PA Blog 2018 year in review: Topics 5-8 with Leandra Franich

 PaperArtsy Blog year in Review (Topics 5-8)

Good Evening from PaperArtsy HQ,

It's Leandra here with you tonight to curate tonight's post, and boy did I struggle as every single post of the 4 topics I am revisiting were amazing! You know, when you get a spare half hour,  you really need to use the search function on the blog, or even just go back for a random mooch around, the talented people who blog for us are fabulous! Thanks to each and every one of them!

Well I know it has been a crazy year on lots of levels for lots of countries...I have a vague recollection of saying that last year too, but sheesh is it hard to discern truth from fiction. I know I am not the only person out there who is finding the surreal global politics hard to stomach right now, so at least we have crafting activities (and blissful blogs) as our escape right!?

I am sure you are all settling in with your Turkey prepped ready for the oven tomorrow, and wrapping the last of those pressies.

So, why not grab a mulled wine or a sloe gin....or my gin tip of the season, gin with ginger ale, and a fantastic garnish: star anise, a couple of cardamon pods and maybe an clove or 2 stabbed into a slice of orange. Delicious. Warm gin is a thing too BTW! Yup, you know what a gin-geek I am. I'm even adding a home-made Xmas spice sugar syrup to my Xmas G&T's.

Tonight I'm sharing my picks from Topics 5-8: Nautical Colours, Banners and Bunting, Kraft Card and Boxes. Enjoy!

Leandra 

Topic 5: Nautical Colours

In my head, I guess red white and blue are the first colours that come to mind: crisp, white sailor suits with a touch of gold cord, or maybe striped French attire, but a softer nautical vibe might be home decor like soft sky blues and beige. So, what did our bloggers get up to? It's always good to see other people's ideas with a theme colour palette.

Well let me say, Miriam kicked it out of the park when she turned a cobblestone stamp into this mosaic inspired piece. Very fitting that Emma Godfrey's 2018 stamps were Portugal inspired, and mosaic art is a common phenomena on the continent! So 10/10 for this interpretation! You can see the full post here.

And I hope you didn't miss Nikki Acton... (here)

I adored how Autumn Clark with Seth's stamps....  (here)

Look at the stunning papers she created.

Additionally we saw a gorgeous striped canvas by Corrie using Clare Lloyd's stamps and a monotone cream and navy mini house-collage by Jennie Atkinson a whimsical post from Ellie with Darcy's stamps. Wow, One topic in and already I cannot choose what to highlight!

Topic 6: Banners and Bunting

Say the word 'bunting' and the first thing that comes to my mind is a Royal Wedding and British street party to celebrate with bunting strewn across streets, shops fronts and the village pub! But our designers are sure to have plenty of other ideas for this topic, lets take a look!!!

My first pick is this amazing beauty by Jo. A lovely summery banner (link)

I love the rectangular shaped bunting, and the pop of colour from the flower stamps!

And I hope you didn't miss Helen Chilton's teeeny tiny bunting... (link to original blog post)

Raquel (aka Scrapcosy) created, this really interesting bunting that has a bunch of great techniques. In the link there is also the project explained in one of her videos. (link to original blog post)

Keren started with a wood frame and using Tracy Scott's stamp made this delicate flower embellished bunting. I love how she made this and I think it has to be one of my favourite posts of the year!! (link)

 

Jennie surprised herself with the bold use of colour (for her) in this post. I love how she explains how she softens out the infusions with lots of white paint, which creates the gorgeous backgrounds.

And something completely different from Nikki. The textures and colours on her bunting are phenomenal! A marvellously bold use of infusions totally contrasting to Jennies soft approach above.

Topic 7 : Kraft Card

Kraft card has been a huge trend the past couple of years, it always adds a nice contrast, with the added bonus that its a super cheap surface to work on and seems to accept pencils, paints and more with ease!

I loved this from Chris Dark where she coloured Kay's stamps on kraft to create a fabulous bouquet, her shading and use of the white pencil is superb! (link to original blog post)

And I hope you didn't miss Dounia's underwater adventure! She is super explorative when she plays, and this post shares a whole bunch of ways with kraft! (link)

I adored how Clare Snowdon has a kraft-page journal. It adds such a warmth  (link)

Additionally we saw all sort of vintage layers using gorgeous Hot Picks stamps by Florence .

Topic 8 : Boxes

I knew this topic was going to be a pleaser! Boxes can be use in all manner of ways, we can hide stuff in them or use them as a fantastic gift holder, plus they come in all shapes and sizes!

My first pick is by Sue Carrington, a book-box with Darcy's stamps. (link)

And I hope you didn't miss Anneke's dinky matchbox, a gorgeous mini flower bunting is hidden within (link)

I adored how Etsuko decorated this box for her fab Zinski Art tags (link)

Additionally we saw all sort of floral elements in this beautifully decorated display box by Liz Borer. I love how she kept the background soft so the flowers pop perfectly.

Using Seth's stamps Jennie has decorated the front of this memory box beautifully, 

 

It didn't end there, we also had Helen's deconstructed box, A stunning fold out from Debs Wainwright and and Corrie had a gorgeously colourful

It is fun to look back on what our genius bloggers have shared with us over the course of a year. This year seems to have zapped by in a blink, but at least the blog remains as the perfect reference tool Don't forget to save the posts that float your boat on Pinterest. No excuse now, you'll hit the New Year with a dozen ideas to crack on with!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

Leandra