Country scene

Posted: June 25, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: arbors, Penny Black, snow fence, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 7 Comments

Another stamped scene, this one a little closer to home than the desert in the previous post. I paired the PB ‘arbor’ and ‘snow fence’ stamps to create a pastoral scene. I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper using distress inkpads and markers as my ‘watercolour paints’.

As the fence posts are in the foreground I stamped them first in a mix of browns, black and grey then blended on paper with water. Once the posts were dry I inked the trees in a few greens and brown avoiding the area behind the fence post. I should have masked the posts but I was feeling a bit lazy so I just inked and stamped several times getting closer each time to the post without stamping over it.

Once the trees were completed I painted a light wash of crushed olive and peeled paint inks over the ground area then used a fan brush which I’ve left untouched for years to paint grass in both forest moss and peeled paint. For a bit of interest I added blue dots to look like flowers under the trees. My stash of birthday cards is looking low so I added a partial sentiment from the birthday humor set. Are you a scenic stamper? What are your favourite techniques for bringing scenes to life.

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Desert Sky

Posted: June 23, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: desert dream, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: distress markers, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 7 Comments

After creating some gel printed landscapes I was inspired to return to another technique I enjoy: creating landscapes with scenic stamps. Sometimes I combine scenes to create a new landscape or stamp additional elements, other times I stamp a single complete landscape as shown in this ‘desert dreams’ stamp. It was released a few years back but this is the first time I’ve inked it. Before getting to the stamping I created the painted background which included a two tone blue sky and two toned desert floor. I smooshed distress inks on my glass mat, spritzed water over the ink and swiped the watercolour panel through to pick up colour.

Once the panel dried I did the stamping in a stamp positioner so I could build up the colour and picture bit by bit. I started by inking the cacti with crushed olive and peeled paint markers, the distant foliage with rusty hinge and the foreground foliage with peeled paint and forest moss. I spritzed the stamp but also used a paint brush and occasional spritz on the panel.

You can see my finished design doesn’t contain fine details but the overall feeling is a hot day in the desert day among some bold contrasting scenery. I finished the card with a sentiment from the PB ‘Faith.Hope.Love’ set.

To see more scenic stamping take a look at these posts: Arbors, Pumpkins, Fields of gold and Beloved view.

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Craft Roulette

Posted: June 21, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: garden variety, Penny Black | Tags: craft roulette, distress markers, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

I had the opportunity to participate in Craft Roulette on Friday night. If Craft Roulette is new to you (as it was to me until a month ago) it is a live crafting improv game show hosted by Mary Gunn every Friday night on Youtube. She has a different guest each week, sometimes more than one, and they craft together. Every week the parameters for the card are different as the wheel is spun four times, once for type of card, then colour choices, a theme and finally a random element.

I was delighted to see familiar names from this blog pop up in the live chat; thank you so much for joining in. Although I could not respond to all the chat I went back and read through it yesterday and was so encouraged by your kind words. I know some of you stayed up very late to watch!

The wheel was pretty kind on Friday night and none of the parameters took me too far out of my comfort zone. The card style was MATCHBOOK ( I needed a refresher on that), colours were RED +2, theme was MORNING and the random element was SPLATTERS! You know I love splatters.

I chose to create a background sunrise, add some red and green flowers (PB garden variety) then add splatters with water at the end. My three colours were red + green and yellow. The evening was very enjoyable; Mary is a hoot, the viewers on live chat were the loveliest and being live on the interwebs was not as daunting as expected. I might just attempt my own live creating on youtube from time to time.

As the challenge unfolds, viewers are encouraged to make a card following the same parameters. Some viewers watch and create as the show progresses but most make and post their cards after watching the show. Everyone has until Sunday evening to submit their creations. The cards are all shared during the show the following week. Contributors are entered into a few prize draws at the end of the show. So you see, Craft Roulette is a happening place, full of fun and inspiration and worth checking out on a Friday night. To see how I created this card you can watch the replay here.

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If you have a garden…

Posted: May 31, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Art Journal, Darkroom Door, Hand lettered, Papertrey Inks, scratches, Wildflowers Vol 2, you are everything | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano art journal, Papertrey ink, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 8 Comments

The rest of the quote says, ‘… and a library you have everything you need.’ My art journal is pretty much all book or flower related pages; I guess there is room for a new inspiration. Currently with a garden that is looking promising and an online course newly launched you could say flowers are on my mind.

