Hiker Foundation and Water of Life

  

I am on the Art Impressions blog today for their Watercolour Weekend post!  My first card is using one of the newly released Scenic Foundation sets that have more of a masculine feel to them.  This is the 6068 - Hiker Foundation set.

Using my Misti, I stamped the image onto my Canson XL watercolour paper using Tombows #969/565.  *With a larger image like this, it helps to use a stamping platform, as you can reink and stamp it a second time if your first impression isn't perfect.  Before stamping the foliage, I painted light shades of #565 on the mountains, getting a little darker for the hills in the foreground.  I was aiming for some striking contrast, so used #346 to paint in the two closest bits of land.  I wanted a bit of a sunset sky, so I started by mixing #991 and #856 to give me tones of yellow and peach.  I echoed the same colours in the water, reflecting both the mountains and the sunset.  I added streaks of darker tones to the water to make it look like ripples on the lake.

The grass in the foreground was painted with a wash of #177, and layers of #992 were painted on the pathway.  The two main trees were painted with streaks of #992/969/947, as were the edges of the pathway under the grass overhang.  After pulling out the colour of the rocks with my damp brush, I added more shades of N52/565/992 to the stones, creating contrast between the rocks.  I used the foliage stamp from 5373 - WC LG Tree Set and #177/249 to stamp the foliage on each of the trees, turning the stamp so that it would appear irregular.  I touched the foliage with a damp brush to soften it, and added in a few darker tones for shadows.  I used the tiny sprig from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and #177/ to add a few low shrubs in and around the trees and rocks, then added a few branches from 4964 - WC Branches Set in #969.  A little grass was added in #177 using the small grass from Foliage Set - 4051.

I painted the hiker in coordinating colours #565/992/177/969, other than his bright hat in #856.  I hadn't painted in the sun before I added the foliage (should have!), so I just dabbed some white at the edge of the mountain, and then painted some white streaks into the water to indicate the sun.  White paint was also used to add in some flowers on the shrubs.  As a final touch, I used my paint brush and #346 to add a line of pine trees to one of the hillsides.  The image was die cut with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, matted with a warm brown, and adhered to my base with 3D foam adhesive.

My second card is using two of the new sets from the Bible Journaling line.

I die cut my Canson XL watercolour paper with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, and stamped the sleeping lamb from 6025 - Fear Not Set using #969/565.  After masking him, the stone well from 6055 - Water of Life Set was stamped behind him.  I pulled out the colour from the lines on the well, concentrating the colour where shadows would be - then added more N52/565 to darken the stones.  On the lamb, I added #850 to his ears and nose, and painted it as a wash over his fleece, to add a little warmth.  N52/565 were used for shadows, and to add some dabbled texture to indicate the fleece.

#126 was painted as a wash for the grass, and #493 done as a wash in the sky.  The two long grass stamps from 6025 were stamped around the well in #177, and two of the floral images were stamped in #177/856, on either side.  The small grass from Foliage Set - 4051 added a little texture in #177 around the bottom.  I used a light version of #565 to paint the bird, and touch some pale orange to his beak.  I used my black Twintone marker to darken the eye of the bird, and those of the lamb.  My grey Twintone marker was really helpful in redefining the lines of the well that had blurred a bit after painting, and for darkening the bird's legs.  Since I don't have a lot of luck in spattering paint on my images, I used the grey Twintone to add little dots around my image to suggest a little texture in my painting.

The sentiment is from the retired Exclusive Daisy set from several years ago.  I added a grey mat to my painting, and adhered it with 3D foam adhesive to my base which is paper from the 6011 - Basic Teal PP.

Yana's Daisies

My niece brought this die and embossing folder for me to try... and I had about 10 minutes to quickly die cut it in three different colours!  This is the gorgeous Yana's Daisies etched Die set.

I also got to try the Molded Frame 3D embossing folder, so I embossed it on some textured green cardstock, there is a mat die, that goes around the daisies, so I also cut that in green, and adhered the white daisy outline to it.  Since I cut the daisies in three colours, I mixed and matched each of them.  The sentiment is the It's Your Day Sentiment Strips press plate.

