specks of gold in real life.
When I came back to the panels the other day I stamped the dandee stamps again over the panel in versafine inks and added popped up sentiments.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: A Sweet Day, Dandee, Happy Snippets (PB)
Paints: Colorburst powders and Liquid Metals (Ken Oliver) Brusho powders (Colourcraft)
Inks: Versamark, Versafine Habanero, Deep Lagoon, Majestic Blue, Olympia Green(Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black
Also: clear embossing powder, white embossing powder
Colouring on silk
Posted: July 19, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, Delightful | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Fabrico markers 20 Comments
Recently I got together with some friends to do some artsy crafty playing. One of my friends inspired me to experiment rather than work on my ‘to do’ list as I usually do. We decided to stamp on a variety of fabrics with a variety of inks. This is one of my experiments using some silk left over from my bridesmaid’s blouses. I spritzed a piece of silk with water then sprinkled brusho over it. I kept spritzing and sprinkling the powder and watched the colours spread and blend. Once it dried it was paler as is often the case with watercolour and especially on fabric.
I stayed firmly within my comfort zone where colours were concerned and played with blues, purples and a touch of burgandy. I used the MISTI to stamp the ‘Delightful’ stamp in Encore silver ink as I didn’t know how many times I would need to stamp in order to get a good impression. Once the silver ink was dry I coloured the petals and leaves with fabrico markers from Tsukineko. The markers did a beautiful job both laying down colour and blending with each other. The colour did bleed outside the lines here and there; I will need to get used to how much ink and how close to the lines I need to colour.
I enjoyed trying a different colouring medium and substrate and of course, joining in with the Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge!
Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful (PB)
Inks: Encore Silver (Tsukineko)
Brusho: Turquoise, Ost. Blue, Ultramarine (Colourcraft)
Markers: Fabrico skymist, ultramarine, burgandy (Tsukineko)
Also: white silk, blue cardstock, white textured cardstock
Pencil colouring
Posted: July 16, 2016 Filed under: Glee | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
I continue to grab opportunities to participate in the 30 day colouring challenge and have once again used the new “glee” stamp from Penny Black. I used a combination of brusho and liquid metals on my earlier card; for this one I pulled out my Faber-Castell polychromos set. I blended pencil with pencil rather than use a liquid blender or blending pencil. I chose two browns for the centre of the flowers, a yellow and two burgandies for the petals and two greens for the leaves. To blend pencil with pencil I generally colour with my lighter shade first then over the top with my darker shade and then blend again with the lighter shade. Once all my colouring was done I shaded lightly around all the images with a purple pencil. I chose purple because it is opposite yellow on the colour wheel; positioning contrasting colours next to each other helps to make them stand out more than they would otherwise. I stuck with the purple-gold combo when I added a mat and a sentiment,
Supplies
Stamps: Glee, Words of Kindness (PB)
Ink: Versamark ink, Versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Pencils: raw umber, burnt sienna, dark cadmium yellow, middle cadmium red, dark red, earth green yellowish, olive green yellowish, purple violet (Faber Castell)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, gold and purple cardstock
Also: gold embossing powder
Shimmery colouring
Posted: July 12, 2016 Filed under: Glee | Tags: Brusho, liquid metals, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day colouring challenge continues and, although I haven’t coloured everyday I am enjoying focusing on different colouring techniques. I used a mix of brusho and liquid metals for this card. The brusho colours are vibrant and the liquid metals sparkly so the combination is just like the shimmery butterflies I created for my journal page.
I started with an outline image embossed in gold then mixed a little turquoise brusho with platinum liquid metal to paint the petals. I also mixed cobalt blue with platinum and added touches of the darker blue to some of the petals. The flower centres were painted with a mix of liquid metal yellow gold and orange brusho and the leaves with a mix of yellow gold liquid metal and leaf green and cobalt blue brusho. I have coloured this stamp, ‘Glee’, using another technique which I will share later in the week once I have turned the panel into a card.
Supplies
Stamps: Glee, Happy Snippets (PB)
Ink: Versamark ink, (Tsukineko) salty ocean distress ink (Ranger)
Paints: Brusho turquoise, cobalt, yellow, orange, leaf green (Colourcraft) and liquid metal yellow gold, platinum (Ken Oliver)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, blue cardstock
Also: gold embossing powder, blue ribbon
More butterflies
Posted: July 9, 2016 Filed under: butterfly charmer, Watercolour | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 17 Comments
I didn’t intend for this week to be all about butterflies but that’s the way it turned out. To create this panel I coloured the little butterflies on the butterfly charmer stamp using what I am calling the colour drop method. I don’t think it is anything new but I needed a name for this little technique. I stamped the large stamp with wild honey distress ink then painted the butterflies with water one at a time. The water blended the wild honey ink to give each butterfly a warm yellow tone but it also gave me a pool to drop another colour into. I took colour from my water colour pencils and dropped it onto the wet wings and let it spread into the whole wet area. I moved from wing to wing so they could dry a little before adding a second colour to an adjacent area. I did video the process and have sped it up and posted it on my instagram
When the wings were all dry I drew over the butterfly bodies, legs and antennae with either a dark brown watercolour pencil or a distress marker then blended the brown with a very small paintbrush and a wee bit of water. The finished panels remind me of botanical books.
The first one I did using this method is below. I added colour to the little butterflies also and filled in the background.
I used Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils over rusty hinge distress ink for this one
You can see on the close up that you don’t lose all the definition of the stamped image when you paint over it; there are faint outlines of pattern underneath.
Thanks for dropping in; have a great weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly charmer, Happy Snippets (PB)
Dies: Wishes
Inks: wild honey distress ink, rusty hinge distress ink (Ranger) Versafine vintage sepia (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, brown cardstock, green cardstock
Also: Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils (Faber-Castell)
Heather Telford 