Winners ....

Thanks to France for her totes amazeballs projects this week, it sure had Twitter working overtime with the PATWITS looking for Cotton Spools.  If you are still looking, Leandra has them listed back in the shop, and should arrive by then end of this coming week, so you can order now.

We are really excited by this weeks Guest Designer who will be making her debut in just 15 minutes .... Please join us in welcoming our very own Carol Quance. Now Carol is one of our fellow PA twitterarti , but if you haven't seen her work before here is a few samples to inspire you.

Stunning detailed projects I'm sure you will agree. Here is a few words from the lady herself ....

"Like most of the other GD’s I was very excited when the invite came to take part (and slightly terrified considering the amount of talent flowing). I have been living on the PaperArtsy website and blog for the past few months. The PaperArtsy products really float my boat and now I have the perfect excuse to play with them lol. I’m always happy to talk rubber stamps and anything craft related and also happy to share details of anything I make so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask".

Without further ado onto our winners of France's challenge ....


 Random winner #1 from last week's first draw (every single linked entry) is: 
Emma (Pinksparklegirl)

  Random winner #2 (selected from one entry per person linked) is: 
Minxy (Nicky)

 

If you are inspired by Carol Quance this week, and would like to play along and share your art with us, then please feel free to link your work here, and go in the pool for a chance to win PaperArtsy stash. 

 Loading InLinkz ...

 

Grunge Paste - techniques, ideas and more

Earlier this year we released a new product onto the market called Grunge Paste. Here's an introductory video , Grunge Paste 101, showing the core features of the product.

It's a texture medium, very smooth, a bit runny, and almost clay-like which is easy to apply, fast drying and a lot of fun to use.The really cool, and unique thing is you can tint it any colour you like using the Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints, so you can have 52 shades of paste with our current colour palette. As there is no pigment in the Paste, it only takes a couple of drops of paint to change the colour of the paste. You can also add metallic glaze (sparkly), pearlescent glaze (pearl -like) or inclusions like glitter etc.

This week we have made some more detailed videos showing some of the techniques.
 
Grunge Paste 102 explains how to stamp into texture. 
You have probably seen me do this in videos before over the years as it's a technique we have taught since 2006/7 The Grunge Paste produces extremely sharp detail which is not lost when the product is heat-dried.

Grunge Paste 103 shows how to use the paste through Stencils (or some people/ companies like to call them templates or masks), cleaning up, and painting over the top of the texture, sanding back etc.

Grunge Paste 104 is how to tint Grunge Paste with Paint, and then applying the tinted paint through a stencil onto a pre-painted background.

 

Grunge Paste 105 explains using Treasure Gold Metal Gilding Wax on top of painted Stencil Paste to create a faux metal, vintage effect. This would be great on mirror frames, photo frames, as well as for all your Paper Crafting or mixed media Projects!

This is just the beginning of what you can do with this stuff, it can be used onto fabric, wood, you can embed items into it...and loads more too! Keep an eye on the Blog as now that the new semester has started, lots of our new Guest Designers have been experimenting too!

Have a great weekend! 

Leandra

France Papillon #3 Between Poetry And Painting ....

       For this spread I played in my small Moleskine sketchbook, which I also use to mop up paint and ink left overs. That’s how my page looked like to begin with.

       I laid down a layer of gauze on top of which I smeared PaperArtsy Grunge Paste using a palette knife. When doing this, make sure you hold the gauze in place, otherwise you won’t have a nice texture in the end.

      Without giving it time to dry, I lifted up the gauze and lay it aside to dry. This way I have a nice texture on my paper and a piece of altered gauze to play with later.

       Once the Grunge Paste was dry, I colourized it with Claret Fresco Paint, using a piece of Cut N Dry foam. 

       I added some touches of Concrete on the edges, with a make up sponge.

      The gauze was cut out using the PaperArtsy Heart Shaped Die. This way I could use the heart as well as the reversed on my spread.

       I mixed some Grunge Paste to Claret Fresco Paint and applied it over the Crafters Workshop Reversed Chickenwire Stencil on the edges of my spread.

       I shadow stamped (= stamping with just a tiny bit of ink left over on my stamp) the Mini 62 stamp with Coffee Archival Ink over the right side of my spread and did the same with the dots from the ESN08.

MINI 62

       The sentiment was stamped with Black Archival Ink on a scrap of PaperArtsy Smoothy Stamping Card.

Leandra Says:So simple, and yet a lot of clever layers in this. High impact with those great colours, I just want to touch and feel it!!

Gillian Says: This has such a rustic feel to it France, love the effect from the Grunge Paste on the gauze rather than the "traditional " surfaces we would normally opt for. The use of the heart die is inspired. What a fabulous first week.

