Tracy Meets Grunge with TS {by Autumn Clark}

Hello darlings!  It's Autumn Clark here today, with such joy to be back on the PaperArtsy blog and to share the excitement of the new Tracy Scott launch with you!  

I've had a total blast playing with these gorgeous stamps and have created several project ideas for you to get your creative juices flowing, from tag book to bookmark to journal page, I hope will spark a play session of your own...

I almost always start a project with a gel printing session and went with earth tones to show how Tracy's stamps can go both bright and rustic, which I hope you will agree.  I used a combination of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Nougat, Terracotta, Rusty, Sargasso (TS), Jade (TS), Chocolate Pudding and Toffee.  Later in the process I pulled out my Infusions powders and chose A Bit Jaded and Rusty Car.

I used Tracy's entire collection for these projects, including the stamps TS104, TS105 and TS106 and the stencils PS497, PS498 and PS499.  Find a stockist HERE.  And if you didn't catch Tracy's FB live, make sure to join the PaperArtsy People FB group HERE to stay up to date and catch all future lives.

You might have noticed from the photo of my Infusions box on my table that it was an extremely sunny day in my little art room.  I could not find my smaller gel plate, so I had to use the monstrosity and with the sun pouring down on it, I found my paint was drying at rocket speed.  But I am always fond of this half printed effect because I love the impartial prints and faded portions of the stencils mixing into the paint.  Part of my process includes blotting through the stencils onto prints.  Below shows how I did that with PS499.  Later you will see a fun idea I came up with to make the most of the white spaces in my prints...

I printed heavy duty plain cardstock and both sides of several premade large tags by Dina Wakely.  I used the floral designs from PS497 and PS498.  

 

I cut my favorite sections of the prints into card fronts.  I folded the tags in half with one end meeting the tag reinforcer on each of the three tags, then glued them together to form pockets where each tag met the next.  This concept was inspired by a Fodder Challenge 2023 project.

While the tags were clamped together to dry, I worked on each card panel.  I began spritzing water on the white spaces in the gel printing and sprinkling on my Infusions in Rusty Car.  Because I had used normal cardstock, the Infusions seeped into the paper, rather than sitting on the surface like it would with Bristol or watercolor paper.  The great thing about this is that the paint still sits on the surface and the effect is really unique.  

To make the pieces a bit more intense, I coated them with Mattint in High Viz, which also serves to seal the Infusions.  Next I colored two scraps of Bristol paper with Infusions in Rusty Car and A Bit Jaded so I could use them as a stamping surface.

Here's a sampling of the panels, which remind me of torn wallpaper.  What fun!

I stamped so many of the images from Tracy's stamp sets TS104, TS105 and TS106, first onto Bristol paper for watercoloring with Distress Inks, then onto my dried Infusions stained papers in different colors of ink and off white embossing.

I fussy cut these images to give me a variety to pick from to complete my tag book and cards.

I layered the images onto my tag book and used Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge to sponge some of the white spaces to complete the backgrounds.

I used the leftover gel prints to cut smaller tags to fit into the pockets and to cut tag reinforcers for those.

Here are the front and back of my completed tag book, finished with sentiment stickers, sari ribbon and twine...

With my leftover fussy cuts, I began to complete the cards.  I really had fun with this and tried to hone in on the trademark mandala loving Tracy Scott style by using geometric repeats in the cards.  Often, I cut the flowers in half to achieve this effect.

I was craving a little white contrast for these pieces and thought a bit of text would be just the trick, so I grabbed Eclectica³ stamp set 54 by Sara Naumann (ESN54), which had some great jumbo text that worked beautifully with the butterfly theme.  I used off white embossing powder for this, which finished my cards and bookmark nicely.

I had one large piece of gel printed paper left and several of my fussy cut images, so I pulled out my floral journal.  I've shared numerous projects over the years on my blog with Tracy Scott and Jofy stamp in this journal.  I thought adding another from this project would be a great way to remember these fun projects and color palette.

The spiral journal is filled with watercolor paper, so I was able to use the Infusions in A Bit Jaded to add some color on each side of the page, then I tore the edges of my gel print and glued it down the middle.  I used some leftover stamped flowers from set TS105 as leaves for the focal flower and a smaller gel printed tag, which hadn't found its way into my projects.   

