Mixed Media with Elegant Writer

A bit more playing with my Elegant Writer pen!

I used the same poppy image as in my earlier post (see here) but did a lot more mixed media and it turned out quite differently.

Again the focal panel was done by stamping with Vintage Photo ink, but this time I added the Elegant Writer directly to the flower and leaves and then moved the ink with a water brush.  I kept the leaves in the grey that comes out of the pen first but for the flower petals, I drew out the teal/pink shades from it. For the stems, buds, and text, I drew some of the Vintage Photo out with a wet brush.

I had some unknown grains of red brusho on my work surface and got a bit of that on the light area of the panel and since I wanted a slightly pinker colour to the poppy, I watered those grains of red brusho down and added some to the poppy.

Final touch on the focal panel - a vertical sentiment in brown Archival ink.

The background panel was created by using embossing paste through a stencil, letting it dry, and then spraying it with two shades of neutral coloured spray.

It's much less CAS than the poppy card on yesterday's post, and it has a real mixed media vintage look to it - I have to say I prefer the yesterday's poppy card.

Supplies:
Stamps - Carabelle Studio poppy, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Vintage Photo, Archival Potting Soil
Paper - ivory and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, text stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste, Mr. Huey's Shell spray, Distress Antique Linen spray, red brushos

Elegant Writer for the Group of Seven Cardmakers

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are trying out Elegant Writer pens this month.

The Elegant Writer is a calligraphy pen that has a pigment that will separate out with water into tones of grey, teal green, and a pinky mauve.  Lydia (Understand Blue on SCS) did a great video on using it (see it here) and I followed her technique for this card:  

I put the stamp in my MISTI and stamped with Distress Vintage Photo.  Instead of adding the Elegant Writer directly to the image and then drawing the colour out with a wet brush, I took my wet brush to the nib of the Elegant Writer, picked up some of the colour and took it to the image on my wet brush.  The more water you use, the more colour separation you get.  I got a nice variation throughout the flower and leaves.

For the stems, buds, seed heads, and butterfly, I used a clean wet brush and pulled out some of the Vintage Photo from the stamping to colour them in.

I decided not to add a sentiment as I love just the look of the image - it's a wonderful collage image of the poppies, the text, and the background dots.  I trimmed the panel and popped it up on fun foam on a kraft card base.

I'm really happy with the CAS vintage look to it.

I then wondered what would happen if I scribbled with the Elegant Writer onto my palette and picked up ink from there.  I laid down quite a lot and it started turning very green/grey on my palette.

 

I coloured the berries with a bright red marker, fussy cut the stamped image, mounted it on a square of red cs cut with a stitched die, and then popped that up on fun foam on a square card base. I finished off by going over the berries with Glossy Accents.

 

I then moved on to trying the method of going over the stamped lines with the Elegant Writer.

For this card, I stamped the image and then went over the holly leaves with the Elegant Writer and then drew the colour out with my water brush.  I started with the middle leaf and was too heavy handed - I got a nasty big blob of black that I couldn't get to bleed out enough so covered that blob with my sentiment.  I used a much lighter hand with both the Elegant Writer and the water brush on the other two leaves, and got just green and grey tones, with a tiny hint of pinky mauve.

I coloured the berries with a Cherry Cobbler marker, trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die, mounted it on fun foam on a dark red card base, and added a sentiment cut with a stitched banner die.

I then wanted to bring out the pinks that are in the Elegant Writer:

I stamped the poinsettia with the Vintage Photo Distress ink as I did in the poppy card.  I went back to the technique of touching my waterbrush to the tip of the Elegant Writer to pick up a bit of colour and then watercoloured the poinsettia petals one at a time, blotting each one after I painted it.  This took away some of the blacks and greens and left me with a lot of shades of pink and pale grey.  I lost some of the lines inside the petals of the poinsettia so went over them with a matching coloured pencil.  I added a sentiment, trimmed it with a stitched square die, popped it up on fun foam, and placed light brown pearls in the centre.  There was a bit of Elegant Writer ink left on my water brush so I did a very light bit of splattering. 

I've used the Elegant Writer on the same poppy stamp before.  Here is that card plus a close-up of the flower and a link to the blog post that describes it.  For this one, I added small lines and dabs onto the stamped image with the Elegant Writer, pulled some colour out, but left some white sections in the petals.

