Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Father's Day Blog Hop with IndigoBlu


The IndigoBlu DT are having a Father's Day Blog Hop and you can save 20% off the main stamp sets used until 17th June! These stamps are great for all masculine cards, whatever the occasion. The details and links to the other blogs can be found at the bottom of this post.

I don't have much in the way of masculine stamps but I did have the Travelling Home stamp set from IndigoBlu so I picked out a few words and images and stamped them in sepia Versafine on Kraft card.


You can stamp the whole thing and then cut out what you want but I just inked the bits I wanted and wiped away any excess ink from the stamp before stamping.


 Next I drew out the word DAD onto Kraft - you can print off the word and trace down, use die cuts or a laser cutter if you don't want to go free-hand.

Then I painted in the letters with Burning Bonfire acrylic paint mixed with a little Gesso and overstamped in Sepia Versafine using the Circle Dots Collectors Edition #6 stamp.


I outlined with a black pitt pen and then a white posca and finally cut the word out.  I also cut out the words I'd stamped earlier.


Working directly onto a DL Kraft card blank I randomly stamped in sepia with the Circle Dots and the cogs from the Take the Time stamp set.  I used Burning Bonfire and white Gesso to spatter the background.  I didn't have an 'are' on the stamp set so I used a calligraphy pen and wrote it myself.


I messed about with the layout of the words until I was happy and then glued them down.  To make everything pop (and match the DAD) I highlighted the letters in white and went round the cut outs with white and black pens and a little of the Burning bonfire applied with a brush.

Finally I edged the card with white and black pens, and added some cogs from my stash.



The following stamp sets have a 20% discount until 17/06/18

Use discount code FD20
at the checkout

Why not 'hop' on over to the other Design Team's blogs for more inspiration? 


Friday, 18 May 2018

Lou, Let Loose

Yes they've let Lou Withers loose on Hochanda again, this time with IndigoBlu, and she's launching three new colours in the Artists Acrylic range.

Here are some of the samples I did for the show using the lovely new colours


Indigo Blue

Is a deep rich transparent blue/purple that works so well with the existing range, shown here with Burning Bonfire and 




Duck Egg

This incredibly subtle transparent green/blue has been used in the background of this piece, layered over white gesso.  Two coats of the Duck Egg were used but you could keep on going.  The flowers were painted with Mulberry Bush and our final new colour....

Ugly Duckling

There's nothing ugly about this warm sepia brown which can be mixed with other colours or used on it's own as shown here on the poppies.  Great for all your vintage and shabby projects.

Finally here's a piece that uses all three new colours together.


You can buy all three new colours as a set HERE from Hochanda

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

The Wonders of (IndigoBlu) Rice Paper

Thanks to Leonie Pujol, I've ditched the baby wipes in favour of cleaning up with rice paper, IndigoBlu Rice Paper to be precise. 

It covers a multitude of sins.....


This was part of a piece that I messed up with dodgy stamping so I stuck some rice paper over the mistake.

This was a mini canvas where the background had gone wrong.  I generally cover my canvases with watercolour or mixed media paper before painting - mostly because I'm too lazy to wait for gesso to dry and I can rip it off if it goes awry - but when I ripped the paper off this, most of it stayed stuck....bring on the rice paper!

Finally, and not a mistake, rice paper is brilliant for covering curved surfaces.

All of these samples were made for Louise Withers' IndigoBlu show on Hochanda on Friday 18th May at 12 and 4pm.  Be sure to watch, as she's showcasing new acrylic colours and you can see the stunning work from the IndigoBlu design team......and buy some rice paper!





It's not what you know.....

Ages ago me and Emma Blake were having a discussion about how popular girls and faces have become in art journaling.  I said I didn't ...