3 UP Night Seven: Lin Brown/ Sara Naumann

Not only are we nearly at the end of our walk down memory lane via this wonderful #3Up challenge, but we also have arrived at the penultimate night of what has turned out to be a brilliant 3UP challenge dropping in almost all of the diverse PaperArtsy stamp collections released over the last 10 years. Sadly we've had to miss a couple of collections out due to date constraints, I'm sure we will come back to those in the future. For tonight's challenge it's all about Lin Brown and Sara Naumann. The Eclectica³ Collection.

By Alison Bomber with Sara Naumann stamps

At the start of this year, 2013, we launched the Eclectica³ Series because we were beginning to realise that it would be nice to work with several different designers to do smaller, extremely limited collections of stamps and affiliated products. We had already identified that Lin had a concept that had not been explored before as a rubber stamp version, ie. 'hand carved stamps'. 

Sara Naumann, someone whom we met when we first exhibited at the UK Craft Trade show, Feb 2004 in this industry, approached us in 2012 with a concept that we felt had legs because it was different to other things we offered across our existing stamp collections.

Tags by Alison Bomber with Eclectica³ Sara Naumann Stamps

On the face of it Sara's Eclectica³ stamps initially look to be well suited for journaling applications, but look deeper, and you realise the style of these is suitable for all kinds of mixed media fun. So you can't really put them in a specific box as such. They make great backgrounds, are ideal for cards or tags, and the little one-liner words and phrases are quirky and full of humour.

For example in the piece below, Gillian has mixed the Sara Naumann Eclectica³ with other PaperArtsy stamps, in this case, our top hatted gents from Gentlemen Plate 3 (Ink and the Dog).

By Gillian Simson

As has Michelle, in her background below.

by Michelle Webb

And I combined them with Lin's Carved tulip, and a few JoFY words

by Leandra Franich

Sara is doing a series of Eclectica³ Monday posts on her blog at the moment, so check her own ideas with her stamps, such as:
- glassine envelope
- art journal
- flower card

She also has a YouTube channel here where she uses her stamps and all kinds of other cool ideas and products!

And in Feb 2013, we also released a line of stamps under the Eclectica³ Series with Lin Brown. If you follow Lin's blog, you will know that since she retired, she has taken up a City and Guilds course in textiles/ surface embellishments, and one of the things the course explores is fabric design and patterns. Lin generated some great hand carved stamps to use on fabric, and when I spied what she was making we discussed the idea of turning them into red rubber stamps, for use on fabric, but also card, chipboard etc. And so here are some of the samples Lin has been making this year!

Lin's design's originate from solid original hand carved designs - yes she did hand carve them.  Lin really likes the rubber version, as she finds the red rubber so much softer and easier to use than the carving compound, so now she can choose which option to use! 

by Lin Brown

Lin also has a line of 5 complimentary dies, that she uses to cut the flowers, branch etc from black card before stamping, and some Eclectica³ chipboard shapes which also fit the stamps, a nice way to add depth  or texture to a project. So why does she often work onto black card, and not white? Well, as Frescos are so opaque, you can easily build up layers of paint on to dark card, which as a background makes the image pop. How does she do it?  Apply paint to the stamp, start with an opaque- a lighter one, and build depth around the edges with the brighter, translucent shades, then stamp out the image onto the bloom die cut shape, and you will see all the colours pop beautifully on the black card. It like it's instantly matted so you don't have to add more layers!

by Lin Brown

You can also add black script on top of the fresco for more layer interest, and in the samples above you can see how she has made backgrounds with Grunge Paste through stencils, Paint layers, Treasure Gold and Tando chipboard shapes like the music and banner. The samples above are all ideas she has pulled together while demoing on our stand at shows, so they are not 3 days masterpieces! They are like 1 hour demos! Try it yourself, it's very achieveable!

