Paper Chase

You know these lovely papers crafters have a habit of hoarding... Yes me too, have got loads that I daren't cut up or use, in the event I will need them for THAT project.
And there it is! Country View Craft's latest challenge is to use papers, lots of papers. I have broken my all time record and used 6 papers, one doily and 2 colours of cardstock!

The papers are all from the same collection (Curiosity Corner) and I used an Impression Obsession stamp on ivory cardstock as my focal point. Only the gem and pearls are not made from paper.

Downside is... I have increased my scrap mountain significantly!

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Joanna Wardle

This week Clare Lloyd came back to the Paper Artsy blog and produced colourful and whimsy creations with the new JoFy stamps. As much as I was inspired, I didn't have enough time for such complex projects (see her box/frame here)... but I did have time to follow Joanna's steps to create a one layer card, so here it is :

I did the splats by flicking a brush load of paint on my card, stamped my circles with a lid, and painted the stitched line as I don't have the stamps Joanna used. But I do have the flower from ELB02, so I used it to stick to Joanna's design as closely as possible.

If you are wondering... a splat stamp is a good idea, especially for the big ones, because it is hard to control the placement of the splat from a height and you need a lot of liquid to achieve the effect, which can spoil the cardstock... and everything around it!
I am also entering the Artful Times challenge.

Enjoy your week-end,

Age is but a number

For the latest Craft Barn quote challenge I chose the word age and a fun quote perfect for women: "A woman should never be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating." by Oscar Wilde.
Along the same lines, I think a woman shouldn't be accurate about her size and this made me think about tape measures, which in turn called for more sewing inspired items!

For colour scheme I didn't have to think I just picked it from the Sprinkle of imagination challenge!

For the background I used water soluble wax crayons, then stamped with the Calligraphy mat 13 and some areas of the Small Bingo stamp, both from The Artistic Stamper. I tried several inks and settled on the Brilliance black, which turned out grey, because Versafine did not dry on the waxy surface and Archival, when it eventually dried, lost a lot of the detail. I figured that if the background stamping was grey instead of black I was using one more colour of the colour scheme and a lighter colour might even be better for the background.

I used an X-Cut die to create a stencil through which I applied texture paste coloured with black acrylic paint to create a frame. I also applied the paste for the dress form (also X-Cut die) stamping into it with the Calligraphy mat.
I tried a bit of wax crayon over the texture created on the dress form but I didn't like the effect so I changed tack and applied silver foil.

Metal die-cuts complete the page.

I am also entering the Artistic Stamper, Pan Pastel UK and Artful Times challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Pam Thorburn (2)

Pam is back on the Paper Artsy blog with 3 scrapbook layouts. I chose this one as my inspiration, as soon as I saw the paint drips I had to have a go.
Of course sprays are quite unpredictable at the best of times but I decided to add micas sprays on top of my Fresco sprays and things got messy!

I substituted Pam's home made washi tapes by scraps of paper, as I had tons of them in a similar width to the washi, and a bit of Tim Holtz tissue paper. But I couldn't leave it alone and added scrim, texture paste through a stencil and a die-cut border. I stuck all these down before spraying, as I had to gesso them first as they all had different colours.

I completely lost control of the page and from then on I diverted quite a bit from Pam's design. I added torn and punched edges, vellum and a scrap of wax paper (used to die-cut, so this is actually the waste) and several die-cuts.
From an inadvertent puddle of mica spray on my table I stamped some circles with the said spray's cap.
Not a lot of stamping on this page but I have used some of the lettering of the Wisdom stamp from  ESN07.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Ellen Vargo (2)

Ellen was back this week on the Paper Artsy blog to show us what she made with the newly released stamps she designed. The cards she created have a very graphic feel which remind me of tribal art. But of course I don't have any of the new stamps!

I followed Ellen's instructions here to produce not cards but a box for my inks & bits. It has to be flat in order to be stacked so I have eschewed any kind of dimensional embellishments.

I have used Fresco paints on my background, initially with a brayer but I switched to a baby wipe when having produced something that looked like "an explosion in a paint factory" (my son's words) I applied more paint to tone down and bring together the offending layers.

For the fine lines stamping I substituted a stamp by a piece of plastic packaging inked with Versamagic.
I selected a stamp set, freebie from a magazine, that I thought would produce the closest look to what Ellen did. I had never used it before so that's a bonus!
I used white paint for the white and Archival for the black and filled in the dots with black marker and white gel pen.
The chevrons were stencilled with paint and I drew the borders with a black marker. The eagle eyed among you will notice a bit of a crackle were the chevron meets the wax paper strips, that's because I run out of matt medium and used PVA instead!

I am also entering the Artful Times and Pan Pastels UK challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Strong and miss

For the latest quote challenge at the Craft Barn I chose the word Miss and set out to produce a layered background with doily stencils in pink and turquoise shades. But the project took me in a different direction... and the result is nothing like what I was aiming for. Never mind!

First I ironed some wax paper I had die-cut with a Memory box die (Piestra tile) to create some resist. Sadly the effect is not as obvious as I would have liked, once I had applied the layers of mists and Distress inks! I also stamped with a Harlequin stamp (The Artistic Stamper) sprayed with water which created a lovely but subtle effect and a muslin texture stamp (Impression Obsession)
The main image is from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.

Hope you like,

Inspired by Lin Brown

This week Julie Ann showed her gorgeous box full of wonderful details on the Paper Artsy blog. Didn't have the courage to try myself...

Paper Artsy has new stamps coming out soon and we were treated to a reveal of the latest Eclectica products designed by Lin Brown, along with some samples by the DT.
I fell in love with this one and attempted my own version, with the old stamps, of course !

