Snow & Ice
Posted: April 13, 2022 Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, pine cones, snow flakes | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, Waffle Flower dies 4 Comments
Although most of the ice is now gone, over the last few weeks I have seen it breaking up on the river near our home. The ice that once covered most of the bay cracks and ends up in layers as it breaks, moves and eventually disappears. When I lifted the print above from my gel plate I immediately thought of the cracking ice. It also reminded me of the colours in glaciers, not usually navy blue but I have seen blues and aquas.
Around the time the ice was breaking and melting this snowflake stamp arrived from Darkroom Door so I stamped it on vellum to overlay the background. I really didn’t want to lose much of the background hence the vellum and then a very narrow navy frame and sentiment.
This gel print delighted me, both the colours and the pattern. That’s the fun of gel printing; you never know quite what you will get. I will be sharing a few more gel prints turned into cards and backgrounds over the next few days. In May I will be teaching a couple of gel printing workshops at Crop A While. I’d love to have you join me in making surprising and intriguing prints.
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Gel print city journal page
Posted: June 17, 2021 Filed under: Art Journal, gel press, Waffle Flower | Tags: Fabriano art journal, gel press, gel printing, gelli plate, Waffle Flower dies 5 Comments
Continuing my week of gel prints you might see a resemblance between yesterday’s projects and todays. I posted large cityscape projects yesterday made by masking areas of the gel plate with paper rectangles cut from stiff magazine paper. Some of the masks had little shapes cut from them with dies. I used the magazine masks over and over on several prints and experiments so by the end they were covered in paint and way more interesting than they started out.
Rather than save the masks or throw them away I turned them into a city scape art journal page. Once again my scraps are prettier than some of my prints! Every time I brayered a new colour onto the gel plate I lay the rectangle masks paint side down so they ended up picking up paint, pattern and texture while occasionally letting a bit of text or photo show through.
The background sky was done with distress sprays, a few blues and a black (listed below) spritzed over the open spread to cover the top half of both pages.
Once the sky was dry I arranged and rearranged the ‘buildings’ so I would have contrasting heights and colours across the scene. Some of the tiny shapes die cut from the masks also had paint on them so I used a few as doors on this scene. The windows are all cut outs revealing some of the prints underneath. I used matte medium and a Tim Holtz collage brush to glue everything down then decided to outline the shapes with gel pens to separate them a little more.
This art journal design was one of those rare ones that turned out as I imagined it might. Doesn’t always go that way!
I mentioned a couple of days ago I am appearing on Craft Roulette Live Improv show on Friday night. I’d love to see you there if you are free. You can hop on the chat and say hello. The details are here and here
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Rose Dance & a Giveaway
Posted: May 19, 2021 Filed under: A2 layers, Additional A2 layers, Papertrey Inks, Penny Black, rose dance, Waffle Flower | Tags: Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps, Waffle Flower dies 48 Comments
When I first posted a card with the PB ‘rose dance‘ stamp I mentioned I’d been putting it to work with several techniques. To create this card I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper with papertrey ink cubes.
With the stamp and paper in the stamp positioner I inked the roses in ‘royal velvet’ and a few dabs of ‘pure poppy’ inks, spritzed then stamped. I used three different greens (listed below) for the leaves and stems. The papertrey ink cubes are fairly juicy to start with but with a spritz of water before stamping the ink is wet enough to blend into the petals and leaves.
When it came to putting the card together I decided to mix things up a little by cutting out the main image on an angle before adding some dimension with a few extra layers of cardstock. The Waffle Flower A2 layer dies and additional layer dies made it possible to cut the image from the panel, cut a scrap the same size to fit in the space and cut a slightly larger green mat before putting it back together. I pulled out an older PB sentiment set ‘kind words’ and stamped the message in dusty concord archival ink.
This technique is covered in lessons 2 of my new online class FLORAL FAVES. The lessons cover a range of my favourite techniques, some simple and elegant, others requiring more time and fine detail but all outlined clearly on video so they can become your favourites too! Registration opens tomorrow and I will have all the information in tomorrow’s blog post.
If you would like to win a place in the FLORAL FAVES class please comment below telling me one of your favourite flower stamps. I will randomly pick a winner and announce it here on the blog on Monday.
