Category: Cards & Tags

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink, Ecoline inks

Vintage Label Inspiration from Darkroom Door

Robyn Wood

Hello!

Today I’d like to share with you a trio of cards I have created using the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. I have quite a collection of Frame Stamps from Darkroom Door and find they are designed to work beautifully with many other images in the collection. Each will accommodate a number of the Quote and Eclectic stamp images and they are great to layer with stamped images and ephemera as I have done for this trio of cards.

First off, I’d like to share this simple card featuring the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp and images from the Home Sweet Home set. I stamped the quote and houses onto some neutral coloured patterned paper and fussy cut before layering over the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. A few brads, some extra patterned paper as layers and the card was complete.

I love to layer stamped elements over the edge of other pieces, and I’ve used that technique for this card. I had stamped the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp over a background made using Distress & Distress Oxide Inks and tore one of the longer sides to give the card extra texture. The feathers come from Darkroom Door Feathers stamp set

and were stamped using Ranger Wendy Vecchi Make Art ink then fussy cut. A stamped and layered greeting from Darkroom Door Happy Birthday stamp set was a finishing touch.

There is something about butterflies mixed with shimmery backgrounds that brings out the happy. For this card, I stamped the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame image over a background created with Dylusions Shimmer Sprays. A trio of butterflies from Darkroom Door Fine Butterflies stamp set was stamped onto watercolour card using Ranger Archival black ink and coloured with Ecoline Markers. They layered beautifully with the frame stamp and a greeting from Darkroom Door Birthday Word Block stamp.

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration for using the Darkroom Door Vintage Label Frame stamp. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Art Journal, Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink, Quotes

Let’s get dotty …

Robyn Wood

Hello! 

I have another set of projects to share from the recent Darkroom Door rubber stamp release, this time I’ve been creating with Abstract 07 Stamp. I really like the format of these stamps as it allows you to use them as a long strip to cover the edge of a journal page or across a card front but you can also bend it up to use just parts of the image as you hand stamp with it. I’ve used it both ways to create a set of projects to share with you.

First up is a cute card where I’ve curled the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp up a bit and stamped all over a cardstock panel in different coloured inks. Then, I took one of the colours and sponged the background to help incorporate all the different hues. I thought the chaotic collection of dots needed a bit of extra, so I added a sprinkling of tiny buttons. The card was finished off with some layering, a ribbon and a sentiment from Darkroom Door Warm Wishes stamp set.

For the next pair of cards, I stamped Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp across a card panel using two different coloured inks. 

I love the variety of Eclectic stamps created by Darkroom Door, they give so much scope for using them in different ways. For this card, I stamped the Darkroom Door Crayons Eclectic image a couple of times and cut the crayons apart to make colouring easier. Each was coloured separately and attached over the cardfront to create a fun, happy card. 

Swapping around the ink colours and using a flower image from Darkroom Door Fine Flowers Vol 2 stamp set gave this card a very different look.

A quote from Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set finishes the pair off nicely. 

A simple mix of complementary colours always brings a pop to a handmade card and I’ve used that technique to create the colour scheme for this card.

I often make a bunch of backgrounds ahead of time and used a Distress Ink one for the blue panel in this card. The dotty panel was created by stamping with a variety of blue inks using the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 stamp. I had curled it up with my hands so that only a small portion of the image was in contact with the card. A layered flower image from Darkroom Door Bright Blossoms 2 stamp set and sentiment from the Darkroom Door Word Block stamp completes the card.

I’ve discovered that I love to create simple, minimal pages sometimes in my art journals. I’ve found it quite a meditative process, especially as I keep the colour palettes and techniques really simple.

For this final project using the Darkroom Door Abstract 07 stamp, I simply dripped runny paint across the top of a page in a Dylusions Dyalog Black Insert Journal and set it aside to dry. The colour needs to be quite opaque and pale for this to work. I stamped Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp randomly over the top painted part of my page using an orange Distress Oxide ink. The Distress Oxide inks have a wonderful opacity that makes them visible over darker backgrounds.

A simple botanical shape sketched in white ink and quote from Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set finished the page. Nice and simple.

Supplies used:

  • Darkroom Door Abstract 07 Stamp
  • Darkroom Door Warm Wishes stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Bright Blossoms Vol 2 stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Fine Flowers Vol 2 stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Botanical Script stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Crayons Eclectic stamp
  • Darkroom Door Word Block stamp
  • Dylusions Dyalog Black Insert Journal
  • Ranger Distress & Distress Oxide Inks
  • Ranger Archival black ink

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Art Journal, Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Uncategorized

It’s Time to Dream Big

Robyn Wood

Hello!

