2018 #9 Vintage Neutrals: Plaque with I&D {by Leandra Franich}

2018 Topic 9: Vintage Neutrals

Tonight it's me on the blog. It's been a while. I unearthed my desk, pulled together a bunch of bits and bobs in this gorgeous colour palette and before you knew I'd made a thing! 

BTW If you have not joined our new facebook group 'PaperArtsy People', why not!? It's for our Designers, stockists and of course our lovely followers across all socials. A friendly place where we can all ask questions, share ideas and the designers and stockists let you know where or what they are teaching, the shows they are at etc! Come and join us here! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, Leandra here

Not many people have seen my creative space (it's in a porta-cabin). One end has stock, show racks and general paraphernalia, and the other end my craft stuff, demo stuff, desks, and all kinds of leftovers from numerous teaching events. Its been a long-term mess, and for about 2-3 years it has almost been inaccessible due to a sheer lack of time to get it organised.

A few weeks ago, after our final consumer show in Paris, and with the weather warming, I conned Mark into helping me sort it out. He was out of his depth. But, we sorted, dumped, filed but it was pretty embarrassing as it dawned on him how much stuff I have. (These things us crafty girls like to keep secret right!) 

So this past weekend, I planned to do the final leg of the tidy up, and actually find my desks under piles and piles of random 'other stuff'. This was the first of 10 weekends that we now have back (woooohoooooo) due to not exhibiting at consumer shows! For me, this is soooo liberating! I can't even begin to tell you. I feel like I have my life back. Two, creative, peaceful, blissful hours later, and this little panel is what I made from an existing half-made substrate found under all the piles!

So among the half-finished things from when I demo at shows was found this substrate. We haven't sold these for a few years now, so I'm guessing the demo was a while back, but I know the paints are French Roast, Taupe, Stone, and I used a crackle paste through a leafy stencil, and a Crafters Workshop stencil too. I'm guessing i then chucked it under the desk to crack/dry and forgot about it

Onto one of the new Tim Holtz frames I added (quite roughly) some Grunge Paste. 

I sprinkled the nearly dry GP with Sleight Infusions in a few places, spritzing generously with water to activate.

I also put some sleight onto an old book page, trying to keep it dark one end, letting it drip up to the plain end - saw some really interesting specks that unexpectedly popped up (green and pink), and set that paper behind the frame with the fluffy edge poking out.

At the same time I tinted some of the Tim Holtz crinkly ribbon with infusions - yes it is in there -  I promise!

And it was nice and subtle once dried.

 
The wood border was stamped with W6,  the numbers from Words Plate 6 (Ink and the Dog Collection)

I used a new ink I love by Tsukineko, called Delicata (i promise to put them online this weekend!!) over the Fresco painted wooden border. It was painted in Slate, with French Roast and Hyde Park brushed over the top. There are 5 shades of the Delicata: white shimmer, gold, silver, black, dark brown. All dry really fast for a metallic pigment ink!

Then it was just a matter of layering up some paper and fabric flowers & embellishments. The fiddly part! The bird-tile is an old Prima Marketing product from a few years ago.

And here is how the crinkly ribbon ended up as a flower

Finally I added an old-school mica tile to the frame. Bits of teeny, diddy bling in the scallops, and some alphabet twill tape

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And faffed about like a creative pig-in-mud until I was happy.

So no rocket science here, it's more about the arrangement of stuff! I am still playing about with rusting some other embellishments to tuck in and around the main frame...

I hope you get time to play with some Vintage Neutral ideas this coming weekend! I heartily recommend you do...or remember to join us over at the PaperArtsy People Group!

Blog: http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/
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...no I do not need any more social media streams!

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

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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 9: Vintage Neutrals will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, May 27th 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.