So the #3Upsters tonight received both Sara and Lin's stamps to work with, and here is what they came up with:

Who:Keren Baker

Twitter: @CraftStampInk

Blog: www.kerenbaker.wordpress.com

Stamps Used:

ESN01

ELB01

Keren Says: I'm living in Liverpool, with 5 kids & tend to craft for my sanity! My usual style is Clean & Simple and pretty contemporary. Using PaperArtsy stamps was really challenging and also really brilliant. I've both loved adapting the stamps into my style & using the stamps to alter my style.

The Challenge:  I covered the substrate by using a white stain and leaving some of the colour showing through. I used the dauber to create the circular pattern. Using the ephemera buttons, I painted them with white stain & then used PaperArtsy paints over the stamps & stamped over the buttons. 

I created a notebook cover, stamped with white pigment ink for the leaves & then kiss stamped onto the text stamps. I heat embossed the flower and sewed contrasting threads into it. I used some hole reinforcers to paint across and swiped the paint across them to give texture. I used the buttons to act as the closures with twine.

Who:Anita Abercrombie

Twitter: @swanstitch55

Blog:  www.artyinklings.blogspot.com

Stamps Used:

ELB02

ELB03

ESN02

Anita Says:I am a craft shop owner and keen crafter. I teach workshops at my shop which are more biased towards card making and traditional scrapbooking. However, I have a keen group of regulars who love to try out all the inky, painty altered art type projects that I enjoy so all the PaperArtsy products that I stock get very well used indeed!

The Challenge:  After sticking down some Graphic 45 paper onto a 12”x12” canvas with Matte Medium I applied Beach Hut, South Pacific, Hey Pesto and Zesty Zing Frescos with wet wipes in several layers. After the second layer I stencilled Snowflake and also used it to stamp flowers and leaves from ELB02. Once dry, the surface was sealed with Multi Medium and when dry again several more layers of the Frescos were applied in the same manner as before. Cut’n’dry foam was used to apply South Pacific and Chocolate Pudding to the outer edges of the canvas before stencilling more flowers with a mix of Smoked Paprika and London Bus then stamping extra leaves with Hey Pesto and Holly. 

The chipboard flower heads from ES01 had on it Grunge Paste scraped through a stencil. Once dried, these and some extra Tando flowers were painted with a mix of Smoked Paprika, London Bus, Hey Pesto and Holly. The bright colour was then toned down with Chocolate Pudding. The Tando flowerheads were stamped with Black Archival using script from ESN02. 

Smoothy card was cut to fit the wood frame and an extra strip long enough for the words was cut. Both were painted with Chocolate Pudding, dried, Crackle Glaze applied, dried, and painted over with Nougat. 

Next, the section for the frame was stamped with some script and a torn paper edge stamp from ESN02 using Coffee Archival. The words from ELB02 were also stamped onto the accompanying strip. The edges of both bits of card were rubbed over with Chocolate Pudding. A mix of Smoked Paprika, London Bus, Zesty Zing, Hey Pesto and Holly were used to stamp the tall flower onto the crackled background and again onto the Smoothy card. This was cut out and 3d over the crackled one. 

The wood frame had some Tando chipboard flourishes stuck to it before being painted with Chocolate Pudding, dried, Crackle Glaze applied, dried, South Pacific painted over and dried again. Words from ELB02 were stamped onto the labels with Black Archival. Once everything was assembled onto the canvas with a paint-smeared Tim Holtz knob and some ribbon, a little Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze was rubbed on here and there. The canvas was suspended on some ribbon and some beady dangling bits attached to the bottom.

Who:Crafty Field

Twitter: @Craftyfield

Blog: http://craftyfield.blogspot.com

Stamps Used:

ELB02

ESN07

Craftyfield Says: I started making my own cards over 10 years ago and my passion has grown along with the increasing availability of craft tools, supplies and inspiration! I fell into scrapbooking to showcase my son’s photographs and dabble in jewellery and altered art.

