Sunrise Branches
Posted: November 10, 2014 Filed under: Etched Branches | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 9 Comments
Does this scene look familiar? I posted an autumn branches card last week which involved inking the ‘Etched Branches’ stamp multiple times with distress stains. When I had finished making that panel there was still stain on the stamp so I stamped it on a piece of watercolour paper to see what it looked like. When I apply distress stains directly onto a stamp I often stamp it several times resulting in less intense colour each time. I was happy with the amount and variety of colour on the panel above so made it into another card. After stamping I stuck painter’s tape around the border of the panel then sponged the sky. I decided on a sunrise made up of radiant neon inks (listed below). I chose area where the branches were palest for the lightest sponging, leaving a small area unsponged then a circle of yellow, surrounded by orange then the rest of the panel in blue.
I popped it up on dimensional squares then added a sentiment below. I think the next ‘Etched Branches’ card will be winter one. Fall is fast slipping away.
Stamps: Etched Branches, Edge to Edge (PB)
Inks: Barn door, Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade distress stains, Vintage Photo distress ink (Ranger) Radiant Neon Electric Blue, Electric Yellow, Electric Orange inks (Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural white cardstock
Also: Dimensional squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)
Dazzler Birthday
Posted: November 8, 2014 Filed under: Celebrations, Dazzlers | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 5 Comments
Look! It’s not all autumn leaves and snow scenes around here. I pulled out a set of flower/circle pattern transparent stamps and gave them the watery treatment. I stamped them on watercolour paper in three different distress inks then spritzed the panel lightly and let them bleed into each other a bit. After trimming my panel I added both some ink splatter and some dark sponging around the edge with barn door ink. After heat embossing the diecut sentiment in silver I wanted a little silver on the patterned panel too so I flicked my silver wink of stella pen. It wasn’t quite silvery enough so I sprinkled some embossing powder over the same area and it stuck to the wink of stella ink making it possible for me to heat it and achieve a fine sprinkle of silver. You can just see it in the top left of detail photo below.
Stamps: Dazzlers (PB)
Creative Dies: Celebrations (PB)
Inks: Fired Brick, Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick distress inks (Ranger) Versamark (Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural white cardstock, red cardstock
Also: Silver embossing powder, Silver cord, Wink of Stella silver marker
Central Park in snow & masking fluid questions answered
Posted: November 6, 2014 Filed under: City lights, Prancers, Skyline, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 16 Comments
Last week I posted a very snowy card and received several questions about using masking fluid. I decided to make a short video showing my set up for flicking masking fluid. Masking fluid isn’t just for flicking, of course, but you could be excused for thinking that when you see how rarely I do anything else with it!
I included the card above because it shows snow created after flicking a generous amount of masking fluid on a piece of watercolour paper. It is actually the piece I flicked in the video. I painted over the masking fluid with a blue and a pink distress stain (listed below) and then while the paper was still damp stamped the Skyline stamp in grey a few times then blue. I once again used the little tree from the Prancers set in the foreground. I cut the large sentiment from Yuletide Greetings into two pieces and stamped the front and the inside of the card.
Some answers to your questions about masking fluid
What is masking fluid?
A non-staining liquid composed of rubber latex for masking areas of work needing protection when colour is applied over the top
What type do you use?
Winsor & Newton non permanent masking fluid with a slight yellow tint. The yellow tint makes it easier to see where it has been applied. This is probably more useful when carefully painting the masking fluid onto a project rather than flicking it with careless abandon!
Are all brands the same?
I have used the Winsor & Newton brand for years and cannot comment on other brands. I think the key is to make sure you buy non permanent because you want to remove it after all your stamping/sponging/painting is completed.
Where do I find masking fluid?
Masking fluid is an art supply often used by watercolour artsists so you can find it in art supply stores, usually with the watercolour supplies.
How do you remove masking fluid without ripping the paper?
I must admit I haven’t had too many instances of masking fluid ripping my paper. The spots from splattering are small and rub off very easily. Sometimes with larger dots or sections it is harder to remove the masking fluid. If you are painting a larger area do a test on your paper first to make sure you can remove the masking fluid successfully. I always use my fingers to rub it off but you can use a clean soft eraser.
