{3UP} Night 2: Eclectica - Darcy

Hi Everyone, Leandra here for the second night of this semester's 3UP challenge. 

3 volunteers were selected to be featured each evening this week on the blog ofr our #3UP challenge. This is the perfect opportunity for us to feature your work; our blog, twitter and face-book followers, so thankyou for your inspiration and willingness to share!

Tonight's #3UP volunteers are working with Darcy's 2014 new stamps released in February.

So let's get started.

FIRST UP: It's Lesley with a forested journal page

We love how Lesley has generated this page, so many elements to inspect, and the dark houses in the background really make it that little bit spooky and magical.

Name: Lesley Macgillivray
Blog: Inkidinki.blogspot.com
Stamp: EDY06, EDY08

Lesley says: Hello crafters, my name is Lesley Macgillivray and I have been crafting for as long as I can remember. I have spent the last five years running a craft shop in Inverness and am now a freelance craft demonstrator/tutor working round the north of Scotland. I enjoy card making, scrap booking and altered art, but mainly love art journaling. I have a new blog which I am currently building on, you can find it at Inkidinki.blogspot.co.uk, you can also find me on Facebook at Inkidinki crafts.

Because of my love for art journaling it was easy for me to visualise what I would do with this stunning set of Eclectica stamps designed by Darcy {EDY06}. I just love the steampunk/mechanical cat, so I thought I'd have to have him as my main focus for my page. I mainly work with Dylusions ink sprays for my backgrounds so this was a no brainer, I incorporated four pages in my art journal, my middle two I tore a border all the way round (these being my top page) and coloured the background pages with lemon zest and pomegranate seed sprays, then dried then stamped a border using the two leaves from EDY06 with archival Jet Black ink. Then just to highlight I've gone over with a white pen.

For the main picture I have used fresh lime & polished jade ink sprays, again dried then sprinkled with water to give the bleach effect splodges. 

I have then built up a background using house stamps {EDY08} along with the cat & tree stamps {EDY06}.

For the main focus I have stamped the cat six times, colouring five muted {using my promarkers} and one with vibrant colours, cut up and pieced him back in a different pose. For his headdress I stamped the cat again and cut out the central cog as the 'hat' part then built it up using the leaf stamp behind.

To finish off I have used the flower as part of the background by masking off the stems before inking. Also I added glossy accents to the little circle parts of the trees for dimension, and couldn't resist using the funky Mr Snail {EM04 another Darcy design}. I think the wording "Be Unique" works perfect for this page. 

I hope you like this page as much as I enjoyed creating it ...

Many thanks 

Lesley Macgillivray

SECOND UP: Kathi with a wonderful steampunked canvas 

This canvas seems to defy description but we love it and I'm sure you will too! Those straw pipes are brilliant!

Name: Kathi F. Rerek
Twitter: @KathiFR13
Blog: http://kathstales.blogspot.com
Pinterest: Kathi R
Stamp: EDY08, EDY02

Kathi Says: I’m Kathi Rerek, @KathiFR13, live in New Jersey, US with my husband, daughter, and two cats. I’m primarily a stamping card maker, but lately have been dabbling in mixed media and home décor. I blog at http://kathstales.blogspot.com

My substrate is a flat 8” x 10” canvas as I wanted a flat strong substrate. However, I did not want the canvas texture on my finished piece, so I covered the canvas with an old map. This surface was coated with watered down PeaCoat and Eggplant Fresco Finish Acrylic paints, and heat set. A thin layer of Crackle Glaze was spread over the outer 2” perimeter of the canvas, dried, and Nougat Fresco Finish Acrylic was painted over, dried and lightly sanded. Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord Distress inks were sponged on the edges.The gears stamp from EDY02 was repeatedly stamped around the 2 inch edge that would be seen using Watering Can Archival Ink. The innards of the gears were colored using Chipped Sapphire Distress marker.

Each of the three buildings EDY08 were stamped twice-using Black ink onto card, and colored with Copic markers. The gears, windows, clock, doors, and flowers were then pieced over their counterparts. The windows and clock face were coated with several layers of Clear Gelly Glaze pen.

The stars from the stamp set were repeatedly stamped onto a piece of card using Dandelion Memento ink, colored, coated with VersaMark, and heat embossed with Clear embossing powder. The cardstock was washed with Pea Coat and Eggplant. Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord were sponged over the Punchinella (stars), Gears and Time Travel stencils. This panel was adhered to the center of the canvas with a washi tape strip at the base and the buildings were adhered in position.

Bendy plastic striped drinking straws were painted with black gesso and allowed to dry. They were tickled with Brushed Pewter Distress paint (you could also use Pewter Fresco or Pewter Treasure Gold). The painted straws were adhered around the centre panel and a pipe and faucet from Water Pipe Parts Junkyard Findings by Prima were added.

The sentiment was stamped onto a crackled BG (Nougat over Eggplant/ Peacoat) and raised with foam pads. To finish a gazillion gears were adhered along the right side of the canvas with a clock charm/game Spinner to lower left.  Finally Pewter Treasure Gold was used to edge the entire piece and to highlight the edges of the gears.

THIRD UP: Mark's flamingo canvas
I have fond memories of Mark and his wife Ineke in various classes I have taught over the years both here in the UK and in the Netherlands. Mark is always so keen to learn new ideas and techniques, I love his enthusiasm for crafting. 

Name: Mark Sloof
Blog: http://marksatc.blogspot.com
Twitter: @marksloof
Stamp: EDY05

Mark says: Hello, I am from the Netherlands. I started crafting some 8 years ago when my wife and I made a scrapbook for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Since then, I focused more and more on stamping. First, I created cards, ATCs and tags. Later on, my style of crafting has evolved into mixed media, using metal, fabric, paints and inks. My wife and I went to England twice for the ArtsyCrafts weekends with Lin Brown and Leandra, where I even learned to sew!

For this 3UP challenge, I chose the EDY05 stamp sheet. I was very surprised and pleased to be selected! All images in this project are from this stamp sheet. I really like these stamps. They have so many details. When I was colouring the images, every time another detail emerges that I had not seen before. 

For this project, I used a 8 by 8 inch canvas, that I painted with a mixture of Mushroom and Snowflake. Using Grunge Paste and the 'Mini Art Is' stencil (Crafters Workshop), I stenciled some text onto the canvas. Next, I added more colours. I used Beach Hut, Lime Light, and Haystack  mixed with Chocolate Pudding to create a light brown colour. On the edges I used some darker colours, Hey Pesto and South Pacific. I painted some patches onto the canvas and then spread the colours out with a wet wipe. This creates a nice washy background for the scene I wanted to create for sky at the top, and grasses at the bottom.

I stamped the bird on a piece of smoothy card and coloured it with Derwent ColourSoft pencils. The frame is made from a piece of chipboard and is coloured with Brown Shed and French Roast Fresco Paints.

The border is stamped in black and coloured with Hey Pesto, South Pacific, London Bus. The grass and the flowers are stamped with Pesto green and coloured with Hey Pesto, South Pacific, London Bus, and Zesty Zing Frescos.

Thanks to all of our 3upsters tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and say Hi! So much careful attention to detail has gone into tonight's posts. Thankyou!

If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up By Sunday May 4th, 5pm and go in the draw to win a surprise prize at the end of the week. As it's the end of the semester, the prize will be a special goody bag with a variety of items to the value of £50. 

Each entry generates you a ticket in the draw to win. Maximum number of entries per person is 3. Your entry must be a new creation made this week, and explain which person's 3UP entry inspired you to play along. Good luck, winners will be announced on Sunday May 4th, 7pm.