Twinkling Pinwheels (Hibiscus)

A Swap with ColourArte

A few weeks ago I received a personal message from a woman named Leslie on my Facebook Page asking where she could find my Water Droplet stamps. It was a few messages later that I realized that she was the owner of a company called ColourArte. To be honest, I didn't know much about their products. Only that I had seen the catchy name of one of their products online, "Twinkling H2Os".

I thought it was great that she'd contacted me in such a down to earth way and that she didn't flaunt who she was. We got talking and decided to do a product trade. Why not?! I'd never played with Twinkling H2Os and she wanted to try out my stamps. I couldn't wait to combine them with my designs. Especially the Hummingbirds, Moon Wings and Hibiscus stamps...

It's been a great experience so far! My Design Team and I received a generous amount of paints to experiment with. If you've never played with Twinkling H2Os they are basically watercolour paints with sparkle! Each colour arrived in a little lip gloss container. I've tried watercolour paints in tubes before but just couldn't find my groove with them. These are cakes. They come dry. Simply add water and the the pigment loosens up and becomes paint.

Some Unexpected Advice...

My boyfriend took a look at the paints and gave me a valuable piece of advice from his experience painting little figurines for table top gaming... He always painted metallics over a black base to accent the effect. Normal paints over a white base to brighten the colour.

To test his theory out I used black card stock as a base and embossed my Hibiscus stamp in black and gold. The embossed design created little walls which ended up holding the colour beautifully! I wanted to make sure that I got a thick layer of paint down so that the colour would show on the black base. The spaces between the linework acted like little troughs that held a lot of paint.

My father snatched this one before I could finish it as a card. Lol. He said it was done.

It's always hard to capture "sparkle" in photographs. Hope this close up shows the effect. I didn't mix colours for this experiment.

I used so many of their little paints in this that I'm not going to list all of them. So far all of the colours that I've used have shone beautifully! Here's a link to them. I want more... They're kind of addictive in those little lip gloss containers. The magpie in me wants to collect all of them. Lol. My boyfriend stopped me for now ;)

Well that's it for me for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Ryn

Give Away Winner!!!

Hey everyone,

50 comments on my last blogpost for the Hibiscus stencil Give Away! That's amazing! Thanks everyone :D

I randomly drew a winner this morning. A big congratulations to... Clavell!!!

"Your designs are amazing!...I love them all and can't wait to see what you design next!!!"

Clavell, please contact me by email with your shipping address and I'll get your stencil in the mail. designsbyryn@gmail.com

The winner for the Paper Crafter's Library Give Away has yet to be announced. I'll let you know as soon as they notify me.

Bye for now!

Ryn

 

Mustard, burgundy and peach...

Hey everyone,

Just a quick one from me today. This card evolved into an interesting combination of colours. I can't say I've ever used mustard, burgundy and peach together before. I like it though! Funny what comes out when you're just going with the flow.

In the background I used my Hibiscus stencil. You can see it poking out here and there but it's mostly just texture back there.

The flowers in the front are my Sideways Hibiscus stamp (unmounted: Hibiscus). I stamped with Versafine ink and painted with acrylics.

The bird is Flying Hummingbird 2. I stamped on a separate sheet, coloured with markers and cut it out to add to the card. Side note: I'm making an unmounted Hummingbird sheet. Coming soon!!!

So much went into this I couldn't possibly explain it all. Still have video making in my mind. Just busy busy with everything else. Will try to get to making tutorials when I can.

Give Away

There's still a Give Away happening on my blog and the Paper Crafter's Library. I'm giving away a Hibiscus unmounted sheet of stamps and my Hibiscus stencil... The draws close this Tuesday night...

If you'd like to participate here are the links:

My blog: http://www.designsbyryn.blogspot.ca/2015/07/spotlight-give-away-july-news-happy.html

Paper Crafter's Library: http://blog.papercrafterslibrary.com/featured-company-design-by-ryn-07-01-2015/

That's it for now! Thanks for popping by :)

Ryn

Spotlight, Give Away, July News... Happy Canada Day!!!

Hello Everyone! HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Lots to mention today including a Spotlight over at the Paper Crafter's Library, 2 Give Aways, the June Customer Creation Challenge Winner and July Sales... Here goes!

Paper Crafter's Library Spotlight

 

The wonderful people over at the Paper Crafter's Library have put together a lovely Spotlight for me. So thankful and proud to be up there!

If you haven't come across them online yet I highly suggest visiting. Lots of beautiful projects, new companies, video tutorials and inspiration of all kinds.

Here's a link: http://blog.papercrafterslibrary.com

A Photo Tutorial

To celebrate today's spotlight I wanted to do something special. I sat down at my art table and ended up with two cards and a photo tutorial. Outside it was a sunny summer day which definitely influenced the theme. I combined my Hibiscus and Raindrop stamps and this is the result... Summer rain...

The full photo tutorial and material list for these cards is on the Paper Crafter's Library blog HERE.

 

Give Away 

 

I'm also offering a Give Away both on the Paper Crafter's Library blog and on mine. Please feel free to participate in both! I am offering my Hibiscus unmounted stamp sheet on their blog (see below). Please visit them to qualify for this prize. Details on their blog HERE.

On my blog I am giving away the matching Hibiscus stencil below. To qualify, simply leave me a comment on this post. Please let me know if you found me through the Paper Crafter's Library. I'll randomly draw a winner and announce in a week's time (Wednesday).