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Lemon Lush – pencil on kraft
Posted: March 26, 2021 Filed under: A2 layers, Additional A2 layers, Coloured pencil, floral notes, lemon lush, Pink Fresh studio, Waffle Flower | Tags: brutus monroe embossing powder, Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Pink Fresh studio, Waffle Flower dies 5 Comments
I have a second card featuring the pretty ‘lemon lush’ stamp from Pinkfresh Studio. Last time I used peerless watercolours for a bold, bright look. Today’s white on kraft combo is softer and subtler.
I stamped the large 6″ x 6″ stamp on kraft cardstock in Brutus Monroe alabaster ink then embossed in alabaster powder. I used polychromos pencils to colour all the elements. The whole lemons needed a few shades of yellow and orange but the rest of the design was completed with pairs of inks, two greens, two pinks or two yellows with sometimes the addition of white to soften or brighten.
The sentiment is from the Pinkfresh set ‘floral notes’ embossed in white then cut and framed with the help of my ever-useful Waffle Flower A2 layer dies.
Wishing you a bright and happy day!
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Flower truck…is coming
Posted: February 8, 2021 Filed under: ...is coming, A2 layers, Additional A2 layers, buckets of flowers, hanging planters, Penny Black, pretty picket, silver linings, Waffle Flower | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Waffle Flower dies 2 Comments
Not my usual style, you know I don’t often take the cute route (pun intended) but this little truck really appealed to me. As I worked on this card and looked through my dies for flowers I realised I could also turn it into an icecream truck or a pumpkin truck and maybe a postal delivery truck.
My initial plan was to die cut everything from kraft cardstock except for the flowers but once I’d done the truck and flowers I decided to add more colour with a picket fence and some clouds on a bright blue background. I used a blending brush to add ‘brushed corduroy’ distress ink around all the pieces of the truck and ‘mermaid lagoon’ around the blue panel. I’ve listed all the dies below; as you can imagine the fiddliness factor on this card was high but I persevered and the satisfaction factor is also high.
I haven’t added a sentiment but feel that it could be good for many occasions so I will wait and see. I’d be happy to see a truck bursting with flowers in my driveway right about now when everything is covered in snow.
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Christmas Colours
Posted: November 24, 2020 Filed under: Coliro paints, Coloured pencil, Finetec paints, {heart} Christmas | Tags: brutus monroe embossing powder, Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Penny Black stamps, Waffle Flower dies 5 Comments
I’ve started thinking about colours I’ll use to decorate this year. I pick a different colour scheme every year. Not wildly different, usually there will be gold or silver along with a colour or white. I don’t buy new decorations every year; I have a selection of wide ribbons plus a few boxes of coloured balls and a range of unique decorations we’ve collected, made or been given over the years.
One year I did a rustic, natural sort of theme with burlap ribbon and wood ornaments with some white and gold similar to the colours in this card. This year I am thinking of black and gold. I’m not thinking of black in a sad and dark way more of a rich velvet with tartan ribbon kind of way. Just before and after Christmas last year I bought quite a few of the same decoration, heavily discounted, in preparation for a class I planned to teach this month. Well that’s not happening but I am hoping to use some of my stash and share them here. And there will be black and tartan in the mix.
I stamped the heart from PB {heart} Christmas set in versamark and embossed in white powder on kraft cardstock then used a blending brush to blend frayed burlap distress ink over the stamping to give it a shadow. I know the effect I was after with the blending but not sure that I’ve achieved it here.
I used polychromos pencils and Coliro pearlescent paints to colour in the outline stamping. I embossed in white a sentiment from the PB merry up set and used a white gel pen to add a stitching line around the edge of the panel.
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All the Birthdays
Posted: October 7, 2020 Filed under: A2 layers, Additional A2 layers, all the birthdays, CAS, Concord & 9th, nesting squares, Waffle Flower | Tags: Concord & 9th, gel press, gel printing, Ranger archival inks, ranger embossing powders, Tsukineko Versafine inks, Waffle Flower dies, WOW embossing powders 4 Comments
I made a short stack of birthday cards yesterday with a new Concord & 9th set, ‘All the Birthdays’. I pulled out several prints from earlier gel printing sessions and chose some which would work as panels for birthday cards.
On the card above I used ranger blue embossing powder and the card below versafine tulip red was the perfect match for my printed background.
Some were printed using the petite set A gel presses so they were already shaped as squares. Others I cut from larger prints. I used stencils and lace to make the prints and a range of acrylic paints.
One of the stamp combinations from the C&9 ‘all the birthdays’ is a pair of stamps that overlap to spell ‘happy birthday’; there are outline stamps that frame the solid letters also. That is what I used on the card below with gold and brown inks then clear embossing powder.
