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Sunday, July 30, 2023

Improvisational Surface Design


Very rarely do I abandon other projects to work on something new. Recently, an opportunity presented itself that caused me to work on something unexpected. This recently happened because of a challenge posed by the Improv group of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. The July prompt was 'Surface Design'. My piece incorporated both improvisational quilting and surface design. This piece is mainly green because I am also working in a series with color as the focus. It felt like green should be used this time. 


This project inspired me to try a bunch of different things in one piece. For me, this is part of the fun. What starts as an experiment with materials to learn how they work together becomes an exploration of techniques and outcomes.



The first step was to see how a variety of media would work with this stencil on a piece of PFD Kona cotton. The Stabilo chunky pencils and the Derwent Inktense pencils worked as expected with no bleeding. Once the Inktense pencils and Inktense blocks were activated with GAC 100 the color did move. The Crayola Fabric, Marvy, Sharpie Stained, and Jacquard Tee Juice markers bled slightly but were easy to control. The Dye-na Flow is more challenging to control. I use water brushes filled with the dye and this can saturate the fabric quickly.



Next, after digging in my scrap box, I found several strips to sew together. Then, Pellon fusible web was applied to the back and a circle was cut using an Accuquilt die. This process was repeated on the stenciled piece. In order to have some variety with the circle sizes and fabrics, I used a set of smaller circle dies (Hero Arts) that are usually used with paper. They worked great. Both the large pieces and the additional smaller ones were attached to a larger piece of solid white fabric. Additional stenciling of circles and partial circles offers visual continuity. Adding stitched circles to the piece continued the theme. These circles were made with an embroidery sewing module using a wide range of thread colors.





I got a little carried away with adding circles and the finished quilt was too busy for my liking. It measures about 16 x 17 inches. The picture above shows it on my design wall.


Close up

The busy little quilt needed to be mounted onto a solid background to give it some space. After auditioning a number of options, I decided to use a previously painted wood panel, measuring 24" square. The sides are now painted black. I layered a piece of batting and black fabric together and quilted it enough to hold it together. The edges were turned prior to quilting. Then I attached the small art quilt to it and glued the entire thing onto the wooden frame.
The finished piece on a blue wall in my kitchen


Next month's prompt is "Sunshine". I am excited to try something with Tyvek for this challenge. What encourages you to work outside your normal process?


THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

Inktense Blocks

Inktense Pencils

GAC 100

Stabilo Woody 3 in 1 Pencils

Crayola Fabric Markers

Marvy Fabric Markers

Sharpie Stained Markers

Jacquard Dye-na Flow

Pentel Water Brushes

Jacquard Tee Juice Markers

Extra Deep Cradle Panel

Bullseye Circle Dies

Studio 2 Fabric Cutter

Hero Arts Circle Infinity Dies

Hero Arts Stacked Circle Stencil
Hero Arts - Stencils - Stacked Circles
Scrapbook.com
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Saturday, July 29, 2023

Elements of Floral Composition


One of the Altenew Academy classes that I recently completed has to do with the elements of design. The class is taught by Jaycee Gaspar. He is an Altenew Design Team Member, as well as an Altenew educator. Jaycee makes beautiful cards using watercolor with stamped floral images. His work is gorgeous! I took this class because I admire his work and wanted to know more about his process. These two clean and simple cards reflect some of what I learned in this class.  The first card showcases the use of line as a design element. 

Line

The heavier weight of a brush marker line as a frame around the circle gives additional emphasis to what is included in the flat frame. Even though nothing on the card front is popped off the surface, the thicker line also helps to make the circle seem three-dimensional. The only dimension on the card front is the use of sequins and pearls. Once the card front was complete, it was popped off the 4.25" x 5.5" base with a black die-cut frame underneath. The front and frame were cut with Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 set. 

The petals of the flower almost cradle the sentiment. Perceived lines in linear composition help with the placement of elements, such as sentiments, on a card. All images are stamped from the Build-A-Flower: Laelia set. First, the card panel was ink blended with Pool ink using a circle mask. This created a focal point for the black outline stamp to rest. One of the layering stamps was used to add a little bit of color, also using Pool ink. There are additional layering stamps in the set. However, I like the graphic look of limiting how much color is on this card. The next card uses the same inks, masks, and stamp set but in a different way.


Shape

Both cards use the circle as a design element but in a reverse way. There is no actual dimension on this card. The leaves are contained within the circle. The images are stamped on the A2 card base after ink-blending the center section of the masked card. Perceived depth and dimension are achieved by the use of the dark center color. This is especially useful in creating flat cards for mailing. Additional interest is added with ink splatters of the Pool ink mixed with a bit of water.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

Build-A-Flower: Laelia Layering Stamp Set (sold with dies, but the dies were not used on this project)

Fresh Dye Ink - Pool

Obsidian Pigment Ink


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Thursday, July 27, 2023

Watercolor Takes Practice



Recently, I completed two Altenew Academy classes on watercolor for card makers. After viewing the two different instructors' creations, the main takeaway is that watercolor takes practice. In my case, a lot of practice! The workshops are titled Botanical Illustration Inspired Watercolor, taught by Jaycee Gaspar, and Artists' Watercolor 101 for Paper Crafters with Emily Midgett. Each instructor has their own style, but both agreed that swatching your paints beforehand is a good idea.



It is time-consuming to swatch things. But the effort is worth it. The picture, above, shows the Altenew Essentials Pan set along with the painted piece of watercolor paper with each of the colors painted on it. There are swatches of each color mixed with the other colors, as well. I swatch all of my paints, inks, markers, embossing powders, and punches. It helps to have all of these things as a reference. Some of them I refer to more than others - but all of them provide me with an opportunity to see how the product works with the papers I use.