Stamps are probably my favourite crafting items as they are so versatile. Style wise… I love and try everything from CAS to grungy. I now live in Surrey, where I was introduced to Paper Artsy (and Leandra) at the Craft Barn Extravaganza many moons ago…

The Challenge:  I used the given substrate as a template to cut 2 additional pennants out of thick chipboard and painted all 3 using the method shown by Leandra in this video. I over stamped in black using all the stamps from ESN07.

 

I made embellishments with the ES03 chipboard set, using stamps from ELB02, and ESN07. I added a ribbon to a spool (from Bag of spool) and “sewing” related embellishments using dies from my stash and stamps from ELB03 and ELB02 on Smoothy Heavyweight cardstock. The borders on the central pennant are die-cut of metal and painted with South Pacific.

 You will find more details on my blog on how I made this banner.

Who:Susie Flintoff

Twitter:@SexySusieF

Blog:

Stamps Used:

ESN04

ELB03

Sue Says: @sexysusief here, reporting for #patwits duty! (the sexy Susie was by the way ironic when I did it, now just awkward, lol)

A bit about me, I'm from Durham and I've only been crafting in the true sense for about 4 years, and I wholeheartedly blame (he he) Dyan Reaveley for my addiction! Mum and I made cards and happened upon Art from the Heart, signed up for a class and the rest, huge spending addiction, blog reading, hoarding etc followed swiftly. I'd urge anyone who thinks "oh I can't do that" to find their nearest class and go, join in, get inky!! My style is eclectic, and I vary wildly from clean and simple to paint with everything grungy.

The Challenge:  I started with a 10x8 canvas board and threw some Bora Bora, South Pacific, Nougat and Chocolate using at it, smudged it all about with my fingers until I was vaguely happy ( I always hate any project at this stage!). Then I used my trusty old Asda savings card and a couple of empty lids to add some lines, smudges and circles in the same colours until I was happy with it. Honestly, I also stamped a large flower onto tissue and glue and sealed it onto the left side, but hated it so had to go to plan b, paint over it then out my substrate on top. 

While that was drying I dry brushed some Nougat and Bora Bora onto my hanging board substrate and a mini canvas then edged them with Chocolate pudding. I painted my leaf stem and flower head in Guacamole and again edged with Choc Pudding. Whilst I waited for it all to dry I stamped all my words onto smoothy card stock using black archival then 'aged' them all with Antique Linen Distress ink, cut them all out, distressed the edges and added some coffee archival. 

I glued everything onto the canvas, quite frankly messing about for ages until it felt right, but still felt there was something missing. Quick dig in stash produced a couple of Tim Holtz vials which I filled with beads and a game piece (which I managed to find a 10 in honour of PaperArtsy birthday) that I dipped in some stray Bora Bora so it would match in! Still didn't feel right so out came the Treasure Gold which was added around the edges of the canvas, words, flower.....well basically round the edge of everything with a few random smudges on the canvas too!

Who: Rachel

Twitter: @Rachella03

Blog: 

Stamps Used:

Rachel Says:I am from Leicestershire, and my craft style is definitely PaperArtsy and multi medium, but I will try most styles to have a go. I am an inexperienced enthusiastic crafter. My Dad pulls my leg about the amount of PaperArtsy bits I have, and how everything comes out to make a project, so I set myself the challenge of making an item with just 2 stamp sets, 3 paints and one colour of Archival. I didn't quite manage it, but was nearly there for me!!! Happy Birthday Leandra and Mark! And here is to many more years of PaperArtsy!!! So onto the confessions of a PaperArtsyaholic

The Challenge:  ‘You’re having a laugh! You want me to use blue?’ This was my response when I found out that Beach hut, South Pacific and Chocolate Pudding Fresco Finish were the themed colours for this challenge! Many think I should go to PaperArtsy anonymous for my addiction to PaperArtsy but even with this addiction, the blue paints are not my colours. The second problem was the postman had well and truly mangled the board. What was I to do? Perhaps use it is a base and make a 3 dimensional shape, with grey board sides covered in PaperArtsy Smoothy white stamping paper. And a piece of doweling to make a frame as below.

