{3UP} Night 4: JOFY

Hi Everyone, it's Leandra here for the fourth night of this semester's 3UP challenge. This is the halfway point! 

3 volunteers were selected to be featured each evening this week on the blog. This is the perfect opportunity for us to feature the work of you, our blog, twitter and face-book followers, and a wonderful opportunity for you to show us your preferred style with our newest products.

Tonight's #3UP volunteers are working predominantly with JOFY stamps and ancillary products released in February 2014. 

FIRST UP: It's Janet with a mini inspired Journal Page

Janet has created a colourful page here with Jo's stamps and paints using a mix of 2013 and 2014 JOFY stamps. Jo's new stamps always add versatility to the existing ones. With so many flowers on offer, Janet's project is perfect for the lovely spring weather we've been having of late! (touch wood it stays)

Name: Janet Warren
Blog: www.dash-paw.blogspot.com
Stamps: JM34, JM35, JM40 JM24 JOFY15, JOFY12

 

 

Janet Says: I'm Janet, partner to Brian, mum to two daughters and grandma to three grandsons. I work full time, I started paper crafting in 2002 making cards and very quickly got in to scrapbooking. Over the last six years or so altered art and now journaling are also added to my crafting list. I started my blog in 2005  (dash-paw) to take part in challenges. I am thrilled to be taking part in this 3up challenge with PaperArtsy.

All the base colours used on the page are from the JOFY fresco finish Limited Edition Paint Set: Chalk, Dusty Teal, Dolly Mix and Amethyst. Onto the background I stamped the potted trees  JM35, and I masked the end ones to stamp the tree and bird from the JOFY15 stamp set. Still using masks I stamped stones and the grid from JOFY12 and the Beach Hut (JM24) which is now looking more like my garden shed. Lastly I stamped the flowers, JM34.

There is a lot of masking in this page, but once it's done, the painting and shading follows. For the tree-tubs I used Pewter shaded with Chalk. The 'shed' is (appropriately) painted with Brown Shed and shaded accents with Chocolate Pudding for depth. You can see the page developing below once stamped and some of the colours start to emerge.

For the flowers I painted a piece of smoothy card with Amethyst, Dolly Mix and Hyde Park, stamped lots of JM34 flowers  and the leaves from JOFY15, cut them all out and then added white dots to the flowers. I glued these onto the stamped background images. The leaves were glued on and around the trees. The text JM40 was stamped onto card and the letters were painted in distress inks to shade and then raised up on foam pads.

SECOND UP: It's Lesley with a deep amethyst Mirror Frame
What is going on with all the purple tonight? It must be those lovely JOFY paints! We love this mirror, Lesley has arranged the flowers like a true professional...was she a florist in the past?

Name: Lesley Ebdon
Blog: http://craftymammalovenhugs.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: @craftymamma2
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/craftymamma2/
Chosen stamps: JOFY22, JOFY24, PS007

 

Lesley Says: Hi, I’m Lesley, a crafter from childhood who came to rubber stamping about 8 years ago and I love nothing better than getting messy in my craft room when time allows, lately more often than not using PaperArtsy products. I supposedly ‘retired’ 5 years ago but somehow the extra crafting time I was expecting hasn't materialised, lol!

I love all things PaperArtsy but for the challenge I requested the JOFY22 stamps and was thrilled when they plopped through the letterbox. I decided to use a wide framed mirror for my substrate and except for an initial basecoat of Snowflake Fresco I have used all JOFY’s Limited Edition paints plus Eggplant Fresco Finish Paints throughout, mixing them to get the shades I wanted.  

I used a large paintbrush for my first two coats of Snowflake followed by Dolly Mix which I knocked back with a wet wipe.  Then I switched to using a makeup sponge to first of all pat the paint on, and then blend the layers in one corner finishing with Eggplant for the darkest shade.  I wanted to fade the shades out and also keep a streaky look to follow the wood grain of the substrate and I found I had more control with a sponge.  Here is the blending part way through when I began to think it was never going to look anything but a mess, lol!