The video I have created shows how I splatter panels for projects such as the one above. Hopefully some of your questions will be answered once you have watched my process.
Supplies:
Stamps: City Lights, Prancers, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Inks: Memento Nautical Blue, London Fog, Northern Pine (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko) Victorian Velvet, Broken China distress stains(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot-pressed watercolour paper, textured blue cardstock, textured green cardstock, linen textured paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Kemper Spatter brush
Autumn Branches
Posted: November 5, 2014 Filed under: Etched Branches, Watercolour, Words of Gratitude | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 12 Comments
The etched branches stamp is once again the star of an autumn card; I have yet to use it on a winter scene. Using loose watercolouring I tried to recreate the colours I have been seeing against bright blue skies lately. We have had some beautiful clear autumn days and it has been a great year for gorgeous colours.
I began by dabbing Ranger Archival jet black ink onto “Etched Branches” stamp leaving some places un-inked. I then stamped onto watercolour paper and placed a stamp positioner next to the stamp before removing it to mark the position for subsequent impressions. As I was making several impressions it helped to tape the stamp positioner to the panel with painter’s tape. I inked small sections of the “Etched Branches” stamp with Mustard Seed distress stain and stamped onto panel using the stamp positioner to guide the stamp into the same place then repeated the same steps with other distress stains inking different sections of the stamp each time. With all the colour stamped I spritzed the panel with water to make the colours bleed into each other and the surrounding area. Next I splattered the same distress stains over the panel and let all the ink dry.
Before removing the stamp positioner I re-inked a few sections of the stamp with black marker to give some branches more definition. To colour the sky I sponged Radiant Neon Electric blue ink, for the foreground Memento Luxe Pear Tart ink and to finish Vintage Photo distress ink around border. I matted the panel with brown cardstock and stacked three diecuts of the word “Thankful” for my sentiment.
For more Thanksgiving inspired projects visit the Penny Black blog this week
Stamps: Etched Branches (PB)
Creative Dies: Words of Gratitude (PB)
Inks: Archival Black ink, Barn door, Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade distress stains, Vintage Photo distress ink (Ranger) Radiant Neon Electric Blue ink, Memento Luxe Pear Tart ink, Memento Tuxedo Black marker(Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural white cardstock, brown cardstock
‘Tis the season
Posted: November 4, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Skyline, Snow Drops, Tis the season | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 11 Comments
‘Tis not quite the Christmas season just yet but it is the season to change the clocks back which is what we did on Sunday. That means the sunset came earlier than I am used to and I was able to enjoy it at the end of a run. The light was orange and yellow behind the silhouetted trees and buildings as I ran home and that is what inspired this silhouetted city scape. I was undecided about a sentiment until I read the Less is More and the Splitcoast Clean and Simple challenge for this week, both are about non-traditional Christmas cards. This card is definitely non traditional especially when you peek inside to see the rest of the sentiment along with some black snowflakes. Seriously, who wants black snowflakes? I am not sure they work. What do you think?
I brayered the colour onto Neenah natural white cardstock, first radiant neon electric coral, next memento dandelion and lastly from the other end of the panel summer sky. (There is no summer sky left at the top of the panel as I had to trim it after messing up the sentiment.) I stamped the skyline stamp in black then brayered black to cover the base of the panel. The windows are coloured with a white gel pen and the sentiment stamped in versafine onyx black ink. I gave the panel a thin black mat and popped it up on dimensional squares. Inside the card is the rest of the sentiment trimmed from a new die cut and paired with the Snowdrops die cut.
Supplies:
Stamps: Skyline, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Creative Dies: Tis the Season, Snow Drops (PB)
Inks: Memento dandelion, tuxedo black, Radiant Neon Electric coral, Versafine onyx black (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah natural White 110lb cardstock, black cardstock
Let it snow
Posted: October 30, 2014 Filed under: Joyous Wishes, Prancers, Snow Drops | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 14 Comments
Snow is in our weather forecast for the next few days; I don’t imagine there will be as much as in the card above but who knows?
