PaperArtsy

Wednesday, 4 November 2026

With 3 Things - Bird Card Series {by Rox Boyce}

Hello everyone

Rox (Reddirtcrafter) here with you today for a ''With 3 things'' challenge post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a colour product. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea is to do something crafty in our personal style with these 3 items.

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

I was excited to receive the three mystery items in the post and challenged myself to create a set of cards using just the beautiful stamp set EKC45 by Kay Carley, Printed Tissue paper PT11 (Birds) and Olive Tree Infusion (CS16).

I'll be showing you how I’ve used simple technique with these products to create a bundle of botanical inspired handmade cards.

I was delighted how many different looking cards I easily and quickly created using just the 3 products provided. This process is perfect for bulk card creating with minimal cost and product usage.

My idea was to use the botanical stamps from EKC45 by Kay Carley to create gardens for the birds to live in.

To start the process, I stamped the flowers and grasses in Versafine black ink on postcard sized cards. I let the stalks run off the card for a more nature effect, like a snapshot of a meadow. I tried to vary the composition among the cards, leaving a lot of white space for the future birds.

I mixed the Olive Tree Infusion with water on my stamping block, which allows you to see the opacity of the colour. With a superfine paint brush, I used this Infusion ink to colour in the stamped images. To create a watercolour look I wasn’t too fussed about perfect painting and happily left blank white spaces showing.

As well as painting the floral elements I also splattered the infusions over the images to create extra detail and interest. I used the infusions to paint a border around the edge of the card too, which visually helps to direct your eye to the images within the border.

Now that the stamped images are complete, I added the additional element of tissue paper.

I used mini scissors to cut out the birds from Printed Tissue PT11 and adhered them to the card with a glue stick. I prefer a glue stick as it is easy to smooth out the wrinkles if needed, by lifting up and re-gluing if needed.

The tissue paper has beautiful text and stamped hall marks which add extra visual impact to the card. You can add as little or as much as you like as you get 4 big tissue pages. I didn’t even use one whole sheet in creating 8 cards, it certainly goes along way!

I used the Olive Tree Infusion to add colour to the bird with the same technique as the botanicals. I also added some splatters and a freehand frame of colour to tie all the element together.

I love how the opacity of the Infusions changes so freely. I especially like those unexpected little blobs of colour!

To finish off the cards, I mounted the cards on black card stock, creating a thin border, before machine stitching around the edges.

Then finally mounting on my blank card bases with craft glue.

While I have shown you my process with 1 card, I actually made a whole series!

Here are details of my favorite cards!

In making these cards I was truly delighted how beautiful the tissue paper was to work with. It looks great either painted with infusions or as it is, as the images are striking. There was a wonderful variety of bird images and accompanying texts, in stunning fonts. For someone who hadn’t played with the tissue paper, I’m now a convert!

Of course, you can create even more variations by using other colours of Infusions, pinks or blue for more tropical birds!

Instagram:Reddirtcrafter

Facebook: Rox Boyce

Monday, 2 November 2026

With 3 Things - Feathers and Flowers {by Jenny Marples}

Hi everyone @jennymarples here with you today with a 3 Things post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea is to do something crafty in our personal style with these 3 things!

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

Included in the package from PaperArtsy this time were Printed Tissue 'Birds' PT11, an Eclectica Kay Carley stamp set EKC45 and a bottle of 'Olive Tree' Infusions.

Feeling inspired by the nature theme I set about playing with different ways to use Infusions to add colour, combining it with the stamps and Printed Tissue to make three panels that could be used on cards, as journal pages or even on the front of a diary/notebook.

Bear with me, the colour is on it's way but first I needed a base on which to add it. So for this try applying pieces of the Printed Tissue onto tea stained paper with PaperArtsy Matte Glaze. I suggest chopping the paper into more manageable sized pieces for the next step.

Sprinkle some of the 'Olive Tree' Infusions onto a craft mat, spray with a mist of water (less is more) and dip your paper into the droplets. The magic of Infusions unfolds as you pick up these spots of colour, revealing the mix of olive greens, blues and walnut brown colours.

Dry and dip again, repeating as many times as you like until your background gets that beautiful aged look.

And here's another way to unlock the magic of that Infusions colour - add a little to some hot water, soak cotton or linen lace/fabric in this 'bath' for a few hours and rinse away any excess. Once dry you will be left with trimmings that coordinate perfectly with your project.

I have always adored the delicacy of Kay Carley's nature stamps and wanted to make full use of the large floral stems to enhance each panel. Start by stamping the images onto watercolour paper with permanent ink. Then begin loosely painting the stems and leaves with some of the 'Olive Tree' Infusions diluted with water.

We are given permission to add other PaperArtsy products into the mix if needed and I really wanted to include an extra few pops of colour. Sticking with Infusions try using dilute 'Royal Blood' to paint some blue flowers. As with regular water colouring, allow your first application to dry before creating depth in some areas with a second coat.

Dilute 'Raspberry' Infusions is a strong colour so take it steady when adding it to your flowers. If you are unsure try patch testing on a spare piece of the paper, watering down the mix if needed.

With three distinct stems included in this stamp set I really wanted another colour but felt reluctant to reach for yet another bottle. Instead I painted over the Raspberry flowers in the centre with some of the Royal Blood colour to create a purple version.

Happy that this experiment had worked, and to make painting the remaining flowers easier, I mixed what remained of the dilute Royal Blood and Raspberry Infusions into a single pan, adding this colour as described previously.

So now we have our background and colourful flower stems it's time to decide how to include the Printed Tissue 'Birds' so that they become the focal point of each panel.

Again I reached for the 'Olive Tree' Infusions, this time mixing it with 'Snowflake' Fresco Finish Paint. Make sure to mix it well because it takes a few moments for the die and walnut crystals to release their colourful magic into the paint.

I wanted my birds to be more brown than green - thinking back to Leandra's colour wheel tutorials (links to these can be found in the blog sidebar) it occurred to me that adding the tiniest amount of dilute 'Raspberry' Infusions would help to alter the colour in this way.

This opaque paint mix is ideal for adding colour to the reverse of the Printed Tissue, after which you can stick the birds onto white card and trim away any excess.

Finally you are left with all of your elements ready to be layered together, starting with the lace, then adding the floral stems and lastly your painted birds. Try using a white gel pen to emphasise some of the details in their plumage. I also found adding foam tape raised the birds enough to keep them flat, following the base layer to work out where to position them.

Let's take a look at the three finished panels;

I'm really happy with the way these turned out. It was particularly satisfying to have been able to use the Infusions in a number of different ways to add the colour to them.

I love how the different colours revealed in the 'Olive Tree' drips over the background harmonise with the colours of the painted stems.

Emphasising some of those details in the bird's feathers make it stand out even more - if the white is too harsh you can 'knock it back' with delicate dabs of brown ink.

A little machine stitching around the edge of each panel helps to create a border for the design. Mount your finished panels onto kraft card for a more professional finish.

There are lots of different sizes of birds included on the Printed Tissue so these panels can be made to fit on the front of a book or inside your journals.