Paper and Fiber Arts
Welcome to my mixed media blog. Thanks for stopping by.
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Elements of Floral Composition
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.
Altenew - Clear Photopolymer Stamps - Tranquility Rose
Scrapbook.com
Monday, July 24, 2023
Floral Stamp Three Ways


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.
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Stacked Stencils for Clean and Simple Cards
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.
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| Clean and Simple Card with Stacked Stenciling |
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.
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.
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.
Friday, July 14, 2023
Kraft, Black, and White Medallion Card
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.
Altenew - Clear Photopolymer Stamps - Tranquility Rose
Scrapbook.com
Master Layouts Dies - Gina K. Website










































