May News!

Hello everyone,
The time has come for some new sales and to announce the Customer Creation Draw winner for April. For the month of May I have chosen these three stamps to discount by 50%.

Begonia ~ $4.49

Black-eyed Susan ~ $4.49

Day Lily ~ $4.49

The random winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw is... Jools Robertson!!! Below is her contirbution to the draw using Water Droplets from my collection. Many thanks for sharing your art with us Jools and congratulations on winning a free stamp :) Please get in touch with me through email designsbyryn@gmail.com to collect your prize.

Her blog post for this creation.

That's it for now. Wishing you all a great month of May :)

Ryn

Mama Fish

Hello everyone,
Wishing everyone who celebrates Easter a great holiday weekend :)
The background for this card is one of my very first experiments using molding paste and stencils. The background colour was created with Dylusions Ink Sprays. I then ripped up some decorative paper from Tim Holtz and brushed on the paper pieces with Golden Gel Medium (Regular Gel Matte). For the next layer I borrowed a friend's stencil and used a palette knife to apply Golden Light Molding Paste. When dry I did something strange and tried adding colour to the dots with Pan Pastels. It seemed to work but I wasn't happy at all with the colour choice and had no idea what to do with it next. The background sat for a couple of months unfinished until I made Butterfly Fish for another card. It didn't work for the card that I was thinking of but was just the touch I needed for this one.

The little bit of orange that I had used on the fins made it stand out and gave a little life to the colour palette in the background. Butterfly Fish was coloured with Tombow markers and highlighted with a Sakura white gel pen.

It wasn't until the whole card was finished that the dots started looking like strands of fish eggs. I imagined the Butterfly Fish guarding her young. To accentuate this idea I used Stickles to dot the centres of a few of the "eggs".

Sometimes creations really take on a life of their own. I like that.
Bye for now :)
Ryn

Sunshine!

Hello everyone,
I can't believe how sunny and warm it is outside today! Finally!!! I must have walked down my street with the biggest smile on my face. This is a card that I made a little while ago. It reminds me of summer so I thought I would share it today.
I used Flying Hummingbird 3 and Striped Reed Set from my collection.

I've been using the same formula for my cards lately so my process for this card is similar to the last few that I've posted. Dylusions Spray Ink background. The tribal stencil is from The Crafter's Workshop.

I coloured Flying Hummingbird 3 with Tombow markers and blended the colours with water. I then added Stickles around his face to capture the iridescence that make hummingbirds seem like flying gemstones.

I also sporadically added Stickles to the background and coloured the leaves of Striped Reed Set with a green Tombow marker. To add some dimension to the card I popped up Flying Hummingbird 3 with some adhesive foam. Viola! C'est fini!
Hope you like it :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

Customer Gallery #12

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well :)
Not much to say today so I will get straight to your art. Many thanks to everyone who has been sending in their projects! It's as if you all coordinated to send in water themed pieces. Makes for a great collection of images for the Spring!

Deb's used Raindrop Set in this textured canvas. Her blog post and an awesome step by step tutorial HERE

Jane's take on Rising Bubbles. Her blog post HERE with more close up shots of the great details in this piece.

Heike has done an amazing job of cutting out Seaweed Set (bottom right) and has used Rising Bubbles in the background. Her blog post HERE has many other projects using Original Rust (used on the anchor). Neat effect!

The last two pieces are by Sonja for a Gelli Plate workshop. She used Rising Bubbles in the first and Water Droplets 2 in the second card. You can check out her blog post HERE

Lastly, some of the happiest raindrops I've ever seen! Cornelia's blog post HERE

Hope you enjoyed this gallery. There sure are a lot of talented people out there. Keep on creating :)

Ryn

Lots of News!!!

Hello everyone,
It's the beginning of the month and I've got a lot of things to announce today. No pranks, I promise ;)
Water Droplets is Back!
Firstly, I have restocked my shelves and Water Droplets is once again available in my online shop. The are also a few other designs that have been restocked such as Dreaming Mermaid and Left Corner Mermaid. Thank you to everyone for being patient! I've sent off emails to all of you who had asked for a notification. It should be waiting in your inbox.
April Sales
This month I have discounted another three stamps by 50% for you. In anticipation of Spring I thought that Raindrops might be a good theme.

