Festive Cards {with EEB Stamps by Designer Liz Borer}

Hi there everyone, Liz here.I’m back again with a couple of cards suitable for the time of year made using my stamp designs . Depending on the words used on the cards these could be Christmas cards or they could be used for winter occasions . I’m afraid I got a bit carried away and created some very pretty and very embellished cards , but if I can’t do this at this time of year when can I do it ?

I started by making an A4 sheet of background card to use on the cards . I used a piece of smoothy card and painted the whole thing with Pansy Fresco Finish Paint . When this was dry I applied London Night using a wet wipe and rubbed and swirled the paint randomly over the surface . It looks very messy at this point .    

I then added Space cadet in the same way , covering different parts of the card . The idea is to finish with a blend of colours all over the card .  
                

Next add Eggplant in the same way, allowing some of the previous colours to show .                                                                                                                                                

Finally add Beach Hut . 
                                                              

Now I added some stamped images to the card using lighter chalk inks so that they showed up on the dark background . I started with the Mistletoe from EEB02 and Versamagic Pretty Petunia . The stamping is not completely random – I used the stamp to create “ branches “ of mistletoe over the sheet .                 

    

EEB02

I then stamped the Ivy from EEB01, using Versamagic Aquatic Splash. Again I created strings of ivy some crossing the mistletoe and some in other areas . 

EEB01,

Using the small Star Flower from EDY09 and some white ink I added random stars over the paper and then the blobs from ESN09 and gold ink all over the card .  

 EDY09

ESN09 

Using another sheet of white card I embossed snowflakes onto the card . I cut two pieces of this to fit on the card and then distressed the raised areas with Cornflower archival ink . This made the snowflakes stand out and toned down the white of the card .  

Winter Fairy Card

When I am stamping images with faces I often paint the card first using Nougat. This gives the face a skin tone without any extra colouring and the colour is pale enough to add other colours as required . So I did this with square stamp from EEB02 . 

However when I started to make the card I realised that the Nougat did not work well with the other colours of the card . so I stamped the image onto the pale purple card that I used for the background of the finished card . I then coloured the image with pencils . To achieve a good skin tone I first coloured the skin with white before adding a flesh tone and some pink . When the colouring was done I added some glitter to the wings ( most unusual for me – I rarely use glitter ) . I cut out the image and mounted it onto gold card and then a dark purple card .  

                                                                                                  

                          

To make the card I first covered the card base with pale purple card .

I cut the embossed card to create two pieces to go across the card and mounted these onto dark purple card . I cut a strip of the background card that I had made and mounted this onto gold card . I then attached all these pieces and a strip of ribbon to the card . Notice how the different pieces overlap each other ! The stamped image was attached using foam pads .                                                                                                       

Using the words from EEB02 I stamped and  embossed with gold powder ‘ Winter Greetings ‘ onto dark blue card and mounted this on gold then dark purple card. This was stuck onto the card with foam pads. I then added some coloured pearls for extra sparkle .

                                                                                                                    

      

Ivy Fairy Card

To make the center piece of this card I stamped the Ivy Fairy from EEB01 onto lilac card and coloured the image with pencils . I mounted this onto black and then gold card . I added glitter to her wings .

                                                                                                                           

I covered the card blank with some green patterned paper from my collection of paper and then covered this with some sparkly netting . I cut three panels from the painted background card and mounted them onto gold card .   
                                   

Using the words from  EEB01 I stamped and embossed ‘ Ivy Fairy ‘ with black embossing powder onto lilac card and mounted it onto dark purple and then gold card .I attached one of the panels to the center of the card tucking two die cut lacy strips under the long edges . I then attached the other two panels on either side . The image and saying were attached using foam pads .                                                                     

The card was completed using a white ribbon bow, pearls and paper roses. I put a little glitter on the roses to add to the sparkle .                                                        