I also used a couple of additional stamps from JOFY24, the JOFY stencil PS007, Grunge Paste, Treasure Gold, and Satin and Metallic Glazes.  The toadstool border was stamped with Jet BlackArchival Ink.  The rest of the images were stamped onto smooth white card (I don’t have PaperArtsy Smoothy card ….yet!) with Royal Purple Stazon and cut out. I prefer to colour after cutting if possible so I can get rid of the white cut edges and I finally gave the flowers and leaves a coat of Satin and Metallic Glazes mixed together – love the subtle sparkle this gives  - and then shaped them before positioning on the mirror.  

The number 1 and heart were given several coats of a Gloss Glaze.  I flipped the stencil upside down in the top left corner, applied Grunge Paste followed by Royal Amethyst and Pewter Treasure Gold and then decided to add a coat of Dusty Teal Fresco which I buffed up once dry. This has given a really nice subtle shine on the high spots but I couldn’t get it to show in the photos.  I do hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my project and I can’t wait to see all the other fab creations.

Best Wishes

Lesley  Xx

THIRD UP: Doreen's JOFY Doorhanger
It's not often you see black as a background, and where Doreen has added the soft tissue on top, it has resulted in a really cool effect for this doorhanger.

Name: Doreen OBrien
Blog: www.doreensdream.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doreenobrn/
Stamp: JOFY24

Doreen says: Hello Doreen here, My journey into crafting came about after I retired  in 2009 and found I had a lot of time on my hands. I must say I am really enjoying myself. I have always done something crafty as my children were growing up but nothing like I am doing now….I have a blog that I use on a daily basis and use it to show all I make. I am now on the design team for Chocolate Baroque and love working with stamps.

I started by giving my hanger a coat of gesso and then black Fresco Finish paint ,while this was drying I stamped my images onto some white  tissue paper using Onyx Black Versafine ink, turned it over and painted the images with Sky, Rose, Hey Pesto and Vanilla Fresco paints.

                    

I then coated the hanger with watered down  PVA and attached the tissue to this cutting the hanger's hole out and and coating it all with more PVA. The tissue, being white, dries into the black and gives a more grungy, textured look.

Thanks to all of our 3 upsters tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and say Hi! We love to see what people do with our products, thank-you for your enthusiasm and participation in this challenge.

If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 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.

{3UP} Night 3: PaperArtsy Chatsworth 12x12 Papers

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

3 volunteers were selected to be featured each evening this week on the blog. This is a perfect opportunity for us to feature the work of you, our blog, twitter and face-book followers, and for you to show us your personal style with our newest products.

Tonight's #3UP volunteers are working with our new Chatsworth 12x12 Papers released in February. These papers have been a big hit so far this year; supplies are dwindling fast. Again we have used our favourite local printer, and the paper is the same smoothy cardstock that copes brilliantly with ink, paint, and everything else we throw at it. The papers weigh 240gsm, a really useful weight, not to thick, not too thin. In a pack you get 4 each of the 6 double sided designs, so 24 sheets in total. This means you can actually use them, not JUST stroke them!

FIRST UP: It's Jacqui with a fabulous mini book

So much wonderful detail has gone into Jacqui's project, and we can only show you a small portion, but if you go to her blog here, you can see more detail of the other pages. She also has a link there to a YouTube video she made of the book.

Name: Jacqui Chimes
Blog: jacquesjunque.blogspot.com
Twitter: @jacquichimes

Jacqui Says: I’m Jacqui Chimes in real life and have been ‘making things’ as far back as I can remember (a long time!). Stamping, Mixed Media, Papercrafting and Scrapping (in the form of mini albums) have been my main love for about 15 years. My style generally is quite ‘neat and ordered’ and not too ‘frilly’. I’m currently looking for a day job to fund my addiction to all things ‘art and crafty’ after recently giving up a too stressful career as an occupational therapist.

I received the beautiful Chatsworth papers...

...from PaperArtsy together with stamp set HP1009.

The papers are gorgeous – double sided and a real heavyweight good quality – they are great value. The box-packaging that my papers arrived in looked interesting too – lots of lovely corrugated card.

The papers make a lovely substrate for mixed media pieces but I wanted to showcase them, so I set about constructing a ‘mini album’ using the cardboard packaging which I cut to size for the cover. This was covered in black paper and then the Chatsworth papers. 