In the end, what a collection of projects!  I hope they've inspired you today!  I had such fun and have enjoyed sharing with you.  xx, Autumn

Blog: SewPaperPaint

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Matchbook Ephemera Folio with ESA {by Tracy Hickman}

I needed somewhere to keep die cuts and ephemera for an upcoming Seth Apter Art Workshop so I created an accordion folio with craft and glassine envelopes  for storage.  using every stamp in Seth's new 3 set release for PaperArtsy, (ESA49), (ESA50) and (ESA5)1.  Below is a close up of the decorated matchboxes that house ephemera on the folio's cover.  Coming up: how to bleach fabric using stamps!

I knew I wanted to dye fabric with PaperArtsy Infusions for a rusted look.  One of the stamps in PaperArtsy Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter was calling out to be used with bleach on this rusted fabric scrap.  The compliment to rust is blue and this trio of Paper Artsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Niagara Falls, Jade and South Pacific created a gorgeous ombre blend as a backdrop for a new favorite PapterArtsy stamp in Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter that created an abstract snowy scene.  Infusions in Green Man and A Bit Jaded were added for depth and pooling around the embossed marks.

The leaf stamp in Eclectica -ESA 49 inspired the cover and color palette to compliment the teals and rusts.  I used PaperArtsy Infusions in: Green Man,  Olive Tree  and Slimed to stamp 3D "trees".  Using the smooshing technique with Infusions and water on a craft mat on some creamy watercolor paper I embellished with embossing powder using that fabulous script stamp in PaperArtsy Eclectica ( ESA49) by Seth for texture.

A close up of Infusion stamped trees sewn together (love how the infusions created these perfectly imperfect impressions, a stamping technique I'm looking forward to using more!)

When you need immediate gratification and don't want to wait for real rusted results, PaperArtsy Infusions in Rusty Car can come to the rescue.  I dyed this natural cotton canvas fabric in a water Infusion bath, dried thoroughly and attempted my first bleach stamping experiment.  Placing just enough liquid bleach to cover the bottom of a small dish, I stamped into the bleach, shook the stamp once to shake off any excess liquid and placed on the rusted fabric like a normal stamped impression.  The results were SO worth my apprehension  and can't wait to try this again!

Some additional stamping using PaperArtsy Eclectica sets (ESA49), (ESA50), (ESA51)  by Seth Apter that were used to decorate the inside craft envelopes and draw your eye to the abstract small paintings that are the focal point covers to the glassine envelopes you'll see next.

I developed the layers of these mini abstracts on craft paper in 3 steps..... Layer One is a combination of 4 PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in this order:  Fuzzy Cactus, Heavy Cream, Teresa Green and Terracotta brayered up and down, left and right, one color at a time.

Midground Stamping for the Second Layer came next using many of the stamps from all three stamp sets using only black permanent ink and Distress Oxide Ink by Ranger Industries in Peacock Feathers.

Finally, Step Three concentrated on focal stamping using both black and white embossing powders to highlight this layer and add texture.  Using a limited and similar palette unified the pieces and helped tell an abstract story centered on mark making.

The final pieces below mounted on both sides of the glassine envelopes.

The finished Folio cover with a nod to landscapes which I love.  The moon stamp in PaperArtsy Eclectic ESA50 by Seth Apter was stamped on vellum and embossed, placed behind a metal eye piece to cap off the trees on top of the matchbook ephemera drawers..  The word ART was created from several of the word stamps and placed on tiny vials to hold rusting or embossing powders.

A peek inside the front cover, craft envelopes to hold die cuts and papers,  I intentionally kept these fairly simple to not fight with the square abstracts on the glassine envelopes.

4 flip envelopes to hold more ephemera and be a gallery of inspiration to show how to use stamps in different ways, focal points, edging and layers…

Brayered Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics add great texture behind background stamping in ink and embossing powders on the upper stamped layers for depth.

Love this focal stamp from PaperArtsy Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter, it would look great colored in with Mattints which I may come back and do.

You can see that same stamp here, this time used in the midground and stamped in Peacock Ink. This creates a subtle backdrop to “Make Memories”, the fabulous round word stamp, one of three that can be found in each of the three Eclectica Stamp sets.

I'm looking forward  to using this postmark and script stamp above to make vintage ephemera and seemed a perfect addition for this Ephemera Folio.  The above squares measure about 4.5" but these stamp sets have so much flexibility with a range in scale, they would be great used on  larger panels for framing and fabulous mixed media art.

Hoping you found a nugget of an idea in here somewhere.  Creative Wishes to all!

Tracy Hickman

@anonymouse.palette