Watercoloured snowflakes
Posted: August 29, 2015 Filed under: Soft Grace | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
I just keep switching from winter to summer and back to winter again here on the blog. I might mix it up a bit more next week and throw in some autumn! This card features one of the new transparent sets from Penny Black called ‘Soft Grace’. I used three of the nine stamps in the set and embossed them on watercolour paper, hot pressed works best for intricate patterns like these because it is so smooth. After embossing I taped down my watercolour panel and added water then distress stains to create a blended pattern in a few of my favourite colours. I also sprinkled some salt for further patterning. I let it dry then brushed off most of the salt; some had adhered itself to the paper which gave it a twinkling effect. The sentiment is from the new transparent set, ‘Season’s Gifts’.
When this card was featured on the Penny Black blog someone noted that I had only used six-pointed snowflakes. I am a little fussy about my snowflakes as they are always six-pointed in real life. Since living in Canada I have had the delightful experience of seeing the intricate pattern of snowflakes when they have landed on my gloves and also taken a look with a magnifying glass. They truly are tiny works of art and never two the same! There are several eight sided ‘snowflakes’ in the set too which will make lovely stars and patterns 😉
Supplies:
Stamps: Soft Grace, Season’s Gifts (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Seeded Preserves distress stains (Ranger), Versamark, Majestic Blue & Imperial Purple Versafine (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder
Roses for my Mother
Posted: August 28, 2015 Filed under: Efflorescence, Textures | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 15 Comments
As my mother lives on the other side of the world, the easiest way to send roses is on a card. I stamped and painted these back in February when my garden was under snow but my parents’ was probably looking great.
I worked on each petal and leaf separately, stamping one rose at a time in distress stain, blending and moving the colour with a waterbrush and then doing the same with the leaves. This way I was able to avoid any colour ink running from one petal to another. (I used the technique described in this video tutorial but used finer brushes to work on the small images.) I painted a bud to bridge the gap between the lower roses and the top one. The background is sponged and splattered with pale blue ink. I stamped a texture stamp on the side panel to balance the finished panel.
Enjoy your weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Efflorescence, Eloquence, Textures (PB)
Inks: aged mahogany, worn lipstick, scattered straw, peeled paint, forest moss distress stains, memento summer sky & rhubarb stalk (Tsukineko)
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, burgandy cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
La Fleur Rouge
Posted: August 27, 2015 Filed under: La Fleur Rouge, World of Wishes | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 5 Comments
Penny Black seems to come out with at least one pretty new poinsettia stamp every year and this year’s, featured above, is called ‘La Fleur Rouge’. The stamp has three flower heads on it and I have stamped it three times on the panel. You can see from the white speckled effect that I started with masking fluid splattered on my watercolour paper. I stamped with distress stain three times but rather than re-inking the stamp I just spritzed with water between stampings. The result is lighter images the second and third times. I also spritzed the panel to get some of the stain to bleed into the surrounding area and painted pale green between some of the flowers. When all was dry I added some green splatter. To finish the card I matted with red to match the red die cut sentiment. To see how Jill Foster used this stamp check out the PB blog
Thanks for dropping by; I hope you’re having a great day.
Supplies:
Stamps: La Fleur Rouge (PB)
Creative Die: World of Wishes (PB)
Inks: Forest Moss, Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Peeled Paint distress stains/markers(Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, red cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Holly Tweet
Posted: August 22, 2015 Filed under: Holly Tweet, Prancers | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 12 Comments
Today’s card is a larger than usual square card stamped with the new ‘Holly Tweet’ stamp. I only wanted one bird so I inked and stamped the holly part several times with distress stains taking care to wipe any water or stain off the bird part of the stamp before each impression. On the last impression I inked the bird as well. The stamp is a sketch style outline stamp so I pulled colour from the outline as well as adding colour with a brush. Once the stamping was dry I painted the snowy hills in the background and stamped some pale trees in the same colour as the sky. I added a few bars of music to frame the scene. A sentiment would easily fit in the top right corner but I decided to leave it blank; sometimes it is nice to send a little painting on the front, leaving all the words for the inside. To see the versatility of the stamp visit the PB blog and check out Pete Roven’s gorgeous card. I am in awe of her fussy cutting and the way she skillfully layers papers and dies to build beautiful scenes.