Raindrops ~ $4.99

Circle Cluster Set ~ $5.99

Rising Bubbles ~ $4.99

Customer Creation Draw Winner

The time has also come for me to randomly pick a winner for the Customer Creation Draw. Any sent in projects from now until the end of April will be included in this month's draw and will be announced on the first of May. This month's free stamp goes out to Frédérique!!! Here are the beautiful pieces that she sent in...

If you would like to give her a visit HERE is a link to Frédérique's blog. A big thank you for sending in your art!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by :)

Ryn

The Journeyer

Hello everyone,
Here's a card that I ended up giving to my father. In it I used Koi Set and Water Droplets from my collection. The background colour is Dylusions Ink Sprays and the stencil behind the Koi is from istencil.

Koi was coloured with Tombow markers and highlighted with Stickles and a white gel pen. I love making ribs in the fins with white. Underneath him and in other areas of the card I used glass seed beads to create texture. The thought to "glue" them to the page with Glossy Accents randomly popped into my head as I was making this card. Love how it turned out!

To make the Water Droplets "pop" I lifted some of the colour out of them (wetting and then soaking up the water and colour with a paper towel) and then highlighted the bottoms and top reflection with a white gel pen. Oh, and while I'm taking about Water Droplets. I'll have more in stock by April 1st. Thanks to everyone for being patient.

Well that's it from me today. Thanks for visiting :)
Ryn

Customer Gallery #11

Hello everyone,
I see other people take to social networking without any troubles but for me it has been a step by step process. Every move towards more exposure has been a little scary. Posting some of my cards in this space over the last few days has been one of those steps. I've been inspired for years by the art of my Design Team (blog list on the right hand side) and by other blogs that I have seen but still timid about putting my own art out there. I just want to thank the people who have left such encouraging comments here and on Facebook. I really appreciate you taking the time :)
Okay, so on to your art. This post is about you after all. As always, I loved seeing all of these creations as they appeared on my Facebook wall or in my inbox. Thanks to everyone for being brave and for sharing their art. A winner for March will be randomly drawn and announced on April 1st. Oh dear... That's April Fool's Day isn't it? I assure you, it won't be a prank ;)
Hélène Côte Bleue, the winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw made this with her prize, Flying Hummingbird 2.

Hélène's blog post HERE.

A mixed media canvas by Wilma. Her blog post HERE.

This and the next are by Evil Edna. In this card she's used Seahorse Set. Her blog for this card HERE

Evil Edna's second card using Flying Hummingbird 2. Her blog post HERE.

A card by Shaz using Water Droplets subtly in the honey comb. Her blog post HERE

These last two are by Frédérique. The first uses Water Droplets 2 and the second uses Trickling Water Set and the largest drop from Raindrop Set. Her blog post HERE.

That's all from me for now. Hope you enjoyed this gallery and have found some new and inspiring bloggers to visit :)

Ryn

Hidden

Hello everyone,
Continuing the underwater theme of my last post I've made another card with similar techniques. In this one I discovered that Seahorse Set and Spiral Shell go together really well. When designing them I didn't intentionally match their linework. A nice surprise! The seahorse looks like it's trying to camouflage...
I'm learning that the initial stamp design is just the beginning. The designs can be taken from there in any direction. To work with that flexibility I am also learning to leave space within the design for other people's input. It has to be finished enough that it looks good without embellishment but it also needs space for other people to interpret the design into their own style and vision. It's a great design challenge. Almost like a collaboration on a final piece that I may never see. I guess that's why I like to see what people make so much :) Ok... On to my card...
The background was made with Dylusions Ink Sprays and then a stencil from iStencil. I rubbed Distress inks - Chipped Sapphire - through it and then highlighted some of the shapes with Stickles. It was my first time using the colour Black Diamond and it turned out to have a really nice subtle shimmer to it.

