Winged things 2
Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: CAS, Swirling Wings | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Distress stains 12 Comments
Today I have another card featuring the gorgeous new ‘swirling wings’ die from the Penny Black “Bring on the Happy” release. The panel you see on the card above is the where the inlaid coloured pieces on yesterday’s card came from. I started with a wet piece of watercolour paper and dropped several colours of distress stain onto the paper and let them blend with each other. I also sprayed some pearl-ex spray over the colours to help them blend and give it all a glimmery sheen. When I cut the butterfly I cut from one side, then the other without going all the way to the middle. That way I was able to keep the body of the butterfly attached but lift and curve the wings. I used the cute little ‘smile’ die from the ‘heartfelt set’ to add sentiment. Mounting it on a black card base seemed the perfect way to show off both the colour and the lacy swirls.
Supplies:
Creative Die: Heartfelt, Swirling Wings(PB)
Inks: Dusty Concord, Victorian Velvet, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Epic Black cardstock
Also: Pearl-ex spray made with interference blue pearl-ex and water
Winged things 1
Posted: January 27, 2015 Filed under: Doodles, Flights of Fancy, Flower Frolic, Swirling Wings | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Ranger Distress stains 8 Comments
I have more Penny Black prettiness to share today, this time of the creative die variety. There are so many beautiful dies in the new release and this butterfly is one I will probably reach for again and again.
The butterfly on the card above is two layers but cut from three different pieces of cardstock. The underside of the butterfly is a solid red butterfly cut using the ‘flights of fancy’ die. I used the co-ordinating ‘swirling wings’ creative die to cut a lacy butterfly from white cardstock and from watercoloured cardstock. I kept the frame of the watercoloured butterfly for a card I’ll share tomorrow but popped out all the inserts and inserted them into the white lacy butterfly. I splattered some of the same watercolours onto the white card panel and die cut two sprays of flowers with the ‘flower frolic’ die. The little curly ‘hello’ is from a set of three called ‘doodles’ which will be wonderful to use.
Make sure you visit the Penny Black blog and facebook this week; there are giveaways along with all the new inspiration.
Supplies:
Creative Die: Doodles, Swirling Wings, Flights of Fancy, Flower Frolic (PB)
Inks: Dusty Concord, Victorian Velvet, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Solar white, red cardstock
Demure but sparkly
Posted: January 26, 2015 Filed under: Demure, Stitched Edges | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 21 Comments
Are you ready for some brand new Penny Black prettiness? The new release is being revealed today on the Penny Black blog, facebook and website and there will be projects on the design team members blogs featuring new products for the new few weeks.
I first played with the new stamps around Christmas, finishing up several cards before the new year so they could travel off to CHA and join in the fun there. I am happy to be sharing some of those cards over the next week, especially as I have been too sick and too behind to do any new stamping lately. I can’t believe January is drawing to a close and I have only posted two new cards on my blog this year!
Before I got sick I did manage to create a few new cards but you will need to pop over to Splitcoaststampers.com to view them. The reason they are there and not here is quite exciting; I was invited to join the Dirty Dozen and began my six month term on January 15. I feel very honoured to involved with such a talented and committed group of artists and look forward to doing all sorts of fun things with Splitcoast in the months to come. Many projects will be featured here on my blog but each month the Dirty Dozen fills a themed gallery with projects available to fan club members only so there will be six new cards from me there each month. January’s theme is “All Cooped Up” and believe it or not I came up with six cards for the theme despite not owning a single chicken stamp!
But back to the card at hand. This one was my favourite from the eight I created for CHA. It is hard to see in the photo but it is covered in shimmery sparkliness. I began by wetting the watercolour panel and dropping Victorian Velvet, Ripe Persimmon and Tumbled glass distress stains into the water. I also sprinkled Camargue salt onto the wet areas to create patterns as it dried. All the little dots in the background were created by the salt absorbing moisture and colour. You can try it with any salt you have on hand but different salts will give you different results. When the background was dry I stamped the flowers in Spiced Marmalade distress ink, the stems in Peeled Paint and the little seeds in Dusty Concord. I used both Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon stains to paint the flower heads, spritzing with pearl-ex spray here and there to make the colour bleed and shimmer. The sentiment and mat strips do look black in the photo but they are both purple to co-ordinate with the seed heads. See that cute little shaped edge? There are two new edge dies in the “Bring on the Happy” release and I hope they will be the first of many. That edge does add that certain something don’t you think?
Oh, Happy Australia Day!