The support is a piece of cardboard onto which I glued/gessoed a piece of cotton.
For the background, inspired by the Pan Pastel DT who was mixing pastels with all sorts of acrylic mediums, I tried mixing pastel with acrylic paint and created a pink and a green paint.
On top I used a very old stencil of a flower with white, Claret and Limelight paints in different mixes.
I stamped in Aubergine chalk ink (might as well carry on the "chalk" theme) 2 stamps from the ESN07 set for a bit of background interest.
Then, the piece de resistance... this is a technique I am already familiar with and in fact my top favourite, but I had never tried it on fabric as shown by Tracy here for the Pan Pastel UK challenge.
I stamped with Versamark the Tulip from the ELB03 set and the foliage from ELB02.
Then, I applied pastels over the Versamark, using different colours for variation.
I cleaned up the Tulip head with an electric eraser where the pastel shouldn't be but left the rest with this slight haze of pastel. The texture of the cotton grasped more pastel than cardstock does but I liked the effect.
Finally I used a charcoal pencil to create a shadow on the tulip.

I enjoyed the process very much and I am quite happy with the result, for once!

Thanks for coming by,

Deja vu

If you have a sense of déjà vu it's because I made a very similar card last year. At the time, I was so intent on using gilding flakes, that I chose a dark colour cardstock to contrast with the flakes, despite my niggling feeling that this was throwing the colour balance off kilter.

With the benefit of hindsight, I decided a white or pastel shade would be better, so I decided to do a second version. I still have lots of that ribbon, in fact I have a whole reel of the narrower one!

 

 

This time I coloured my stamp with water based pens before stamping on white cardstock.
For embellishments I added a die-cut border threaded with organza ribbon, flower and leaves.
Looking at it now, I think the flower is crying out for a centre and I will add a gem though I am not sure which colour to use.
I am entering the Craft-Room and the Stamping Sensations challenges.

Let me know in your comments which colour you would pick for the flower centre, and which version of the card you prefer,

Love

I am joining in the Love fest that is February with this card. The Arty Inklings wanted something dimensional and I was itching to use my Hexagons die for embossing instead of cutting.

First I used the die to die-cut a stencil out of some scrap paper and emboss the black panel.
Placing the stencil over the embossed panel I applied Versamark directly with the stamp pad.
Then I used 3 shades of micas powders (Imagination Crafts - Earthtones set) whittled down from the 5 pink shades of the set to create a gradated shimmer.

I stamped and embossed in gold a heart (Craft Stamper freebie) and die-cut another heart and an arrow from a Sizzix/Tim Holtz Bigz die. To give more dimension I also embossed the die-cut heart but this time with a folder (wood grain). Some fiddly slots cutting later, I layered them together using foam pads before placing on my background.

The stamped sentiment (old Docrafts set) is stuck on a another die-cut threaded with ribbon.

Zoom on the shine:

I am also entering the following challenges: Imagination Crafts and Lothian Crafts.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Clare Lloyd - W2

I am on a roll... another tag! I have taken inspiration from Clare's project here but couldn't resist adding a face as per her second project for my entry in the Paper Artsy challenge.

I followed Clare's process using a stencil and stamping with paint (the branch from Eclectica ELB02) over-stamping with a background stamp in Archival. My circles were stamped in Archival on an offcut from last week's crafting (also from ELB02).

I stopped at the stitching.... I have enough trouble stitching straight, let alone in a curve! So I faked it with a pen.

As to my face, when I had finished "painting" her (I only used coloured pencils), I decided she should be under glass so I embossed the panel with clear powder. She looks from a different era don't you think? So old the glass would be cracked... which is what I did! Shame my EP was contaminated with white EP and other unidentified bits though!

 

I am also entering the WOW Embossing Powders (Glass) and Country View Craft (Painty pleasures) challenges.

 

Hope you'll forgive my colour scheme - what was I thinking?!

 

Tim Holtz homage tag

I have had Distress inks for a few years now and have read enough blog posts/seen videos to know enough about Tim Holtz famous techniques but I have never made a tag in his style yet! So the Artful Times and The Artistic Stamper challenges gave me the push I needed.

I used a Doily stencil (Prima) with white acrylic paint and a DIY stencil with light blue paint to create a resist for the subsequent distress ink layers. I applied the inks in Barn Door, Forest moss and Scattered straw, then sprayed water over a chevron stencil and dabbed with a tissue.
My final layer with Walnut stain has been applied around the tag and over a cogs stencil.

Time for stamping... I only have one stamp set by TH so I used that one and stamped different bits of the same stamp all over the card with black Archival.

I don't have any Ideology stuff so I made my own metal embellishment and played with embossing powders! I really need more on the tag to emulate TH's style but I just didn't know what to add...

I am also entering the Pan Pastels UK and the Lisa.B. Designs challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By Pam Thorburn

This week on the Paper Artsy blog we had some wonderful layouts by Pam, and I took inspiration from her first page.

I didn't have any piece of cardboard big enough for a 12x12 so I had to abandon that idea... So instead I printed the corrugations with paint ! Continuing the reverse process, since my background page was white, I stencilled solid hexagons in Aqua.

The colour choice was made for me by A Sprinkle of Imagination challenge:

 This challenged me quite a bit, not only because I had to create papers in the colours required, but also trying to find any embellishments in the colours! I used old designer papers, Fresco paints and a credit card (so easy and quick and limited clean-up!) to create my papers. I also used stamps from Hot Pick 1111 in the background.

The other challenge I had set myself was to use more papers and more layers in a layout so I followed the Scrap365 sketch, based on a layout by Els Brige:

 



As this is my first attempt at following a sketch I didn't dare deviate from the sketch too much!
With no further ado...

Challenging exercise but I am so glad I tried these "recipes" for my layout.

Thanks for coming by,