PaperArtsy: March 2025

Monday, 3 March 2025

A journal using NEW Alison Bomber stamps {by Mags Woodcock}

Hi everyone

Mags here with you today.

This year on the blog, we are being given free reign to do a deep dive into one of the PaperArtsy product ranges, and for this post I have been exploring Alison Bomber products. I love everything that Alison designs for PaperArtsy. With this project I decided to create a small journal focusing on her most recent release of three stamp sets and three stencils.

Spring is definitely just around the corner here in the UK and it was lovely to celebrate it with this project.

Creating this small journal was great fun, I particularly enjoyed including texture and different papers for the pages.

Alison's recent release is fabulous and has lovely words, phrases and ephemera to combine with the botanicals.I decided to use a range of Mattints to colour the stamp images. I started by using Jam (MT05), Glow (MT01), Nutty (MT02) and Fern (MT03), but soon added and mixed in more colours. They are so easy to use and can be layered up for a more intense depth of colour.

I began to create the cover to my journal by adding Grunge Paste (GP190), through one of the stencils (PS452 ,available from a PaperArtsy Stockist) onto a panel of Cotton Rag paper. When it was dry I sprayed diluted Just Walnut Infusions(CS25) and left to dry. I love the vintage feel this adds.

To add some more texture to the front cover, I attached a small strip of distressed corrugated cardboard to one side. To highlight the texture on the cardboard, I dry brushed with some white gesso. The next step was to stamp onto the Grunge Paste using a stamp from the Apple Blossom stamp set (EAB46, (available from a PaperArtsy Stockist)The Crocus image was ideal to add to the cover, I coloured it with Glow and Fern Mattints.

It was now time to start on the back cover. Again I used one of the fabulous stencils, but this time I used Archival ink and a sponge and then stamped through the gaps in the stencil with another of the text stamps.

I decided at this point that I wanted a bit more definition on my stencilled leaves, so I added some pencil lines, along with a touch of green ink. The back cover was finished by adding a strip of corrugated cardboard to tie in with the front cover and some more random stamping.

I was ready to start playing with a bit more colour now and decided to try mixing two of the Mattints, The Pink (MT08) and Dragonfly (MT07). Using equal amounts of each gave me the perfect Lavender colour. I would encourage you to try mixing your own colours of Mattints, there are some lovely combos.

I'd made a great start on my journal and was happy with the covers. The next steps were to add images and texture to the inside pages. Maybe some tags would be nice too ?

As I mentioned before I used several of the Mattints (Fern, Jam and Nutty) to colour the beautiful Crocus images from the stamp sets. When they were dry I added a few spritzes of Just Walnut Infusions to add a vintage feel similar to the covers.

I find fussy cutting quite relaxing , so spent a lovely evening colouring and cutting out the botanicals, words and ephemera images. Combining more cardboard with the tags made a nice background.

I love to combine inky stencilled images along with Grunge Paste applied through the same stencil, I think it adds depth. For this page I used Just Walnut Infusions coloured cotton rag paper and stencil PS450 (available from a PaperArtsy Stockist)

Adding a little Fern Mattint to the Grunge Paste branches brought them to life and tied in with the stamped Rosemary images. The stamp sets have lots of text stamps for adding more interest to the leaves and background.

I continued to work on the inside pages, using a selection of the botanical and text stamps. I fell in love with the larger Apple Blossom and couldn't wait to use it as a fussy cut element.

The Crocus was also a firm favourite combined with some of the words, phrases and ephemera.

It was now time to bind my journal. I am lucky enough to have a book binding cradle, but if you don't, just align your pages and use a large needle to make the holes in the correct places on each set of pages. I hope you can see the three holes clearly in this picture.

I came up with an ingenious way of concealing the pamphlet binding in the centre of the journal. For the middle pages I used a full page and a smaller page, to which I attached some of the fussy cut Apple Blossom. When the binding was complete I glued the small page to the larger, enclosing the binding in the centre.

I wanted to add some lightness to the front cover so stamped and cut out separate letters from the Crocus Stamp set (EAB45,available from a PaperArtsy Stockist) to spell Spring Forth, gluing in a quirky uneven fashion.

Lots of texture and details on the front cover.

Adding Infusion dyed fabric to the layers and tuck spots for interest.

I used one of the text stamps from the sets (EAB46) to create a background for a Crocus image.

Layering up elements to create tuck spots for tags and journaling cards.

The stamped ephemera look lovely coloured with matching Mattints.

A look at the tags which are included in the journal, one including words stamped onto fabric.

There are so many ways to use these fabulous stamp sets and stencils. I can imagine many more projects using them. A fun idea could be a set of note cards or a book cover.