 

June Challenge Winner 

 

Thanks to everyone for submitting their projects this month! Loved seeing every one of them as they came in. The July challenge is up on my blog now so please keep the projects coming :) If you are new to the challenge, it is always located in the top navigation bar. HERE is a link to July's challenge.

The winner for the June chalenge is... Elvira Kasirer!

A BIG congratulations!!! Please contact me by email to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil: desginsbyryn@gmail.com

Here are Elvira's makes...

 

Sales for July 

 

Last but not least, here are the stamps that I've discounted for the month of July. I went with a "curly" theme.

Fiddlehead Set - $6.49

Spiral Branch Set - $6.49

Begonia - $4.49

Thanks for popping by! Wishing you a great month of July!!!
Bye for now,
Ryn

July Customer Creaton Challenge

An InLinkz Link-up

June Sales and Challenge Winner!

Hey everyone,
I just wrote a whole blog post and accidentally deleted it before publishing! Argh... Ever done that? On to my "second" post...

Customer Creation Challenge Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their art in last month's challenge! I really appreciate seeing your creations. I've randomly drawn a winner for May. A BIG congratulations to... Debbie a.k.a. Daqa!!!!!
The June challenge is up and running now so please feel fee to participate again!
Here are Debbie's three projects for the month of May...

In this one she used Maidenhair Fern (stencil). Debbie's blog post HERE

Rising Bubbles and Dragonfly Faerie. Debbie's blog post for this card HERE

Debbie's last entry using Sea Turtle. Her blog post HERE

Sales for June

I decided to go with a sea creature theme this month. All of these cling-mounted stamps have been discounted by 50% on my website. Prices are in Canadian dollars. Hope you like my picks!

Butterfly Fish - $4.49

Betta - $4.49

Sea Turtle - $4.49

That's it for now. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

Bye for now,

Ryn

June Customer Creation Challenge

An InLinkz Link-up

Crackle with Hibiscus

Hey everyone,
Here's a card that I made using my Hibiscus stamp designs and Crackle paste. First play with crackle paste and really liked the effect. Crackle paste NOT crackle glaze (Crackle glaze dries clear).

The green and blue hibiscus flowers were added last. Embossed in gold over a scrap of watercolour background then cut out and stuck down.

A close up of the crackle effect. Will have to play a bit more with dry brushing paint onto it when dry. I like the look of how it catches on the ridges. Recommend using it on solid surfaces though (I think I'm going to try a wood canvas next). This card was so thick and warped by the end that I had a challenging time sticking it to the mat.

The Hibiscus designs in the background were clear embossed on a watercolour background. I then added black ink over top. It filled in all the spaces around the stamped images leaving the original colour background showing through the stamped designs. All of the acrylic paints and crackle glaze came after that.

I've had a couple of requests to make videos of how I do this. Its a tricky thing to capture because there are so many stages and the process always changes. I'm always experimenting. I've tried to document the creation process a few times and the videos really didn't work. I'll keep trying. I think you're right, it's so much easier to explain visually than with the written word. I'm a visual learner too. I watch cooking shows on YouTube instead of reading recipes ;)

Ok, that's it for now! Thanks for leaving me your comments on my last posts! Love reading them :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

I Love Colour!

Hey everyone,
Two posts in two days! This is unheard of for me! Lol. Thanks so much for your comments on my last post :)
Thought I'd show you another card that I made recently... A quick summary of how I did it at the bottom...

Sideways Hibiscus stamped with black versa fine ink and coloured with acrylic paint. Hibiscus leaf Set (at the bottom) was embossed onto a scrap piece of watercolour paper, cut out and stuck onto the card with Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss).

A quick card recipe:

• Dylusions ink spray background on mixed media paper.
• When dry stamped Spiral Branch Set over top and coloured the leaves with Tombow markers
• Sealed with Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss). Applied with a brush. Leave brush strokes.
• Golden acrylic paint dry brushed over the ridges of the dried gel. Leave little windows into the background.
• Pick an area that is as smooth as possible to stamp Sideways Hibiscus. Used versa fine ink. Dried with a heat gun.
• Using a detail brush, paint the flower with acrylic paint.
• Stamp Hibiscus Leaf Set onto a scrap piece of watercolour paper and emboss.
• Cut out leaves and add the leaves to the border. Stick down with more Golden - Regular Gel (gloss).

These cards never turn out the same way. Just let loose and have fun!
Thanks for stopping by!
Be back again soon - probably not tomorrow though ;)
Ryn

Hibiscus and Moon Wings

Hey everyone,

Hope you're doing well :) Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments on my posts. So appreciated! A really quick post today. Not much time to write details. Here's a brief summary...

I used my typical technique of a Dylusions ink spray background on mixed media paper. Stamped the Hibiscus leaves from my collection in black Versa Fine ink. Sealed it with Golden - Regular Gel (gloss). Pops out the colours even more! I then used modeling paste through my Hibiscus stencil - let dry - then put the stencil back overtop and sponged on acrylic paint to colour it. The moth (Lucine from unmounted sheet: Moon Wings) was stamped onto a separate piece of mixed media paper. I coloured it with Tombow markers, cut it out and stuck it on with more Golden - Regular Gel (gloss). When dry I add crackle accents on top. Love how it makes the moth look furry. Last touch was to add some rhinestones to the sky! I lie... The last touch was to mat it. The card didn't look finished until I saw it with that orange border. It tied all of the colours together...

Hope you like it! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Off I go for now!

Ryn