Supplies:
Stamps: Holly Tweet, Prancers, Music Background (PB)
Inks: Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Festive Berries, Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Barn Door, Black Soot, Vintage Photo distress stains/markers(Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Deep Green cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Snow Berries
Posted: August 17, 2015 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
I have another snowy card for a sweltering day (here in Ottawa anyway!) Perhaps gazing at that frosty landscape will help you feel cooler??
The branches above were stamped with, ‘Berry Bevy’, a new stamp from the ‘Especially for You 2015’ collection currently being revealed on the Penny Black blog. I created a wintry moonlit scene by masking a piece of watercolour paper with both circular and hill shaped masks of frisket film. With the masks in place I painted a distress stain sky; the snowflakes you see were made by masking fluid splattered onto the panel before I began. I removed the moon mask before stamping the Berry Bevy stamp in versafine ink. Once the main image was stamped I removed the hill mask and painted a shadow for a foreground snow bank, masked it and added a few more twigs poking out of the snow. When it was all dry I painted each of the ‘berries’ with the pearly white paint from my gansai tambi watercolour set. It has a nice shimmer and looks silver or white depending on the angle of the card. There are more inspiring projects on the PB blog today including Mimi’s beautiful take on this stamp and some stunners from Jill.
Supplies:
Stamps: Berry Bevy (PB)
Inks: Broken China, Tumbled glass, Seeded preserves, Dusty concord distress stains/inkpads (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & black card
Also: Kuretake gansai tambi watercolour paints, Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Grafix frisket film
Snowy Hillside
Posted: August 11, 2015 Filed under: Tannenbaum | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 9 Comments
The fun continues on the Penny Black blog today with more new dies on display. I have another new die featured on today’s card; ‘Joyous Season’ will be available along with the remainder of the new release on August 25th.
I made my little scene with the Tannenbaum stamp again, inking with both green and blue stains and painting the sky and snowdrifts with lighter blue stains. My watercolour paper was splattered with masking fluid before I began and then rubbed off when all the ink was dry. Because I was mounting the panel on a dark blue card base I decided to die cut the sentiment straight out of the panel. It is barely noticeable in the photo but I went over the revealed blue letters with a clear wink of stella marker to give them a little sparkle.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum (PB)
Creative Dies: Joyous Season (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Vintage Photo distress stains(Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
A Very Merry
Posted: August 10, 2015 Filed under: A Very Merry | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 3 Comments
On the Penny Black blog for the remainder of August you can see one new product after another as the ‘Especially for You 2015’ release is revealed. This week is all about new dies and there are a whole stack of new word dies featured on the PB blog today. One of the new word dies happens to be ‘A Very Merry’ on my card above. The pine bough is a new stamp too but I can give you details about that another day. There is a giveaway to coincide with the new release too so pop over to the blog.
If you have visited here before you will know my watercoloured cards range from quite neat and controlled to rather free, watery and loose. This is one of those loose ones that almost didn’t make the cut. However there was something about it, just enough definition in a couple of pine needles and cones to keep me from tossing it. It is stamped and painted on watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid. Before I stamped any images I spritzed some water and some spots of distress stain over the panel. I painted some tumbled glass distress stain also to fill in parts of the background. I let it dry a little before inking the pinecone stamp with distress stains and stamping it three times. It was quite wet so I dropped some bister powder into the wet areas to give some extra depth of colour. When it was almost dry I stamped over the initial images to add more definition in a couple of places. To complete the card I attached the panel to a dark brown card base and die cut the sentiment out of the same colour.
Supplies:
Stamps: Brush Pines (PB)
Creative Die: A Very Merry(PB)
Inks: Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough, Vintage Photo, Tumbled glass, Black soot, Gathered twigs distress stains/markers/inkpads (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & Brown card
Also: Blue and Green bistre powder, Winsor & Newton masking fluid.
