A note from Leandra:
It's a stunning spring release from Alison for you with 3 gorgeous new stamps sets, and for the first time ever from Alison, stencils! She has so many ideas to share with you all, so buckle up, and grab a cuppa!
Alison will be along to share with you LIVE these new products and ideas over in our Facebook Group, 'PaperArtsy People' shortly after this post publishes, and ... don't forget
These stamps are available EXCLUSIVELY from our approved stockists. Please check the list at the foot of this post to find a retailer online or geographically near you, it makes sense to order within your country where possible. Our retailers also endeavour to join the designer's live to share their direct shopping links - this makes it super easy for you to find a store with product in stock immediately.
Hello all, Alison here from Words and Pictures, and I couldn't be happier to share some new stamps with you. Not only that... for the first time, I also have a trio of stencils to reveal. It's safe to say that spring is in the air with these new designs. In fact, the new stamps reflect the progression out of winter and into spring as hidden life bursts forth with new energy. And the stencils complement that journey.
Words are also a strong element on these new plates, of course, with fragments of poetry to support the visual poetry of the botanical sketches. There's some carefully chosen ephemera, as well as "text textures" - old scripts and fonts - to create detail and delight in your backgrounds. I hope you'll love the springtime energy of these as much as I do.
Words are also a strong element on these new plates, of course, with fragments of poetry to support the visual poetry of the botanical sketches. There's some carefully chosen ephemera, as well as "text textures" - old scripts and fonts - to create detail and delight in your backgrounds. I hope you'll love the springtime energy of these as much as I do.
As always, I've got lots to share with you, so let's take a closer look at each of the new designs, and later on in the post there are the usual trios and extras to enjoy.
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Red Rubber Stamps (A5 set)
Price: RRP €23.00 +VAT
Size:5" x 6" (13 x16.5cm)
All stamps are individually trimmed onto cling foam, with a laminated storage/index sheet.
Eclectica Alison Bomber Crocus Edition (EAB45)
Crocuses are some of the first flowers to appear each year, emerging from their bulbs to bring a touch of colour to the winter garden - yellow, white, and all kinds of purples, mauves and blues. Those bulbs, resting beneath the earth, are packed with the nutrition the plant will need, and they send down roots to find any additional moisture or sustenance required over those dark months, so that they can rise up out of the frozen earth early in the year to bring us joy.
Life Breaks Forth - Jumbo Tag
This first piece is a jumbo tag celebrating those fragile blooms emerging from their resilient roots amidst the rocks, with the bare branches of the trees still silhouetted against the sky. (You've got a sneak peek of one of the new stencils here too!)
I stencilled over a bookpage background, adding extra detailing by hand, and stamped some of the crocuses - both open and closed blooms - direct to the backgrounds. They are emerging from layers of stony ground, created with a Tim Holtz embossing folder.
Then I stamped additional crocuses (leaving off the bulb from the closed flower heads) on a piece of Smoothy card and tinted the stems and foliage with Limelight and Magic Moss Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics. I used Ash Mattint to add some delicate shading to the flower heads. (Oh, how deep is my love for Ash!?)
You can see the "text textures" - on this set, a beautiful alphabet in upper and lower case - adding a hint of colour to the wintry sky, and the postage stamp has an intricate image of a Czech castle on it. (You can see it in more detail when it's stamped in a darker colour - watch out for it in some of the samples further down the post!)
I stamped the words in a combination of Archival ink colours. "The hidden life that breaks forth" is a fragment from Christina Rossetti's poem, "Spring".
The fussy-cut crocus images are layered over real twigs, emerging from the stencilled ones into three dimensions. And the additional ephemera is a frank worth three pounds, which comes from a piece of very personal family history - the deed of sale for my Czech grandmother's house on Richmond Hill (more of that in a minute!).
Eclectica Alison Bomber Apple Blossom Edition (EAB46)
As winter recedes, the ephemeral magic of tree blossom starts to appear. I have shared some botanical tree blossom stamps before, but those were Blackthorn, whose flowers emerge before the leaves, so they are on bare branches. I really wanted some leafy blossom branches and, for me, apple blossom was the perfect choice. The leaves, buds and blooms all coincide and overlap, both on apple trees and crabapple trees. We have a glorious miniature crabapple in the courtyard, and photos of it in leaf, bud and bloom are always a feature on my "other" IG account @b0hem1anh0me in spring. I love the deep red of the buds when they are closed, and how the blossoms move from deep pink to a soft blush to pure white as they open.
Put On Your Foliage - Bark Panel
Life is bursting forth from this panel made of real bark. There are real twigs again, allowing me to build dimension with my blossom branches, both buds and blooms. The young man - one of the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Portraits - is embracing spring as a time of growth... he's ready to rise and put on his foliage.
Again, I stamped my botanical sketches on Smoothy card and used a combination of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and Mattints to paint them. Limelight and Hey Pesto this time for the fresh spring foliage, with some shadows courtesy of River Deep Mattint; there's French Roast for the branches, and subtle layers of Ladybug and The Pink allow me to build exactly the level of blush that I want for the buds and blossom.
The text texture on this set comes from that house deed I mentioned earlier... a beautiful handwritten bill of sale for my grandmother's house (I'll show you the document itself in the live launch video), dating from the early 1920s. I've used it here to create a parchment scroll, adding more dimension and movement to the composition.
In some vintage German magazines from the 1890s, gifted to me by friends, I found a wonderful emblem of a bird with wings in full flight, delivering a letter - presumably containing the good news of spring's arrival! It was an irresistible addition to this stamp set, with its gorgeous Art Nouveau style flourish in the background.
And I also adore the additional ephemera label on this set with a bird's nest (somewhere for the bird to land!) - perhaps to be found in the branches of our apple tree. There's so much springtime detail in this one tiny image, with its echo of the foliage on the main sketches.
The fragment this time in the smaller font is from Robert Herrick's poem, "Corinna's Going a-Maying". As usual, the large words on each set are specially chosen by me to complement the themes of the whole plate.
Eclectica Alison Bomber Lavender Edition (EAB47)
Lavender might be my favourite plant of them all... for its calming scent, for the silvery grey beauty of its foliage, for the elegance of its intricate flowers. Although most lavender doesn't reach its peak until later in the year, there are plenty of varieties which will offer up their beauty in late spring, and I simply couldn't wait any longer to add this glorious, fragrant herb to my botanical stamp garden! These delicate flowers are definitely based on English lavender varieties, rather than the more glamorous, showy Spanish ones. (You find both styles in France!)
Life's Alive in Everything - Journal Page
There's a beauty and a romance to lavender which I wanted to try to capture with this journal spread. Vintage in style, and with the freshness of youth and springtime in its delicate colours and airy white spaces. I feel sure this young woman's heart is filled with love and longing, as she gazes out of the window at the gardens beyond, and smells the heady fragrance of the lavender plants.
I've tinted the lavender flowers with watery washes of various Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics... Lavender, Wisteria, Double Denim (and some of the old translucent version of Blueberry, I think, too).
I deliberately designed the lavender so that it's easy to separate the trio, meaning you can stamp an individual stem, or a pair, or all three, and combine them to create different clusters of stems. And I love how elegant they are when stamped alone, without the foliage around the base.
I deliberately wanted to have the foliage as a separate stamp, so that you can use either the stems or the leaves independently without having to fiddle with taping anything off as you stamp. It means you can use the foliage to build backgrounds as here (with the leafy stencil in the layers too), or construct a whole plant with foliage and flower stems together, as you'll see in some of the later samples. And that means you can stamp your stems to be as tall as you want above the foliage, or nestled down within it.
These pages take their title from another fragment from Christina Rossetti's poem, "Spring", and you see it here layered over the foliage with the vintage Post Card ephemera stamp adding detail. There's a bit of lace and some luscious washi tape adding to the romance. The second poetry fragment on this set is from William Wordsworth's "Lines written in early spring".
The other ephemera label is a new favourite for me - an enchanting pharmacy label to which you can add extra handwritten details if you wish. And the text texture on this set is some beautiful Gothic font, taken from the same book as the alphabets on the Crocus Edition - a primer published in Leipzig in 1852, full of tables, fonts and lettering to help children learn to read and spell. Again, I'll have that with me during the live if you'd like to see the originals.
It's so exciting to have three stencil designs to share with you. I've been having a lovely time playing with them, exploring just some of the possibilities. You've already seen a couple of them layered into the stamp samples above, and here are a few more tasters of the stencils in action. I'll be showing you lots more backgrounds, experiments and works in progress during the live launch, so make sure you catch that.
PaperArtsy Stencil Twiggy (PS450)
Resilient Roots - journal page
As you saw in the jumbo crocus tag, I originally conceived of this stencil as being the starting point for twigs, branches and trees. Imagine my delight when I suddenly realised it could do double duty as roots too!
Here is the stencil in its basic form, with French Roast Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic sponged over a Distress Ink gel print background I happened to have lying around.
