Blue Stars
Posted: November 27, 2015 Filed under: Brusho | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 8 Comments
The Brushos are still sitting on my desk for easy access allowing me to create more pretty patterns. Blue happens to be my favourite colour so I was quite happy the blends and patterns happening on this panel. To create these blue stars I stamped in water then sprinkled some brusho over the water. I used a paintbrush to fill the stars with brusho blues and a spritzer to spread the colour outside the outlines. When I was almost finished painting I spritzed with blue pearl-ex spray to add some shimmer and sheen. The sentiment is stamped in two blues, something I do when I don’t have the exact match in ink.
Supplies:
Stamps: Soft Grace, Yuletide Greetings (PB)
Inks: Versafine majestic blue and deep lagoon (ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, blue cardstock
Also: Brusho watercolour powder, Interference blue pearl-ex spray
Stamping the Seasons: Winter
Posted: November 18, 2015 Filed under: Joy to All, Stamped Landscapes, Watercolour | Tags: Bister, Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
Stamps that can be used all year round are winners in my opinion and I am always happy to see new tree stamps to use in my stamped landscapes. The ‘Joy to All‘ set contains a tree and some twiggy foliage stamps that I will be using winter, spring, summer and fall. This week and next you can see the Penny Black design team using new products to ‘stamp the seasons‘.
To create today’s wintry scene I splattered some masking fluid over the watercolour panel, let it dry then taped the panel to a firm surface to prevent warping. I used blue bister powder to paint the sky and snow banks then added the background trees in memento nautical blue ink while the sky was still damp. I stamped the tree from Joy to all in black ink then added shadows for all the trees in blue ink. To finish the scene I stamped the twig stamps from the same set in the foreground in black. Once all the ink was dry I removed the masking fluid then chose one of my favourite sentiments from the new release and a narrow black mat to frame the panel.
If you come back tomorrow you will see my spring scene using the same ‘Joy to All’ set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy to All, Season’s Gifts, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Memento Nautical Blue & Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black (ImagineCrafts/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Bister powder
All is calm under a brusho sky
Posted: November 9, 2015 Filed under: Brusho, Gleeful | Tags: Brusho, Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
I have painted quite a few expansive coloured skies lately. On Saturday I taught the last of my Merry & Bright class which included a bister night sky over a die cut tiny town. As I demonstrated the technique all of my skies were different and class participants also created unique and beautiful skies. Today’s card is similar in layout to the class card but instead of bister I used brusho and instead of die cutting I painted the little street with the help of a stamp from the ‘Gleeful’ set. I stamped the town first in versafine vintage sepia then added brusho and water to the sky area. I didn’t need to use much because the powder is so potent. I blended the blue and green with a brush and painted right up to the roof tops then let it dry. I used brown, blue, green and yellow brusho to paint the buildings and trees then finished the foreground with black brusho which separates into several colours. I added a tiny sentiment in versafine onyx black, removed the masking fluid to reveal stars then matted with a couple of co-ordinating colours.
Thanks for dropping by; I hope you have a great week.
Supplies:
Stamps: Gleeful, Holiday Snippets (PB)
Mediums: Brusho powders, Versafine Onyx Black ink
Cardstock: Hotpressed Canson watercolour paper, Neenah avon brilliant white, brown and teal cardstock
Sunset Tree
Posted: October 28, 2015 Filed under: Joy to All | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 14 Comments
Last week Penny Black released the Winter Romance collection of stamps and dies. I went for a romantic sunset look on today’s card and used the new tree from the transparent set ‘Joy to All’. (At the same time I stamped the tree on several different panels and used different colouring techniques so you will be seeing it again before too long.)
I began with a panel splattered with masking fluid taped to a board to prevent it from warping once it got wet. I stamped the tree stamp with brown ink then, when it was dry, painted some masking fluid above some of the branches where snow would accumulate. I used pink and blue distress stains to paint both the sky and snow drifts then stamped the trees on the horizon while the sky was still wet so they would be look soft and distant. Some of the brown ink did bleed into the sky as I painted which doesn’t bother me but if you wanted to prevent that you could stamp the tree with pigment ink .
