PaperArtsy: June 2025 - With 3 Things - Shadow box and tags {by Etsuko Noguchi}

Monday, 9 June 2025

June 2025 - With 3 Things - Shadow box and tags {by Etsuko Noguchi}

Hi friends,

It's Etsuko from Pixienest with you for another 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

For this feature on the PaperArtsy Blog 3 identical items are sent to 3 members of the PaperArtsy Blogging team. Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a couple of Fresco Paints.

We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea of this challenge is to do something crafty in our personal style with these 3 items. We can incorporate other PA products into the mix if we feel it is necessary.

So let's take a look at what I received.

The lovely and beautiful PaperArtsy Alison Bomber w0rdsandp1ctures stamp set 30 (EAB30) Viola is in season now and blooming in my garden. The other two products are PaperArtsy Mattint Bellflower (MT17) and PaperArtsy Hot Picks Printed Tissue PT01. These three products are a very exciting combination. I immediately had ideas.

And let‘s take a close look of the results of that idea.

In addition to these three, I added a few more items. One of the first PaperArtsy Stencil by Alison Bomber released (PS450). I used PaperArtsy Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white stamping card for all the paper used here. Also I used paper cheese box. And more Mattints.

First, I printed all of the EAB30 images onto Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white stamping card using Ranger Industries-Archival Ink (Jet Black).

The main color, Mattint Bellflower (MT17), is a pale color so I used Mattint to color the Viola odorants. I used PaperArtsy Mattint Foxglove (MT18), Bellflower (MT17) and Acid (MT14) for the petals, Mojita (MT13), Greenstone (MT09) and River Deep (MT11) for the stems and leaves.

I did fussy cut of all these images.

The cheese box wasn't deep enough so I glued a 1 inch wide piece of paper tape to the inside. I then applied the Hot Picks Printed Tissue PT01 script all over the back of the cheese box with Mod Podge.

I then applied one coat of Mattintt Bellflower (MT17) to the entire back of the box and then applied some Bellflower to a sponge around the edges to darken them a bit.

I'm always trying to figure out how many coats of Mattints I need to apply to get the color I want.

I also tried using white and clear embossing powders with Mattint for various results. The top paper was first stamped with clear embossing powder, heat treated, and then painted with 2-3 coats of Mattintt Bellflower (MT17), which was then lightly wiped off with a wet tissue to bring out the white paper colour underneath.

For the two pieces of paper below, on the left I applied Mattintt and then used regular white embossing powder, and on the right I first applied Mattintt Bellflower (MT17) and then clear embossing powder stamped on the top and heat-treated. Once that had cooled I applied PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chark Acrylic - Little Black Dress on top and lightly wiped it off, hoping that the Bellflower underneath would stand out, but it didn't turn out very clearly.

Now moving on to the inside of the box, first make a 1 inch wide piece of paper tape to attach to the side of the box. Apply 4 layers of Bellflower (MT17) to the paper, then use the EAB30 stamp and white embossing powder to make the tape. And stick it on the inside.

Make a 4 1/2 inch diameter circle of paper and cut out the vintage beehive image from the Printed tissue Hot Picks and glue it on. The top of the box looked bare, so I added some chain stitches using lace yarn.

I prepared the box stuffing: cutting images, the girl was a Tim Holtz Paper Doll and a twig.

I decorated them all inside the box and made the pedestal out of the same paper I used for the inside box.

I thought I'd make it this far and add a little something more. Then I painted book pages with PaperArtsy Mattintts - Greenstone (MT09), Fern (MT03) and Mojito (MT13), then used PaperArtsy Stencil by Alison Bomber (PS450) to cut out shapes and glued them to the outside of the box. Finally I painted pearl rhinestones with Bellflower (MT17) and placed them between the leaves.

While making the above piece I maked these two tags because I thought the image EAB30 of Violas and the color of Mattint Bellflower (MT17) were so lovely. I was able to enjoy making lovely tags using these two pieces by embossing them, cutting them, and placing them wherever I wanted without using any difficult techniques.

It was just viola season, so I tried to capture that simple cuteness in my works. What do you think would be lovely to take these parts and make little tags or stickers to attach to gift box or paper bag. Thank you so much for visiting.

Etsuko xxx