Right as Rain

I couldn’t wait to play with the Penny Black A Bear of All Trades stamp set full of such cute images. It’s a terrific set for Father’s Day cards, and I made a Father’s Day card for my husband, who happens to be a software programmer.

I colored the bear with Primacolor colored pencils over a Copic base at the recommendation of Elizabeth Allan. I first colored the bear without the Copic underlayer, and the Copics give the image a decidedly more finished look. I also used a Prismacolor blending pencil, which is like magic!

Today I’m sharing a card stamped with the Penny Black Sweet as Honey set paired with the Letter Background for a subtle background.

I stamped and embossed the rose twice and was able to punch it into three distinct sections. I love the combination of pink and green, and the silver embossing adds a bit of elegance.

Don’t forget to head over to the Penny Black blog to see this past week’s wonderful inspiration for the new release! I’ve got more than one set on my “must buy” list!

Today I’m sharing card made with some Penny Black wood mounted rubber stamps – Blush and Iris.

These “brush stroke” stamp designs work beautifully with the distress paints. For the card I made with the Blush stamp, which is a coneflower, I paired bright colors with a neutral background and a sentiment from the Friendship stamp. I stamped the olive green panel with the Penny Black Letter Background stamp using Versamark ink for a hint of texture.

I created a similarly designed card with the Iris stamp. I love irises of all colors, and they’re certainly in bloom around here right now! The dark blue ones have always been my favorite. For this image, I paired Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire distress paints for the flower’s petals. The Salty Ocean lifted the darker sapphire color just a bit. I dry embossed olive cardstock for the card base.

Have you checked out the new collection being featured this week on the Penny Black blog? The “elegant and cute” new release stamps are available for purchase Friday, May 31.

Supplies: Penny Black Iris, Blush and Letter Background stamps; Stampin’ Up cardstock

I recently got my hands on the Penny Black Indian Wheel background stamp and wanted to create some simple cards pairing the stunning background with sentiments from the Friendship set.

For the first card, I stayed with a neutral color palette.

I tried several different inks on the kraft paper before choosing Toffee Crunch. I dyed the ribbon with a Distress Ink pad. I have most of the ink pads but not all of the stains. While I love this color, and the ability to custom match ribbon color, I’m not sure I recommend using the pads, as the ribbon took a long time to dry. Going forward, I’ll purchase stains for the colors I most want to create. (More on this later as I’m investigating the differences in the formulations of the stains vs. the pads.)

For the second card I used one of my favorite color combinations – red, white, and blue – and heat embossed the sentiment. I’d like to try this card with a rope “ribbon” or white ribbon for even more of a nautical look, maybe even a little anchor charm :-)!

Supplies: