2016 #13 Building Block {by Jo Firth Young}

2016 Topic 13: Paper Piecing

Hi everyone Jo here to share with you my paper piecing project. I enjoyed creating this project so much because, if you'll excuse my project related pun, paper piecing is right up my street! 

Paper piecing is something I use a lot when I'm creating with my stamps. The clean drawn line and the little ziz-zaggy sketched element I doodle on those lines make the layers and pieces easy to match up.

My project is a street of houses created on a block of wood - one of the (many) off-cuts that I rescued from the skip we had during recent extension work on our house - these off-cuts are perfect sizes for projects like this one. The blocks of wood are lovely to work onto - for painting, stamping, and a nice smooth surface for gluing.
I've used the house from JOFY29 as the main image for the project and altered it to create different versions... using the houses and trees in this way is something I've been wanting to do for ages and I love how it turned out.

JOFY29

Step One: I painted the block of wood Tinned Peas/Zucchini & Lake Wanaka/Blue Oyster but decided it was too much colour so I painted a wash of Stone/Snowflake over the top, then stamped the number images from HP1604, and chevrons from JOFY36 using Stone.. these stamped images are barely visible and that is the effect I wanted. I didn't want a 'busy' background because I planned to use patterned papers for the house and I didn't want them to clash.

JOFY36

Step Two: I planned the 'street' on a block of wood the same size as the one used for the project (9.5x4.5x18.5cm). I stamped lots of house and tree images, cut them up as needed and lightly glued them onto the block. Creating this 'toile' version meant that I could make sure all the houses and trees fit/are spaced nicely around the block, something to refer to.

Step Three: On one side of the block I stamped a house and several trees. This gave me the image that all the others could be measured and placed in reference to. I couldn't do the same on the other sides because all other houses were altered in some way.

Step Four: I wanted to create houses that coordinated, were the same but different and so I raided the 6x6 paper stash and gathered papers. I mainly use 6x6 papers when paper piecing with my stamps because the patterns have been shrunk down (from the 12x12 sheets) resulting in a daintier image, and more pattern detail fits in to the stamped image. 

Step Five: I stamped the houses onto papers with a blue/grey/green colour scheme. To change the size/height of the houses I cut out the centre level to change how they looked. This is easy to do - simply cut across the house above the first floor window (houses 3 & 4 above), or above the front door (house 1) and move the bottom levels of the house upwards. I attached the house back together by overlapping the layers, NOT by cutting them off - I find the join is easier to disguise this way. Once the basic houses were assembled I added details - the trim under the roof, the canopy on the door, I painted all the windows in shades of grey and added shiny gold door knobs (Fresco Finish Gold).

I stamped and cut out entire trees (onto brown patterned paper), attached foliage (stamped onto various green papers) and then cut the trees down as needed. 

Stamping and cutting out all these elements is an 'in front of the TV' sort of job, I find it quite relaxing.

Step Six: The background was looking a bit bare and so I added more foliage with Kay Carley's seed head from EKC02 (Zucchini), and JM33 (Black)(painted in shades of Coral).

You can also see in the photo below that I added more 'Stone' to the block around the base - this was because I felt the block looked cold. and I also wanted to neutralise the colour a little more.

Step Seven: Once all the houses and trees were assembled it was just a case of sticking them all to the block, referring to the 'toile' block for placement guidance. I used Matte Medium for this.

On this side of the block there are several trees which I've used to add some subtle layering and depth - the tallest tree is stuck onto the block, and then the house was glued over the top - making the tree look as if its growing behind the house (maybe its in the back garden!) and then smaller tree (bush) is glued on top of the house.... three layers of depth.

I thought the block needed 'something' around the top edges - especially on the narrow sides of the block - so I stamped smaller motifs from JOFY29 (the key, and the phrase 'home sweet home' - both stamped in black and filled in with Fresco Finish Gold) and the die cut word 'home'.

   

Here are all four sides of the block, and a couple of photos taken from a corner angle so you can see how the street flows around the block.

   

    

Here's a close-up of one of the houses... I love all the different papers and patterns!

I think this is one of my favourite projects I've made recently - the fiddly twiddly bits and pieces involved in creating all these little houses has been a lot of fun - finding the papers and patterns and putting them together - the options are endless... I think I'd like to live on a street like this! 

I hope this has inspired you to stamp onto you 6x6 paper stash and create houses, trees, animals, flowers - aaaah the paper pieces options are endless! Of course you can create a similar street on a board canvas, grey board, cards ('new house' card?!) or a scrapbook page.

Over on my blog you can see another project I created with the houses that didn't make it onto the street.. 

Blog:Jofy
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Wow Jo this is so cool, a whole street on one block. I would have to turn it around every time I walked past! The different patterns absolutely transform the basic house, great fun! ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #13: Paper Piecing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were directly inspired by their post. 

All challenge links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Paper Piecing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 10th 2016. The winner will be announced 1 hour later at 18:00.