With autumn just around the corner thoughts will soon turn to comfort foods. On a cool evening there’s nothing like hot apple pie, and that’s what attracted me to the new Sweets & Treats Stamp Set. This set has some great images featuring sweets or desserts, plus a cake stand and dome. There’s also five sentiments covering a range of occasions. For my first project I fancied using the apple pie and cake stand to try out the no-line watercolouring technique.

NO-LINE WATERCOLOURING

No-line watercolouring is a bit of a ‘cheat’. Basically it’s a technique where you stamp an image using a very light ink colour that essentially disappears during the painting process.

For my bookmark I began with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Next I inked up the cake stand with Sahara Sand ink and ‘stamped-off’ onto scrap paper. This removed some of the ink so when I stamped onto the bookmark the image was really light. Then I repeated this process with the apple pie image. The stamp set is made from see-through photopolymer so it’s really easy to line up the images.

To colour the pie and stand I used ink from my ink pads. For this simple process I start by pressing on the lid of each closed pad. Then when the ink pad is opened some ink has transferred to the inside of the lid. From there I can mix a drop or two of clean water to the ink and paint away. Alternatively you could simply squeeze a few drops of reinker into the lid and go from there.

I began by painting the pie crust with Pale Papaya ink, then added layers of Crumb Cake ink. For the pie dish I used layers of Cherry Cobbler ink. Then to add some real contrast I decided on Pacific Point ink for the cake stand.

Because of the very faint image I needed good light to work, but it wasn’t too difficult. My problem was giving each section time to dry before I added more ink to build up the colour and shading.

SWEET SENTIMENT

With the images done I needed a sentiment, and for that I went back to the Sweets & Treats Stamp Set. I chose “any way you slice it, I’m thankful for you” and stamped it on the strip using Cherry Cobbler ink.

To quickly turn the strip into a bookmark I used the Fancy Tag Topper Punch. This shaped the top and added a ribbon slot at the same time.

Next I folded some gold 3/8″ Fine Art Ribbon in half and passed the loop through the slot. Then I passed the ends of the ribbon through the loop and pulled tight to secure it in place.

However, as I looked at the pie I decided I needed to add a bit more detail. So I went back to the Sahara Sand ink pad with my Water Painter and added three short wavy lines above the ‘holes’. Finally my hot apple pie was done and looked good enough to eat.

My painting isn’t perfect but I’m not unhappy with how this turned out, it’s handmade after all. I’ll simply have to practice with some of the other images from the Sweets & Treats Stamp Set. Anyone for seconds?

PRODUCT LIST

In the Sweets & Treats Stamp Set you’ll notice the large cloche image (not used today). You might be interested to know that there’s a die available to cut out that image in the aptly named Cloche Dies set. The dies can be bought separately, or as part of the Classic Cloche Bundle which includes the Classic Cloche Stamp Set (not used today). Ordering the bundle will save you 10% off the cost of buying those two items separately. In addition there’s clear Cloche Shaker Domes that fit in the die-cut hole. My order for this bundle and shaker domes is in and I can’t wait for them to arrive.

Meanwhile links to everything I used to create today’s bookmark project are shown below.