  

https://cardmakersgarret.blogspot.com/2023/09/gemstone-ornaments-and-elegant-writer.html

My conclusion from these four cards is I much prefer the method of touching my wet brush to the nib of the Elegant Writer and taking the colour to the image that way (as in cards 1 and 4), rather than scribbling some ink onto my palette as in card 2) or going directly to the image with the Elegant Writer (as in card 3).  If I do go directly to the image, I will stick to tiny bits of Elegant Writer as I did in card 5.

There are additional examples over at the Group of Seven blog, and other videos with lots of tips.  If you try out the Elegant Writer, we'd love to have you post your card as inspiration for others!

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Carabelle Studio poppy
Ink - Distress Vintage Photo
Paper - hot press watercolour paper, kraft cardstock
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, fun foam

Supplies 2:
Stamps - Serendipity holly
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, Lil Inker stitched square die, red Tombow marker, Glossy Accents, fun foam

Supplies 3:
Stamps - Visible Image holly, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, dark red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, SU Cherry Cobbler marker, stitched rectangle die, stitched banner die

Supplies 4:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Distress Vintage Photo
Paper - off white cs, watercolour paper
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, light brown pearls, Lil Inker stitched square die

Rainy Day Christmas

Vancouver is having a chilly rainy spell so what better time to work on Christmas cards?

Christmas Craft Creations wants Non-Traditional Colours so I went with blue and violet for the background for this card.

I sprinkled the blue and violet Magicals on watercolour paper, spritzed with water and let the colours run.  When dry I trimmed the panel with a deckle edged rectangle die, popped it up on fun foam on a white shimmer card base, and added the die cut ornament and sentiment, cut out of the same white shimmer cs.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants "Old Fashioned Christmas".  I used a never inked up Tim Holtz stamp so I'm linking up at the NBUS Challenge.

Stamped with a bit of colouring with coloured pencils, bordered in black, and added to a white mini slimline card base.

Then The 12 Months of Christmas wants Christmas Candy.  And it's time for the Rudolph Days Challenge too - any Christmas card made between the 25th and the end of the month.

Stamped and watercoloured, with metallic gold paint used on the ornaments and ribbon.  It was trimmed with a rectangle die, then I used the SSS thin frame die to cut a thin rectangle out of it.  I painted the thin rectangle frame with the same metallic gold paint I'd used on the image, let it dry, and then inserted it back into the gap.  Put it all on fun foam onto the card base.

     

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - watercolour paper, white shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and violet Magicals, Spellbinders deckled edge rectangle die, Memory Box snowflake ornament die, Spellbinders Joy die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Tim Holtz
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Stampendous candy canes, unknown joy
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - off white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, gold metallic paint, SSS thin frames die, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam

Recycled Bottle, Layered Flowers, and Monochrome Doves

Today is Earth Day so it seems an appropriate day to post this card for both Jingle Belles and Sweet Stampin' challenges to include a recycled element.

The little bottle came off a commercial card I received and the ribbon off a Christmas gift.

I stamped the sentiment on white cs and cut the sections out and layered everything on some festive dp.

I feel that the sentiment is such a major part of the card so I'm also linking it up at Word Power.

Next up is a card for The Flower Challenge "Add Layers".  I've got a watercoloured focal image layer, a pink bordering layering, and a dp layer on the card base.  It's also for Colorful Options "Pastels".

And last for today, Addicted to CAS wants a monochrome card.

 I used a little scrap of cling wrap background made with a couple of different blue Brushos (sprinkled, spritzed with water, then cling wrap scrunched up on it, and left to dry).  I framed it, added the two die cut doves, and added a blue heat embossed sentiment.

                  

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Dylusions sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, dp
Size - A2
Accessories - recycled little bottle, recycled ribbon

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Echoes of Kindness flower
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and pink cs, dp, watercolour paper
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - watercolour paints

Supplies for card :
Stamps - Stampendous sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, Memory Box dove dies, Impression Obsession frame die

Greenery in a Jar

Great inspiration from this month's Peace on Earth mood board!  The photos of the greenery in jars prompted me to use a jar die that I've never used before.

I die cut the jar from white cs and sponged a bit of grey around the edges for shading and dimension.  I smooshed scraps of cs with various green Distress inks and then die cut the greenery and holly from it.  Then arrange it in the opening of the jar, added it to a white card base and embellished with red gemstones for the berries.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board that inspired me.  Head on over to our blog for more inspiration from the design team, and then make a card for our challenge either inspired by the mood board or an "anything Christmas" card!