I then made the mixed media pieces for the front cover. I used a piece of 3” x 7” matboard. Fresco paints in Nougat, Pumpkin Soup, Vintage Lace, Hey Pesto, Blood Orange and Toad Hall were used to colour it to tone in with the  papers. I used a baby wipe to apply and remove colour and just kept blending and drying the layers. Once the colours looked good I added PaperArtsy Grunge Paste through a flower stencil in a couple of places. The flowers from HP1009 were stamped using Jet Black Archival ink.

Further layers of paint were added over the Grunge Paste and then a little subtle stamping using Coffee Archival ink and stamps from PaperArtsy set ESN03. Aquamarine Treasure Gold was added to the grunge paste areas. Then I re-stamped the flowers from HP1009 onto various red papers that were in my scrap box and also onto some book paper for contrasting accents. These were cut out to paper piece the flower stamp and to add extra flowers to the front of the album as shown. Red complements the Chatsworth papers beautifully. The title was stamped directly onto a piece of the Chatsworth collection and die cut with a Spellbinders labels die. I layered this up onto several pieces of black card to give it strength. All I had to do then was construct my inner pages and decorate them with papers from the collection.

If you want to see more of the pages and how the interactive elements work check out my Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhmEYNf7rYg.

Thank you 

Jacqui Chimes

SECOND UP: Gail from Norway with a wonderful snowflake
Often seen at Christmas, this 'snowflake' paper challenge looks wonderful in the Chatsworth papers, and is embellished perfectly. Not just for Christmas then ....

Name: Gail aka ionabunny
Blog: http://craftynomad.blogspot.no/

Gail says: Hi, my name is Gail, known online as ionabunny.   I've got an 'ology and an 'ography and in my former life I worked in a lab testing materials used in road construction.  Nine years ago I gave it all up and moved to Norway to pursue the good life.   I spend my time gardening, looking after rabbits and chickens, working now and again for a local farmer and of course crafting.   I enjoy trying new ideas, learning new techniques and mixing and matching it all together in a simple style.  You can find me at my own little corner of blogland http://craftynomad.blogspot.no

In my 3up package I received the gorgeous Chatsworth Paper Collection and two PaperArtsy dies, Spotty Dragonfly and Moth.   After recovering from the shock and the happy dancing I had a few ideas but decided I wanted to keep the focus on the papers, so no stampy painty extravaganza here.  

I have used all 6 paper designs to a greater or lesser degree in this project to make a snowflake. I found good instructions at:

http://www.theinspiredhousewife.com/2011/12/christmas-craft-reveal  

I made my pieces 15cm square.  I didn't want a crease across the papers so I drew the cut lines on each piece with a pencil, cut with a knife and then rubbed out the pencil lines.

Here's what a cut piece looks like before and after folding.  You need six of these.  The Chatsworth papers have a white core so I have inked all the cut edges with VersaMagic Jumbo Java chalk.  As long as the white edges were covered it didn't matter if there was a bit extra here and there.  All adds to the look.  I also worked each of the cut areas between my thumb and fingers to stretch the paper a bit in the direction I wanted to fold them.   You can also see some of the moths and dragonflies I have cut using the dies.  

I put the six folded sections together to make my snowflake using three of the six different papers for this.  I love that these papers are of a collage style.  Each side offers a variety of patterns and shades.  If I was doing this again with these papers I would probably make each section at least 20cm square as they were quite rigid and I had a few sticky moments trying to balance the tension once I put them together.  At one point I thought I would be sharing a hat or a fruit bowl but after a little tweaking and twiddling.........   

I've used all the different design papers to cut the moths, dragonflies and also for stamping the sentiment on.  The moth and sentiment are from PaperArtsy USNT4. NB this is an A6 size stamp set.

The dragonflies are stamped with modern girl from LPC022...

...and stuck to both sides of three layers of die cut cardboard.   The sentiment was mounted both sides on PA heavy greyboard.  The chain was from a PA monster box I bought last summer.  Thanks to PaperArtsy for giving me this opportunity and thanks to you all for looking and reading.  Hope you liked it.  