The card featured today shows the large rose and some of the foliage from the Tranquility Rose Stamp set stamped (and masked) onto watercolor paper with a light gray color. The use of the Silver Lake ink creates a no-line coloring image. This means that when the rose is painted, the lines fade into the image and are not very noticeable. For a true no-line watercolor, it is best to use the same color ink, when stamping, as will be used in painting. I didn't decide to go with yellow until after stamping so the stamped ink is faintly visible. After the watercolor dried, the panel was cut with a GinaK Designs frame and mounted onto a gray card front measuring 4.25" x 5.5". The sentiments come from the same Tranquility Rose stamp set. These are stamped with Obsidian Pigment ink. The butterflies are stamped with the same ink and heat embossed with clear powder. After coloring the images with Copic markers, they are popped up with foam. A few sequins complete the front panel. 

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

New Day Butterflies Stamp Set - Hero Arts Website

Altenew Watercolor Essentials Pan Set

Silver Lake Ink

Obsidian Pigment Ink

Tranquility Rose Stamp Set - Altenew Website



Altenew - Clear Photopolymer Stamps - Tranquility Rose
Scrapbook.com

Gina K Designs - Dies - Master Layouts 01
Scrapbook.com

Master Layouts Dies - Gina K. Website

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Monday, July 24, 2023

Floral Stamp Three Ways

Large image stamps are wonderful for cards, art journals, and scrapbook layouts. The floral stamp from the Sweet as Honey Hero Arts set measures about 6.5" from the base of the stem to the top leaf. Stamping the image and heat embossing it on different types of paper allowed for exploring three different ways to use it on hand-created cards.
The first image, on the left, uses white embossing powder over white pigment ink on 100 lb cardstock. After the paper cooled, I ink-blended the embossed image with Catherine Pooler inks in cool colors. Wipe off the ink from the white embossed areas to make the colors shine. The middle image is stamped with Versamark without wiping off the leftover white ink and embossed with clear powder onto a heavy green cardstock.
The pink image is also heat embossed with white ink and white powder. This time it is on watercolor paper. It is easy to watercolor with embossed images because the embossing helps hold the watercolor inside the design. Sometimes, I audition stamped images onto backgrounds before deciding how to use them.
The picture above shows one of the images cut into two pieces and placed on an ink-blended background. And the picture below shows the intact image placed on a stenciled/ink-blended background. This was too busy for my liking.
Ultimately, I layered the image on a small solid panel placed over a heat-embossed background which has another piece of dark cardstock placed underneath and to one side of the front panel. The same dark green cardstock was used for the sentiment. The butterflies, sentiment, and background all use gold heat embossing powder. This is a 6-inch square card.
The 4.25" x 5.5" card, pictured below, also uses a gold embossed butterfly and sentiment. The sentiment is stamped onto the ink-blended panel. This is the same panel that was auditioned (and rejected,) above.
The panel adheres to a top-folding card base and the corners are rounded with a punch. Rounded corners soften the card. This design element is particularly welcome on a sympathy card.


The last card is also a 6-inch square card and is layered very similarly to the other square card. The butterflies are from the New Days Butterflies stamp set and colored with Copic markers. They add a bit of beauty to all of the cards.

Thank you for visiting!

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

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Sunday, July 23, 2023

Stacked Stencils for Clean and Simple Cards

Have you layered stand-alone stencils to achieve a new look? That is what today's post is about. I used two stencils to create a different effect on three clean and simple cards. The idea is from Nicole Watt in her Altenew Academy class titled "Advanced Stencil Techniques". Her class is filled with a lot of fun techniques. This one particularly appeals to me because it looks great and is very fun to do. Also, I love that there is a bit of a surprise element to what you create that is shown upon the reveal. 

On the first two cards, I used the grid stencil after using an open stencil or mask for the first layer. The card pictured above is the maze stencil with Silver Sage ink blended onto a 4.25" x 5.5" piece of cardstock. Leaving the stencil in place, the grid stencil is aligned on top, and Pool and Navy inks are blended over the original design. The photo above shows the ink blending after that step with the grid stencil removed.
Clean and Simple Card with Stacked Stenciling

These next two cards use a reverse mask from the Wonderland set. The one above shows it with the grid stencil and the one below is with a discontinued geometric stencil. Also, the one below uses navy ink after the geometric design was complete. Each of the cards has a stamped sentiment from the Wonderland stamp set. 

All three cards are layered onto standard 4.25" x 5.5" card bases after die-cutting the stencil background and a frame using Gina K's Master Cuts Set 1 dies. A little bling was added to all of the cards using Pinkfresh Studio Metallic Pearls or Essential Jewels. 
The large die-cut sentiment is popped up with foam tape. It covers some of the card, but not enough to be distracting from the cool-looking background. I hope you give this technique a try! It is kind of addictive, though.


THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

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Monday, July 17, 2023

Copper Medallion Card

 

This die set has been featured in several recent posts (i.e., here and here) because it is easy to work with and provides lots of ways to use it. Any metallic cardstock will give a rich look to the card. This one happens to be brushed copper from Altenew.

Stacking vellum, black, and copper gives a wizarding/magic vibe to me. It is pretty, yet sort of mysterious.  Or maybe it is just that I've been visiting some beautiful, magical places in nature lately and everything feels special because of it? Does your environment affect your perception when it comes to crafting?
The "Love You" sentiment is stamped and heat embossed on vellum which is layered onto the copper cardstock die cut with a GinaK Designs die. The little black embellishments are from my stash. I think they are from Taylored Expressions.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.


Products Used:

Medallion Dies - Altenew Website

Tranquility Rose Stamp Set - Altenew Website

Master Layouts Dies - Gina K. Website

Master Layouts 2 Dies - Gina K. Website


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