I know I keep mentioning the “panels already splattered with masking fluid” that I have sitting around on my craft table. There are a couple of reasons I have extras on hand, one is that the fluid takes at least 20 minutes to dry properly so it is good to have one ready for when inspiration strikes. Also I have several different sizes of watercolour blocks now so when I splatter the masking fluid on a block I can end up with quite a few card-sized panels. This panel was generously splattered with masking fluid, both tiny dots and larger ones. I ended up working with just one ink, Memento Nautical blue. I brayered the ink over the masking fluid, a method which gives each dot softer edges, a different effect to that created with sponging ink or watercolouring. I brayered from one edge only and the blue faded out toward the opposite edge of the panel making it the perfect place to stamp some trees with first, second and third generation stamping. After stamping the trees I spritzed the bottom of the card once so there is a little bit of blur around the trees.
I decided on a die cut sentiment so it would stand out and ended up cutting two and stacking them together. When trimmed the panel was a bit narrower than my usual card size so rather than trim the card base I matted with white and popped the panel up over little die cut snow flakes from the Snow drops die.
Supplies:
Stamps: Prancers (PB)
Creative Dies: Joyous Wishes, Snow Drops (PB)
Inks: Memento Nautical Blue (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock,
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Ski Hill
Posted: October 24, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Prancers, World of Wishes | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
This tall and narrow scene reminds me of a ski run, albeit a fairly narrow one! I created this on a scrap of watercolour paper already splattered with masking fluid. Once again I am not entirely sure of the inks I used but I will list what I think they were in the supply list below. I used a half inch punch to create a circle mask for the moon and masked the hills one by one as I went down the panel. After painting the sky in chipped sapphire and broken china distress stain I stamped dark blue trees onto the damp sky area to end up with very watery trees. I then moved my mask and stamped more trees then painted some diluted broken china stain around them to blur the images and extend the edge of the snow bank. I did the same for the last two tree sections. When I had finished the panel was very blue and did not have enough contrast or variety of colour so I added some brown ink to the trunks of the trees.
To finish I rubbed off the masking fluid, matted in Periwinkle mix&match cardstock and added the die cut sentiment. I think the sentiment is a bit too big for the narrow panel so I would use something smaller if I did a similar layout again.
Supplies:
Stamps: Prancers (PB)
Creative Dies: World of Wishes (PB)
Inks: Broken China, Chipped Sapphire distress stains & Chipped Sapphire, Vintage Photo distress ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Periwinkle Mix & Match (PB), Neenah Avon Brilliant white 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Grafix frisket film, Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Winter Song
Posted: October 22, 2014 Filed under: Watercolour, Winter Song | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
It’s a winter watercolour week on the Penny Black blog and here is my contribution. This little scene works well as a watercolour with all that sky needing colour. I decided on a limited palette of blue, purple, black and grey with just a touch of mustard on the chickadee’s feet.
I started by stamping “Winter Song” on watercolour paper in versafine onyx black, a pigment ink which won’t bleed when I start adding water. Next I splattered some masking fluid on the paper and let it dry. Using an Indianthrene Blue #247 watercolour pencil colour I shaded all the sky area then blended the colour with a water brush. I tried to avoid colouring in the little white circles but some were too small. Next I started adding Delft Blue #141 by taking colour from the pencil tip with a waterbrush. Using the same colour and brush, I painted above the snow banks blending from dark to light up the panel. I also added both blues to the bottom of the panel with a brush. I painted the bird with colour from black #99, medium grey #97 and gold ochre #183 pencils. The trees on the left hand side looked too flat so I painted shading on one side of tree trunks with colour from medium grey # 97 pencil.
When all the watercolouring was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid and used a white gel pen to draw in any tiny branches or circles that were painted over. I matted with black, then periwinkle cardstock and attached it to a white card base to create a 5″x 5.5″ card. You can’t see in the photo but I did add a little shimmer to the snowflakes with a clear wink of stella pen.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Song (PB)
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils Indianthrene Blue #247, Delft Blue #141, Black #99, Medium grey #97 , Gold ochre #183 (Faber Castell)
Cardstock: Penny Black Periwinkle mix & match paper, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural White 110lb cardstock, Black
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Signo white gel pen, clear Wink of Stella pen
Moonlit Forest
Posted: October 20, 2014 Filed under: Nature's Friend, No Card Left Behind, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 16 Comments
As you can see I am still creating super moons! This time the moon is lighting up a snowy pass through the forest. I have only skied by moonlight once. It was beautiful, cold, but beautiful. This scene reminds me of that moonlit ski because there seems to be a pass between the trees. When I went the moon was nowhere near as big as the one above but it gave us enough light that we could see the trails without headlamps most of the time.