THIRD UP: Craftyfield with a fantastic scrapbook layout
It's been great to see such a wide array of ideas tonight, and a scrapbook layout bring to a close tonight's #3UP, is most fitting, as technically that is what scrapbook papers are for! I love the utterly mixed media approach to this layout, so much to look at.

Name: Craftyfield 
Blog: http://craftyfield.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: @Craftyfield
Craftyfield says: I have been crafting for a long time, but until 10 years ago it didn’t fill up my spare time quite so much! My main crafts are card making and scrapbooking, and stamps are my favourite crafting items. You might be surprised to hear I involve Excel spreadsheets in my crafting and I have created a digital jar of ideas that pulls up random combinations of techniques/materials/stamps for me to use. I can also tell how much of my yearly budget I have spent so far (58% i.e. no spending until August - who am I kidding!) and what I spent most money on last year (stamps 36%) with pivot tables and pie charts, sad I know…

I used one of the darker Chatsworth papers as the backing. With so many beautiful designs in the collection, some only missing a photo, title and a few embellishments it would have been easy to make a quick layout but… I had other ideas! I wanted to use paint, texture, stamps and put the paper through its paces!

So for my top layer I settled on a subtle coloured background with a circles design and proceeded to add a colour wash with diluted Frescos in Claret and Smoked Paprika. I stamped in various inks with the script stamp MN30, cheque from ID02, “Joie de Vivre” and camera from Hot Picks 1205, and the small seal and the “Photographie” from ESN07.

Next I used the PaperArtsy stencil PS001 with Paprika and Claret paints as well as with Grunge Paste mixed with a touch of Limelight Fresco. The papers were sewn together along the edges leaving the punched areas open (hidden journaling)

Embellishments as follows:

• Feathers (MN97) on vellum embossed in black
• Film strip (MN87) on acetate with Archival which when dry looks more like celluloid than a craft ink or paint would.
• Leaves fussy cut from another Chatsworth paper.
• Faux lace die-cut from material and coloured with Frescos

To show more of the backing paper, I cut an aperture in my top layer instead of creating a mat for my photo. This is a technique I came up with, trying to use my punches more and in a different way.

First cut a rectangle slightly smaller than the photo.... but big enough to insert the punch through it! Align the punch centrally first, it's easy with the scored lines on the punch as shown in this picture:

Then punch left and right as far as you can aligning the already punched design as usual. Repeat for the other 3 sides and optionally use a corner punch, as long as you don’t mind losing some of the design and finishing with scissors. Here I have done this on 2 corners.

I can’t tell you how pleased I was to have been drawn for this challenge and how much I enjoyed working with the Chatsworth papers! Thank you Paper Artsy!

Thanks to all of our 3 upsters tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and follow them! Thanks once again for your enthusiasm and participation. We love to see you all featured on the blog.

If you would like to play along with our #3UP volunteers this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 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 extra 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.

{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.

{3UP} Night 1: Eclectica - Lin Brown

Hi Everyone, Leandra here for the entire week ahead co-ordinating the end of semester 3UP challenge entries. 

Back in mid-March we asked for submissions for this end-of-semester #3UP round based on the new stamp releases of Feb 2014. 

So what is  3UP? Well, it's simple. 3 volunteers are selected to be featured each evening on the blog. When a semester concludes at the end of the 4 month period, we end up with a spare week before the new semester commences. This is the perfect opportunity for us to feature the work of you, our blog, twitter and face-book followers, and for you to show us your personal style with our newest releases.

Each time we do this the 3UP format changes a little depending on my latest brainwave. In the past we have had stamp themes, colour combos, surprise envelopes, and in August 2013, to celebrate our 10th year in business we featured all the PA stamp collections of the last 10 years.

This week each evening features ONE of our 2014 new product collections released in February. The names of those who pre-registered went in the hat, and 3 people were drawn, except for the final night where we will feature 6 people using each of our newest Hot Pick stamps!

So let's get started. Tonight our volunteers are using the newest Eclectica: Lin Brown series of stamps, stencils and dies, and of course they were permitted to use other products from Lin's Designer series too. 

