2015 Round Up: Miniature Art, Deconstruction, Altered Grunge Paste {curated by Julie Ann Lee}

Good Evening from PaperArtsy HQ, Leandra here to introduce you part 2 of our 2015 summary.

2015 has been one of those tricky years where the world is grappling with numerous tricky idealogical issues that could affect us and future generations in ways we couldn't have predicted even 10 years ago. We seem to have experienced an increase in negative global events that have adversely affected people of all nations. Who knows what lies ahead for us and future generations. Sadly it is an unsettling and unpredictable time.

Art is often called a 'healer', but to say such things seems somewhat trivial when people have lost dearest loved ones, homes, or even fled their own homeland.

For you and me, art is certainly what we have in common. It unites us all, we meet each other at events, make new friends across international borders, share in each others joys, sadness, happy news and artistic growth. We are certainly fortunate to share a strong bond with each other through our desire to create, learn, share and grow. How very fortunate we are to enjoy this friendship across borders and language.

Tonight, Julie Ann Lee is your curator. She will share her picks from the next 3 topics of 2015: Miniature Art, Grunge Paste and Deconstruction - all areas of which she has considerable expertise herself which you will see as she pulls together a project to combine all 3.

Enjoy the night ahead, Leandra

Hello Bloggers, Julie Ann Lee here. 

This has been an exciting year of learning and sharing for me! I always loved doodling faces and often odd little characters decorated my 'to do' lists! Then I took a couple of online classes with Mary Jane Chadbourne and she inspired me to experiment with adding those doodled faces to projects! 

In 2015 I dared to use my own hand-drawn faces along with Sara Nauman's wonderful stamps on peg dolls for the PaperArtsy Miniatures Topic. Since then I've created miniature houses with faces; wall hangings with faces; brooches with faces - well, just about anything that stands still long enough gets a face these days!

Topic 4: Miniature Art

Miniature Art is a topic close to my heart. I love all things intricate and minuscule! This Lynne Perrella image is just perfect for showcasing as a tiny piece of wearable art! And Keren Baker made it functional too - an exquisite mini notebook pendant! You can find out how to make it for yourself here.

Later in the week Penny Nuttall of 'Cuttingmycoat' showed us how Miniature could also mean quirky and a little bit extra-terrestrial when she used Darcy's weird and wonderful plant-life on microscope slides! If you want to enter her microscopic world the directions are here!

And what about the talented Linda Cain of 'Friends in Art' who created her very own tiny town using Emma Godfrey's stamps? I love miniature houses; but maybe you know that! If you would like to create your very own tiny village - Linda style click here!

The diverse challenge entries for this broad topic were so inspiring. I hope you caught this post by Lucy Edmondson of True Colours , she created this exquisite and delicate card with miniature Lin Brown blooms using Shrink Plastic - the perfect material for crafting in miniature!

I loved this post by Jo Myhill aka Shabby Dandelion . She had so much fun creating a Master-board and then fashioning this intriguing fabulously distressed tiny book of 'Hidden Words'. That texture has to be touched!

Topic 5: Deconstruction

De-constructing and transforming anything from a battered cardboard box to a brand new canvas really captured my imagination. Darcy of 'Art and Sole' has to be the Queen of Deconstruction with her wonderful De-constructed Art Dolly, Lupica: it takes guts and incredible flair to do that to a Barbie! I loved how she used her stamps on this one too! Try this out for yourself here - if you dare!

The enchanting Lynne Moncrieff aka Adorn, showed us that Deconstruction could evoke past times with a hint of magic, mystery and rust! I think rusting just has to be one of my favourite things of 2015 and Lynne works wonders with rust, fabric, stencils and Lynne Perrella stamps.

And the incredible Alison Bomber (Butterfly) who regularly inspires us with words and pictures, really got into the spirit of Deconstruction with her stunning altered book spread. The title of 'A Bouquet of Barbed Wire' was just perfect for this wonderfully rusty and crackled de-construction, showcasing stamping in rust! If you would like to have a go at this, Alison gives full instructions here.

The entries for this challenge were so much fun, I hope you didn't miss this beautifully distressed and textured tag folder by Etsuko at My Favourite Things.

Helen Lindfield of 'Stamping by H' fame, created a wonderfully grungy journal page that truly nailed the topic! I loved all the texture, and the sentiment was a perfect choice. This was a real de-construction beauty!

Topic 6: Altered Grunge Paste

No deconstruction project would be complete without Grunge Paste! When I first discovered this adaptable material my mixed media work really started to have a new dimension and - like crackle - it's a staple that I go to again and again because there are quite simply no end of effects you can achieve with Grunge Paste.

Lou Collins of Lou Collins Designs showed how, by adding Fresco colour, you can create the effect of wood grain and really make a memo board special! I love how she used Jofy stamps on this project. For that great wood grain effect check out her tutorial here.

What an impressive use of Grunge Paste Liesbeth Fidder of Liesbethart showed us with her exquisite mosaic using Lynne Perrella stamps! It was absolutely breath-taking! If you would like to use Grunge Paste as a mosaic do take a look at Liesbeth's post.

And then Wanda Hentges of 'Art by Wanda' created this vibrant and dimensional wall-hanging using these lovely Sara Newman stamps and Lin Brown's stencils, showing us that we could stamp into Grunge Paste too. Why not transport yourself back into those glorious days of summer by checking out how to create this hanging here?

These inspiring designers really encouraged imaginations to take flight! I loved how Lin at Art from Herts, created this wonderful little textured town for the Grunge Paste Challenge!

And Claire Snowdon cleverly adapted Seth Apter's suggestion of embossing Grunge Paste. She didn't want to go for the abstract bubbling effect so she simply applied the Embossing Powder when the paste was wet, allowed it to dry and created this lovely tag using Lin Brown stencils.

And Finally from me....

Now all fired up by these amazing projects, it's my turn for a last challenge inspired by 2015: to link these the topics of Miniature, Deconstruction and Grunge Paste. I decided to reverse a 5" x 5" canvas shadow box and to create the little town of Moonlight.

You can see how I used Grunge Paste coloured with Teresa Green and Limelight Frescos combined with moss, tiny twigs and wood shavings and with some Treasure Gold to add texture to the miniature card door. 

I used a stamp from LPC033 on painted tissue for the background and part of another on Fresco painted card for the roof/hat. The rolling waves de-constructing the edges are created with the addition of some rigid plaster wrap and the 'Moonlight' title is from Sara Nauman ESN13. I just had to add crackle paste and rust through some lace as part of the Deconstruction process. The Gothic text is from PaperArtsy Mini 26.

I'm sure you'll agree that it has been a very exciting year at PaperArtsy. The variety of techniques, the range of ideas and crafting styles, not to mention the outstanding projects created by the Stamp Designers, Contributing bloggers and by all of you, the Challenge Entrants, on these three topics alone have made this review a real pleasure for me. 

I do hope you have enjoyed sharing these memories with me and that - like me - you are looking forward to another great year of challenges at PaperArtsy!

Julie Ann Lee

Magpieheaven (blog)
@woletz1(Twitter)
Julie Lee (Facebook)

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