Japanese Gardens 3

Slide Show too fast? Click the Pause (||) button and then you can use the arrows to click through at your own speed.....If anyone can tell me how to slow down a Picasa slide show I am all ears (or eyes and fingers....) You can click any image to be taken to a link for the stamp used.

For the remainder of July we are offering our Japanese Gardens 3 sheet of unmounted stamps at 25% off if you mention Art Neko Blog when placing your order. Bonnie, Dee and Heather have made some really nice cards using images from this sheet which you can see in the slide show above. You can see who made each card by holding your mouse over the card and you can slow-down, pause, or speed up the slideshow by using the buttons at the bottom left of the slideshow pane.

Hope you all are having a great summer--it goes so fast, or so it seems the older I get!

If you click on the link above (in purple text) it will take you to a page where you can see the thumbnails of each image as well as a partial image of the sheet. Click any of those links to find detail information. You can also use our search function at the top of any page on the website to help you find stamp images you might be looking for--not all stamps are fully identified in the search database, but this will help you find a lot. You can also look at our themed catalog page by clicking catalog at the top of any webpage on the website.

Cute Kids

This little Boy With Daruma is representative of the art of Helen Hyde. Two sheets of Taylored Stamps Helen Hyde are available as sheets or singles. More information about her is listed in the final post for this week. Daruma are used for making wishes for the new year and giving thanks for wishes that have come true.

Creating this card was fun and easy! I don't do a lot of images of children, but this little guy stole my heart. Stamped and embossed with black, the image was colored with Tombow markers for the boy, and red and gold twinkling H2O's for the dolls. I stippled around the edges with rose and yellow colors of ink, highlighted parts of the images with gold metallic marking pen, and layered the small square daruma image over gold metallic floss. The background paper is washi - an unusual design, but just right for this celebratory image.

Apricot Blossom is also designed from a Helen Hyde print. The main image was stamped with black ink on a white cardstock panel. I colored the little girl's dress with twinkling H2O's and other parts of the image with Tombow markers. The little girl image was layered onto a background panel made by stamping the cherry blossom background image from Judikins in deep rose ink onto white mulberry paper. That panel was layered to a deep pink cardstock so the main cherry blossoms stand out against the white and the white looks pink over the cardstock! A piece of the pink carstock was stamped with the blossom border on a Judikins Asian bolio, embossed in gold, and then layered underneath the little girl image.

Hi Mom

Long Stemmed Rose was use three times on this card, perfect for Mother's Day, birthdays or other special events. This image is available singly or on the Taylored Stamps Botanicals 2 sheet. Each rose was colored with water color markers directly on the stamp. The stamp was then spritzed with water and stamped on water color paper. I varied the colors and the amount of water for each rose.

The images were torn out and mounted on coordinating papers by Basic Grey.
Words unknown source.

This manga style Ninja Boy is so cute and is very versatile. He could be on a Mother's Day card, a birthday card for a child, or even a party invitation.

The image was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with sparkle black embossing powder onto "Obscure" paper by Basic Grey. I used the colors from the paper to pick markers to color the image. I took the circular lines from the image and used circles to further enhance it

Greenery Day

Greenery Day, a holiday celebrated now during Golden Week in Japan is celebrated by members of Oriental Stamp Art with an annual electronic swap.

The Japanese Holly focal image here was created using the "watercolor spritz" technique.The watercolor markers were applied directly to the stamp,then held at arm's length and spritzed lightly with water. The image was then stamped onto watercolor paper. When dry, I tore around the image and highlighted the edge with gold Krylon pen. Coordinating washi paper became the background,
which was then remounted on dark brown metallic card stock.

Celebrating Mothers and Children

More images from the Helen Hyde sheets.

Helen Hyde

While visiting our sons at the University of Oregon several years ago we attended a special exhibit at the Schnitzer Museum on campus of Asian Art. I was quite intrigued by the prints by Helen Hyde. Born in New York in 1868, Hyde had wide-ranging art studies in her youth, in San Francisco, New York, Berlin and Paris. She travelled to Japan when she was 31, studied Japanese painting techniques, and began to produce woodblock prints, working with local craftsmen. Much of her work was considered Many of her main themes were considered "saccharine" and her images of women and children were not properly appreciated at the time. She died of cancer at 51. I think these images are really quite sweet. My favorite technique is simple stamping and coloring with watercolor pencils. All these images can be found here on two sheets of images inspired by the works of Helen Hyde. Images are also available singly.

All Dolled Up

The featured image on this card is from the Japanese Marine Sheet 1 Taylored Stamps. The image was stampedon marbled paper with VersaMark then embossed with gold. The bling is peel off sticker shapes by Stampendous. I then edged it with 18K Gold Krylon pen and mounted it on patterned paper, then onto brushed gold card stock. The card below was made similarly with different colors.
Below is yet another version of a card using the Japanese Jellyfish image.

Jellyfish at Sea

I just love this Japanese Jellyfish image with the calligraphy poem! This one was stamped in black ink and embossed with detail black embossing powder on a background that I made using a resist technique and glimmer mist sprays. The Judikins crashing wave stamp was stamped randomly with Ranger resist ink on a sheet of Bristol smooth art paper. I then sprayed the sheet of paper with different colors of blues and pearl glimmer mist sprays from Tattered Angels. Finally, I overstamped the design with the crashing wave stamp and Memories white ink. Because of the mica powders in the sprays, I sprayed the background paper with a workable fixative to give it a smoother finish to accept the ink on the jellyfish stamp. The jellyfish panel was trimmed to size and then mounted onto alternating panels of white and marine blue. The first blue panel was decorated with a rope border made with a Fiskars border punch.

Torii Gates

I've added two versions of the Torii gate stamp available from Art Neko on the Taylored Stamps Torii Gate, Ox, Willow, Fish and Harmony Set. Both of them are stamped in black ink and embossed with detail black embossing powder on a polished stone background. The first one is layered onto adjoining panels of woven reed paper from Washi Accents and a purple floral washi design. The second stamped panel is layered onto another woven bark panel with the backing paper removed to show the colored cardstock underneath. This paper is also available from Washi Accents. Coordinating panels of cardstock are layered to finish both cards.

Heading Home

Another OSA layout challenge, this one was a little strange for me! When I saw all the triangles, I immediately thought of the Japanese Fishing Boat in the Art Neko marine series, and then tried to fit other images with it to make a coherent story following the layout design. The boat is stamped and embossed on a hand colored piece of cardstock created with glimmer mists (Tattered Angels) and polished pigment powders (Luminarte). The triangle behind that one was a shimmery lilac cardstock that I decorated with scattered stars. The small circle design of Sun on Waves was stamped and embossed with silver on a piece of purple cardstock and cut out with a one-inch punch. The smallest triangle was cut from a larger image created with a Fred Mullett woodcut-design stamp. I liked the story suggested by all the pieces combined, and I thought the panel shapes and the designs of the stamps worked very well together. All of the stamped panels were arranged on a piece of purchased, hand-painted and marbled art tissue that picked up the blues and purples in the triangular panels.

By The Sea

This card was made using the Japanese Fishing Boat image available as a single stamp or on the Taylored Stamps Marine 2 Sheet.

This card was created for a sketch challenge for OSA. I think the appeal of this card is using a unique image from Taylored Stamps Marine 2 sheet. The image is stamped with Midnight Blue StazOn ink and mounted on black. That part was put aside while the background was built. Several patterned papers were used using the same tone of blue. Layering on black created great contrast. The vertical image was then added with the pearlsadded last.
I think the featured Japanese Fisherman image being vertical on the horizontal background really makes the image stand out.

The background of the tan card is by Basic Grey. The divisions are from a reed type paper similar to something used for placemats.

I stamped Japanese Fisherman using Kaleidacolor Cappuccino Delight.

The starfish is a button with the shank removed and colored with Krylon gold and adhered with Glossy Accents.

The sand dollar image is also from the same sheet.


All images come on the sheet Japanese Marine Sheet 2 by Taylored Stamps or can be purchased individually from Art Neko.

One Fish, Two Fish....

The Catch of the Day image was stamped with VersaMark on pre-colored paper by Basic Grey.
Gold, silver and copper embossing powders were sprinkled separately on the image. A little gold here, a little silver there etc, and then heat embossed. Copper Krylon pen was used to edge the image.
The background was made using different sized circles, stamped randomly with VersaMark on black card stock and then then embossed with gold,silver and copper powders.
The seashell image and verse were added to complete the card.


