I’m so excited to share my very first post as part of the Design Team for Paper Rose. I have been sent the most exciting bundle (It was so exciting that I actually spread out looking at it over three days!)

I’m actually really excited to be able to promote an Australian company that is producing many uniquely Australian products. (See here for an earlier example of one of my cards made with a SUPER Australian image).

I’m feeling especially nostalgic for all things Australian since I moved to Japan last year, so this design team term is a double delight for me.

It was so difficult to decide what to work with first! Eventually I decided on this lovely photopolymer stamp called Winter Trees. I inked it up using watercolour markers (Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers in this case), spritzed lightly with water, and inked onto watercolour paper. I repeated this ink-spray-stamp process a few times, varying the amount of water each time to get differing amounts of detail. I used my MISTI to make sure I could restamp in exactly the same place each time. This became more important as the stamp became stained by the markers.

(Did you know that staining is actually a sign of a good quality clear stamp. This means that the stamp is photopolymer, and will give a really good image without ‘beading’ so don’t worry about staining.)

Once I was happy with the image, I stamped the sentiment which is also from Paper Rose, first in a lighter colour, and then in a darker colour on just the bottom portion of the sentiment.

Then this happened…

I was just about to travel to Melbourne for my daughter’s wedding, and thinking about Melbourne’s famous weather, and knowing I still had plenty of day left, I decided to create four seasons in one day. My second card, above is my spring version, using bright greens and yellow. All of the techniques were the same for all four cards.

Next came summer, and I tried to channel all the dark greens and browns that we see in summer both in Victoria and in in Western Australia where I grew up.

Finally, autumn. I’ve stretched the oranges of autumn in to pinks and greens to give a flurry of colour.

These cards were not very time consuming to make because the setup only had to be done once for the whole set, and I think they would make a lovely gift set for a friend. But first, these cards are going on a holiday. They’ll be featured at Creativation 2019, so if you’re heading there, may sure you find Paper Rose, say hi to the lovely Nat, and see if you can work out which of these cards is not the one that is making the journey. One of the cards is a sneaky substitution for the original card which is headed to the States.

Until next time, may your days be crafty.

Blessings,

Donna