I have another trio of projects to share with you from the new Darkroom Door release, this time I’ve been creating with Dream Big Sentiment stamp.

These long stamps are a great size for running top to bottom over a card front as I’ve used below, but they also give you a bunch of themed sentiments to use on a variety of projects. Just stamp out the whole image and snip out the individual sentiment you are after. Don’t forget to tuck the rest of the strip away for next time you need a quick word or two.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – It’s Time to Dream Big – January 2020 new release projects using Darkroom Door stamps. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

I think this card covers a few different occasions – the recipient can almost do a ‘choose your own message’ from it. The background was created by stamping Darkroom Door Spanish Tiles background stamp over a dictionary page painted with acrylic paint. I used Distress Oxide ink for a lovely opaque effect.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – It’s Time to Dream Big – January 2020 new release projects using Darkroom Door stamps. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

Can you tell I love creating different backgrounds? This was a simple one – a few squirts of Dylusions Shimmer Spray over watercolour card and then I overlaid a piece of bubble wrap and set the card aside to dry. The bubble wrap left the most wonderful abstract pattern behind.

I think the range of sentiments on this stamp will give you lots of options for greeting cards, scrapbooking and art journaling. I trimmed out a positive message for this shimmery card.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – It’s Time to Dream Big – January 2020 new release projects using Darkroom Door stamps. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

I like being able to separate the words of a sentiment or quote stamp and put them into a different arrangement for art journal pages. This means they can become a greater feature on the page, as I have done here.

This page was created over a background painted in pale shades of grey and apricot acrylic paint, I found a couple of interesting succulent images in a magazine and thought they would look good with the sentiment I wanted to use. The little birdie is Darkroom Door Robin Eclectic – he looks so cute on the page with the plants!

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps

Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – a new 2020 release

Robyn Wood

Hello and Happy New Year!

2020 seems to have started quickly with January almost over in the blink of an eye. I’m popping in to inspire you to get your year off to a creative start.

Darkroom Door has released a brilliant new collection of stamps and stencils and Rachel has kindly gifted me with some stamps so I can share a bunch of new projects with you. First up are some projects using the wonderful Darkroom Door Warm Wishes rubber stamp set.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

I love the fineness of line in these stamps, they are so delicate and I think will become a firm favourite with me and hopefully many of you. They are so easy to create with, simply stamped onto book paper as in this tag trio or coloured up with any of the myriad of supplies available.

There is something about simple black and white, classic and modern at the same time. To create this trio, I simply stamped the stems onto book paper then glued it onto small tags. A bit of black ink around the edges, some sentiments and a bit of fussy tying at the top and the trio were done. Warm Wishes comes with a nice set of words and phrases that will suit a range of occasions.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

The lovely long stems make it so easy to ink different parts separately. I’ve done that with the stem for this tent folded card using Wendy Vecchi inks. The bottom was shaped using a Spellbinders die but you could just as easily add a punched edge instead.

Purple Salt by Robyn Wood blog post – Warm Wishes from Darkroom Door – January 2020 new release projects. Check out @robynwoodartist for more inspiration.

The stems from Warm Wishes work well as single flowers but also in pairs and trios. I’ve used a pair of similar size for this colourful tag, simply stamped onto book paper then fussy cut. I love the soft creaminess the book paper gives to the images.

If you are wondering about the background – it was made using Dylusions Shimmer spray. I simply sprayed a couple of colours over my tag then laid some crinkled clingwrap over the top. Once it was dry, the tag had a wonderful abstract background with a beautiful shimmer. Of course, being Dylusions smearing a scrape of gesso over to knock back some of the colour results in a faded, pastel type effect. I love the tone on tone effect in this type of background – perfect for my flower stems.

Supplies used:

I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of inspiration. Make sure you pop over to Darkroom Door to see the rest of the January 2020 release!

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps

Abstract Play with Darkroom Door

Robyn Wood

Hello stampers!

I’m back sharing another couple of projects using one of the new Abstract Stamps designed by Darkroom Door. These stamps are the perfect size for a variety of projects from art journals to card making. I thought most people will see these and think mixed media projects or art journaling, so I thought I’d shake it up a bit and create a pair of cards and a tag.

I started my tag by spritzing spray ink over a large Manilla tag and once dry stamped the Darkroom Door Abstract 02 stamp right down the centre of the tag. This gives a striking start to the tag design. I inked the edges of the tag and added a line of faux stitching as a border.

The Darkroom Door Patchwork Butterfly Collage stamp was stamped onto white card using black Archival ink, coloured using Ecoline markers and fussy cut. I glued the butterfly onto the tag just by the centre so that the wings could be lifted a little.