On the pink base, I added some green butterfly paper that was cut with the Hemstitched Rectangles die, and then the pink daisy outline was adhered to a vellum mat.  The Sentiment Strip was pressed onto Treasured Gold cardstock, and a few gold pearls finished it off.

I used the Etched Diagonal background plate from Pinkfresh Studio on my white card base, and attached the green daisy outline onto a white mat.  The sentiment is from the Every Day Sentiments press plate, pressed in gold ink.

All products are Spellbinders, unless indicated.

Window Shaker

I've been itching to use the new Corner Bookmark Dies from Art Impressions, and the May sketch from the Papercrafter's Inner Circle group on Facebook was the perfect project.

Scroll down to see the sketch, which features a window and flowers... so I pulled out four of the Ai paperpacks: 6012 - Basic Yellow PP, 6010 - Basic Pink PP, 6009 - Basic Green PP and 5742 - Easter PP, and started die cutting.

For the window, the frame found in the 5543 - Journal Template Die Set is a lovely, large frame that is ideal for a shaker, so I cut it out of some taupe cardstock, and after cutting a rectangle from my patterned paper, I adhered it over some clear acetate.  The panel was attached to my gingham background with 3D foam adhesive, which I also used to create an enclosed rectangle where I added my shaker bits.  Once everything was adhered to the base, the shaker was created.

After cutting and adhering all my flowers around the frame, I die cut the Hello from the 5718 - Mini Journal Template set in gold metallic cardstock, layering it twice for extra stability, then glued it to my card.

The set also includes these cute bookmark corner dies!  I cut out a couple of them in coordinating cardstock and attached a flower to each (took me less than 5 minutes to make these!).  I'm going to include these with the card as a little something for the recipients.

Rainbow Pride Card

It's Pride weekend in Toronto, and I like to get at least one or two Pride cards made each year.  When I saw Andy Granick's rainbow leaf card, I knew that I had the perfect stamp to do my own version.

This is the Long Line Leaves background stamp by Kristina Werner, coloured rainbow style with Copic markers.  I used two shades of each colour to add a little depth, and it actually came together fairly quickly.

Sentiment is Dashing Sentiments by Pigment Craft Co., stamped in Onyx Black Versamark ink, and layered several times.  A few black gems finished it off.

Happy Pride everyone!

Ink Swiping with Inkspired Wishes

Well this was fun!  I tried something new (to me!) with the April Betterpress Society plates, 'Inkspired Wishes'.  I thought it would be the perfect set of plates to try some ink swiping.

I used all four of the plates in the set, along with five Pinkfresh Studio ink cubes in a rainbow pattern.  Each ink was randomly streaked across the plate, overlapping a little with the other colours - enough to cover each plate, some areas being thicker than others.

I huffed a little before pressing onto regular white cardstock, and the results were gorgeous!  I inked up one of the sentiments from the set in Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink, then matted it and my main panel with a 1/16" grey mat.  A few irridescent discs from Pink & Main added a little extra sparkle.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Inkspired Graphic card

My second project with the April Betterpress Society plate set, Inkspired Wishes, is a little more graphic in nature.

I used two of the images, along with the swoosh from the Dec set, and pressed them in various Distress Oxide ink colours.

I trimmed down the panel, wrapped silver metallic thread around the bottom, and added a silver & blue wax seal.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Blooming Floral

This pretty stamp set from Pigment Craft Co. is called Blooming Floral.

I've only done this set in bolder, more fall-like colours, so loved the idea of trying it out in a pretty summer look.  I stamped the large image with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink, which gave it a softer feel right from the start.

I used the coordinating stencil, along with Pinkfresh Studio inks in yellows, corals, blue and green.  The sentiment (included with the set), was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.  The flowers needed a little definition, so I added some black dots to their centers with a marker.  I cut the entire image out with a frame die from The Greetery, and mounted it to my blue base with some 3D foam adhesive.