Brushstroke Bonanza: Berry Kissed with Elizabeth

It's a brushstroke bonanza here in the STUDIO as we share cards and techniques featuring Penny Black's newest brushstroke stamps.

Today I have my first of several holiday stamp conversions.  

Penny Black: Berry Kissed 40-492, Treasured Sentiments 30-356

For me, Penny Black's holiday brushstroke designs are just too beautiful to be used only at Christmas!

Berry Kissed reminded me of the cherry trees in northern Michigan and inspired me to create a Berry Kissed card that could be sent any time during the year.

After stamping Berry Kissed in Brushed Corduroy on watercolor paper it was watercolored with Fired Brick Red, Dried Marigold, Evergreen Bough and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.

The Treasured Sentiment was stamped in Onyx Black VersaFine.

Especially for you for any time of the year!

Brushstroke Bonanza: Berry Kissed with Jill

It's a brushstroke bonanza here in the STUDIO as we share cards and techniques featuring Penny Black's newest brushstroke stamps.

Today I'm combining the gorgeous brushstroke stamp, 40-492 Berry Kissed, with my new FAVORITE stamping tool, the MISTI!  Seriously, I should not have waited so long to get a MISTI... I'm in LOVE.

There's no mystery to the 'how-to' for this card...

Watch directly on YouTube HERE.

All stamps and dies by Penny Black Inc: 40-492 Berry Kissed, 30-382 Yuletide Wishes, 51-268 A Blizzard

If you're as excited as me about combining Penny Black stamps with the MISTI, be sure to visit the Penny Black blog... I am honored to have a new video and card posted every day this week.  Oh, and there's an awesome giveaway, too!!

Get all of the details HERE.

Want more ideas with this beautiful stamp?  I heard through the grapevine it may have found it's way onto Elizabeth's next card...stay tuned!

Brushstroke Bonanza: Scarlet Majesty with Elizabeth

It's a brushstroke bonanza here in the STUDIO as we share cards and techniques featuring Penny Black's newest brushstroke stamps.

Ready, stamp, watercolor!  

Penny Black's brushstroke stamps make it that easy!

Penny Black: Scarlet Majesty 40-494, Festive Cheer 30-381, Geometric Borders 51-196

For my watercoloring platform, I used a 4-inch Inchie Arts Art Square.  I knew I would be working with many watery layers and Art Squares are ideal for this process.

To begin, Scarlet Majesty was stamped with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  To watercolor the image, Distress Inks in hues of red, green, yellow and orange were applied to an acrylic block and then lifted off with a paintbrush.  Methods of wet-to-wet and wet-to-dry painting were used to achieve shading and highlighting.  The sky background is Weathered Wood Distress Ink.

My favorite product for adding white highlights to images is Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White.  The consistency is very thick which allows the artist to dilute it as desired.

After the painting was dry, the sentiment (Festive Cheer) was stamped in Onyx Black VersaFine.  

The Art Square was matted in red and then attached over top a die cut Geometric Border on a square card blank. 

You can find more Inchie Arts inspiration and projects on their BLOG and FACEBOOK  page.

Double The Fun: Tall Trees with Jill

It's double the designing fun as we reveal two cards using the same Penny Black Creative Die; Tall Trees.  

I'm still swooning over what Elizabeth created with these "Tall Trees."  Her clean and simple design was shimmering and awesome!  As I worked with this die, I decided to get inky.  I have two cards to share with you... let's head into the forest; shall we? :)

For this card, I inked my background using Distress Inks (Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade) using an ink blending tool and a foam pad.  The trees were inked with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint Distress inks and the trunks colored with a marker.  I hand cut a snowbank and adhered it to the bottom of the scene using dimensional adhesive.  Penny Black's die cut snowflakes were used to embellish the card.  And I just couldn't resist pairing the die cut moose with the tall trees!

All stamps and dies by Penny Black Inc: 51-273 Tall Trees, 51-269 Moose, 51-268 A Blizzard, 30-307 Holiday Snippets

Next, I've used Tall Trees on a tag.

More inking and masking with Distress Inks make up the background for this tag.  I also splattered the background with water to give the look of falling snow.  I think the small stamped bird from Penny Black's transparent set 30-261 Nature's Friends, might be my favorite part of this tag! This feathered friend was stamped with Memento Nautical Blue ink.  The trees were inked with Nautical Blue ink, pressing the ink pad directly onto the die cut pieces so a dark rich color was achieved. A hand cut snow bank stamped with a beautiful Penny Black sentiment (using VersaFine Onyx Black ink) finishes off this Tall Tree tag.

All stamps and dies by Penny Black Inc: 51-273 Tall Trees, 30-381 Yuletide Wishes, 30-261 Nature's Friends

Elizabeth and I have lots more STUDIO holiday happenings headed your way... see you soon!

Double the Fun: Tall Trees with Elizabeth

It's double the designing fun as we reveal two cards using the same Penny Black Creative Die; Tall Trees.  

The moment I laid my eyes on these Tall Trees, I immediately knew how I wanted to dress them.

Penny Black: Tall Trees 51-273, Snippets 30-283

These evergreens are brought to life with Therm-O-Web's Emerald Watercolor Deco Foil.

It is so easy to use and the results are "brilliant".

Create This Card In 5 Steps:

1. Die cut a window from a 4 x 5 1/4-inch piece of cardstock and cover the back of the window with vellum and then attach to a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inch card base.
2. Die cut Penny Black Tall Trees from white cardstock.
3. With the Deco Foil Adhesive Pen, use quick, flicking strokes to apply the adhesive.  (This will add to the illusion of branches.)  Let dry for 30 seconds to 1 minute. 
4. Lay the foil (colored side up) over the dried glue.  Cover with a scrap of cardstock and burnish the area with a bone folder.  Remove the scrap of cardstock and lift off the foil sheet. 
5. Stamp "have a great day" on a small rectangular banner in Onyx Black VersaFine and attach across the tree trunks.

Stay tuned for Jill's tree-mendous design!

Out & About with Jill: Shimmerz Video

Today I'm...

on the Shimmerz blog with a new VIDEO!

Click HERE for the full reveal and to watch the video.

Within today's video I'm also using Inchie Arts Swatch white Art Squares... they are great for the wet-on-wet blending technique shown in the video.

 

More Inchie Arts inspiration and projects on their BLOG and FACEBOOK page.

And before you go...

If you're looking to add Shimmerz Paints to your crafty stash then be sure to mention my name in the "comments" section in your shopping cart when placing an order.  The kind folks at Shimmerz will give you free paint just for doing so! (Shop HERE.)