I also added some texture to a few of the card bases or mats with embossing folders and stencils.
The printed panel below included such pretty blues and purples I wanted to match them in the sentiment so I stamped with archival dusty concord and faded jeans then, before the ink dried embossed in clear powder.
The card below features rose gold embossing powder; it looks a little darker than expected on this panel, maybe because of the depth of colour in the print.
I really enjoyed pairing sentiments from the C&9 set with my leftover gel prints. I did have some embossing challenges though; I’m just not an embossing champion. Stray powder, over heating, underheating, even when I use a powder tool and preheat the heat tool I still make mistakes. This lot took me all afternoon but I am very happy with them and I’m pleased to have boosted my birthday card stash. Now if I can just remember to send them…
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Almost a gel press card
Posted: August 12, 2020 Filed under: gel press, My Favorite Things, simple sentiments | Tags: gel printing, My Favorite Things, Waffle Flower dies 10 Comments
I have been waiting for some time to get the gel press out again and it has finally happened. A gel press session needs a decent amount of time and space otherwise I barely remember what to do before I have to pack up again. I find when I am working with the gel press my first prints or ‘pulls’ are very uninteresting as I get back into the process and build up some interesting colour and texture on the gel plate. That was definitely the case yesterday when I got started. The squares above did not come from a gel print. I cut them all from the cardstock off to the side where I was cleaning off my brayer!
Maybe you can guess from the squares that I was using dark blue, dark green and deep violet acrylic paint. The reason most of the squares look softer and more pastel is because I also used white paint each time I rolled some colour onto the plate. I may not use any of the gel prints I made yesterday but the scrap sheet for cleaning my brayer was perfect for making a card inspired by ‘Dear Paperlicious’. I am often inspired by Joan; I’m sure you will be too if you take a look at her blog or instagram. Her cards are clever and cool, just like her!
I cut all my squares using one of the dies from the Waffle Flower color combos die set then popped them up on craft foam and added a sentiment from MFT. Hopefully you will see some actual gel printing in the days to come but until then don’t discount the usefulness of a pretty piece of scrap paper!
Don’t forget to check out my new online class about cards, colour and making pretty things!
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Apricot watercoloured flowers
Posted: June 24, 2020 Filed under: A2 layers, Hand painted, Penny Black, sennelier watercolours, Waffle Flower | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted, Penny Black stamps, sennelier watercolours, Waffle Flower dies 11 Comments
I have another hand painted watercolour today paired with a sweet little stamp from the new Penny Black set ‘trust me builder’. I used my Sennelier half pan watercolours on Fabraino cold pressed watercolour paper. I am still learning how to arrange elements in my paintings but I know for a random pattern (is that an oxymoron?) it is best to do the largest elements first, then the next biggest and so on, in this panel ending with the small splatters and dots.
Unless you are after a symmetrical design odd numbers of elements are usually more pleasing to the eye so I have three large flowers then three medium sized flowers but I slipped up on the berry clusters, there are four not five and I can see where I should have painted another!
I painted this design on a larger panel and then cropped it to make it look more balanced. I used a rectangle die to choose the part of the panel I wanted but you can do the same with two pieces of ‘L’ shaped cardstock held on opposite sides of a panel and moved to ‘frame’ the design. I popped up my painted panel on foam and my stamped sentiment on one extra piece of cardstock.
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Birthday tulips
Posted: June 15, 2020 Filed under: blooming bunch, Penny Black | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps, Waffle Flower dies 6 Comments
Are all your tulips gone? None of mine flowered this year, not even the faithful two that predated our move into this house! I have planted quite a few over the years but I believe they became squirrel lunches. These ones are coloured with zig clean colour real brush pens. I chose an orange and a yellow then coloured some in just orange, one just yellow and a few with a mix of the two pens. The whole image was first stamped in antique linen distress ink which is so good for no-line colouring.
Once again I really enjoyed painting the bucket to give it an aged look with a mix of grey and brown pens. I drew the black centres in after colouring.
To frame the tulips I used two dies, a smaller one from the Waffle Flower A2 layer dies to cut the stamped panel and the other from Waffle Flower additional A2 layers to cut a very narrow green â…›” mat.
The sentiment is from PB ‘birthday humor’ set but I stamped only part of the phrase and cut it with a die from the PB ‘pocket full’ die set.
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Heather Telford 