FIRST UP: Shirley with 2 striking cards

Dies with matching stamps is a concept we came up with in 2010 when we first released our Hot Picks. It'sd an idea many stamp and die companies have picked up on since. Shirley has perfectly used the ELB stamps (which have matching dies) that we released early this year to create 2 cards with a striking use of colour. I do love a bit of CAS style! The detail in these new stamps adds a new dimension and contrast to the bold hand-carved stamps in the rest of Lin's collection.

PaperArtsy edit: Please note the stamps on the set Shirley has used all have fine black borders as shown in the image below, ELB07. All these stamps have dies to match. The recommendation is to die-cut the shape first, then stamp the corresponding stamp-image onto the die cut shape, this will leave a slight border around the edge of the image. For example, here is the ELB branch die and it has been stamped with the ELB02 branch.

However, there is also another new stamp set (ELB09) where the stamps are slightly larger than the die cut shape (a new PaperArtsy concept in stamp and die sets), so if you stamp these onto the die cut, the image will extend beyond the shape's edge, for a no-border effect. Both options are really useful, with or without the dies, and some of the dies have stamp images to work on both the front and the back of the die cut shape. We like to offer you extra versatility wherever we can!

So, let's hear from Shirley, and what she got up to with these stamps!

Name: Shirley Bampton

Blog: http://shirley-bee.blogspot.co.uk

Stamp: ELB07, ELB01

Shirley Says: I’ve been stamping for 17 years and I absolutely love it.  I’m lucky enough to have retired early and, as hubby likes to do all the cooking, I get plenty of time to play with all my toys.  I’m primarily a card-maker but I also like to do 3D items - canvases, wood blocks, books - as long as there’s stamping included, I’m happy! I've made 2 clean and simple cards for this 3 UP challenge

Card 1: Secrets Of The Garden

This card incorporates some of my (current) favourite techniques - distress inking, splatting and stitching.  I stamped the images onto white card with black permanent ink, then swiped distress inks across the images, rubbing the inks in with kitchen roll.  Spritzed the images with water then cut them out when dry, edging with a black marker pen. 

I splatted some of the colour onto a smoothy card panel, then stuck the cut-out images down with a bit of double-sided tape in strategic places, keeping the tape clear of the stitched area.  I machine-stitched the pieces down and left the thread-ends trailing.  

The sentiment (from ELB01) was stamped in green and before it dried I smudged the ink to soften the edges.  I edged the panel softly with green ink to help define it and stuck it onto the main card, then bent the cut-out pieces up to add some dimension.(NB. You could also use the Branch and Butterfly dies for speed)

Card 2: Art In Bloom

I wanted to make a monochrome card using this set, so I stamped the images in black permanent ink and cut them out (you could use the Leaf and Bloom dies), leaving a border around one of the flower cut-outs.  On a panel of black card I dragged white pigment ink with the edge of a credit card, then mounted that onto the white card base.  

I stamped the sentiment (from ELB01) onto spare white card, cut up the words, then added some fine lines across the top and bottom of each word.  Punched a disc from black card for the flower centre then assembled the pieces on the card, bending them for dimension.

SECOND UP: Cazz and a Distressed, painted Storage Box

We love the way Cazz has used so many techniques on this project to alter this really useful storage solution. The translucent paints really 'pop' on top of the Grunge Paste. A great way to personalise and alter any wooden item.

Name: Cazz Wright
Twitter: @sunshine_cazz
Blog: www.thecazzbar.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/isowcazz/
Stamp: Using ELB05, PS005

Cazz says: Hi, my name is Cazz and it's my pleasure to bring you my take on the 3up challenge this evening. Some of you may know me from Twitter as @sunshine_cazz, a title given to me by another tweeter for always bringing a bit of sunshine to their day. Some of you might have seen me wandering round craft shows wearing my trusted blue witch hat - handy when you are meeting people you don't know, or when your mum is trying to find you across a crowded room. 

I have been crafting for many moons; I will turn my hand to almost anything. I can knit, I just don't. I can crochet, again, I just don't. I like to make a bit of jewellery when the mood takes me, and can sew up a bag or a kitchen curtain when I want to, and throw together a card or two or a home project. I love Digital crafting and going a bit hybrid. Maybe I am not a master of one particular trade but certainly I am  jack of all!