Gift Tag

I still had some of the background card left so I decided to use it to make a tag to go with the cards  ( I didn’t want to waste the card ) . I covered the large tag with some patterned lilac paper . I then cut the painted background card to fit onto the tag and mounted it on gold card .This was stuck to the tag and a strip of lace was stuck down one side of the tag . In my stash of bits and pieces I found a craft paper envelope with a small tag in it . I painted the envelope with Moonlight and cut a piece of the background card to size, mounted it onto gold card , and stuck this to the envelope .The small tag was stamped with the Holly stamp from EEB02 using the purple chalk ink. I rubbed inks that I had used around the edges of the tag . Finally I stamped and embossed using black powder the words from  ELB11 onto the tag .                                                         

The small envelope was attached to the large tag a  jaunty angle . I added ribbons to both of the tags  and a white bow to the envelope . I found a die cut flower that I painted black and rubbed gold and then sapphire treasure gold onto before sticking it to the envelope . I finished the tag with three pearly buttons .           

                                         

Finished Tag .                                                                                                   

Well that’s all for now . I hope you have enjoyed my little bit of sparkly prettiness . I’ll be back again with some other ideas . Although it’s rather early may I wish Seasons Greetings to everyone . Liz .

A huge thanks to Liz from all at PaperArtsy for these stunning cards and matching gift tag. The depth achieved by layering colours in the background is such a perfect way to begin a project. the soft colour pallette and neutral embellishments make these cards so elegant. 

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Nov 1st 2014 and Nov 30th 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Nov 30th 2014

Folio of Treasures {with Lynne Perrella Stamps by Lin Shields}

Good evening everyone Lin Shields here. I was more than a bit surprised when I received an invite from Darcy to appear on the blog tonight. Once I had accepted panic set in! I have loved all sorts of arts and crafts from a child. I’m not sure I have a favourite; I love to play around with all kinds of media from paints to inks, markers, fabric and so on. I usually have an idea on what I want to do when I start a project but then go completely off track and it ends up nothing like I intended. My inspiration comes from all different sources, my crafty friends, blog land you tube, magazines…all sorts.

Tonight I decided to decorate a small Idea-ology folio using a couple of my favourite Lynne Perrella stamps and some crunchy wax paper.

It started off like this…

I painted it inside and out with Little Black Dress, then covered the front and back in crumpled up tissue paper. When it was dry I took some cut and dry and started adding layers of colour using fresco finish paints in Chocolate Pudding, Cinnamon, toffee, French Roast, Marlin ,Pumpkin Soup and Hey Pesto. When it was dry I added Copper and Sapphire treasure gold and Fern Green Archival Ink.

I covered the inside of the folio using the prima script paper. On the left I used the Prima paper to create slots. On the right I set about making some pockets to go inside to hold tags atc’s altered playing cards or anything you like really. I folded some kraft paper, concertina style to form the sides then I embossed some Crunchy Wax Paper to put on the front of the pockets. I lightly brushed the front of them with some sapphire treasure gold and fern green archival ink. I used LPC006 stamped onto crunchy wax paper to add interest to the left side. 

 LPC006

{PaperArtsy Tip. This Script paper gives a wonderful background effect, however you could also achieve this by painting heavy smoothy with Little Black Dress and then stamping script using Snowflake or Chalk Fresco paint. Ideal script stamps would be HP1006, HP1304, ESN05 or ESN11}

As you can see you can fit in any size tag so it’s a handy little thing to keep all your little treasures in.

Back to the front I stamped the main image from LP026 onto Chatsworth Paper and heat embossed in black. I then cut her out and collaged the pen onto the image. I used some embellishments from my stash to make up the cover. Adding the final touches with copper treasure gold

LP026 

I thoroughly enjoyed this project once I got into it and love all the little pockets. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.

Lin. 

A huge thanks to Lin from all at PaperArtsy, so lovely to see another of our #PAtwits here. This folder is gorgeous, pockets are so much fun to create and tuck treasures into. You've made such scrummy texture on the outside and filled with arty treasure on the inside. The perfect place to keep all your challenge tags or ATCs. 

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Nov 1st 2014 and Nov 30th 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Nov 30th 2014

All Wrapped Up {with LPC Stamps by Alison Bomber}

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here from Words and Pictures. I'm delighted to be back with a PaperArtsy project to share with you.  And - in a first for me - I've started getting ready for Christmas even though it's only November!

