Watercolour Class Day 1 - Second Post

I am re-posting this one so I can load it into the class gallery.  It only lets me link to one picture for each blog post. It might be something I'm doing wrong, but I don't have time (or inclination) to figure it out right now so I am doing this work around.

My second card also features the same technique - painting through a stencil (The Crafter's Workshop Mini Fish Scales). I stamped this lovely heron and grass cluster (both Old Island Stamp Company) and applied some different Distress Inks with a colour duster brush.  (It's fun to play in someone else's stamp room - you get to try all sorts of things!) The cardbase is stamped with a linen background stamp (Stampin' Up) using Dark Peony Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink for a wonderful effect like Kaffe Fassett's shot cottons. It's a gorgeous effect and it did look like the shot cotton fabric (warp and weft threads are different colours). I will be using this technique again (and again and again!).


I didn't have time to try the other two techniques, but they are ones I have done before.  This one was new to me and it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

On-Line Watercolour Class Day 1 - First Post

 Hello!  I signed up for the On-Line Watercolor Class (see button on the right-hand sidebar).  The first class was yesterday and we learned about different watercolour backgrounds.  I was at my mother's house for a stamping visit and thought I would try out a couple of the techniques.

The top card features watercolour paint applied through a stencil (Memory Box Style No. 88515).  Once that was dry, I sponged Vintage Photo Distress ink on it and sponged a bit through the stencil.  Then I overstamped it with a text stamp (sorry I don't remember which one).  The sentiment (Stampin' Up) is is matted on some dark brown and mustard cardstock and accented with some stamped flowers (Stampin' Up). The card base is burgundy with a textured accent strip. I used a student-sized palette of Windsor and Newton's watercolour paints.

The bottom card also features the same technique - painting through a stencil (The Crafter's Workshop Mini Fish Scales). I stamped this lovely heron and grass cluster (both Old Island Stamp Company) and applied some different Distress Inks with a colour duster brush.  (It's fun to play in someone else's stamp room - you get to try all sorts of things!) The cardbase is stamped with a linen background stamp (Stampin' Up) using Dark Peony Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink for a wonderful effect like Kaffe Fassett's shot cottons. It's a gorgeous effect and it did look like the shot cotton fabric (warp and weft threads are different colours). I will be using this technique again (and again and again!).

I didn't have time to try the other two techniques, but they are ones I have done before.  This one was new to me and it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

One layer card

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. It's getting to be that time of year when I need a bunch of cards to donate to the church bazaar. Clean and simple options are always quick to do, and can be striking. I had a card base handy, so I masked off an L-shape with sticky notes and sponged on some distress ink (Victorian Velvet and Stormy Sky). It seemed to need a horizontal silhouette vignette. Since I didn't have the perfect stamp for that (gasp!), I had to improvise. I found this lovely shorebird (Old Island Stamp Company) and stamped it on in black and added some extra ripple lines with my Micron. I found a suitable sentiment for underneath (A Muse) and added some birds in flight, again with the pen. The all-seeing eye of Sauron the Scanner has revealed my sponging shortcomings, but I'm hoping the hurly burly of the Christmas bazaar will mask (ha ha! who says puns are the lowest form of humour? I refuse to believe it) any imperfections.

NSR: We're getting into Hallowe'en here - costumes have been chosen, pumpkins purchased and ready for carving, candy bought for trick-or-treaters. We had a party at work yesterday and I had the dubious honour of winning the Thematic Costume category. I wore a buttoned dress shirt with my husband's tie, a brown fedora and a glued-on mustache, and toted my iron. Can you guess what I was? (Hint - I foreshadowed my love of puns in the previous paragraph.) Yes, you guessed it - I went as Iron Man. My friend at work said I looked like Everyman on a New York subway. At least that's what she said when she stopped hooting with laughter long enough to come up for air. Then she insisted I refer to women as "dames" for the rest of the day and pretend I worked for Barney Miller down at the precinct. I think it was the mustache. It was quite realistic (ca. 1978). My kids just couldn't stop looking at it, and touching it. I think it really freaked them out. I would post a picture except this is the internet and people from work might see it. Oh yeah. They saw it in person. I'm still not going to post it. It was one of those magical moments that had to be experienced in person.

Scrap Stash Sunday 7

Hello! Happy Thanksgiving! So much to be thankful for, including a few stolen moments this morning to make this card. I guess that would make it technically Scrap Stash Monday, but on a subjective scale, this feels like Sunday (minus church). Plus, it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. Ha!

This lovely partridge in a pear tree (Old Island Stamp Company) is embossed in gold on black paper, and was an orphan from another project. (They prefer to be called orphans, rather than rejects.) He is much happier now that he has been adopted by this project. There was a waifly stray piece of gold paper, no trimming required, immediately under my left hand on the table, so that was pressed into service as well. The music piece was floating at the top of a pile, and seemed like a great backdrop. I'll pretend it's the music for "The Twelve Days of Christmas". It had been stamped (Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous) and sponged with various shades of Distress Inks. The card base is a gray-green tsumugi, and had been cut and scored and orphaned during another project. I stamped it with khaki versacolour using a solid pear (Heather's Stamping Haven) and the sentiment is Cornish Heritage Farms (RIP) in India Ink (Memories). I like this card - quite non-traditional colours, but very soothing and still festive in an understated way. I guess the enormous, flashy gold piece in the middle isn't exactly understated, but it's my blog HA!

