Inch by Inch 1: Gold Snowflakes

Posted: November 17, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: All is Bright, Winter Pine | Tags: Inchie Arts, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Sharpies | 20 Comments

The Penny Black design team are collaborating with Inchie Arts this week and I will be sharing an Inchie Arts project here each day too. I have really enjoyed creating on a smaller scale, trying to make a visual impact in a couple of inches square. I have several projects on a single square and a couple where I lined up more than one. I did not end up working with ‘true inchies’ (1″x 1″); I had 1.5 inch, 2 inch and 3 inch matboard tiles to experiment with.

Today’s card features a 3 inch cream square. I started by embossing the snowflakes in gold powder then used distress stains to add colour. Distress stains react a little differently on matboard than on watercolour paper as the matboard absorbs liquids more quickly. I not only blended the colours on the matboard but layered them creating different colours and tones. The matboard is sturdy and does not warp with the addition of water and stains. I can’t remember exactly which distress stains I used (sorry) but I have taken a guess in the list below. I also stamped a few little snowflakes in light and dark blue ink. I added a border to both the square and the navy card base with a gold sharpie. I was impressed that the sharpie matched the embossing so well and showed up on the dark cardstock. Running the sharpie along the edge is a very quick way to ‘gild’ the edge of panels.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Supplies:
Stamps: All is Bright, Most Wonderful, Winter Pine (PB)
Inks: Versamark ink (Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko) Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass distress stains & Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean distress ink(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Navy 100lb cardstock, Inchie Arts 3″ cream square
Also: gold embossing powder, gold sharpie

Sunrise Branches

Posted: November 10, 2014 | Author: Heather | 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)

Autumn Branches

Posted: November 5, 2014 | Author: Heather | 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

Moonlit Forest

Posted: October 20, 2014 | Author: Heather | 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 | Author: Heather | 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

Moon on the rise

Posted: October 10, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Etched Branches | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 18 Comments

‘Etched Branches’ is a beautiful new stamp from Penny Black`s latest release ‘Winter Wonderland’. I used it to make a ‘moonrise’ scene but I can see myself placing it in a snowy scene very soon.

I used frisket film to mask the moon on watercolour paper. The film is new to me but I will be using it when I’m watercolouring and getting the paper quite wet. Post-it notes and masking paper can get too soggy if I apply a lot of water to the edges. After positioning the moon mask I painted the sky in stripes of pink and purple using the distress stains listed below. I let them dry a bit then painted more water and stain over the colours this created the watermarked edges which look a bit like clouds. I removed the mask and painted a few wisps of cloud over the moon area. I stamped ‘Etched Branches’ in Versafine Onyx black ink then sponged the land below the coloured sky in purple grey and black. To complete the card I matted in white and added branches in purple and black cut with the ‘Natures Song’ die.

I was up a bit earlier than usual this morning to start on a birthday breakfast for my 14 year old and the sky was very pretty in pink and orange. The view from my kitchen is obscured by branches like those in the scene above but also by power lines which are not quite so picturesque.

Stamps: Etched Branches (PB)
Creative Dies: Nature’s Song (PB)
Inks: Victorian Velvet, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord distress stains & Dusty Concord distress ink (Ranger) Memento London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Black 100lb, Neenah Avon Brilliant White, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper

Time Out Challenge

Posted: October 9, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Wishes, Wondrous | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 28 Comments

I am honoured to be a guest at Time Out Challenges today. The card above is the inspiration for their current challenge. When I designed this card over a month ago I was not seeing such lovely colours in the local leaves, but now they are looking beautiful. To created the blended mass of leaves above I stamped with distress stains and distress inks on watercolour paper. I used yellow, orange and green and each time I stamped repeatedly without reinking the stamp. Once I had a tangle of leaves stamped I then spritzed the paper and watched the clean edges of the image blur and blend. I used a waterbrush to fill in some of the leaves with the stain they were stamped in. When all was dry I sponged orange and yellow around the edges leaving a white area to look like the light shining through. My sentiment is three die cuts glued together, a process I find fiddly but I like the 3D result.

I hope you do take time out to visit the Time Out Challenge Blog to see what their design team came up with and to get inspired to participate yourself. I am looking forward to visiting through out the next two weeks while the challenge lasts.

Stamps: Wondrous (PB)
Creative Dies: Wishes (PB)
Inks: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint distress stains & Spiced Marmalade distress ink (Ranger) Memento Dandelion ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Neenah Avon Brilliant White 110lb, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper

Emboss resist wreath

Posted: September 30, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Autumn Jewels, Dancing Leaves, Decadence | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 6 Comments

After making numerous emboss resist panels for my September classes I had leftover pieces big enough to punch leaves from. I used a rounded leaf from the new Autumn Jewels set of dies to cut as many leaves as possible then arranged them into a wreath. The arranging took me quite a while as I tried various methods and orientations for the leaves. Having them all turn in the same way and overlap the same way seemed to be the best option in the end. I bent some of the leaves to curl down towards the card and others to curl up, then attached some with 3D adhesive squares and others with flat adhesive. I poked a few twigs of “dancing leaves” in amongst the leaves, added a small bow before matting then stamped a sentiment.

The colours around here are not at their most vibrant yet but on the way to Lake Placid a week ago I enjoyed a gorgeous display of reds, yellows and oranges across the hill sides.

Supplies

Stamps: Decadence, Special Wishes (PB)
Creative Dies: Autumn Jewels, Dancing Leaves (PB)
Inks: Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo distress stains & , Fired Brick distress inks(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Natural White 110lb, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: 3D adhesive squares(Scrapbook Adhesives). clear embossing powder, red grosgrain ribbon

Blog Hop with Scrapbook Adhesives

Posted: September 23, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: A Pocket Full, Background Stamps | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains | 11 Comments

Yes, that is glitter you see on my blog! The PB design team is blog hopping with the Scrapbook Adhesives design team this week so I stepped a little outside my comfort zone and opened up the glitter. I had to go and find the glitter first; it used to live in my craft stash but it had migrated to my daughter’s nail polish stash where it definitely gets more attention.

I created my backgrounds first by taping some watercolour paper to a firm surface and blending distress stains onto the panels. The blue one was spritzed with pearl-ex powder spray to create a pretty sheen and the purple one was sprinkled with salt for some texture.

To create the glittery elements I used both 3D Foam Stars and 3D Foam Christmas Shapes. I peeled the shapes, which have adhesive on both sides, off the backing sheets and dipped one side in glitter then pressed the other side onto the watercolour panels. To create the sparkly “Noel” I cut the word from white paper using an adhesive sheet on top of the paper instead of underneath. I removed the top sheet and dipped the sticky side of the word in glitter.

Both banners were cut using a banner die from “A pocket full”. As the die has one “V” end I die cut only half way then flipped the die around and cut the other end with the “V” also. To finish the tags I matted with PB mix & match papers then twisted some embroidery floss to thread through the punched hole at the top.

Both Penny Black and Scrapboook Adhesives are hosting giveaways on their blogs this week so visit everyday for inspiration and a chance to win.

Supplies:
Stamps: Letter Background (PB)
Creative Dies: Exultations, A Pocket Full (PB)
Inks: Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles, Chipped Sapphire, Milled lavender, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick distress stains, Peacock Feather distress ink (Ranger)
Scrapbook Adhesives: Adhesive Sheet, Thin dimensional adhesive squares, 3D Foam Stars, 3D Foam Christmas Shapes, EZ runner adhesive
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, #14 Rose Garden, #13 Periwinkle, #06 Spring Meadows paper (PB)
Also: Embroidery Floss

Blessings

Posted: September 18, 2014 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Autumn Jewels, Lush & Lavish, Words of Gratitude | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains | 10 Comments

The new leaf stamps and co-ordinating dies from Penny Black are such a treat to use. To create this card of cascading leaves I started by spritzing a 5″x 7″ watercolour block with water. I then inked several of the leaf stamps from the “Lush & Lavish” set with the autumn toned distress stains listed below. I stamped each stamp repeatedly working from one end of the paper to the other so all the intense coloured leaves were at one end and the paler ones at the other. I let the paper dry completely before die cutting three whole leaves and two partial leaves from the intensely coloured end of the paper. I trimmed the other end to be a background for the card. Using the distress inks I sponged the edges of the die-cut leaves to darken them. I arranged and attached the leaves on the background panel, some popped up and others just glued.

To finish the card I cut the word “Blessed” and a border strip from Penny Black fall festival paper. The leaves are just beginning to turn here in Ottawa, there is nothing as intense as the colours in this card but I am looking forward to seeing the gorgeous colours. We have several very large trees in our backyard so once the leaves start turning and falling it goes on for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Supplies

Stamps: Lush & Lavish (PB)
Creative Dies: Autumn Jewels, Words of Gratitude (PB)
Inks: Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo distress stains & Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo distress inks(Ranger)
Cardstock: Neenah Natural White 110lb, Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, PB Mix & Match Fall Festival paper
Also: Adhesive Sheet & Thin dimensional adhesive squares(Scrapbook Adhesives)