The background for this page was created months ago when I was making subtle backgrounds for a few cards. Instead of swiping a whole panel through waterbased inks I was inking a piece of acetate then spritzing it and swiping it on a stamped panel. I opened a spread in the art journal and swiped the acetate across the pages a few times to leave some ink there. I don’t remember the exact colours but the smooshed ink covered the lower half of the pages in blue, green, yellow and pale orange. Last week I pulled it out again and turned the page into a messy garden.

As I said the lower half of the pages is smooshed ink. The upper half is broken china distress inks applied with a blending brush. The flowers are a mix of silhouette stamps from Darkroom Door’s ‘you are everything’ and ‘wildflowers vol 2’ sets. I inked with papertrey ink cubes, spritzed the stamp and stamped on the pages. Sometimes I blended the stamped ink, other times not. To make the blue flowers stand out a bit more I painted blue gouache paint over the stamping. The gouache works well on the journal pages so you will probably see more.

Once all the flowers were added I stamped the DD ‘scratches’ background stamp in black on the lower section of the page and added black and white splatter all over. I added the quote with a black gel pen. If you are in my Floral Faves online class you might this was inspired by one of the projects in lesson 3.

Supplies

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Floral Faves – Online Class

Posted: May 20, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes, Concord & 9th, Darkroom Door, online class, Penny Black | Tags: Concord & 9th, Darkroom Door stamps, distress markers, Karin brushmarkers, online class, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, sennelier watercolours | 1 Comment

After months of work behind the scenes and a few weeks of hints here on the blog I am happy to open registration to my new online class FLORAL FAVES. As the name suggests this one is all about flowers; stamping them, painting them, arranging them (on paper) and turning them into card sized works of art.

Once again my videographer son Ben has filmed and edited while I have designed, uploaded and scripted the content which is now hosted on the Podia platform.

I hope you are inspired to join me in pairing your floral stamps to work with watercolour techniques. Every project is taught through video along with downloadable instructions, photos, tips and complete supply lists. We will work with different styles of stamps including background, outline, silhouette and brushstroke. We will pair all the favourite stamps with all the favourite mediums; dye inks, watercolour markers and watercolour paints .

As summer unfolds I’m sure you will be spending plenty of time outdoors, maybe in your garden, but when you need a quiet creative hour or two I hope you will join me in creating some bright and beautiful floral cards.

Registration is open now. Once registered you will have access to the introduction and supply pages. All the lesson content will be accessible on Wednesday May 26.

Click here to register or find out more about FLORAL FAVES

Lilac & Fern

Posted: May 12, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: fresh ferns, Karin brushmarkers, lovely lilacs, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Karin brushmarkers, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 10 Comments

I don’t think I am alone in calling this stamp set a favourite. The two lilac stalks are pretty alone but with a sprig or two of fern they are delightful. I stamped this panel a while ago so the exact process is no longer firm in my memory but I do remember a crucial step which I will share with you.

I inked then stamped the lilacs with a mix of distress inks and Karin markers and the ferns with peeled paint distress ink. It looked ok but not the soft blended bunch I was after. I did like the combo of lilacs and ferns though so I thought I would dilute it all and see what happened. I didn’t spritz it; I drowned it. I dipped the whole panel in a bucket of water (the laundry is right beside my workroom) and watched a lot but not all of the colour drain away. The brightness of the peeled paint ink washed out but the olive stain remained. The lilacs washed out to a paler version of themselves and it was rather nice.

I re-inked the lilac stamps with the royal blue, lush green, henna and gold markers and stamped darker more distinct lilacs over the top. I have a friend who has had many successes with what she calls the ‘drowning’ method. It’s worth a try if your panel is not going in quite the direction you wanted; what have you got to lose? It’s only paper!

Although it is not quite ready yet my new online class, Floral Faves, is getting closer every day and I will be teaching techniques using your floral stamps to create card sized art works like the one above. I can’t wait to open the class and of course I will let you know as soon as it happens. Stay tuned!

Supplies

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Patina peacock pattern

Posted: May 10, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Altenew, dancing peacock embossing folder | Tags: Altenew, delicata inks, Ranger Distress inks | 7 Comments

After creating a very colourful panel with the dancing peacock embossing folder I was happy to come up with a more muted and aged looking panel. Like most crafters I am always pleased to use my supplies in many different ways.

