Welcome Back GD: Ellen Vargo #1: Card Set With New Stamps

"Hello everyone, Ellen here! I am *beyond* excited to be here this week! In case you missed yesterday's big reveal... I am honored to be PaperArtsy's newest stamp designer with the Eclectica³  Range. It is completely surreal to see my hand carved designs come to life in proper cling-mount rubber stamps ... the fact that they are being given new life by PaperArtsy is the most delicious icing *ever*.  Thanks again to Mark & Leandra for this amazing opportunity".

This week I will, of course, be showcasing my four new stamp sets in the Eclectica³ collection. Today we'll make a set of cards. We'll be using some of the same techniques as last month, but this time we'll build patterned backgrounds using EEV02, which I call "scratchy shapes" and then create focal images using EEV01, which I call "bold shapes".  I love stamps that are very graphic and can be easily repeated to create interesting patterns.

Here we go! Here is a sample of one of the finished cards so you know what we'll be working on.

As we did last month, we'll start with a sheet of Heavyweight Smoothy Card, and build up layers of color using a brayer. This time I'll be using Lin Brown's new paint colors, which are simply *gorgeous* !  They are very earthy and natural and I know they will quickly become new favorites!

I started by brayering a random layer of Snowflake paint over the whole sheet to give a base coat. Lin's colors are either translucent or semi-opaque so I wanted a bright base for the colors to shine. Giving a base coat also allows you to make the most of your colored paints - they'll go a lot farther on a base coat - less absorbent than the paper.

Next up is the first new color.... Chartreuse.

Then I added some Limelight...

Then another new color.... Seaweed....

Then two more new colors (sorry, got carried away with brayering and skipped a photo step)... this layer adds Tikka (medium earthy brown) and Chutney (a rich bright earthy red)

Added a bit of Claret around the edges......and then just the tiniest *hint* of Chocolate Pudding around the edges, and an even tinier hint in the middle...

And now the fun part (come on, you did it last month, it's not scary anymore) - cut it up!  Cut the page in half lengthwise and then cut each section in half again. Now we have the backgrounds for our set of 4 cards.

Now we get to use my new stamps!  (I'm just a teeny bit excited.... insert happy dance!)  I chose 4 of the scratchy shapes from EEV02 and Wendy Vecchi's Orange Blossom Archival Ink. 

Here are the results.  First the scratchy triangle.

The scratchy pod shape.

The scratchy square.

And the scratchy rectangle. I love how the stamps line up and repeat so easily.

Now it's time for some collage. This sheet is on deli-paper (dry wax paper). I did a very thin messy layer of paint and then cut it up into different size rectangles and strips and glued them to each background using Ranger's Glue 'N' Seal (matte).  Ranger has replaced Glue 'N' Seal with their new Multi Medium (matte) but any matte medium will work fine for this step.

Now our backgrounds are done and it's time for some focal stamping. We'll be using stamps from EEV01 (bold shapes). I used Snowflake paint with the bold rectangle for this first card.

I outlined all the sections of the bold rectangle with a black permanent pen, and added some dots with Little Black Dress and the end of my paint brush. I also added some line patterns to the bottom section, going over the collage. I just loaded a flat paint brush with black paint and used the very tippy edge of the brush to lightly touch onto the paper in a repeating pattern - simple yet so effective.

Then I added a white dot to the center of each black dot with a white paint pen.

Now it's time for some greetings for our card fronts... I used my mini alphabet set to stamp out some encouraging sentiments.

Here's the stamped out greetings cut into strips.  You'll see the other 3 card fronts as well.  I used the same techniques on the bold diamond card. For the other two cards I collaged some papers that had been stamped with the bold triangle (Snowflake paint), and the bold rectangle (stamped with Plum Archival ink).

And here are the finished cards...

I hope you enjoyed my first post with the new stamps!  I think you'll find them very versatile and look forward to sharing the many ways they can be used.  I hope you'll have the chance to check them out soon and can't wait to see what you create! I'll be back tomorrow with another project... we'll be starting a new art journal and doing the cover. See you then!

Ellen!

Leandra Says: Welcome Ellen, we are uber excited at PA about your new designs and can't wait to see how everyone will incorporate them into their projects. The warmth of the Ltd Edition paints looks great along with the little pops of white, looking forward to see what you have created over the next few nights.

Gillian Says: Congratulations Ellen on your stamp designs. These stamps are going to be so useful, I already need them all, and how fab do they look with the Ltd edition paints.

If you would like to join in this week's challenge and play along with Ellen's techniques, then do link up your creativity here, and go in the draw to win some PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00, Sunday February 23rd 2014.