Supplies:
Stamps: Joy to All, Season’s gifts (PB)
Inks: Tumbled Glass, Worn Lipstick distress stains, Vintage Photo, Stormy sky distress inks (Ranger) Vintage SepiaVersafine ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Kazzazz blue cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Fancy Foliage
Posted: October 14, 2015 Filed under: Foliage Fancy | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps, Periscope, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
I can’t leave the leaves alone! I am very much a seasonal stamper when choosing my themes, colours and images. Of course I do stamp Christmas and winter images before the season arrives and spring designs are needed before the snow melts but when looking for inspiration I often choose what I see outside.
I embossed these leaves and watercoloured inside with Zig clean color real brush markers, two different reds and a brown. I coloured randomly and roughly then blended the colours with a waterbrush. I also added gold wink of stella to the mix and blended that with water. This gave the leaves a warm shimmery sheen which you can just see in the photo. (I shared the colouring and blending on a periscope here)
When it was all dry I coloured round the edges of the leaves with a grey clean color marker and blended that out with water also. To finish the card I matted with burgandy and added some gold thread and a sentiment.
Thank you for the kind words about my wrist; it turns out it is arthritis at the base of my thumb so I will be looking for ways to work smarter with both time and tools to ease the stress on the joint 😦
Supplies:
Stamps: Foliage Fancy, Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)
Inks: Versafine Crimson Red (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Markers: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, Gold Wink of Stella (Kuretake)
Cardstock: Neenah Natural White 110lb, Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, textured burgandy cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder, gold embroidery thread
Thanksgiving mini cards
Posted: October 12, 2015 Filed under: Filigree Foliage | Tags: Canson watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Versafine inks 9 Comments
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians; chances are you are enjoying leaves in pretty colours like I am these days. I keep reaching for the filigree leaves set at the moment because it has six lovely leaves which can be stamped simply to feature the pretty filigree patterns or used as I have here to stamp an outline which can be painted for a more realistic leaf look.
My process for creating these three mini cards was as follows. I masked a square on cold pressed watercolour paper then inked the leaf stamps with two or three distress stains. I stamped then used a paintbrush to blend the colour and fill the leaf. Where necessary I added water but I worked quickly enough to mainly just move the stain. When the leaf dried I splattered some stain over the top and once that dried sponged a little ink around the perimeter to frame the leaf. (I did film myself on periscope using this technique and these stamps. Please be aware that the quality on periscope is not like youtube but you can get the idea of this process at the beginning of the broadcast)
Each card is 4″x4.5″ and the squares have 2 7/8″ sides and are popped up on fun foam.
I stamped the sentiment with versafine inks rather than distress because they do such a good job with fine lines.
I hope you are having a wonderful day; thanks for visiting.
Supplies
30 Day colouring challenge
Posted: October 2, 2015 Filed under: Fresh, Watercolour | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
Kathy Racoosin of The Daily Marker is hosting a 30 Day Coloring Challenge during October. It is her third colouring challenge and her videos, blog posts and clever creations are very inspiring. I played along a few times during her last challenge and hope to participate even more this time. For all the details visit Kathy’s blog and check out her instagram also.
The colouring on my ‘fresh’ bouquet was done with Zig clean color real brush markers. I have 14 colours (so far), most of them quite bright so it was not difficult to get vivid petals by blending just the yellow, the pink and a little water. The background did involve fussy cutting a mask! Unlikely to happen often, I know. I stamped the background in versafine vintage sepia ink over the masked central image. Now that I think about it, several masks were needed so the background images did not stamp over the top of each other. This is why you don’t see this sort of thing very often on this blog. I do have a ‘too lazy to fussy cut and mask’ technique which often works well. I will share that some time soon.
Supplies:
Stamps: Fresh , Snippets (PB)
Inks: Versafine Vintage Sepia ink (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Natural White cardstock, Brown cardstock
Also: Zig clean color real brush markers, pink and orange thread
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
Heather Telford 