The addition of the word ‘Fly’ from Darkroom Door Steampunk stamp set and some ribbon finished the tag.

Next I wanted to share how to create some backgrounds using stamps and a Gel Press. The one thing to remember when using a stamp on the Gel Press is to wash it quickly and thoroughly! You don’t want any paint to dry in the crevices of the stamp as the image will become unusable. This technique will work best when the stamp has heavy, thick lines rather than fine, delicate images so the Darkroom Door Abstract 02 stamp is a perfect to use.

It is a good idea to have a few pieces of cardfront size white card ready when starting this technique – the paint will dry on your Gel Press before you are ready otherwise.

I started my background for this card by applying a small amount of paint to my Gel Press, spreading it out with a brayer. I used a mix of yellow and orange for my card for a subtle variation in colour. I then ‘stamped’ my Gel Press with the Darkroom Door Abstract 02 stamp to remove some of the paint from the plate. Before the paint dried on my stamp, I quickly ‘stamped’ onto a second piece of white cardstock that will be the basis for my next project. I then placed a piece of white cardstock over my Gel Press to pick up the pattern left behind. I love how this technique creates a tone on tone type of effect.

Once dry, the pieces are ready for use. I wanted to scatter a few tiny birdies from the Darkroom Door Garden Birds stamp set over the rings pattern, so I stamped them onto watercolour card using permanent black Archival ink. The birds were then coloured using Ecoline markers and fussy cut.

I find trimming around the legs of these tiny creatures a bit fiddly so I simply cut them off! The trick is to decide where the birds will go on the card and then stamp the ‘legs’ in place and layer the birdie ‘bodies’ over the top. It gives a seamless effect without a lot of effort – saves your eyes as well!

I layered up the card and added a greeting from the Darkroom Door Happy Birthday stamp set trimmed into a flag shape to finish it off.

One thing I enjoy about using the Gel Press is the infinite number of prints I can make, I hate to waste paint so use up every scrap of it. This card is one example of that – once we ‘stamp’ the Gel Press for the card above the paint that transfers to the stamp is perfect for creating a second cardfront. I love how simple this looks but so effective!

I layered one of the larger birds from the Darkroom Door Garden Birds stamp set which had been stamped with permanent black Archival ink and coloured with Ecoline markers.

The leaves came from the Darkroom Door Carved Leaves Vol 1 stamp set. To give them a two-toned effect I inked them initially with Archival Vivid Chartreuse ink and then just around the edges I applied Archival Olive ink. Once they were fussy cut they gave a little bit of texture for the bird to sit on. A greeting from Darkroom Door Bold Blossoms stamp set and a bit of bling finished the card.

Supplies used:

  • Darkroom Door Abstract 02 stamp
  • Darkroom Door Happy Birthday stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Steampunk stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Garden Birds stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Carved Leaves Vol 1 stamp set
  • Darkroom Door Bold Blossoms stamp set 
  • Darkroom Door Patchwork Butterfly Collage stamp
  • Archival ink – Jet Black, Olive & Vivid Chartreuse
  • Gel Press plate, brayer & acrylic paint
  • Spray ink

Ecoline markers, black permanent penI hope you have enjoyed learning how these projects came together, make sure you pop over to the Darkroom Door blog to see what the rest of the contributing artists have come up with!

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink

Mindful Stamping with Darkroom Door

Robyn Wood

Have you seen the fantastic new release of stamps from Darkroom Door? There is so much to love about this release (isn’t there always?) so I was keen to get busy when these newest ones arrived at my door. You can check them out here.

First up, I’ll be sharing some projects using the Darkroom Door Meditation rubber stamp set. This set has some lovely calming imagery and is perfect for some mindful stamping. I like to pop on some quiet music, set out a few colours of inks & plenty of paper to stamp on and just let my creative muse play.

All of these cards are created with either Distress Oxide or Distress inks to keep it nice & simple and I’ve kept the construction nice & easy. Ask me in the comments if you aren’t sure how the layers may have come together.

The larger of the two lotus images looks lovely stamped simply with Distress Oxide ink.

I’ve used Picked Raspberry and for a bit of shine, painted over the image with some Smooch Ink

Have you tried inking a stamp with more than one colour? Start with the lightest colour and then touch parts of the stamp with the darker colour and stamp your image. I love how this effect turns out!

Why not try combining Distress Oxide inks with Distress Inks in a similar colour?