Once again I worked with hot pressed watercolour paper in case I wanted to add water but as it turned out I other than a small spritz to stop the paper from tearing in the folder I didn’t use water. This card turned out to be very much a ‘limited supplies’ card as the green ink (bundled sage) was applied in the embossing folder and then more with a blending brush after embossing. The gold ink (delicata golden glitz) was applied direct to paper so it just landed on the raised sections. Simple but effective definitely describes this technique.

I played with a sentiment strip but ended up embellishing with only green embroidery thread and two brass toned butterflies given to me by a friend quite some crafty time ago. I am hoping for another day of simple but effective creating today!

Supplies

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Pathway

Posted: May 7, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Karin brushmarkers, pathway, trailing | Tags: Karin brushmarkers, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 6 Comments

I’ve taken a moody path for today’s card using the new PB ‘trailing’ stamp for some overhead foliage and the scenic PB stamp ‘pathway’ for the background image.

I inked both stamps with Karin brushmarkers, a brown, a green and a blue. I added a spritz of water before stamping both images and then did more blending with a brush of the pathway image on the panel. To add some background colour I blended stormy sky distress ink with a blending brush.

To complete the card I stamped the scripty thank you from PB ‘million thanks’ and a separate phrase from the PB ‘ever thanks’ both in versafine acorn ink.

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2021 BuJo – May title page & to-do list

Posted: May 4, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bullet Journal, Dingbat notebooks, Penny Black, Promise Me | Tags: Bullet Journal, Dingbats notebook, Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Distress inks, Staedtler watercolour brush pens | 1 Comment

Each month I plan to post the theme for the next month just before the month starts. I even managed to finish this page a week before May 1st but didn’t get it photographed until this morning! Last month blossom was my theme and I am yet to see blossom in my garden, tulips however, have appeared. I only have one tulip that has survived the critters, it is a yellow-red mix and it is blooming at the moment.

To create my tulip panel I masked above and below with large post-it notes then die cut the tulips from masking paper using the PB ‘promise me 2’ die. Like my own tulip these ones are a mix of red and yellow.

I blended distress inks with blending brushes and got better at protecting the leaves while blending the flowers by the time I did the wish/to-do list page. I drew little stems in green then used the brush tip end of the staedtler brush pen to make the yellow tulip petals.

Just for interest I looked back over my Jan-April wish/to do lists to see how if I am managing to get things done. Most months I check off more than I don’t but never all. I have had my next online class as an item on every list this year and some months I made progress, others I didn’t due to how I was feeling and what other commitments I had. But great progress has been made in April and May so ‘FLORAL FAVES’ is coming!

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Tropical florescence

Posted: May 3, 2021 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brutus Monroe, florescence, Penny Black | Tags: brutus monroe embossing powder, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks | 8 Comments

This is the second appearance of the beautiful hibiscus stamp from Penny Black (it’s called Florescence and it’s a stunner) and I’ve been working with it behind the scenes as I complete my next online class. To create this tropical look I smooshed worn lipstick and wild honey inks on my glass mat and spritzed water over them until they ran together then took a piece of hot pressed watercolor paper and swiped it through the diluted inks. To get good coverage and blends I tilted and spritzed more water on the panel then left it to dry.
With the panel in a stamp positioner I inked the large hibiscus and buds with worn lipstick ink stamped then inked the rest of the stamp with antique linen so I could see the whole image for some no-line watercolour. I painted one petal at a time with worn lipstick ink adding more towards the center of the flower. For the buds I used a mix of worn lipstick and wild honey.

For the leaves I stamped and painted with rustic wilderness distress and sometimes added worn lipstick to the blend so I’d have variation in the leaf colours.

That little sentiment seemed to lend itself to the tropical, surf shop vibe so I stamped once in worn lipstick, then moved the panel ever so slightly down so I could stamp again in white to create a drop shadow look. I definitely dried it and used an anti static tool before sprinkling the white embossing powder over the words otherwise it could have all ended up white.

I’m so excited to have another online class in the works; the projects are all filmed so it’s editing time, supply list creating time and intro filming time. I’ll have more details, dates and sneak peaks for you soon!