A note from Leandra ...
Winter is upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, and so Alison has got her mittens and scarf on, and has found some prickly grassy things for you to add to your layers ... along with the ephemera and words, what more could you need to round off the year!
If you would like to see this release revealed, and Alison's stunning samples, then head on over to our Facebook Community 'PaperArtsy People' at 20:30 Paris time where Alison will be live. You can also find the replay pinned to the featured posts at the top of the PaperArtsy People Facebook group.
And, don't forget...
These stamps are ONLY available EXCLUSIVELY from our approved stockists. Please check the list at the foot of this post to find a retailer online or geographically near you, it makes sense to order within your country where possible.
Our retailers also endeavour to join the designer's live to share their direct shopping links - this makes it super easy for you to find a store with product in stock immediately.
Red Rubber Stamps (A5 set)
Price: RRP €23.00 +VAT Size:5" x 6" (13 x16.5cm)
All stamps are individually trimmed onto cling foam, with a laminated storage/index sheet.
I'm thrilled to be back with some more botanical textures for you. These new sets have definitely got a wintry feel to them, as well as celebrating those magical times of day when the light changes - daybreak and dusk. I really love the stems on these, designed to capture the sculptural bare bones of the winter landscape. I'm also excited about the texture stamps... icy, frosty or just plain grungy. I wonder if you can guess how I created them!
Of course, the imagery and ephemera here will also work throughout the year, whether on their own, or in combination with the other botanical stamps I've released with PaperArtsy. The layering possibilities are really exciting, even working with just one set. And of course there are carefully chosen individual words along with poetry fragments by various writers which add to the atmosphere. Read on to find out more...
Eclectica³ Alison Bomber set 42 - Winter Grasses (code: EAB42)
EAB42 Winter Grasses Edition
This first set has tangled stems with flower heads which have dried on the stalk to create a beautiful silhouette. And there's a small scale sketch which allows you to add "distant" stems in the background, or create tiny scenes all by itself. The texture is tree bark - the birch trees which grow in abundance here in the Czech landscape - and it creates a rugged gnarly background which is so much fun to play with. The poetry fragments are from Emily Dickinson, John Greenleaf Whittier and Laurence Binyon.
Time for Winter
Blue and brown have been a staple of my creative colour palette since the very beginning, and I think you can probably tell that hasn't changed with this altered cheese box lid! By repeat stamping the large flower stem at different angles and in different colours (Archival Speckled Egg and Sepia in primary and secondary stampings), you can create real depth to your winter meadow.
Real twigs and pine cones provide some sculptural elements against the meadow background. The little boy in the Idea-ology Photobooth snapshot is longing for the time to come when he'll be allowed to visit the piano showroom advertised in the ephemera, and start to learn to play.
And although the collaging inside the lid covers up some of that meadow, I've kept things simple on the reverse so that the beauty of the dried out stems can really shine. Just Emily Dickinson's words layered onto some wire mesh - with nothing else to get in the way.
The translucence of the Distress Inks in the background is given an extra glow by a coat of clear embossing powder. And some rusty wire wrapped around the inked and stamped perimeter echoes the rusty mesh inside and out.
Tag Pair - Winter Afternoons
The bare winter landscape has its own beauty, and the sketches on these stamp sets really celebrate that, I hope. This tall stem is a new favourite, and I just adore how the small scale version allows you to create deep perspective and distance in the scene.
The rusty Distress Ink splotches echo the rusty wire through the tops of the tags, but also capture that time when autumn turns to winter and the colours of the landscape retreat into the neutral zone.
A touch of rusty mesh behind the words (Emily Dickinson again with the winter afternoon, and Laurence Binyon with the listening air) adds texture.
Eclectica³ Alison Bomber Set 43 - Winter Teasels (code: EAB43)
EAB43 Winter Teasels Edition
Teasels add such a brilliant sculptural element to winter hedgerows or gardens. The forceful prickles and twisted tendrils are so full of drama! Again, there's a small scale sketch to allow for layering, but which also works brilliantly by itself. And the texture here... salty watercolour crystal formulations which are just perfect for a touch of frost. The poetry fragments are from Emily Dickinson, Laurence Binyon and Mary Webb.
Teasel Textures
It's really important to me that these stamp sets have all the elements you need to create a layered project with lots of depth and beauty - focal imagery, background textures, ephemera for detailing and, of course, words that will ignite the imagination or soothe the heart. This sample shows how that can all add up. (I confess I've got real natural textures in the background here as opposed to using the stamped version... but there's lots more to come with the texture stamps later in the post!)
