With 3 Things: Deconstructed Bags and Tag Cards for Christmas {by Nikki Acton}

Hi friends, it's Nikki (a2a.craft) with you for another With 3 Things post. 

This feature on the PaperArtsy Blog is where 3 bloggers are sent 3 items in the post. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send us, there might be a slight variation but generally 2 of the 3 things will be identical for each of the 3 contributors in this cycle.

I was sent a large paper gift bag and tags as my substrate, PaperArtsy Fresco Acrylics in Copper (FF120) and Chantilly (FF215), along with PaperArtsy stencil PS439 and PaperArtsy stamp set JOFY137 - both from JOFY's recent Christmas release.

I have made a Christmas gift bag and some Christmas cards.... let's take a look.

I was a little overwhelmed with the size of the gift bag I received so decided to deconstruct it to make smaller ones.

So first of all I carefully opened up the large bag to see how it was constructed and then created a template for a smaller version.

Having cut the correct size paper from the larger bag I decorated it using the squares on stencil PS439. As I used alternate colours I created a little mask so that I could sponge each square quickly without having to worry about paint going in the wrong square!

These two colours look great on the brown paper of the bag. The Copper has a slight shimmer to it.

Once the paint was fully dry I carefully scored the paper as per my template and reconstructed by bag - I used one handle from the original bag and made two smaller ones.

Now for my tags - which ended up as cards! I started with my gel plate, just 'messing around' and seeing what happened. I introduced a third colour - PaperArtsy Fresco Acrylic in Weathered Copper (FF196) - to add some green for a good old Christmas colour palette.

You may see above how the Copper paint looks slightly different on white card to manilla - and also turns more pink if mixed with Chantilly.

I love these randomly created prints - just building layers using the Gel plate.

I stamped the images from JOFY137 onto both plain card and prints and started building up my tags. 

I have paper pieced some elements, and added a little extra paint to others.

I decided to add my tags to cards - so used the little star stamp on the stamp set to add a bit of interest to the card base before adding the tags along with a little bow.

That's 3 Christmas cards made and a lovely gift bag ready to fill! (With the other half of the giant bag leftover.....).   

Nikki

Blog: Addicted to Art

Instagram: @a2a.craft

Pinterest: nikacton

YouTube: Nikki Acton

2024 Topic 8 : White {by Victoria Wilding}

Hi everyone

Victoria here with you today.

Heading into winter and thinking about the nature theme for this quarter, naturally had me thinking about frosty and snowy winter walks. Some of my favourite memories are being wrapped up warm and being out in the landscape with my boys, so I wanted to create a memory box scene of winter florals.

The white topic might initially seem daunting, but some of my favourite ever projects use a neutral colour palette. Creating a white project is actually pretty simple when you know what to pair it with and you can’t go wrong with some other neutral colours, to help the white stand out. 

Creating my floral memory box was really straight forward and I can’t wait to break down all the steps for you so that you can try it for yourself. Be warned though, you have to enjoy a bit of fussy cutting to make this one! 

Kay Carley’s stamp sets EKC17 and EKC72 had the perfect winter florals for my project, with a nice selection of different shapes and sizes. I also picked out Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in Snowflake (FF15), Koala (FF141), and some Crackle Glaze (FF22) to create some extra background texture. Finally, I selected flat white and glitter white embossing powders from my stash.

I started off by prep’ing the box. I wanted something small that could nestle against my other makes on top of the kalax unit in my cabin. I had a frame die cut from an Eileen Hull Sizzix set, in my stash so decided to use that up and create a back using the measurements shown above. You could easily just mark out and cut two of these in place of the die. 

I cut away the corner pieces so that I could fold and glue the sides and bottom.

And scored along all the fold lines.

Next I applied some Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Snowflake, using some cut ‘n’ dry foam, to the frame.

Finally, I applied some distressed white to the background piece. I applied a coat of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Koala, dried it and, put a coat of crackle glaze on top. I dried this too, before applying a final coat of Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic. This creates a crackle effect texture, which is subtle, but oh so yummy! It also looks a lot less grey in the finished project once it’s paired against the white flowers.

 

Being a flower fanatic, creating the floral elements is always my favourite part of a project! I wanted to keep things really simple, so selected some kraft card (for extra contrast) and stamped the various flowers, embossing them in flat white and glitter white embossing powders.

Then it was time to get fussy and cut them all out carefully, with a pair of small detail scissors. The white embossing looks fantastic against the kraft and will give some extra depth to the finished project, preventing the flowers from disappearing into the background.  

Assembling the different elements was the final step of the project. I started by layering the flowers onto the background, gluing some flat, adding some where only parts were glued so that the stems could be teased out and then a final layer stuck down of foam pads. This created depth in the floral arrangement. 

Then I stuck the front and back pieces of the box together, using double sided tape.

Before adding some florals to the front of the frame for extra detail.

Finally, I added the memory sentiment (leftover from a previous Scrapcosy ESC32 project) to the bottom middle of the box. 

The finished effect is just what I was aiming for. Slightly distressed and with enough contrast to make the white pop. The glitter from the embossing powders looks magical in real life, unfortunately the camera doesn’t pick it up that well. 

This floral box is going to look lovely amongst all my supplies in my cabin. Nothing beats being surrounded by previous makes for a serious dose of inspiration!

I hope you enjoyed learning about these white techniques and feel inspired to give it a go yourself. If you do, I’d love it if you shared and tagged me on socials. 

Until next time, wishing you a happy, creative week.

Victoria x

YouTube: www.youtube.com/victoriawildingcreates

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2024 Topic 8 : White {by Jenny Marples}

Hi everyone Jenny Marples here with you today. I've always been in awe of the way artists such as Claude Monet and Koichi Okumura used white in their paintings to add light, contrast, movement and a special touch of magic.

That made me reflect on how much the use of white is important in my own work, so throughout this post we'll be looking at a number of methods for doing this.

The finished book features images inspired by French architecture and nature as well as lots of tactile surfaces and textures. I've also looked at the use of 'white space' when constructing pages.

The stamps used throughout include the PaperArtsy Minis MN67, MN68, MN69, MN70, MN71 and MN112. The stencils are also from the PaperArtsy Mini Mask series and include PM015, PM016 and PM018. The colour palette is very limited and will be explained further as we go.

You'll have seen me create collage masterboards for backgrounds in the past, using up paper scraps and blending the edges with matching paints. Then lightly brayer with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Snowflake Paint over the top to further soften the background.

If you are planning on drawing on this background you don't want it to compete so add a highly dilute mix of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Snowflake Paint with Just Walnut Infusions. I store a mix of this in an air tight jar because I use it so much these days! Add a thin wash to 'knock back' the colours and script - you can always add further layers if the effect isn't strong enough.

When dry you can cut up this background and attach it to the pages that will go inside your book. White/neutral fabrics make flexible signatures that will be strengthened by the backgrounds on top. A heat-embossed white flower on vellum provides a great focal point if you want to keep it simple.

Now let's get into some more techniques using white mediums.

 

Simple pen sketches are enhanced by the use of dilute Just Walnut Infusions whilst a permanent white paint pen adds highlights to give the images a sense of perspective.

If drawing isn't your thing use the Mini Masks PM015, PM016 and PM018 in a variety of ways to add architectural interest to your pages. Apply PaperArtsy Grunge Paste onto kraft card and vellum, use white paint through them and even stitch the designs with white embroidery thread.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post looking at the importance of 'white space': by this I mean the area of the page that your eye doesn't notice immediately when you look at a page. For example, below the large white triangle is off-white but as a large shape it competes with the window as a focal point.

Blend it into the 'white space' of the rest of the background by adding complimentary layers - in this case a scrap from the PaperArtsy Frames Printed Tissue PT02, a layer of that dilute Snowflake/Just Walnut solution and some hand-drawn white bricks.

Now your eye is initially drawn by the window and flower before moving around the rest of the 'white space' on the opened page.

Here is the page when closed.

How many ways can you think of for using your stamps to create focal points?

You'll notice I've added white hand-stitching, lace and other white trims throughout the book.

To mix it up a little create a textured background using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Crackle Glaze and PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Chalk Paint over a layer of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Little Black Dress Paint. Apply a piece of PaperArtsy Frames Printed Tissue PT02 over the top with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Matte Glaze.

You can apply the Tissue to fabric in the same way.

And staying with the PaperArtsy Frames Tissue Paper PT02 cut out and paint some of the images on the reverse side to create elements for pocket pages and focal images like the larger butterflies.

Finally try repeat stamping with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Snowflake Paint on fabric and paper to echo the designs on other pages. Make sure to wash your stamp thoroughly when finished.

Gosh, white really can be used in a multitude of ways!

To finish here's the cover and one more idea - stamping into hot embossing powder, something you can only do with confidence using high quality stamps.

Let's wrap this all up by showing you the remaining pages from this book.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at a range of techniques you can use to incorporate white into your own projects.

Jenny

Blog: https://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenny.marples.73

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