I'll share a video soon on my (very simple) process for adding the extra details so that they look natural and organic. I went off to get a cup of coffee and as I came back into the room I saw the paper from the other way up and light bulbs went off...
You know how I said the stencils and stamp sets complemented each other? Well, even I hadn't realised until that point how true that really was!! The words are both from EAB45 Crocus Edition.
A simple page, but powerful, I think... and words we're all going to need in the near future.
Fertile Foliage - tag series
Regulars may be wondering where the tags are... well, there are more coming down below in the other stamp samples, but how's this for a series celebrating glorious springtime foliage bursting forth?!
On some of these, I've simply sponged through the stencil, using various inks and paints to build depth. On others I've added detailing, either using the stencil to help, or freehand, and sometimes stamping through the stencil with one of the text textures from the stamp sets.
As you can see, I had a lovely time adding detail using the ephemera, the text textures and, of course, the words from all three of the new stamp sets.
Again, I'm aiming to share a video of this meditative, uplifting process some time soon... assuming I can remember most of what I did. I was genuinely just playing and exploring and I was definitely "in the zone", a real state of creative flow... a gentle, playful session which gave me a sense of calm and joy - quite an achievement given the current state of the world!
PaperArtsy Stencil Berry (PS452)
Bountiful Berries - trio of panels
There's more of a wintry vibe in this trio using the third of the stencils - as I couldn't resist playing with some of my favourite blues, browns and greys - but this would work just as well in fresh springtime greens.
I created lots of backgrounds by sponging and/or spraying various inks and sprays through the stencil and then flipping to print on another panel (sometimes with a spritz of water to allow the mediums to move).
I added detail in similar ways as with the Fertile Foliage series above - freehand penwork, or using the stencil to trace with; stamping through the stencil or direct to the background... but I love them in their "naked" state too, to be honest.
I didn't want to cover up too much of my lovely berry backgrounds, so there's just some simple collaging over the top.
Idea-ology tiny labels, Photobooth snapshots, Filmstrip ribbon and metal Thought Tokens - they really didn't need much. In fact, I rather like the backgrounds exactly as they are, without any adornment!
I love this trio, and I used similar techniques but with different mediums for one of the demo sessions at the Creativeworld international trade fair in Frankfurt earlier this month.
You may have caught Leandra's brilliant Lives sharing the fun from Creativeworld. It was so great to be able to give people sneak peeks of these upcoming releases.
I thought I'd quickly show you a few photos of the make-and-take projects I shared on the PaperArtsy stand there. (If you're at Art Specially in the Netherlands towards the end of March, look out for me there, and come a make some of these yourself!)
We created springtime postcards, stamping over delicate, glowing Mattint backgrounds, and mostly using Mattints to tint the imagery too.
You need to keep things fairly simple for a make-and-take, but I love these postcards as a way to give people a taster of the springtime energy of these new sets.
And as you can see we also had lots of fun with the berry stencil. Instead of Distress mediums, I used Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and the magical Infusions powders to create some gloriously messy mixed media backgrounds.
I know not everyone will be able to make it to Holland, so watch out for some of these techniques in an upcoming Friday Fun on the PaperArtsy People FB group in a couple of weeks' time!
And in the name of inspiration overload, here are just a few teasers of some of the other projects coming your way over on Instagram and my blog over the coming days and weeks. As you know, I love working in trios, and with three stamp sets that usually means creating triptyches featuring each of the designs across the three elements, whether that's tags or panels or (very occasionally!) cards...
And in the name of inspiration overload, here are just a few teasers of some of the other projects coming your way over on Instagram and my blog over the coming days and weeks. As you know, I love working in trios, and with three stamp sets that usually means creating triptyches featuring each of the designs across the three elements, whether that's tags or panels or (very occasionally!) cards...
A light exists in spring - tag trio
Although I haven't actually used that particular poetry fragment on these tags, the first line (and title) of Emily Dickinson's poem just feels like the right title for this trio.
Subtle springtime Distress Ink backgrounds allow the imagery to shine. Some ephemera is stamped direct, some is stamped separately and glued on.
You can probably see that these tags were the inspiration behind the Mattint make-and-take postcards.
The crocuses have got their roots this time (and if you pop them in a vase, they could pretty much double as tulips) and the lavender stems are growing out of the foliage.
Infused with Spring - card trio
You all know cards are a pretty rare thing for me, but these happened almost by accident... and I'm so glad they did.
I used the brilliant Infusions powders to create gorgeous grungy backgrounds around the stamped imagery. Again, there's simple collaging with ephemera elements from the stamp sets themselves as well as some Idea-ology bits and bobs.