The large teasel stem is a great focal point, full of energy, even in soft wintry neutral tones. An outline fussy cut means it can stand out against the background, however detailed.
I love the ephemera on this set - an advert for a fancy paper store (what could be better!), and the tiny castle on the postage stamp from Moravia, the neighbouring area to Bohemia where I live. (Bohemia was once an independent kingdom, Moravia a "margravate" - an area governed by a margrave, similar to a dukedom or earldom.) The ephemera offers a wonderful sense of both history and everyday life in other times.
And after the hurly burly of the working year, winter can be a time of stillness - of hibernation and recovery. So I think young Josef Zimmer enjoys taking some time to enjoy the peace and quiet of the winter landscape in stillness!
Tag Pair - The Landscape Listens
This tag pair also lies on the cusp of autumn and winter - times of transition are always full of possibility. I gave the large teasels a coat of Primary Bark embossing powder (by Wow), to help them pop against that busy Distress Ink splotch background.
But the small ones are just stamped in Scorched Timber Distress Ink - a brown so dark it can hold its own against pretty much anything! (I did rub some Micro Glaze over them, so that they won't be as vulnerable to moisture.)
There's rusty wire at the top again, but this time the words are framed with some slightly softer woven linen ribbon. (Emily Dickinson and Laurence Binyon again - she with the listening landscape, he with the shadow's beauty.)
Eclectica³ Alison Bomber Set 44 - Winter Umbels (code: EAB44)
EAB44 Winter Umbels Edition
I'm sure you'll have worked out by now that I'm mildly obsessed by umbelliferous flower heads! This is the third time umbellifers have featured in these botanical textures sets, but there are so many subtle differences in their formation, so no apologies for including another variation. Again, there's a small sketch for layering into the distance and those Jack Frost textures, deliciously random and organic, are thanks to some paint and cling film! The poetry fragments are from Laurence Binyon, Robert Bridges and Thomas Hardy.
Dawn Renewal Journal Page
As well as having a fabulous time with my new stamps, I've been really enjoying exploring some of the new Mattints colours with these samples (lots more coming!!). This journal page combines the new Ash (a stunning stony grey) and Ladybug (a wonderful subtle red) with the earlier colours Squeezed and The Pink to create a glorious winter sunrise. The clingfilm texture stamp makes a perfect grungy horizon line - like tumbled earth in the fields or even some craggy hills in the distance.
I stamped the Umbels - large and small - in layers, to create depth, and then used a fine pen over the large flower heads both to add more presence (should have used Scorched Timber!!) but also to give them an even sketchier look. By not being completely accurate to the stamped image, it adds extra movement that I really like, as though the stems are shivering in the early morning breeze.
One ephemera seal (the proof of delivery on the 1920 conveyancing deeds of my grandmother's house) is stamped direct to the page in Scorched Timber. The other was stamped on a separate piece of card (in Archival Potting Soil), so that I could cut it out and layer it over the lace and papers.
I love combining the individual words I've selected for each set with the poetry fragments to create new thoughts and phrases... a kind of mini not-quite-haiku poem with each new variation.
Tag Pair - Tangled Stems
The giant umbel on this set is giving me such joy as I play with it. This icy version, embossed in Wow Bright White powder, is a perfect representation of what was in my imagination when I was designing these stamps. Last year, I was working in the UK from January - April, and during that January, there was a massive hoar frost where I was staying. I took literally hundreds of photos of white meadow grass stems (as well as tree branches), with the jagged hoar frost making them shine against the bleak winter landscape. (For just a tiny sample, take a look at these photos if you can access Instagram.)
Again it's a busy background, so the white embossing pops beautifully. (In fact, I added a bit of extra ink in dark brown after I'd embossed them, as they happened to be sitting over quite a pale part of the splotching.) But I'm also thrilled with the subtle presence of the tiny umbel stems, again layered up in Scorched Timber.
And there's a real softness to the framing of the words this time, with some tattered cheesecloth (aka Idea-ology Mummy Cloth). Robert Bridges gives us the solemn air, and Thomas Hardy talks of tangled bine-stems scoring the sky (I took the liberty editing his line just slightly!).