Supplies:
Stamps: Demure, Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)
Inks: Dusty Concord, Victorian Velvet, Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass distress stains (Ranger)
Creative Dies: Stitched Edges (PB)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, purple cardstock
Warm wishes for a cold winter’s day
Posted: January 3, 2015 Filed under: CAS, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour, Winter Song | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 35 Comments
These birch trees are my favourite element of the intricate Winter Song stamp so I decided to isolate them for a scene of their own. I inked them with a weathered wood distress marker and left the rest of the stamp uninked. Weathered wood is a pale grey which is perfect for painting and drawing over the top. As usual I stamped on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper. The background colour is distress stains painted on with a waterbrush. I defined the edges and markings on the trees with a black marker, painted some grey shading on the trunks then added the sentiment in black. I am fussy about the cardstocks matching so I mounted this panel on a thin burgandy card then made the card base from cold pressed watercolour paper which is the same colour as the panel but adds some texture.
Thank you for the kind Christmas wishes left on my blog and in my inbox. I appreciated them all. I hope your new year is off to a good start; mine has been pretty busy with a bunch of stamping and creating I can’t share with you just yet!
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Song, Joy Filled (PB)
Inks: Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Victorian China, Aged Mahogany, Weathered Wood distress stains (Ranger) Tuxedo Black memento marker (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Strathmore cold pressed watercolour paper, burgandy cardstock
Glad Tidings
Posted: December 24, 2014 Filed under: Nature's Gifts, Prancers | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 17 Comments
From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you for joining me here at “Bits & Pieces” during 2014. I am so grateful to have such encouraging and inspiring readers. Thank you for visiting, commenting, requesting, inquiring and praising. I love to hear from you and I am thrilled you find inspiration and ideas here on my blog.
I am excited about 2015; I have dreams and schemes for arting and crafting which I will certainly be sharing with you. December has been a busy month at our house so I have not had so much to share on this blog. I am over two-thirds of the way through my Dressember challenge wearing dresses and raising money for the International Justice Mission. I have been blogging about that on my other blog, Sentient.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Gifts, Prancers, Glad Tiding (PB)
Inks: Scattered Straw, Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire distress stains(Ranger), Versafine Onyx Black (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Epic Black 100lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Silver textured cardstock (Penny Black)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, white organza ribbon
Berries in snow
Posted: December 17, 2014 Filed under: Berry Merry Christmas, Silent Night | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 4 Comments
This ‘Berry Merry Christmas‘ stamp has been one of my favourite stamps this season and I don’t seem to be the only one. I have seen many lovely cards and projects starring this image. The panel above is from the pile of bits & pieces I’ve had waiting quite a while for attention, consequently I can’t remember my process. It appears to be ‘wet on wet’ stamping onto watercolour paper with distress stains. I have stamped the image at least twice and allowed the colours to bleed a lot on the left hand side. I did the snow splatter a little differently for this one; I splattered white gesso over the panel after the inks had dried. I still used the splatter brush but the gesso sits on top of all the stamping. I finished it off by adding a sentiment, matting in brown and attaching it to a white card base.
I think writing in a few more of my Christmas cards is what I should be doing now. There are only eight days until Christmas after all!
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Berry Merry Christmas, Silent Night (PB)
Inks: Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Broken China, Vintage Photo distress stains (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Avon Brilliant White 110lb, Dark brown card
A little bird
Posted: December 9, 2014 Filed under: CAS, No Card Left Behind, Winter Song | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 11 Comments
Do you recognise this little scene? It is a portion of the large “Winter Song” scenic stamp. I was experimenting with ways to the colour the stamp back when I made this card. I wasn’t happy with the whole panel but cropping it gave me a smaller scene I could work with. Coming up with a layout that worked I’m sure took me as long as the original painting. I tried portrait but really wanted landscape orientation. A partial red mat didn’t overwhelm the panel and the words provide balance and carry the red highlights across the card. It wasn’t until I was searching for a sentiment that I realized that these three word stamps positioned in the right order have built in framing. It only took me about ten practices off the card base to get the positioning right!. I embossed them in clear powder so they have a pretty shine.
I guess I should mention how I coloured the panel. It was weeks ago so I am guessing a bit. I stamped the whole scene in memento summer sky first; you can see it at the base of the panel looking a bit like a shadow. The summer sky ink served as a guide so I could paint the scene with distress stains. I selectively inked the stamp to restamp after the painting, adding brown to the lower branches and black for the birch trees.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Song , Joy Filled (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, London Fog, Rich Cocoa, Versafine & Satin Red (Tsukineko) Barn Door, Broken China, Peeled Paint
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Avon Brilliant White 110lb, Neenah Chili Red 100lb
Oh Christmas Tree
Posted: December 1, 2014 Filed under: Oh Christmas Tree | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Sharpies 8 Comments
Oh Christmas Tree, a beautiful slapstick cling stamp from Penny Black, is the star of the Penny Black blog this week. You can see this stamp featured everyday on projects created by the PB Design Team. I dreamed up tags in three colour schemes featuring only a portion of the stamp but the same technique. All three tags started on the same panel as you can see below.
