Hi everyone, nice to be back with you again. Mags here with you today.

This year on the blog, we have free reign to do a deep dive into a PaperArtsy product ranges of our choosing. For this post I have used a mash up of Hot Picks stamps and Lynne Perrella  products. I'm looking forward to sharing how I created this journal page with lots of details and texture.

I love to create with a vintage colour palette, and this page was no exception, but I wanted a colourful but subtle element too. You'll see how I used the Mattints to achieve this easily.

You can get a taste of the colours I plan to use here, mixed with my favourite grungy, vintage style.

I began by removing the page from my ring bound journal, this is very easy to do, Just snip the paper at the top between the metal rings, and the page can be removed easily. To create interest in the background of the page, I adhered some of the Printed Tissue (PT07) with Matte Glaze (FF52)

Adding a watered down layer of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Chalk (FF83) knocked back the text a little. As it turned out later I should have made the layer thinner for the text to still show through.

As you may, or may not know, I like to create sprays from The Infusions and use those in my work. It's a very simple process. In a glass jar mix some of the Infusions powder with enough water to fill a small spray bottle, keep stirring until all the powder is dissolved (the glass jar makes it easier to spot undissolved clumps) Decant the liquid into the spray bottle, and hey presto, you have an Infusions spray.

You can see here how I sprayed the Just Walnut Infusions (CS25) onto my page. Repeat applications built up a nice textured look.

I had an idea to use the grid from the recently released Hot Picks stamp set (HP2503) (available from a PaperArtsy stockist). Using Versafine Clair, Nocturne and a stamping platform made sure I got all the fine details from the stamp.

I was pleased with how the background was shaping up, but I was impatient to start adding texture and details.

 

It was now time to start using the Mini Mask (PM015) along with some Grunge Paste (GP190) which I had previously tinted with some Just Walnut Infusions. 

In fact I'll let you into a secret about how that happened. I had a pot of Grunge Paste that had been sitting out of site on my desk for quite a while. It had dried out a fair bit and I thought I would possibly have to throw it out. I hate waste, so decided to try to revive it. I gradually added small amounts of water, stirring well and working it into the paste. The paste was absorbing the water and coming back to life, wonderful! At this point my mini spray bottle of water ran out, so I swapped to using some diluted Just Walnut Infusions from my spray. The result was a nicely tinted paste with a vintage look. So a very happy accident. 

So back to our project. As you can see I positioned the Mini Mask above the stamped grid and masked off the bottom part with low tack tape. Using a palette knife I applied the Grunge Paste through the stencil onto the page, repeating a second time on the right.

I hope you can see where I'm going with this combination of stamped grid and Grunge Paste arches. I removed the centre of each square in the grid, thus creating windows.

The next step was to add some bricks to our scene. I stamped some squares from the Hot Picks stamp set, using Vintage Photo Archival Ink. Adding texture and dimension to some of the bricks was easy, a straight ended palette knife and grunge Paste did the trick.

I wanted the bricks and arches to have a grungy weathered look, so adding a small amount of black with a Stabilo All pencil and then activating with water, gave me the start of the look I wanted. The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that the arches had already had the grunge treatment. Sometimes I get carried away whilst creating and forget to take photos as I go along!

The next step to the grunge was to add some diluted Just Walnut Infusions, letting it settle into the texture. 

It was now time to move on to the image in the window.

I wanted a blend of subtle colours for the image and background, so I used a brayer to apply random areas of Mattints onto 240gsm Smoothy card (SCA4). I chose Squeezed (MT06), Dragonfly (MT07), The Pink (MT08) and Ladybug (MT12, available from a PaperArtsy stockist) for the Mattints.

Using a stamping platform and Versafine Ink made getting a crisp image of the Chatelaine from the Lynne Perrella stamp set (LPC063) easier, on the slightly textured background created by the Mattints.

After measuring the card to fit behind my newly created windows, I stamped more images onto the spare background card. These will be added to the scene within the window.

As you can see in this picture, I extended our figures shoulders to the bottom of the panel. It was at this point that I decided I wanted to tone down the background around the figure. I used a brush and a wash of Just walnut around her, but left her looking brighter.

As you see here, I stamped some stars from the Hot Picks stamp set and added those along with the additional details to our window scene. A little bit of additional shading around the masonry with a soft pencil and our page was complete.

I am very happy how my journal page turned out, I especially love the textured masonry and will be playing with that technique again I'm sure. I do wonder about the story behind our mystery Chatelaine in the window, is she happy, or sad, I'll let you decide.

Adding the stars across the page carried the colour through the composition.

Adding little details cut from the other stamps in the set.

The detail and texture on the Grunge Paste arches is lovely.

I can imagine a whole wall of these textured weathered bricks.

Adding a touch of Dragonfly Mattint to her cheeks made her face the focal point in the window.

I love how the Chatelaine seems to glow, as if in a brightly lit ballroom in the chateaux, looking out into a dreary world outside. There are many stamped images that would work well combined with the window. At one point I considered using several smaller images, each one in a square. In the end I am happy I chose just one, I feel it has more impact.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created my journal page and find inspiration from this blog post.

Happy crafting......... Mags x

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Mini album with Seth Apter Products {by Etsuko Noguchi}

 

Hi everyone, nice to be back with you again

Etsuko here with you today.

This year on the blog, we have free reign to do a deep dive into PaperArtsy product ranges of our choosing. For this post I have been exploring Seth Apter's products. Today I'm looking forward to sharing with you what I figured out when I made the mini album with Seth Apter's stamps.

In this post, my theme is how to create a mini album using Seth's stamps in a fun and effective way. Please take a look.

Before starting the project, I first prepared these Seth products. The stamps are the latest ones released earlier this year and the colors are Seth’s originals.  I used most of the colors for gel printing by Seth's colours. It seems to me that Seth weaves stories by making stamps from things that inspire him on his walks and travels. I share that feeling and wanted to enjoy creating my works using these stamps. The paints I used here were PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics - Glacier Ice, Niagara Falls, Fuzzy Cactus, Heavy Cream, Steel Grey, Rusty, Kiwi Gold, Tomato and some more. Fabulous stamps were Seth Apter's stamp sets 43, 44 and 45 (ESA43, ESA44 and ESA45).

First I used gel plates to make the base of the album and the collage papers. The first painting I did, that Seth showed in a video, was to use opaque colors and then lightly dab transparent colors on top of them. I used black and white papers and printed them alternately until I had a paper of a color I liked.

In addition to the two-colored paper, I also prepared some washi papers, added paints with  water and printed it using the same gel plates. I used these for thin tape and coloring points.

This time I decided to make a simple rectangular mini album in the √2 golden ratio, using a collage technique made from gel print papers I had made previously. The diagram above explains how to create the √2 golden ratio rectangle used here.

Draw the diagonal of the square, and use the diagonal as a radius to draw an arc that is tangent to the extension of the base of the square. Draw a rectangle that encloses the resulting figure. This is a √2 rectangle. Dividing it will create a smaller √2 rectangles (from book - Balance in Design). I tried to base the collage on this method, but I didn't use it for everything. When I overdid it a bit, or the colors didn't work out, I just relied on my usual eyeballing to fix it. Using this √2, the actual dimensions of the rectangular card are 3 inches high and 4 1/4 inches wide.

These six cards were my first attempts and after some trial and error I eventually created the following 12 pages of cards.

I created 12 rectangular cards, as described written above, 3 inches high and 4 1/4 inches wide using Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white stamping card and collaged the gel printing papers on them top. From the 12 collaged cards I chose this card as the cover of the album. I used 'CLASSIFILD' from ESA07 stamp set.

Now, let me give you a brief introduction to each page. The gel printing papers were used almost as is, and variations were added by stamping with ink or embossing powder. The technique and Seth's stamps used will be shown in the enlarged photos below.

On this page, I added some leftover pieces. The embroidered fabric, stamped paper, and textured wallpaper used for paint stamping. The metal 6 is made by embossing foil using a cutting die and then coloring it in a vintage style with alcohol ink to create numbers and letters, which I use whenever necessary.

The marks shown here are from stamps and Seth’s printed tissue paper, and I love the Damask pattern stamp on the right-hand page and I think it will come in very handy.

Here I printed the letter X onto fabric and stitched around it. Also I embossed it onto wax papers with embossing powder then I glued them over the collage.

The last page. The photo is a little dark and hard to see, but the grid on the left page is made of bronze powder. You can see it in the enlarged photo below. I used light pink gel print paper for this whole page.

For the spine, I chose a simple vintage-style card.

I mainly use Seth's new 3 set stamps here, but I chose this CLASSIFIED for the focal point because the words stand out. I used Seth Apter stamp set 07 and 44 (ESA07 and ESA44). Ranger Industries Archival Ink (ground espresso and jet black) with Distress embossing powder (Lost Shadow).

I used Seth Apter Mini stamp EM45 with Distress embossing powder (Lost Shadow). The green lines were made by painting Green Patina onto washi paper and ripping it into thin strips.

PaperArtsy's blank tissue is thin but strong enough that it doesn't wrinkle easily, making it a great product. It also goes great with stamps and Mattints, so I use it whenever I get the chance. Here I used the ESA35 stamp with white embossing powder on blank tissue paper. I took the photo with the light shining on it, so the tissue paper looks white, but you can't really tell from the outside. Satin Glaze seems to be good for adhesion.

From here on, I will introduce the products, which are made using the same techniques. I used stamps are ESA43 and ESA18. The former used Archival Ink jet black with Lost Shadow embossing powder and the latter used mixed whitish powder.

Stamp is ESA34 with some Red Ink.

Stamped ESA43 with bronze powder on the Vellum paper.

Stamped ESA45 with Seth's Baked Texture the altered page.

Stamped ESA45 with Archival Ink jet black with Lost Shadow embossing powder. The photos below show the products used above.

I decided to make a fabric hinge to hold the 12 cards in the album. To match the colors of the album, I diluted Bougainvillea with water and dyed some off-white fabric, then dried it and it turned out a great color.

I stamped the EM69 stamp all over the dry cloth using Destress Ink Vintage Photo.

I rip a piece of hinge fabric to the width of the card, attached it between two cards with double-sided tape, and then joined two other cards together using a sewing machine.

I wanted to dangle something from the back of the album, so I tried out a lot of different things but nothing seemed right. I thought a simple thing like a branch would be good, so I bundled together some hemp string to make a branch, then wrapped embroidery thread around it and made it like this.

Since I made the width of the hinge fabric a little wider, the cards didn't hang loosely together, so I connected them tightly with backstitching like this. This completed the project.

 

In most cases, when I make an album, I emphasize unity and create one or two master boards, then insert photos and stamp images to create a flow. However, this time I wanted to try a √2 composition, so I made a collage using printed paper. There were some pages that were disjointed, but I enjoyed the process. I would like to use this experience to create more creative works. If you would like to create abstract works using Seth's stamps, please share them with us on Facebook, PaperArtsy people, or Instagram. We look forward to seeing you.

Thank you so much visiting.

Etsuko xx

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