Thank you for all your support in my first week, I will be back as they say.

France Papillon #2 Key Spools And More ....

"Tonight I wanted to share not one but two quick projects with you all".

First up is the list of ingredients you will need to make these adorable Key Spools ....  

Smoothy White Stamping Card, Translucent Shrink Plastic, Mini 30, Clocks Plate 4, Hot Pick 1104, Eclectic Plate 6, Taupe & Mud Splat Fresco Acrylic Paints, Sepia Archival Ink, Distress Inks (Vintage Photo), Idea-ology Swivel Clasps, Jump Rings, Crinkle Ribbon

Here is a short video on how to create them ....

Now Onto My Star Tag

I applied a very thin layer of Honey Dew onto my Manilla Size 8 Tag then sprayed Cut Grass Dylusion Spray on top of it.

To make the star print, I spread a thin layer of Beach Hut over the punchinella mask from Crafters Workshop onto my Gelli Plate, then printed it on the tag.

The depth was created by doodling with a white gel pen around the stars, adding splatters with more Dylusion Sprays (Black Marble and London Blue), next I stamped Mini 29 with Sepia Archival Ink.

MINI 29 

After stamping the "lady" from Eclectic Plate 6 (NB she is also on Vintage ID07, and is larger on that set) onto a scrap of Smoothy Stamping Card, I coloured her with Copic Markers. I then layered a piece of vintage book paper, lace, linen and the stamped image on top.

Eclectic Plate 6 (A6 SIZE STAMP)

 

Vintage Ink and The Dog Collection Plate 7 (A5 size stamp)

 I hope you have enjoyed these fun projects, I will be back on Wednesday evening with my last project of the week.

Leandra Says: Ohhh, how lucky are we to get 2 projects! And a video! I adore the spools, but also the girl on the stamp (E6, ID07 is gorgeous) another of my fave stamps!

Gillian Says: Both projects are awesome France, and a video to boot to (wow). The Key Spools are such fun and I love the composition to the tag . Way to go France!

To join in with the challenges this week, simply click HERE to upload/share how you have been inspired.

Welcome France Papillon #1 An Intimate Journal ....

       For my first project I decided to alter one of the Hardcover Notebooks that PaperArtsy stock.

 

  I stamped Ink and the Dog Backgrounds Plate 4 with Coffee Archival Ink on Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper. 

I crumpled it, smoothed it, then crumpled it some more.

I applied a bit of Honey Dew with a piece of Cut N Dry on the edges of my notebook, then added a bit a lot of Vintage Photo Distress Ink. After scratching the cover with a sanding grip, I added even more Distress Ink.

 Using a ruler, I ripped the Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper to the right size to fit the cover of my notebook. With a brayer, I applied a very thin layer of Honey Dew.

Once this layer was dry, I randomly added some Pumpkin Soup and Beach Hut with a piece of Cut N Dry. I added some more Honey Dew with the brayer on top of it.

I dried it with my heat gun, then scratched it with a sanding grip to accentuate the wrinkled texture and bring the color of the Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper to the front again.

To give a bit of volume to the notebook, I glued down scraps of fabric and gauze that I used to mop up excess ink from other projects.

I stamped the text on kraft bazzil with Black Archival Ink, distressed the edges, added a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink and sprayed it with water to blend the Distress Ink.

Using a plastic card, I spread a bit of Crackle Glaze making sure my layer was irregular and thin.

The words from ESN01 were glued using 3D foam on scraps of Japanese paper.

ESN01 

To add a bit of interest to the cover, I ripped a piece of tracing paper and sewed it to the Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper using my trusted sewing machine. I ghost stamped (stamping on the side first, then stamping on the piece with the left over ink) Mini 62 on the tracing paper with Coffee Archival Ink.

MINI 62 

I punched holes through the cover with my Big Bite, placed 2 eyelets and ‘sewed’ a piece of wire. The mini tag is colorized with Current Adirondack Ink and stamped with Mini 29, again in CoffeeArchival Ink.

 MINI 29

I also used the Ink and the Dog Backgrounds 4 to stamp numbers on the tabs I added inside the notebook.

 I hope you have enjoyed this first project, I sure had fun making it. Join me tomorrow night when I will share my second project of the week.

Leandra Says: Adore how you have used a brayer to build layers of paint onto the Crunchy Waxed Paper, and its such a fantastic product to sew. This is a fun project France! Thankyou!

Gillian Says: Loving your technique with the Crunchy Waxed Paper combined with your chosen stamps (a firm favourite of mine) making a beautiful vintage journal France. Super first project.