The second card is a completely different take on this focal image.

All these Taylored Stamps can be found by clicking the links in the description or the following link to the search for Marine items on the Art Neko website.

Two More Carp

The Catch of the Day was stamped and embossed on a blue cardstock panel and then colored with twinkling H2O's. I added chalks in the background for different shades of blue, and stamped waves with Judikins's crashing waves stamp. The fish panel was layered with crumpled copper foil paper and coordinating cardstock. I stamped the Japanese Fisherman in turquoise ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Using a wave image from Stonehouse Stamps, I created a left and bottom border with copper ink and embossing powders and placed the cut out fisherman in the corner, looking into the fish panel. The Japanese Fisherman and the Catch of the Day are both available on Taylored Stamps Marine Sheet 2.

I stamped the Leaping Koi in waves image with black ink and embossed it with detail black embossing powders. The water and fish were colored with twinkling H2O's. I added a portion of the large wisteria vine stamp from Beeswax at the top of the panel, and colored some of the flowers and leaves with Tombow markers. I added some chalks to the background to get some sky colors. The finished panel was layered with a black panel to a folded white card. Leaping Koi is also available on Taylored Stamps Koi and Crane Sheet.

Utagawa Wisteria and Carp

Wisteria Koi in Orange

The background for this version of the Utagawa Wisteria and Carp is a scrap of waste paper left over from a class project using Zana Clark's color sprays. Swirls and curls were drawn with metallic acrylic flow paints as a resist, and then different colors of the sprays were randomly sprayed. I stamped the koi on a panel cut from the paper, and embossed it with detail black ink. I edged the panel with permanent black ink, and then layered it to white and then orange/peach cardstock. This panel was layered onto a panel of washi paper that just happened to show up at just the right time - all the lines and colors and motifs were perfect for the fish image with its swirl backgrounds! Total serendipity!

Wisteria Koi in Blues

I made this card in response to one of the OSA layout challenges - the layout is provided for us and we interpreted it as we wish. The Utagawa Wisteria and Carp image is stamped on a colorwashed scrap of watercolor paper and lightly colored with twinkling H2O's. Panels of purchased handmade papers and Kodomo ribbon were layered onto a marine patterned washi paper background and then layered to coordinating cardstock.

This image is also available on the Hokusai Dragon Sheet.

Japanese Papers A Lot of Projects and Samples this Week--To see all this week click Older Post thru to Washi Eggs!

Who can resist beautiful papers, especially Japanese decorative papers commonly referred to as Washi or Yuzen? I know I can't resist all the textures, colors, prints that are found in paper shops around the world. While some husbands might complain about those paper stashes some of us have, my husband considered my paper obsession a blessing. While wives were out purchasing the latest fashions, fancy jewelry and other expensive souvenirs while traveling--I only wanted to go to paper shops and used book stores. Paper is a relatively cheap obsession. Like the toddler who spends more time with the packaging of his or her Christmas or birthday present, I could be ecstatic by the rough textured TP in the restrooms of Budapest (much more suited for art projects than it's intended purpose, if you ask me!), cocktail napkins in Japan or Germany, foil wrappers from chocolates or confections and on it goes. But I do have to say that my greatest love is for the elegant decorative papers of Japan. They can be a bit pricey, but a little bit can go a long way. Our Japanese decorative papers are limited to what is in stock. If we are out of a paper we will notify you as to whether it will be restocked and the likely wait time and you can choose to receive a refund or to substitute a different pattern. I hope you enjoy the samples this week of projects using these papers. We have quite a few projects here this week so be sure to read all the way through to Washi Easter Eggs at the end of this segment on Washi papers.

Cherry Blossom Branch

These two cards were created using Taylored Stamps Cherry Blossoms on Pond from Art Neko issued last winter. The effect is very different, even though the image is the same. The image in both cards has been stamped and then embossed in gold. Both were colored with twinkling H2O's and touched up with gold pen highlights. The darker background is more sedate, or mysterious, with a darker stream; but the shimmer of the twinks gives it an almost magical feel. The pastel background and brighter colors in the other card make you believe that springtime is here! The card on the left is layered onto washi paper and a pattern-stamped background paper; and the darker card is layered onto purchased scrapbook papers embellished with a metallic ribbon.