Most of my Christmas creations seem to end up in the neutrals zone, and I also think it's a good idea to keep things simple, given all the pressures in the run up to the festive season. 
I used stamps from the Lynne Perrella Christmas sets LP 017, LP 018 and LP 020 to create some simple handmade gift wrap.  When the stamps are this amazing, sometimes you really don't need to do much else.

Once I'd selected my stamps, I put each one on its own stamp block so that I could just stamp away without having to keep swapping them around.

LPC017

LPC018

They're stamped in Coffee Archival onto a large roll of plain drawing paper (available for peanuts in the children's section of a renowned Swedish furniture store).  Make sure you've got a firm stamping surface underneath... I used a paper pad so that I had a reasonably large stamping surface, but even so I had to make sure to move it when necessary.  You don't want to mess an image up once you're halfway across the paper!

I worked in columns, alternating which way up the stamps were, so that however the parcels end up tumbled under the tree there should be something the right way up!

I created co-ordinating tags using the fabulous tiny Manila Tags - some in Size 1 and one in Size 2 - simply inked with Coffee Archival, blended on with a blending too, and then choosing partial images from each of my large featured stamps to go on the front.

 LPC020

On the back I can write the "To: From:" details.  I have to say it's completely unheard of for me to be ready to wrap Christmas gifts this early.  I'm usually doing it at midnight on Christmas Eve!  But by happy chance I had some bits and pieces ready for wrapping, so I can show you the finished look.  

Once wrapped, I blended some more Coffee Archival on to the edges and corners to warm up the look.  And some simple dark brown twine finishes them off, leaving the stamps to take centre stage.  So there they are, ready to go under the tree - I can hardly believe it!  I hope the recipient likes them, and I hope you do too!

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Alison xx

A huge thankyou to Alison from all at PaperArtsy HQ. This wrapping paper is gorgeous, truly vintage and heartwarming. So elegant compared to some of those gaudy shop papers. This is classy! The Lynne Perrella images are perfect, especially on  those matching tags. 

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Nov 1st 2014 and Nov 30th 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Nov 30th 2014

GD: Lelainia Lloyd #3 Very Merry Gift Tags

Hello everyone, Lelainia here with my final project for this year.  I’m the kind of person who likes wrapping gifts. I think it’s the handmade touches that make giving so enjoyable for me. Here’s how I made some handmade tags to add that little something special.

I began by cutting a sheet of Smoothy Heavy weight cardstock into 1 inch strips x the width of the paper.

I chose my paint colours and painted two  strips in each colour on one side only.  I used Paper Artsy Frescos in Cherry Red, Ice Blue, Hyde Park and Hey Pesto. (I did two shade of green because I wasn’t sure how dark Hyde Park would turn out to be.)

Once the strips were dry, I folded each one in half and creased the fold with my bone folder

I used UHU glue stick to glue the strip to itself.

I found some old German script book pages and cut some 1 inch strips.

 I cross cut the strips into 1 inch squares and then folded the squares in half and trimmed them down a bit using my pinking shears to give them a nice edge. I applied glue stick to the book paper and glued it over the fold of my strips.

On the opposite end of the tags I either rounded the two corners with my corner rounder or I cut a triangle notch with my scissors.

Next, I stamped my tags using a variety of stamps from Lin Brown ELB10 and ELB11 and Staz-On inks in Black and Midnight Blue and Martha Stewart Snowflake.

 ELB10

ELB11

On some of the tags, I embellished various details with Stickels glitter in Silver and Xmas Red. I allowed the glitter plenty of time to dry.

It was fun figuring out what stamps to combine. I like how the images bleed off the edges of some of the tags. I think it makes them interesting

I punched a hole through the book page end of each of the tags and threaded a  length of matching Baker’s Twine through, knotting the ends.

There’s plenty of room to write the recipient’s name & a message on the back of each tag. I hope you have fun making these, thanks for looking. 

Lelainia. 

A huge thanks to Lelainia from all at PaperArtsy. These tags are so effective! We love pinking shears! Creating art in such a small space can be difficult but these are just perfect. Your projects this month have been such fun and so inspiring, thankyou!

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Nov 1st 2014 and Nov 30th 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Nov 30th 2014