By day, I can be seen whizzing around St. Neots, Cambs on my lovely lavender bike for work. I work for myself and clean other peoples houses for a living. It's hard work, but I have a lovely group of clients that I clean for on a regular basis and whilst it doesn't pay well, I love what I do, except when its raining cats and dogs and it drips inside my waterproofs - then I am not so enamoured with my job. But, it pays the bills and keeps a roof over my head so it could be a lot worse. 

Storage Box

So, to my 3up project. I chose to work with Lin Brown's ELB05 as I already had the Stencil set PS005 so thought they would go well together. I began with one of Ali Reeve's MDF mask storage boxes and covered it with Gesso. Once dry, I used Fresco Beach Hut on 3 sides and the front of the drawer. (I didn't do the back as it will be against a wall anyway - economical with the paint then). Then I applied a thin layer of Fresco Crackle Glaze and left it to dry for a while then gave it a blast with a heat gun. I then generously applied Fresco 'Chalk' paint (from the JOFY limited edition Paint set) over the top and allowed the crackle effect to occur. It only takes a few minutes, but you can speed it up with a heat tool.

 

The inner walls of the unit and the drawer were  lined with Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper edged with Broken China Distress ink. Using the Stencil Set PS005 and Grunge Paste, I applied flowers over the unit and allowed them to dry. Once dry, I used a make-up sponge squished into a mushroom shape to add some colour to the flowers; Fresco Pumpkin Soup, Cinnamon & Beach Hut were used.

The wooden letters were painted with Fresco Dusty Teal (from the JOFY set), dried and dabbed over with Treasure Gold: Copper before sticking them to the drawer front. The flower in the front was also given a tickle of Treasure Gold: Copper.

I then used Jet Black archival ink to add the sentiments from the stamp set ELB05.

THIRD UP: Helen with a Large Hanging Chunky Board

These hanging boards have been so popular, and make a great surface to alter. Despite being a bit of an uneven paper-mache surface, they seem to stand up to all kinds of altering, and make great mini book covers too, landscape or portrait. And as they are so cheap, people seem to buy them by the dozen!

 
Name: Helen Lindfield
Blog: stampingbyh.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @stampingbyh
Stamp: ELB07, PS001

Helen says: I am Helen Lindfield, living in a very crowded flat (can't stop buying stash!) I work for a mortgage broker dealing with her administration and mortgage processing - helping people realise their dream homes (hopefully).   When not working, I can be found on twitter @stampingbyh or blogging at http://stampingbyh.blogspot.co.uk or http://photosbyh.blogspot.co.uk and getting to know my new camera, and watching football.  I've been crafting with rubber stamps for about 20 years. This April 1st (yes, really!) just gone would have been my 25th wedding anniversary - were it not for the divorce, hehe! 

I started my project with one of the PaperArtsy papier mache hanging boards, painted with two layers of gesso, and then Chartreuse Fresco paint (from the ELB Limited Edition Paint set). I took one of the leaves from my chosen stamp set - ELB07, and using Chutney Fresco (applied with cut and dry foam) stamped the leaves randomly over both sides of the box. Using a small palette knife I applied Grunge Paste through  Lin Brown's stencil PS001 as shown, and dry brushed Beach Hut Fresco, wiping back with a baby wipe. I painted the leaves on the box with a watered down coat of Chocolate Pudding, wiping most of it off. I stamped the sentiment from ELB05 randomly over the box, using Jet Black archival ink.

I stamped both of the larger leaves (5 in all) and 3 butterflies from the same set, on Heavyweight Smoothy Paper using Jet Black archival ink and cut out the images. Next I painted Hey Pesto on some and Chartreuse on the others. I added shading  using the alternate colour, and adding Chutney for tone round the edges. For the butterflies I used a base layer of Tango and then Smoked Paprika over the top, with Beach Hut accents. I finished by accenting the base and the butterflies with White Fire and Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold. I fixed the butterflies with heavy gel medium. 

Thanks to all of our 3 upsters tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and say Hi! We love this time at the end of a semester where we get to see what you all like to do with our newest products, so thanks for your continued enthusiasm and participation.

If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 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.

We'll see you back here tomorrow with another #3UP group, and a different collection of new stamps!