Hare in the Landscape

Hi everyone.  I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks as I have been away to Cornwall.  We went over the bank holiday weekend for a male voice music festival with a choir hubby belongs to and then we finished the week out staying at Mevagissey, and the weather was lovely with only a little rain one morning and then sunny and reasonably warm for the rest of the week, in fact as the week went on it got warmer and warmer which was great.  Since being back I have been slow to get back to anything, but  I have just bought a Speedball Elegant Writer Pen having seen it used for this month's Group of Seven Cardmakers and have also seen some YouTube videos and I thought it looked interesting so decided to give it a try.  I bought one with a fine nib and they have a flat edge as they are calligraphy pens but can be used with water, and the black pen which I bought will split out into blue and pink when the water is added.  It is the first time I have used it and I was reasonably pleased with the result.  I used a set of stamps called Wildlife for the hare and the sentiment which are from the Textures range of stamps by Lou Collins, and also a couple of different sets from the It's Just Paper range - Winter Woods from which I used the trees and grass, and Animal Silhouettes for the birds and two little hares, all of which are being used here for the first time.

I stamped all the images onto a piece of Bristol Smooth 250gsm card using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.  I did add two layers of the grass moving the stamp up in my stamp positioner and reinking just the top half of the grass to thicken it up and make it a bit higher, and then added some of the Elegant Writer Pen over the top around the edges and where there were shaded areas, and moved it around using a water brush.  I also scribbled some on my glass mat and picked it up from there.  I didn't get much of the pink, coming through but couldn't really add lots of water as it does cockle, and it did a bit, but I sprayed the other side with water and that helped to flatten it out.  Next time I will try a watercolour paper.  I like this paper because it is nice and white which is a better match for the cards I use, and generally speaking the watercolour card does not have the same whiteness.  I finished it with a blue mat and coloured a piece of white card round the edges with a couple of my blue alcohol pens one over the top of the other to get what I thought was a good colour to go with it and brighten it up a bit.  

Thank you for coming for a look today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 62 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
We Love Stamping Challenge - May '24 Vintage/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - May '24 Mood Board/Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 780 Spots and Stripes/Anything Goes.

Typography

Hi everybody.  I have a card for my BIL today using a new Textures Vintage Typewriter die and the set of stamps from the latest Creative Stamping Magazine called Typography and a couple of stencils which came with it from their Textures range by Lou Collins.  There is a vintage and a more modern typewriter stamp in the set which is great, but they had a £5 sale over at Craft Stash recently and I couldn't resist the larger version die cut typewriter which I used here.  I added in the set of books and a sentiment from the stamp set and the letters and numbers using one of the stencils, and all being used for the first time.

I die cut the typewriter twice from white card and glued it together before using some grey alcohol pens to colour it.  I did use the blender to lift some ink for some extra highlights and I also added bits of Black Micron Pen and White Signo Pen, especially on the typewriter keys, and I finished it by adding some WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder over it using Versamark to make it look more like metal.  I then cut a white piece of card to fit a 6" square card and used the stencil on it with three different Distress Inks -  Ripe Persimmon, Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn and added this onto the card.  I stamped the books twice on a piece of white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink heat embossed with Wow Clear Gloss EP.  I decided to colour the books using more of my alcohol pens sticking to shades of the three colours I used on the background, and I fussy cut them and added them to each side so they would appear to be back behind the typewriter.  I finished by adding the piece of white card the die for which is part of the set, and I stamped the sentiment again using the Nocturne Ink and WOW Clear Gloss EP and added this to the typewriter which has a little slot which it fits into, and I then adhered it to the card.  I'm not sure it is very visible but I added a bit of light grey under the books and typewriter to ground them. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun Challenge - April -Anything Goes and optional Spring/Flowers.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 778 Use A Stencil.

NBUS Challenge - No. 62 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 61 CAS.

I am also joining in with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S., a challenge she has set herself but she has invited anyone who wants to join in.  This is Week 5: 'S' = Stencils.