2018 #4 Whimsy: Modern Flower Fairies with ETS {by Dounia Large}

2018 Topic 4: Whimsy

Dounia has been at it again... creating marvellous things from marvellous things, and this time she has also photographed them in marvellous situations too!! This is a fun and very playful post - perfectly suited to this theme of whimsy!

Hi everyone, it's Dounia from France. Tonight, I'm helping tiny colorful fairies invade this blog, some cards and my garden!

With a theme like "Whimsy", I wanted to do something fun and quick, spontaneous and dynamic. I therefore got out one of my favorite materials, shrink plastic, and had a blast with Tracy Scott's latest stamps! 

For this project, I really drew inspiration from the stamp set: ETS18. Tracy Scott's latest collection is sort of a "make your own garden" kit and I wondered what else could be built from it. All the elements were already perfectly proportioned to make funky bodies so the answer became obvious: flower fairies!

Tracy also released a gorgeous limited edition set of Fresco Acrylic paints, so I had my basic color palette (with some more blues, cause I like those). Isn't it nice when the designer provides all the seeds of creation?

Fresco Acrylic paints take without preparation even on non-porous surfaces, which was very useful on the shrink plastic. I love how deep and bright the colors are once shrunk.

For the heads, I chose the main flower stamp in the set and masked the centre then stamped faces from other collections instead (here LPC028 and LPC036). 

For the more confident crafters, hand-drawing the features is another possibility. Some painted wire and shrink plastic scraps for the arm and legs, and you're set! Your fairies can live in a garden or a flower box but also in a fun card.

The backgrounds are a mix of Tracy colors with more neutral tones to match with the fairies while allowing them to "pop". I like the constrast between the shining embossing powder and the chalky paint.

To produce backgrounds of different shades, I added Infusions in varying quantities. Fresco pains, Infusions and water all went on my craft mat to smooch my paper in. Great fun and quite addictive (I made roughly three times more backgrounds than I needed, but it's never lost!)

I like to keep the card quite subtle and monotone so that the fairy contrasts with the background while still "belonging" because everything is in the same color family. I love how well the elements in Tracy's stamp set assemble to make the body.

Another easy way to give a fairy a face is to add a photo, cut out of a magazine or an add for example. You can also make your family and friends into colorful characters!

Those were really fun and quick projects! It's an occasion to try out new color combinations and not worry about proportions or realism. You can use lots of other stamp sets in the PaperArtsy collection. It can even be done with children, the shrink plastic is always a hit ! And nothing stops you from filling you fairy world with  animals, plants or objects. 

Stay creative!

Dounia x

Blog: Doudoulina

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You must complete step 1 AND 2 to be entered into the draw. 

To join our challenge:
1. Leave a comment on the Topic Introduction Post and go in the draw to win a PaperArtsy Apron. 
2. Make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 4: Whimsy will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 18th 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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