NSR. We had a lovely Thanksgiving. My brother and his family came over yesterday afternoon and hubby cooked a fabulous turkey. Yum yum. Mt Scio savory in the stuffing, as always (if you've had it once, you'll never want another kind). My sister-in-law brought her signature mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes in halved orange cups. I made pear salad, an import to our family tradition from my aunt's in-laws. Truly Ruly Punkin Pie from my paternal grandmother's recipe (though I wimped out on the pastry and used bought, not nearly as good, but worth it not to have lost my mind in the pie making process). The kids were sooo good and had a great time together. They even organized a Halloween dance party in the living room in their Halloween costumes. Nephew had his robot/spaceman costume and did an impromptu robot dance, complete with deadpan face. It was amazing. Niecelet and nephew stayed over so the grown ups could visit and play cards till the wee hours. It was awesome. Two things wrench me from my state of self-satisfaction (three if you count the pastry).

1. DD2 has asked approximately 17 times if we can have Kraft Dinner for our next big festive meal (Christmas). Yes, Kraft Dinner, that wonderful boxed variety, that claims to have real cheese in it. Yep. That's my girl. The local turkey impeccably roasted and home made Port and Pear Cranberry Sauce are apparently a little 2009 for her I guess....

2. DD1 and Niece (best friends since Day 1) made star badges for DD2 and Nephew that say "Great Job!". These were awarded for staying away from the big kids. My SIL and I had a big discussion about whether this was a very resourceful and inventive way to have all parties happy with the state of affairs (jr cousins wore their badges proudly all night) or whether it was quite a horror. By the cold light of day, I still haven't made up my mind.

Button Snowman

Here's a card I made just before Christmas. I needed some cards to go with gift subscriptions and I just love this little button snowman from Sunshine Designs. The snowman is stamped with Palette ink and painted with twinkling H20's, and the buttons are highlighted with diamond glaze. I finished it off with some Stickles here and there for some extra shine. The sparkly snowflakes in the background were created with a snowflake stamp (no maker's identification), a glue pad, and glitter.

Supplies Stamps: snowman from Sunshine Designs, The Stamp Barn, "celebrate" from Old Island Stamps, snowflake unknown; Paper: watercolour paper, soft sky, blue bayou; Ink: Palette black noir; Accessories: glue pad, diamond glaze, dazzling diamonds glitter, twinkling H20's, stickles

Welcome to my new blog!

Hello! Welcome to my new blog! I called it The Daley Stamper because I love to stamp and I stamp almost every day. And, being a Daley (as well as someone who can't resist a pun) I thought that would be a good name.

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now, and have finally decided to take the plunge. It's taken me a while for a couple of reasons. First off, it always takes me a while to catch up with the trends, whatever they are. I'm much more of a trailing-edge person than a cutting-edge person, but I'm ok with that. Second, the whole technical aspect of blogging didn't really appeal to me. However, my mother is a very tech-savvy person and has really helped me out with all the behind-the-scenes stuff. (Thanks Mum! :D)

So here I am, another voice in the stamping-blog world. I hope you enjoy what you see here and I hope it inspires you to make something special for a special someone in your life.

For my first post, I thought I'd share something I made on my visit out west. My mother and I took a class at Western Educational Activities Ltd. (stamping swoon!!!) in Edmonton, taught by the amazing Cathie Allan (yes, it's true! I got to take a class from Cathie Allan and it was fantastic, another stamping swoon!!!).

In the "Back to Basics" class, Cathie taught us how to make gorgeous backgrounds using fluid chalk and pigment inks. The trick to the pigment inks is heat setting them with an iron. Who knew! I will definitely be using this technique in the future. Not only is it a lot of fun, you can really get some gorgeous colour combinations.

I love this card - I don't usually make them so big (it's 5.5x7"), but it was fun to try something new and this technique really works well on a large palette. I made it a pocket card, with a tag insert that's big enough to be a book mark.

Notes on the card: I won't go into a lot of detail about the technique since it was from a class and I don't have permission from the store or instructor to share. Basically, the panel is created by layering colours and uses pigment and chalk ink, and resist techniques.

Supplies Stamps: Daisy - Old Island Stamp Company, "Magic Happens" and dandelion - Serendipity Stamps, "Life is the flower" - Paper Inspirations; Paper: whisper white, basic black, taken with teal; Ink: colorbox fluid chalk (lavender, aquamarine, blue lagoon), colorbox pigment ink; Accessories: clear and black embossing powder, Dove blender pen, flower brads, Tombow and Marvy markers, eyelash yarn