I used watercolour paper splattered with masking fluid and coloured with three distress stains (Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass). I swiped the stains directly onto the paper then blended them with water. While the panel was still wet I stamped ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ four times in distress inks (Seeded Preserves, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Salty Ocean). When the panel was dry I switched to pigment inks that would not bleed or blend to stamp a defined image in similar colours of Versafine ink (Crimson Red, Spanish Moss, Imperial Purple, Deep Lagoon).
I cut the panel into four tags but the blue one did not advance to the next level. Each of the three remaining trees became a tag with rounded top corners and gold or silver highlights and sentiment. Using the colours in the background as a guide I darkened the edges of each tag with sponged distress inks. I highlighed the dots with gold or silver sharpies and added a splatter of distress stain and wink of stella pen over each tag. I think it was at this point that I removed the masking fluid to reveal the fine white specs. To continue the gold and silver details I stamped ‘Love’, ‘Joy’ & ‘Peace’ from “Joy Filled” and embossed with silver or gold embossing powder. I sprinkled embossing powder randomly and sparingly on top of the tags then heat set from underneath so as to not blow the powder off. To emboss the star I coloured it with a gold wink of stella marker then sprinkled gold embossing powder and heat set.
I gilded the edge of the tag with the co-ordinating sharpie then finished by adding matching ribbon and metallic cord.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy Filled, Oh Christmas Tree (PB)
Inks: Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass distress stains & Seeded Preserves, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Salty Ocean(Ranger) & Crimson Red, Spanish Moss, Imperial Purple, Deep Lagoon & Versamark(Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, gold & silver sharpies, gold and silver embossing powder, gold and silver wink of stella pens.
Pine needles & cones
Posted: November 27, 2014 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Gifts | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 12 Comments
This panel of pine cones and needles is one of the bits & pieces that was waiting to be turned into something. I made the panel quite a while ago so here is my best guess at how I did it. I splattered some masking fluid on watercolour paper then inked the pine cones with vintage photo distress ink spritzed them with water then stamped them on the panel. I did the same with the pine needles in, surprise, surprise, pine needle distress ink. At this point I may have painted a little tumbled glass stain around the needles and cones as a background. When the panel had partially dried I restamped sections of the pine cone for added definition. I switched to Memento Northern Pine ink to add some darker needles. When all was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid.
I trimmed it a little and matted it with brown and then tried to think of a background that would add interest but not compete with the panel itself. I tried embossing the needles and cones from the “Nature’s Gifts” set on the card base in a pearl powder. The powder is very pretty and I will try it again on another project but it didn’t work for this one. I ended up with no more pattern on the card base that the stripes of repeated sentiments. Keeping it clean and simple qualifies it for the Less is More challenge this week to be ‘Christmassy’.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Gifts, Winter Magic (PB)
Inks: Tumbled Glass distress stains & Pine Needle, Vintage Photo distress ink(Ranger), Memento Northern Pine, Versafine Vintage Sepia (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Avon Brilliant 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Sticks & Stones mix & match paper (Penny Black)
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Together under the Northern Lights
Posted: November 25, 2014 Filed under: Together | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 21 Comments
I have a stack of watercoloured backgrounds and images on my work table waiting to be turned into something. Some are practice pieces that worked, others are left over from classes I taught and some are experiments still needing some tweaking. Most of them are wintery or Christmassy so now is the time to work with them. The background above is just one of the bits & pieces that was ready to be used. It was made with distress stains blended over splattered masking fluid. I cut out the deer with the ‘Together’ die and popped them up over the background then added two hand cut snow banks and some branches cut with the ‘Nature’s Song’ die. The challenge at Less is More this week is to use something Christmassy on your card. I think this qualifies.
I will have more projects made from the bits & pieces pictured below later in the week but tomorrow I’ll be back with a video tutorial.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy Filled (PB)
Creative Dies: Together, Nature’s Song (PB)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass distress stains & Chipped Sapphire distress ink(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Avon Brilliant 110lb cardstock, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Bits & Pieces waiting for time and inspiration:
Heather Telford 