I painted the base with Chocolate Pudding then Crackle and Beach Hut and then stamped stamps from Eclectica 05, 04 and Eclectica 03 in Cobalt Archival ink, and attached the four beads as feet.

But what to do on the sides? I decided to set myself a challenge and use one stamp in four different ways, to act as an aide memoire for different techniques.

Firstly using a skill demonstrated by Yours Artfully on her web site in March, stamping with the two blue paints on black paper and pages of an old book, and cut out and mounted together, with a bit of lace around the largest flower. For the background I used the three colours and blended them together and stamped stamps from Eclectica 04 in Archival Cobalt. I edged the upper edge with paper supplied in my kit.

Next I used the preformed shapes from the new Eclectica range and painted them up and stamped them with Archival Cobalt with stamps from the Eclectica Shapes 05 set. The background was paint blended, stamped and then bonding powder to attach gold film round the edges, or embossing ink and bonding powder on stamps.

On the third side I stamped the stamp on calico, frayed the edges and then painted the flower and back ground with watered down fresco paint. Adding a quote from the ESN05 plate and painting behind and layering the fabric up. I put a small amount of padding behind, then machined around the edge of the material to attach it to the card. But also around the flower to add definition on the petals and leaves, on some of the lines on the stamp. I also used a few beads to add further definition.

And on the final side I stenciled with snowflake and then painted over with Beach Hut and South Pacific, then wiped it back with a baby wipe. Then I painted calico material with fresco paint and then stamped the flower and cut out the material and layered the flower and leaves up with some padding. Then I embroidered over the leaves and petals and added beading. Then I machined the flower to the smooth card. After painting the edges of the grey board I stuck the grey board to frame. 

With the small flower I painted it up with Chocolate Pudding-crackle and Beach Hut, and then stamped with the Eclectica stamp. Then I lost the first flower so made it again and then found the first one, so put them both on ribbon along with a couple of shrinkies stamped in StazOn and then attached to the frame post.

And finally the confession, well it was supposed to be that I hadn’t used my Beach hut except to colour mark the lid. But I’ve fallen in love with the colour, so I confess I’ve bought another bottle of it!

Who:Marita Souter

Twitter: @aussiemarita

Blog: aussiemarita@blogspot.com

Stamps Used:

Marita Says: I am so excited to be taking part in this 10^th birthday 3up challenge for Paperartsy!  I got such a lovely package of goodies to play with and couldn’t wait to get started and extend myself.  I have been crafting for many years now and just love all things shabby chic, vintage and grungy.  I particularly love altered art, canvases and off the page pieces.  I am currently based in Edinburgh but was originally from Australia and have been in the UK for the last 12 years.  PaperArtsy is one of my favourite suppliers and I feel so privileged to get this opportunity.

The Challenge: The project I made for this challenge is an A4 altered canvas using the Lin Brown Eclectica ELB01 and Sara Naumann ESN08.  I used the “word”, “+”, “image,” “=” ,“story”, to create the background by stamping those elements in coffee archival ink onto tissue paper to completely cover the canvas once adhered to it with matte medium.  

I then spritzed it with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints South Pacific and Beach Hut which I had diluted with water and added mica powder. While it was wet I put scrunched cling film onto it to create texture and left it to dry. 

I then used India ink pens for shading and to give the images shadow and depth.  The words were stamped again onto tissue and adhered with matte medium.  I then used texture paste through a flower stencil and once dry leaving the stencil in place I coloured it with the Fresco finish paints, finally applying a glitter paste.   

I then stamped the flower and word images on the stampboards with co-ordinating versachalk inks, etched and coated with Rock Candy crackle paint.  The branch chipboard embellishments were coloured, shaded and coated with Rock Candy crackle paint.  Everything was then glued to the canvas with gel glue and the gorgeous little birds were glued in position on the branches.

I had loads of fun making this, I hope you all like it.