You've probably spotted that the tag pairs I've been showing you are actually quite closely related to one another, though with variations both in colour and detailing. Though I do say so myself, I think they look amazing all gathered together!
As usual, I've been inspired to play in abundance with these new designs, so there are many, many more projects to share. Let me just give you a quick look at some of them - and of course they will all be appearing in more detail over on Instagram and even on my blog over the next few days and weeks.
Sunrise, Sunset Accordion
This one really will be best seen in a video as it opens out to full length... twelve gorgeous gel print backgrounds made with the Mattints, with the new River Deep added to the other colours already mentioned - Ash, Ladybug, Squeezed, The Pink.
I had such fun pulling the prints... Mattints, a brayer and a gel plate - so simple and yet so many variations, and such glowing sunrise, sunset prints.
And on each page there is both visual and verbal poetry... the repetition and variation of image, colour and positioning; and poetic fragments, phrases and individual words meeting and repeating and greeting one another.
Keep your eyes peeled for a proper look at this accordion album soon... it really will be worth seeing the whole thing rather than just these sneak peeks!
Textured Landscapes
I've also been having a wonderful time with the texture stamps on these sets. Even by themselves they offer up many possibilities. Just look at these snowy landscapes.... (and reverse snowy landscapes!)
I expected the mountain ranges to work well with the EAB43 salt crystals effect and with the EAB44 "clingfilm frost", but I was quite surprised how good they looked with the EAB42 bark texture too!
Layered up with some background papers, these (slightly larger than ATC) panels would make really elegant cards for winter festivals.
Sunrise Trio
I'm guessing you may be surprised at all the pink going on - but with sunrises and sunsets filling my imagination, it was fairly inevitable! The glow of these backgrounds is all down to the fabulous translucent Mattints. This is Squeezed, The Pink and Ladybug combined on the gel plate. The Ladybug somehow helps the other two play even more beautifully together!
As well as frosty snow and ice, my other thinking with the texture stamps on these sets is that they could be used to create tangled hedgerow textures and the earth beneath.
So that's what I was exploring with these tags - building the layers up from some extra sponged texture using the Ash Mattint, followed by the texture stamps, so that the stems have somewhere to grow from.
Stamping on separate card means you can create coordinating ephemera pieces to contrast with the backgrounds... and I trimmed the number grid so that it wouldn't cover too much of my hedgerow. It's really flexible that way!
Winter Textures ATCs
The simplest of stampings shows off these tiny stems to perfection, and paired with the ephemera you get a touch of vintage joy but in a very clean and simple style.
These Artist Trading Cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches) are delightful just as they are, but again you could layer them into winter cards so easily, or pop a hole through the top, add some twine and use them as gift tags on presents.
In the Bleak Pink Midwinter!
I pulled out one of my Festive Minis EM95 from last year for this trio. Christina Rossetti's lyrics for In the Bleak Midwinter are the still centre of these vibrant cards.
By using the watercolour stamping method with Distress Inks in Gathered Twigs, Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves, I've softened some of the imagery to give it movement and spontaneity.
Other stampings are much more refined and precise... overall a gorgeous combination of loose and detailed.
Textured Layer Cards
And finally some cards which really live up to the overall name "botanical textures". More cards? Yes, more cards... well, it is coming up to that time of year (even for those of us who don't usually make cards!).
More ATC-sized panels, stamped tone-on-tone with the background texture and then the small sketches from the same stamp set.
More ATC-sized panels, stamped tone-on-tone with the background texture and then the small sketches from the same stamp set.
Those panels are layered up onto pre-folded cards (buy them in packs in most good craft or paper stores... maybe Josef Zimmer would stock them!), where I've stamped the corresponding large sketch in primary and secondary stampings, to give darker and lighter shadowy versions. So simple, but really effective, I think.
So, that should give you a little insight into some of the design ideas behind this latest release, but mostly I hope it excites your creative imaginations to celebrate the wonders of the winter season. Let's not allow the cold or the grey to dampen our delight in nature's beauty - it's still there, even if you sometimes have to look a little harder to find it.
I hope you'll enjoy these new stamps as much as I do. I also can't wait to see how they'll look in other seasonal colours as the year moves forward - so if you're in the southern hemisphere, feel free to let rip with summer meadows and sunrises and sunsets! Thank you so much for your company on this long launch post. I am really looking forward to hearing what you think of the Winter Botanical Textures. Happy crafting all!
You can see more and visit me at...
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