Each card has its own coordinating envelope, with the simplest of stamping. I love how the sketches look even in this completely unpainted, unadorned state.
And each set has the perfect piece of ephemera to go on the back of the envelope flap too... it's possible that the envelopes make me happiest of all here! No, not really... it's the whole matching stationery thing together which does it.
Old Book Pages
One thing in my head as I was designing these "text textures" sets was the look of old book pages, especially in encyclopaedias or illustrated dictionaries... so my very first stamping of the sets exactly as they come on the plates (before I removed any of the stamps for individual playtime) makes me very happy! I did add a bit of inking to age the papers, obviously...
Watercolour Windows
And then this trio is pretty much the complete opposite of that...
... not a fusty old book page in sight, just glowing watercolour paintings, with so much light glowing within them that it's almost like stained glass.
Simple repeat stamping of the botanical imagery - and the sketches on each set are carefully designed to work together to give you lots of flexibility...
... painted with my Daniel Smith watercolours - because that's what I wanted to do - and especially with the apple blossom, as the inspiration for those images comes straight from one of my watercolour sketchbooks. (Watch the live to see that original painting.)
Plain Postcards
Okay, they're not that plain, but they are very simply stamped to showcase the text textures I keep mentioning.
I used the postage stamp from EAB45, the mail-delivering bird from EAB46, and the postcard topper from EAB47 on all three of them.
I really enjoy the simplicity of these... and they were unbelievably quick to make!!
Healing Calm - tag trio
Another tag trio to finish things off... and I have a tough time working out which of all these trios is my favourite. Certainly the thought about healing calm is a vitally important one, just at the moment.
Simple repeat stamping of the botanical imagery - and the sketches on each set are carefully designed to work together to give you lots of flexibility...
There is such a thing as white lavender... and it's perhaps even more beautiful than the blue/purple sort.
And at last, here's the only one of the poetry fragments I haven't mentioned yet - all things keeping time with the season, from "The Spring" by Thomas Carew. So now you know all the poets involved in all three sets!
So there you have it!
That's the last of the eye candy... for now, at least. As you can see, I've been having a glorious time playing with these stamps and stencils, and I hope you will be inspired by them too. I'm still playing, so do watch out over on Instagram and on my YouTube channel - links all below!
I know I've got lots more exploring to do, and I know you will have ideas for them that I can't even imagine. It's always such a joy seeing what others make with my designs, so do tag me in if you are sharing your creations on social media.
I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of springtime to come. Huge gratitude to everyone at PaperArtsy for their resilience and strength in continuing to spread so much light in our creative community, and helping us all to find growth and some healing calm. It is such a joy to collaborate with the PaperArtsy team to bring these stamps and stencils to life.
Thank you so much to all of you too, and happy crafting!
Alison xx
You can see more and visit me at...
Instagram - @w0rdsandp1ctures and @b0hem1anh0me
YouTube - Words and Pictures
Website - Words and Pictures
Blog - Words and Pictures
Facebook - Words and Pictures
Also, find me in person at Art Specially, Nijkerk, Holland 29th and 30th March, 2025
And watch out for in-person classes in the UK in May, both north and south!
PaperArtsy Stockist List
Our stockists are your go-to source for all PaperArtsy products, and we suggest that you also use the PaperArtsy People Facebook group to source a retailer in your country. Many are members of our FB group and will happily share links to their online stores.