I stamped Spiral Shell is Versa Fine black ink. When dry, I painted inside of the image with water and then used a paper towel to lift off some of the background colour. The insides of the designs were highlighted with white gel pen to help pop them out from the background.

The seahorse (one of the pieces from Seahorse Set) was coloured with Tombow markers. I blended the colours with water and when dry I used the small tip to add little green dots along the middle segments and mouth. Final touches were done with a white gel pen.

I then cut it out, went around the edges with black marker and then placed it with adhesive foam.

It still seemed to need something so I made some "bubbles" with glossy accents coming out of the seahorse's mouth.
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you all a great weekend :)
Ryn

Stencils and 'Icing'

Hello everyone,
After Shirley gave me a little class on all of the different ways that stencils can be used I've been experimenting away like a mad scientist. That's how it feels anyways surrounded by modelling paste, inks and blending tools. I love all of the different possibilities they present for making layered backgrounds. In fact, I loved them so much that I am now in the process of getting my own line of designs started.
In this card I used Shirley's collection of stencils. I believe they were from The Crafter's Workshop but I'm not 100% sure. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Using the diamond shaped stencil Shirley showed me how to apply modelling paste. She told me to use the palette knife like I were 'icing a cake'. I said ok and then had to admit, "Shirley, to be honest I've never iced a cake before". We both started laughing. I managed in the end ;) On the left side of the card I used a blending tool to rub Distress inks through another stencil.

To stamp Cardinalfish from my collection I used Versafine ink - Onyx Black. I find that this ink really captures the details in my stamps well. Plus, it isn't water based so I can play with water over top of the image afterwards.
The bottom fish is stamped directly onto the Dylusion Ink Spray background. I used a paintbrush to add water within the image, waited a couple of seconds and then sponged it off with a paper towel. This removed some of the ink from the fish. I then highlighted with a white gel pen.
The raised Cardinalfish was coloured with Tombows and then blended with a wet paintbrush. I also highlighted this one with a white gel pen to finish it off. The dots in the fins were fun to colour.

Writing this, I'm thinking about how long it has been since I posted one of my own cards in this space. It's been so long that my style seems to have changed completely. I began designing stamps before I knew how to use them. Strange isn't it?!

The more I experiment, the more I feel like I am finding my groove. I have my wonderful Design Team to thank for inspiring me in the direction of mixed media. I've grown a lot from reading their detailed explanations of how to achieve certain effects on their blogs. Feeling thankful.

That's all from me for now. Hope you like my little experiment with stencils and 'icing' ;)

Bye for now,

Ryn

Customer Gallery #10

Hello everyone,
Exciting that we're at the 10th Customer Gallery post! And that's not including the posts I did before I started counting. I'm also so happy that the Designs by Ryn page on Facebook is just over 900 likes now! Thank you everyone for the support :D
Here are your latest creations...

Cornelia Wenokor's blog post HERE

Stamp used: Water Droplets

Debbie Howie

Stamps used: Three Leaves Set and Water Droplets

Jenny Pilz's blog post HERE

Stamp used: Rising Bubbles

Silverwolf Cards by Shaz. Her blog post HERE

Stamp used: Water Droplets

Nikki Woodward's blog post HERE

Stamp used: Celtic Dove Set

Carla van der Mei-Stolk's Flickr HERE

Stamp used: Origami Turtle

Theresa and Alessandro Pace. Her blog post HERE

Stamps used: Kelp, Buttefly Fish, Octopus, School of Fish Set, Koi Set and Rising Bubbles

I hope you enjoyed this gallery. All of these entries will be added to the March Customer Creation Draw for a free stamp. You are more than welcome to join in. All you have to do is send in a project that uses a Designs by Ryn stamp somewhere on it. Don't forget to include your blog post so I can link to you. A winner is drawn randomly on the 1st of each month.

Also, if you are interested in Water Droplets, I will have more ready by the end of this month. If you would like an email notification please write to me at designsbyryn@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by :)

Ryn