For this next card, I stamped my image onto smooth watercolour card using two colours of Distress Oxide ink and heat set the ink. Then I carefully moved the colour around using a wet paint brush. The beauty of Distress Oxide inks mean that the pigment ink part stays in place while the dye ink part moves to give a lovely shading to the image.

A little spatter always looks good as well!

Now to change up my colour palette a little….

This card combines the step of stamping and colouring with Distress Oxide ink described above with extra layers of imagery. The first is stamped beneath the lotus flower and the second is laid over the top with wording stamped onto translucent vellum. I love the look this gives and it has so many uses!

Now it is time to quiet the mind and get a little tricky with inks. For this image I inked the stamp using Distress Ink in peacock feathers and spritzed it lightly before stamping. It resulted in a lovely soft watercolour effect. Once I had dried the image – I overstamped it with a fresh coat of Distress Ink to sharpen up the lines. A stamp press makes this step so easy!

For my final card, I stepped up the technique above a little using a basic gatefolded card base. Using a stamp press, I stamped the image using peacock feathers Distress Oxide Ink and then spritzed the stamped image a touch to get the ink to run and oxidise.

Once I had dried the image – I inked just the edges of the stamp using Archival Distress Ink in Hickory Smoke. This gave the outline some sharpness but didn’t overtake it like stamping in black would have.

I hope you have enjoyed learning how these cards came together. Make sure you tag me online if you create something similar – I’d love to see!

As always, a huge thanks to Rachel and Darkroom Door for feeding my love of their product through their gift of stamps.

Card making, Cards & Tags, Darkroom Door, Darkroom Door Stamps, Darkroom Door Stencils

Darkroom Door & Karen Burniston Blog Hop

Robyn Wood

Welcome to the blog hop of Darkroom Door & Karen Burniston!

Darkroom Door have teamed up with Karen Burniston to bring you an epic blog hop this week. It is sure to be inspiration overload as you hop along and join in the fun! Make sure you read to the end to find out how you can win some free product. A huge thanks to Darkroom Door and Karen Burniston for organising the hop and inviting me to play, its been huge fun to participate.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you can join the hop by following the list at the end of my post. Each blog involved is listed and linked so you can ‘hop’ from one to the next easily, you don’t need to come back here, just follow from the post next on my list.

For my projects, I chose to use the Karen Burniston Katherine Label Pop-Up #1011 & Word Set 1 – Greetings #1002 die sets. Using a pop-up die makes the process of designing a pop-up card so easy! No measuring or fiddling, the hard work is all done for you. I love how the little birdie pops up as you open the card – makes a nice surprise for the recipient.

I paired the dies with the new Darkroom Door Garden Birds & Grid Texture stamps to create an asymmetric gatefold card. The patterned paper used for the front panels was a little plain so I added a bit of texture using the Darkroom Door Grid Texture stamp and Rose Madder Archival ink.

I love colouring images and the new Darkroom Door Garden Birds are great to colour with Ecoline markers. The teensy hearts from the Karen Burniston Katherine Label Pop-up add a cute finishing touch to the one on the card front;)

Check out how fine the detail is around the label die! Although I’ve known about Karen Burniston dies and their wonderful quality for ages, having some to create with was new to me. I enjoyed the opportunity to use them – they cut so beautifully and are really well designed.

I decided to do a second project and create a mixed media style tag. This time I’ve paired the large label die from Karen Burniston Katherine Label Pop-up along with the ‘Hello’ from Word Set 1 – Greetings with the new Darkroom Door Butterfly Note Eclectic stamp.

First up I created a background with texture paste & Darkroom Door Large Mesh stencil then smooshed Gelatos over it for a rich layer of colour.

The Butterfly Note stamp was inked with Distress Oxide inks – firstly with Antique Linen and then I went around the edges and parts of the centre with Candied Apple. I followed a fan-type pattern to give the impression of markings on the butterfly wings. I quite like how the effect looked when stamped and the wetness of the Distress Oxide inks gives you a little time to get the pattern right.

Both Darkroom Door and Karen Burniston will be giving away a prize packs, with winners randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received by Sunday, July 29, 2018. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop post to enter! Obviously, the more comments you leave the better your odds of winning.

Darkroom Door / Rachel Greig
Karen Burniston & Tanya Kostynuk
Belinda Spencer
Summer Hills-Painter
Teresa Abajo
Karen Aicken
Anneke De Clerck
Frances Byrne
Godelieve Tijskens
Shelly Hickox
Anna-Karin Evaldsson
Mary Prasad
Robyn Wood  <—– YOU ARE HERE
Fran Sabad
Connie Mercer
Kelly Booth
Autumn Clark
Helen Cryer
Kymona Tracey

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