Summer 2016 #3UP {EKC,EEV and EEB}

Hello Leandra here

As our lovely #3UP week nears a close, we are reeling from yet another tragic international incident.

In the glorious seaside location of Nice, towards the end of the day celebrating France's own Independence: Bastille Day, one person chose to take the lives of many. We mourn deeply with France, and send all our love and condolences to those families affected.

Bastille Day, July 14th is a day when France celebrates the heartfelt meaning of values such as Freedom, Equality and Unity, and I believe it it is indeed those values that I take for granted every day. For many of us, our forefathers fought so we can live freely today. We can choose our partners for life, our occupation, our place of habitation, our governmental systems and we can respect the same and yet different choices of our friends, families and neighbours, even when they might differ from our own. I do not think it serves any purpose to lay blame or to live our life in fear of the unknown. Rather, we should continue to look ahead to create a positive future, and through the years, treat each other as we would wish to be treated. If we each lead by example, and enjoy our freedom, equality of sex, gender or race and if we strive for unity, then surely the world will be a better place. I think it is so important for us to hold dear these values, and share them for the benefit of generations to come.

I am thankful that again, tonight, we celebrate our own sense of fabulous community here on the PaperArtsy blog. It is such a joy to see those who normally follow the blog revealing to our wider community their amazing crafty ideas. So a big thanks to Caz, Mary and Samantha for spoiling us tonight! They have created such delightful ideas in a delicate pastel colour palette with Eclectica³ Kay Carley, Ellen Vargo, and Elizabeth Borer stamps.

Please take a moment to drop by their blogs and leave them some love. It is very much appreciated!

Enjoy your evening

~Leandra

First up this evening we have Caz Newton.

Hi, I’m Caz Newton. I’m a huge PaperArtsy fan and am never happier than when I surrounded by fresco paints, stencils, stamps and inks. The pastel theme of the challenge was slightly out of my comfort zone as I usually work in brights but I thoroughly enjoyed using the different colours for this post.

I love working in 3D and as soon as I received the stamp sets I knew I had to use a large pocket watch from Art Parts and the focal image from the Elizabeth Borer set! I was pleased how the pastel colours blended well for the background and the only problem I had was not adding too many extra flowers and leaves!

I tried a couple of different ways to do the leaves as I was concerned about getting them neatly cut out and bend to shape. Firstly I stamped onto thicker card but I didn't like how rigid it was; then I tried stamped onto thin card and stuck onto Clearly for Art but that was too thick to cut neatly but in the end stamping and painting straight onto white Clearly for Art worked really well and allowed me to shape the trails of leaves exactly how I wanted.

I decided to build up the fairy with layers and also make her wings out of Clearly for Art painted with pearl glaze. I loved the 3D effect this gave her and heating her wings allowed me to bend them and give them more shape.

To see the full project please visit my blog post HERE.

Places you find Caz. 

Blog: Candelle Creations

Next this evening we have Mary C Nasser

Mary's paintings and interview appeared in Featuring magazine, and she’s a contributing artist in the books Stencil Girl by Mary Beth Shaw and Making Art From Maps by Jill Berry.

I really like the creative possibilities of Ellen Vargo's stamps! And all the doodles and designs within the shapes are fabulous!

Blue is my favorite color, so I was delighted with the range of blue Fresco Acrylic Paints I received – especially Turquoise and Mermaid! It was fun painting my own papers, and the chalk finish of the paints made them perfect to stamp on.

I enjoyed the process of arranging the stamped pieces into a unique composition onto this 12” x 16” stretched canvas. My favorite part of this piece is the area where I stamped Kay Carley's word "dreams" into one of the blank petals.

To see the full project please visit my blog post HERE.

Places to find Mary.

Blog: Mary C Nasser

Facebook: MaryNasserArt

Instagram: Mary C Nasser

Website: Mary C Nasser

Twitter: Mary C Nasser

Finally this evening we have a project from Samantha Wade.

Hello I am Samantha Wade, I really enjoy paper crafting and mixed media. Shabby chic, girly and sparkly things are what i’m drawn too. I always have a project on the go and love to share on my blog.

I really enjoyed using these Kay Carley stamps EKC01, the flowers are perfect to colour and cut out for dimension. The sprig is ideal to fill in-between the flowers.

The flowers are so cheerful and really wanted to make them bright and pretty. The watercolour background makes me feel they are enjoying a beautiful summers day.

I love to make a background from a piece of white card. Then to add dimension with the 3D flowers, words and sparkle. The image from the stamps is so clear and perfect every time.

To see the full project please visit my blog post HERE.

Places to see Samantha.

Blog:Craftroomdelights

Oh such delicate and beautiful projects.

I hope these have inspired you to seek out these stamp collections. whether your images are bold or pretty they can all be transformed by colour choices, the possibilities are endless.

We are almost at the end of our 3up week, only one more night. come back tomorrow to meet our final 3 guests.

~Darcy