Tannenbaum trio
Posted: August 6, 2015 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Tannenbaum | Tags: Bister, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 10 Comments
I had a look through my supply of Christmas stamps this week to find some tree stamps to experiment with. I love the ‘before the snow’ tree but it is nice to mix things up a little. Someone said at my class tonight, “You can never have too many tree stamps,” an opinion I entirely agree with. The tree stamp above comes with a decorative topper which I surgically removed ( don’t worry, I kept it in case I need it). I stamped each tree with distress stain first then painted over the stamping with a paintbrush. Next I added some bister and stamped again with water. I did the other trees the same way but varied the original stamping colour so the trees would all look a bit different. The bister moves differently each time which makes the trees more interesting. I painted some water below the trees and added bister powder to create snow banks. Often I will add blue for the sky and a sentiment but I was happy with this one the way it was so I didn’t risk messing it up with further stamping or painting.
By the way there is a brand new challenge on One Layer Simplicity hosted by our talented team member, Karen Dunbrook. It is called Strip Down, you had better check it out to find out exactly what’s required!
Supplies:
Stamps: Tannenbaum (PB)
Inks: Evergreen Bough, Forest Moss, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs distress stains/marker (Ranger)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & Green card
Also: Blue and Green bistre powder
Orange blooms
Posted: August 4, 2015 Filed under: CAS, Promenade, Softly | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Penny Black stencils, Ranger Distress stains 20 Comments
When I set out to create this card I knew I had stamped a similar layout with this stamp before but it wasn’t until the card was completed and I looked at the earlier card that I realised just how how similar! This one has a wee bit more going on and was painted with distress stains not watercolour pencils. I began by stamping the large ‘Softly’ stamp a couple of times. Each time I inked it I wiped off some of the antique linen ink so the two imprints would not interfere with each other too much. The antique linen ink is pale so I was able to paint inside the lines and have them disappear into the darker oranges and greens.
I had to repeat my mantra (walk away, just walk away) periodically through the making of this card because I was trying to follow the steps shown on this photo tutorial. I painted all the petals with a diluted wash of ‘dried marigold’ distress stain first. After it dried I added another layer keeping the colour undiluted. Once that dried I painted some darker areas with ‘spiced marmalade’, let it dry then finally added some ‘rusty hinge’. ( I have just discovered what a warm brown rusty hinge is; it works well with orange tones). After waiting once again for it to dry I added some details with the spiced marmalade and rusty hinge markers. I stuck with just ‘forest moss’ stain for the leaves but began by diluting for the first wash then increasing the intensity as I added shading.
When all the painting was finished I used the co-ordinating stencil ‘Promenade’ to sponge some background flowers before adding a sentiment and a green mat. This card is a little bigger than A2 (6.25″x4.75″) so I will need to hunt through my envelope supply to find a match.
Thank you so much for dropping by and for your kind comments. I have been interested to read about your opinions and experiences with the different watercolour powders I have been featuring.
Supplies:
Stamps: Softly, Sprinkles & Smiles (PB)
Stencils: Promenade (PB)
Inks: Spanish Moss Versafine (Tsukineko) Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold, Forest Moss, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen distress products (Ranger)
Paper: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Green textured cardstock
Birthday Bister
Posted: August 3, 2015 Filed under: Bister, Footnotes, Soft Wings | Tags: Bister, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 16 Comments
For my daughter’s 21st birthday card I chose blues, greens and the ‘soft wings’ butterfly stamp I always enjoy using. A reader commented a while back that bister and color burst work well with butterflies so it was time to try. I stamped the butterfly in a mix of distress stains which created a watery imprint I could add the blue and green bister powder to. I did multiple impressions then left them to dry while I added some texture around the rest of the panel. I used distress stain on the text stamp from ‘footnotes’ to add the patterns and did some splattering and spritzing with both stains and pearl-ex spray. Once the whole panel was dry I added the sentiment then trimmed and sponged some darker colour around the edges before adding some thread and popping up the panel on a watercolour paper card base.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles & Smiles, Soft Wings, Footnotes (PB)
Inks: Bundled Sage, Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough, Salty Ocean Distress Stains (Ranger) Deep Lagoon & Olympia Green Versafine inks (Tsukineko)
Paint Powder: Blue and Green Bister
Cardstock: Canson hot pressed 100%cotton watercolour paper
Also: home made interference blue pearl-ex spray, machine embroidery thread
Heather Telford 