The moon for this panel was masked with frisket film but I have discovered that, for watercolouring, low tack film does not do the trick like extra tack frisket film. I have tried both now and extra tack seals better without damaging the paper. The brand I have tried is Grafix; I am sure there are other brands available but I was able to order both low tack and extra tack from DeSerres. I positioned the large moon mask on watercolour paper that already had some masking fluid flicked over it. I also placed a frisket mask across the bottom of the panel to cover the snowy foreground. I painted Victorian Velvet and Chipped Sapphire distress stains over the whole sky area and spritzed pearl-ex spray (interference gold) over the panel to blend the colours. When I peeled off the moon mask I discovered some of the stain had seeped under the mask (low tack frisket film) so the moon was no longer a circle. I decided to keep going regardless of my wonky moon and stamp the trees to reveal only part of the moon. The tree is from the “Nature’s Friend” set and is a solid silhouette. As you can see the trees are sharper over the moon area, which was dry, and more blended and watery where the paper was damp from the stain and spray. I inked just the top of the tree with a paint brush to stamp the shadowy tops of trees in the distance.
In the foreground I painted a couple of lines of stain then blended with water to make the colour fade out. I wish you could see the shimmery sheen from the pearl-ex spray over the whole sky and tree area. It is really rather pretty and has a gold tint which is why I chose a gold mat and thread to finish the card. The simple sentiment is from the same set as the tree.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Friend (PB)
Inks: Victorian Velvet, Chipped Sapphire distress stains & Chipped Sapphire distress ink (Ranger)
Cardstock: Navy Cardstock, Gold cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Grafix frisket film, Winsor & Newton masking fluid, scanfil metallic gold thread, Interference gold Pearl-ex powder mixed with water to make a spray.
Harvest Moon
Posted: October 16, 2014 Filed under: Etched Branches, Nature's Gifts, No Card Left Behind, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 17 Comments
The lovely foliage stamps in the new Penny Black release are perfect for creating stamped landscapes. There are some new transparent sets as well as a couple of slapstick cling stamps that I will use winter, spring, summer and fall. Both these cards are very simple in design using only one foliage stamp to suggest the landscape.
The card above was a “no card left behind” project as it didn’t go quite as planned. I decided to paint a watercolour moon inside a negative mask cut from frisket film. The aperture was wider than the moon you see above. After I had painted the moon in golden orange distress stains I dried it completely (or so I thought). I swapped the negative mask covering the moon for the circle mask which left the rest of the sky to be painted in darker tones. When I started painting the darker distress stains onto the paper the colours seeped in under the mask. They didn’t spread over the whole moon just around the edges. When I removed the mask it did not look like a realistic moon any more. To save my scene I cut a smaller moon mask, stuck that over the watermarked moon then sponged a darker sky around it to cover the seepage. I finished the scene by stamping the branches from “Nature’s Gifts” several times across the bottom and tying on a little tag.
Having learnt from experience I placed the mask on dry unpainted watercolour paper for the panel below. I painted the sky with distress stains and there was no seepage. (I will do more experimenting with the frisket film and let you know what I discover) When I removed the mask the moon was too white and flat so I painted and sponged some pale yellow and brown ink around it until it looked more realistic. I stamped the gorgeous etched branches across the base in black to complete my scene.
Both cards are around 5 inches square so I have been having fun with a friend’s envelope maker making custom envelopes out of pretty designer paper in my stash from long ago.
These cards make me think of one of my favourite songs, Helpless, by Neil Young. It’s the line, Yellow moon on the rise that keeps popping into my head. I have liked that song for many years. Little did I know as a teenager back in Australia I would one day live in Ontario (also mentioned in the song) and see Neil Young in concert twice. Do you ever get inspired by songs or performers? I know Ardyth has a thing for David Bowie but I’m definitely more of a Neil Young girl!
Supplies
Stamps: Natures Gifts, Etched Branches, Special Wishes (PB)
Inks: Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard seed, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen distress stains & Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo, Black Soot distress inks(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Natural White 110lb, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, rust cardstock
Heather Telford 