Australia
Bev's Cross Crafts, Spreyton, Tasmania bevscrosscrafts
Crafters Cupboard, Berwick, Victoria crafters cupboard
Hillbilly Scrappin, Nikenbah, QLD hillbilly scrapping
Memories on the Murray, Murray Bridge, SA memories on the murray
Natalie May Scrapbooking, Dover Gardens, SA natalie may
Scrapbook Superstore & More, South Penrith, NSW scrapbook superstore
The Scrapbooker's Confetti Box, Swansea, NSW the scrapbookers confetti box
Belgium
Cart N Scrap Art, Antwerp, cart n scrap art
Créatelier Caracolle, Liège, createlier caracolle
Canada
Clipper Street Scrapbook Company, Langley BC, Clipper Street Scrapbook Co
Glitter & Ink, Belleville ON Glitter & Ink
Paper Art Creations Inc, Leduc, Alberta, paper art creations
Scrapbook Centrale, Dollard Des Ormeaux, Quebec scrapbook centrale
Scrapbook Centrale, Dollard Des Ormeaux, Quebec scrapbook centrale
Scrap Addicts, Edmonton, Alberta scrap addicts
Scrap and Bean, Edmonton, Alberta scrap and bean
Scrapbooking Fairies, Drayton Valley, Alberta scrapbooking fairies
The Paper & ink Boutique, Calgary, Alberta paper and ink boutique
The Scrap Yard, Calgary, Alberta, the scrap yard
The Scrap Yard, Calgary, Alberta, the scrap yard
Denmark
Hobbyboden Scrapworld Samso hobbyboden
Finland
Korttipaja, Istunmaki Heidin Korttipaja
Klemmarikellari, Turku Klemmarikellari
France
Eirl Bancon Cartoscrap, Midi Pyrenees, www.cartoscrap.com
Emispheres Eurl Ruy Montceau,38300
Fée Du Scrap, Saint Sébastien-Sur-Loire, fee du scrap
Horizon Créatif, Ste Jalle horizon creatif
Instant Créatif, La Possession, La Réunion, i creatif
Katzelkraft, Ingwiller katzelkraft
Kerudoc Creation, St Yvi kerudoc creation
Le Grenier des filles, Pierre Benite
Page de scrap, Saint Pavace, page de scrap
Passion Scrap, Vieux-Conde, Passion Scrap
Scrap by Jo, Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, 31650 Scrap by Jo
Scrap Déco Home, Goutrens, www.scrap deco home
Toutencolle, Dun sur Auron toutencolle
Germany
Stempeloase Munich, Munich stempeloase
Stempelfee Shop, Hilden stempelfee shop
Stempellaedle, Stuttgart, stempellaedle
Tue Was Di Liebst, Bayern, Tue Was du Liebst
Italy
Immagine SAS di Rapaccini, Rome, immagine lab
Il Negozio Della Mamma Di Cle, Torino, il negozio della mamma di cle
Marte Savona, Savona, marte savona
Pezze E Colori, Lissone, pezze e colori
Piccole Passioni, Siena, piccole passioni
Piccole Passioni, Siena, piccole passioni
Japan
La Wadao, Odawara, Kanagawa, la wadao
Tiny Dots, Funabashi-shi, Chiba tiny dots
Netherlands
De Hobbystudio, Genemuiden, de hobby studio
Doe@ding,Spijkenisse doe @ ding
Hobbycompleet de Duif, Leeuwarden hobby compleet
Puerto Rico
Paper Boutique, Fajardi Paper Boutique
South Africa
Kcraft imports Ltd, Centurion 0014 kcraft
Spain
Cien por Cien Manualidades, Barcelona, 100 x 100 manualidades
Ideas 10 Manualidades Y Scrapbook, Bilbao ideas 10 manualidades/
Marakiscrap, Tarragona, maraki scrap
Scrap & Papers Experiences, Barcelona, scrap papers experiences
The Paradise Corner, Barcelona, the paradise corner
United Kingdom
Amelia's Creative Crafts, Studley, Warwickshire amelias creative crafts
Art from the Heart, Harrogate, Yorkshire art from the heart
Crafts at The Malthouse, Herstmonceux, East Sussex, crafts at the malthouse
Countryview Crafts, Potton, Bedfordshire countryview crafts
Loobi Crafts, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, loobi crafts
Procraftynation Ltd, King's Lynn, Norfolk Procraftynation
Sir Stampalot, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire sir stampalot
Stampers Grove, Springbank, Lilliesleaf, Melrose,Scotland stampers grove
The Artistic Stamper Craft Store, Faversham, Kent the artistic stamper
The Forget me not Kraft Kabin, Rochford, Essex, The Forget Me Not Kraft Kabin
USA
Artistic Artifacts, Alexandria, VA artistic artifacts
Artistic Studio Creations, Fayetteville, Georgia Artistic Studio Creations
Craftiness, Chatsworth, CA, craftiness
Everything Scrapbook & Stamps, Lake Worth, Florida Everything Scrapbook & Stamps
Frantic Stamper, Oregon frantic stamper
Free Heart LLC, Denver, Colarado, free heart llc
Joggles, Coventry, Rhode Island, joggles
Messy Papercrafts, Temecula CA Messy Papercrafts
PaperCraft Clubhouse, Westbrook, Connecticut, papercraft clubhouse
Roadtique Boutique, Hilton NY
Runaway, Art & Craft Studio, NE Salem, Oregon runaway
Scrap-A-Latte, West Babylon NY scrap a latte
Scrapbook-N-Memories, Harrisonville Missouri Scrapbook N Memories
Simon Says Stamp, Columbus, Ohio simon says stamp
Topflight Stamps, Irmo, South Carolina topflight stamps
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1 comment:
gorgeous new release, and of course amazing samples. Love them!
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