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - various green Distress inks, Memento London Fog, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz greenery dies, holly die, mason jar die, red gemstones

Colour Challenges

I don't know how you feel about colour challenges but I do very few of them - I really have to like the colours to be inspired to do them.  The new 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is a colour challenge - red, kraft, and white.  That's a combination I really happen to like so I made this card for it.

Kraft card base, die cut kraft tree (cut twice and glued together for more dimension), a white focal panel cut with a stitched rectangle die, and then lovely bits of red for the stamped sentiment and the die cut cardinals.

Then I needed a masculine birthday card and thought the Seize the Birthday challenge of green and one other colour (I chose black to keep it masculine) would work.  And I was on a roll with birds so dug out another bird die.

I smooshed a background with various green Distress inks, then stamped a bit of cross-hatched texture and the sentiment on it.  I die cut the branch and bird out of black cs, glued it on the green panel and popped it up on fun foam for more dimension.

  

I'm curious - if you leave a comment, let me know if you like colour challenges or not.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - SU Real Red
Paper - kraft, red, and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Impression Obsession tree and cardinals, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment, unknown cross-hatching stamp
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various green Distress inks
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box bird die, Sizzix branch die

Butterflies and Birds

My Time to Craft Challenge wants to see butterflies.  I used this as a chance to make a card for a friend who loves purple.

I created the background by sprinkling purple Brushos on watercolour paper and spritzing with water. When dry, I stamped and heat embossed the butterfly in white, and stamped the sentiment in black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I trimmed the panel and popped it up on fun foam.

My next card also has a butterfly but it's for Can You Handle the Pressure? - use an embossing folder with a twist of birds.  I used my embossing folder to frame all my little images, including an image of a bird.

 

 

I stamped some of the images in black and some in dark brown, and then coloured them with coloured pencils. I die cut the images with a small square die cut. I stamped and heat embossed tiny sentiments on the two right hand squares. They are popped up on fun foam on a panel that is dry embossed with the border folder.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Visible Image butterfly, unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white and clear embossing powders, various purple Brushos, wonky stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Nature Walk, SSS tiny sentiments
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, ColorBox gold
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, SU embossing folder, gold embossing powder, Spellbinders square die, fun foam

Reindeer with a Christmas Tree

I love being inspired by a challenge's mood board to make a card!  This one is for Peace on Earth and I was inspired by the upper right image (see mood board below).

I used a piece of dp for my snowy sky and tore a piece of cs to make the snowy ground.  I die cut the reindeer out of white cs and then sponged with a couple of shades of Distress inks.  Then glued it on to two more layers of die cut deer to give it more substance.  I tucked him behind a tree die cut once from green and once from white and glued together to have a thin line of white on the branch tops.

Head over to Peace on Earth and check out how other members of the Design Team were inspired by our mood board.  We'd love to see if it inspires you or if you'd rather post an "anything Christmas" card.

I'm also linking my card up with the Christmas Craft Creations "Designer Paper" Challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Brushed Corduroy and Pumice Stone, Memento London Fog
Paper - white and green cs, Echo Park dp
Size - A2
Accessories - deer die, tree die, SU punch

Spring Bluebells and Two Christmas Cards

Since it's spring, I'll start with a spring card.  Shopping our Stash Challenge is asking for Spring or Easter, and the Four Seasons Challenge wants Spring.  And since the bluebells are a Penny Black stamp, I'm linking it up to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

The Scilla are starting to bloom in my garden so this seemed the perfect stamp.  I stamped  and heat embossed in gold, then coloured with coloured pencils.  With Tea Dye ink to give a vintage feel, I stamped the definition of spring in a couple of places, sponged  around the edges, and stencilled some splatters.  Then stamped the flower name and cut it with a narrow label die and added it to the top.  The panel is popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

Moving on to working on my Christmas card stash.  Double D wants to see Cute Little Animals and Jingle Belles want us to be inspired by one of the cookies in this image:

I saw the cookie on the left near the bottom with the tangle of lights and thought of the stamp I have with a cute little dog all tangle up in Christmas lights.

I watercoloured the image and went over the lights with Glossy Accents. I trimmed with an old Spellbinders label tag, and bordered with green and added to a red card base. And I found the perfect sentiment that refers to lights! 

And finally Christmas Craft Creations wants to see Designer Paper on our cards.  I love colour coordinating DP with the colours I use in my focal image. 

The image is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils and popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black Scilla, Purple Onion spring definition
Ink - ColorBox gold, Distress Oxide Tea Dye
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, coloured pencils, splatter stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black dog, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and green cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Glossy Accents, Spellbinders label dies

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment, unknown owl stamp
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, dp
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam