2019 #6 Fish: Stay Curious with ESC {by Corrie Herriman}

2019 Topic 6: Fish

As we head into spring fast here in the UK, we have been enjoying a fabulous Easter weekend of sunshine. This is perfect timing for the new topic of Fish! We have plenty of fish stamps across our vintage and hand-drawn collections, so there is something for everyone! Lets see how fishy we can be! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Corrie here with you today, and I'd like to share with you a small tag book I made!

I thought to do something different for today's project. So, I decided on a tag book. It is just a small book made out of 3 tags, or 6 tags really because I hinged it by gluing some fabric in between two tags twice so the three tags you see are actually connected. It will get a lit clearer.... 

I really enjoyed making this project because I did lots of my favourite techniques. I will try and take you through the process. 

First I die cut three tag shapes out of {Smoothy Heavy Card Stock}. I used my gel press plate to make the backgrounds, using three shades of turquoise blue Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics ie. {Antartic}, {Mermaid} and {Caribbean Sea}. Gel printing is one of my favourite things to do and I sometimes sit down and make loads so I can use them for my future projects. 

The next step was a little stenciling. I thought these dots from stencil {PS023} could represent air bubbles in the water. I used Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in the colour {South Pacific} for this and then doodled around the dots with a white pen. 

I also added some stamping with a number stamp from set {HP1302} just to add some interest. 

I used Distress Oxide Ink for that in the colour {Peacock Feathers}.

The next step was to stamp the sea weed from the stamp set {ESC10} along the bottom of the tags with Archival ink {Leaf Green}. 

I added the bottom of the sea with PaperArtsy {Grunge Paste}, applying it with a palette knife and patting it so it got little peaks. When it was dry I painted it with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic {Buff}.

I added some DIstress Oxide Ink in {Ground Espresso} over the seabed, using my finger and coloured the sea weed with Big Brush Markers in 2 shades of green and one brown. 

The fish were stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Copic Markers. I love my Copics! 

Here they are in all their glory. I only coloured 5 of them because I plan to cut one in half....

After colouring I put them all on my tags. I think it looks great ! I cut one in half as I planned and used a half on either side of the three tags. I also added some more stamping with some black ink to add even more interest. 

I also brayered paint the other three tags I cut. I used the same shades of blue and added greens {Granny Smith} and {Hey Pesto}. When dry I stamped the same fish but let them just be black, without colour. I did add a sticker by Tim Holtz. 

I added the ribbon between the tags so I could close the book. For the hinges I used pieces of fabric between the two layered tags. 

These tag books are fun to make and you can make them in any size, you could also add more tags to make a bigger book. I combined all my favourite things in this book; gel printing, Copic Colouring, using modelling paste, adding colour with Big Brush Markers and finally turning it into a little book. I would love to see you come up with a fish themed project that consists of all your favourite techniques! How fun would that be!

Thank you for stopping by today! 
Corrie

I hope you'll come and find me in my other locations too:

blog: www.MadeByCHook.blogspot.nl

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2019 #6 Topic Introduction: Fish

 2019 Topic 6: Fish

2019 Topic 6

It's Keren, with our next topic: Fish! What springs to mind when you think of fish? The goldfish that was your first pet? Your favourite take-away on a Saturday night? The fantastical creatures you read about when you were young or the environmental plight of the creatures in our oceans? We've harpooned some images to inspire your fishy creation.

Firstly, I thought something paper related would start us off. I love the fish hat and the sea colours.

Donna's Crafty Little Corner

Lots of you love creating journal pages, and I thought this was a fabulous example of texture, colour and clever stencilling to give the look of scales.

Kayann Ausherman

These wonderful creatures up-close have such amazing designs. I love the intricate pink tendril like elements and the gorgeous flecked greys and white shades on the skin.

Simone Caprodossi

Using the fish outer shape and doodling on the inside is so effective and tells a real story.

Steel Bison

Using the scale detail on a fish to be highlighted when lit up is an ingenious idea from Frank Gehry; known for his artistic fish lamps.

Frank Gehry

On the theme of fish parts, I think that this phone case design referencing fish scales is sumptuous.

Source

There are lots of issues surrounding the oceans and fishing itself. I really loved this piece by Tommy Kinnerup and suspect there are more than a few talking points you can tease out of his stunning artwork.

Fish Art by Tommy Kinnerup

Astrid Riedel is a glass artist and these amazing colours, textures and shine are exquisite.  She's entitled it 'Fish Out Of Water' and I'm sure many of us can relate to that feeling. Notice the flecks of gold, and the shape is reminiscent of a pebble; like the current trend for leaving painted rocks in public for others to discover and claim. 

Astrid Riedel

These fish just made me grin. I love the colours and the bright, cool design. I could see something inspired by these being painted using Fresco Finish Acrylic paints onto a wooden spoon!

Far Out Fish Works

Using found objects or curated belongings, would be an inspired idea; just like this clever fish. Notice the golf tee teeth on this so titled M.C.Cool Paddlefish.

Stephen Palmer

Perhaps some of you enjoy creating with clay or other materials that can be set. These fabulous fish with a limited calming palette would look wonderful in anyone's home.

Inkypots

I think that this arrestingly abstract creation by mixed media collage and digital designer Matthieu Bourel is inspiring.

This sculpture is a thoughtful comment on the problem of when fish eat plastic in our oceans. It incorporates some of the washed up plastic on our shores and reminds us of just how important recycling and taking care of our oceanic wildlife is.

Erik Forsberg

The way that fish move creates beauty in of itself. This ceramic illustrator produces pieces inspired by the natural outdoors. This piece  draws you in and reminds you of the majestic movement when fish are schooling.

Niharika Hukku

One of the 2018 releases from our very own Zinksi Art has lots of fabulous fish images. Lauren Hatwell did an inspired job (as usual) creating this beauty.

Lauren Hatwell

To finish off, I wanted to add some florals! Do they go with fish? You betcha! This beautiful piece reminds me of salmon due to the corally colours. I love the life bursting forth from the inner parts of the fish art, entitled 'To Bloom Not Bleed'.

Peony Yip

We really hope that you're not too 'battered' looking through all of these Fish themed projects and it inspires you to get  creating a piece linked with our new topic. There are some further 'fish' ideas on this Pinterest page.

You're going to love the projects we have coming up. We are not doing the linked challenge  for 2019, so if you want to create along with us and this topic, please share on our social feeds so we can see what you get up to. The best places are Instagram @paperartsy or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook too. 

2019 #5 Maps & Plans: A Couple of Coasters with JoFY {by Claire Snowdon}

2019 Topic 5: Maps & Plans

Inspiring projects need not be large as Claire shows perfectly tonight. She's got some great ideas combining washi and Infusions and a classy colour scheme to boot.

Hi everyone, it's Claire Snowdon here on the PaperArtsy blog with you today, and I'd like to share with you a couple of coasters I made for the Maps and Plans topic.

To make a start with this project I first gathered all the maps from my stash and spread them out for a look. The one that caught my eye most from the picture below was the nice pinkish hues of the map in the top left.  It was an old map of Utah which I acquired somewhere along the way.....I haven't ever been there!

I took two coaster blanks and gave them a couple of light coats of Vanilla PaperArtsy Fresco Finish.  I then decided to add washi tape to them; these ones are from a collection by Prima.  A little sprinkle of infusions gave them some vintage colour: I used Raspberry and Slime.

 

I stamped the images from JoFY stamp sets JoFY75 and JoFY76 onto the Utah map and cut them out. I tried to stamp them onto different areas of colour on the map then cut out individual elements from the flowers and layered the images up onto the coasters.

 

I added shading around the flowers with a grey Pitt pen to give a little depth to the images.

I added a few of the Tim Holtz chit chat stickers before giving them three coats of PaperArtsy Satin Glaze to seal them.  The finishing touch was some Renaissance Treasure Gold around the edges for a little bit of bling!

I really enjoyed creating these little coasters.  The layering of the map elements is an easy way to create pops of colour in an otherwise neutral project.

Thanks for visiting the PaperArtsy blog today - I hope you'll join in with the theme ! 

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2019 #5 Maps & Plans: Documenting Travel Plans with ECF {by Keren Baker}

2019 Topic 5: Maps & Plans

Hi everyone, it's Keren Baker with you today, and I'd like to share with you a piece inspired by Courtney Franich's new stamps and show you how I managed to wrestle them into this topic!!

My initial idea after looking at the set focused on the circle and words stamp that reminded me of when people have maps on their walls and they sometimes have pushpins where they've been or where they want to go. We often traced lines on maps (pre sat nav days!) to show the routes we took and so I decided to use that as the design element on my travel plan journal.

Rather than just drawing lines, I decided to draw and then backstitch in them in different coloured thread, giving the impression of different journeys. I really recommend poking the holes first!! My hand was a little sore by the end. I had stamped the image multiple times using grey ink onto PaperArtsy Heavyweight Smoothy card.

I used Courtney's new set ECF06 and I absolutely love the multiple textures on each image.

You can see the finished stitching below. I used an Eileen Hull die (Journal die) to cut out the tops and also the base of the journal in mountboard and hadn't factored in that I should have cut out the shape FIRST so I knew my sewing wouldn't be cut into. Thankfully the fabric wrap on the spine saved the day and secured some of the unravelling stitches!

I wanted to use something metallic and thought that these cheap copper plant tags would do the trick. They're thin enough to trim on my trimmer and also bend beautifully. I was quite tempted to stamp on them too.

I had an old frame lying around and decided to use on the wrap I had created to keep the journal closed. The whole colour scheme was based on some fabric I'd bought shortly after knowing I was going to do this project. The map fabric is so literal, I wanted to do something a little less expected with the images.

Once I'd added the frame to the wrap, it still looked a little 'bare' so I thought some copper wrapping, wire and a few of the cut out stamp elements to create a little 'movement' in the design.

You can see the spine here- I wanted an easy way of hiding the elastic for the signatures inside and didn't want to sew it. Applying sheets of double-sided adhesive worked really well and by putting the adhesive cover piece downwards, I actually cut it well with my rotary cutter. It also adds strength to the journal with constant opening and closing.

Onto the dodgy bits! I didn't have any wide elastic so had to make do with two pieces and the 'was a good idea at the time' of creating a fabric key fob ended up a bit ugly. I think I'll recreate it but in a flatter way and using one of the other leaves.

The details on the stamps are so beautiful. I wanted to add a cluster of elements at the bottom and used copper and blue inks to add colour.

Using stamps fully and partially in different ways creates so many options. I love being able to trim out elements and use them for detail and this stamp set is so great for that. I want to use these stamps next on fabric. I can't wait to see how they will look on a neutral fabric with bold colours! 

Thanks for being with me today,

Keren x

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