Throwback Thursday!

It's Thursday... time for a little Throwback! Every Thursday we will be sharing a wonderful project from a past issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.... a full step by step tutorial for you to feast your eyes upon! As a new project for our newer readers, or a reminder for those who have been with us a while... it's sure to inspire!

The project today was created by Anna Karin Evaldsson, and was first published in the August 2014 issue. We think this is a simply stunning example of stamped art, and hope you do too! Anna Karin has provided the step by step pictures so you can all have a go... 

Anna Karin Says:


With scenic stamping you can create your very own landscapes, the only limitation is your imagination. Let scenic stamping carry you away to places of your dreams, or you can recreate a well-known and loved place, maybe using a photo as reference. I like to sometimes add cut out photos to scenes, often of my son, and he loves to see himself walking around in a fairy tale landscape.

I love the look of black and white photos, which might partly explain why I like to do black and white scenes. Doing a monochrome scene is not only effective and fun, it is also a great way to practice your colouring skills, in particular relating to light and dark. Working in only one colour makes you focus on tone (the lightness and darkness of a colour), light and shadows. It is a great way to learn more about this.

I did my scenes in greyscale, but you can also use other colours for a monochrome scene. One of my favourites is blue, which works great for night time or winter scenes. Or try green for a great nature feel, purple for drama or brown for a vintage look. 

MATERIALS LIST

Stamps Anna-Karin used...

Darkroom Door: Gum Trees DDRS132, Wilderness Vol. 1 DDRS023, Wildflowers Vol. 2 DDRS034

Stampscapes: Reeds 068D, Migrating Birds 152D, Leafy Brach 277F

Other materials...

Daler & Rowney Artist Watercolour Paint: Payne’s Grey

Daler & Rowney Aquafine Watercolour Paper 300 gsm/140 lbs

Ranger Distress Ink: Black Soot

Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black

Tsukineko VersaMark Embossing Ink

Tsukineko Goosebumps Clear Texture Spray

Ranger Seafoam White Embossing Powder

Paintbrushes

Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser

EK Success Stamp-a-ma-jig Stamp Positioner

Twine

Step-by-step…Black and White Watercolour Scene 

Mist and splatter a little Goosebumps Texture Spray on a piece of watercolour cardstock (A4 or Letter Size). Leave to dry for a resist effect. You can skip this step if you want to.

Stamp and heat emboss a branch at the top right-hand corner, and grass and flowers at the bottom. Use white or clear embossing powder. The embossing will resist the paint.

Choose one watercolour colour, preferable a dark one which has a wider tonal range than light colours. I used Payne’s Grey. Mix three or four different strengths, varying the amount of water. You can also use Black Soot Distress reinker.

Adhere the paper to a board with masking or gummed tape. If you use a smaller paper, this isn’t necessary. Paint the sky with clean water and then with a dark and light mix of paint. Blot out clouds with tissue paper.

Paint the hills with the three paint mixes. Start with the lightest mix towards the horizon, the medium mix in the middle and the darkest mix at the front. This helps to create a sense of perspective.

When the background is dry, ink a tree stamp with Black Soot and mist 4-5 times with water. Stamp and hold for a few seconds to give the ink time to transfer to the paper. This creates a great watercolour look.

Continue with more tree, bird and flower stamps. Try to use smaller stamps further back in the scene, and stamp them lighter – ink the stamp, mist with water, stamp once on scrap paper, mist twice again and stamp. 

When the paint is dry, use the medium mix to add shadows to the trees and dry brush a little bit of paint on the grass. Again, remember to keep it lighter the further away into the scene you go.

Stamp a few sentiments with Jet Black ink. I use a stamp positioner for sentiments on a finished scene, to avoid messing it up with crooked stamping. Wipe paint and ink off the heat embossed and splattered areas.

To finish the scene

Distress the edges, which gives a great look to watercolour paper. Mount on black cardstock. Cut out a photo, or use a stamped image. Move it around to see where it looks best. Cut out three balloons from white cardstock and glue twine to them. Tie a knot and glue to the hand of your character.

Wow! The end result is just stunning.. thanks Anna Karin!

Don't forget to pop back next Thursday, we'll be sharing another blast from the past technique with you all!