3 Things - Beary Beautiful Booklet {by Eva Schoch}

Hi everyone, it's Eva Schoch from @kre_v_ativ with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. In this challenge, it is awesome to see how each maker comes up with different ideas and techniques with the same 3 items.  Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a colour product.

We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea is to do something crafty in our personal style restricted to these 3 items.

So let's take a look at what I received from PA HQ ...

For this project, I was sent PaperArtsy Stencil PS245 by PaperArtsy, PaperArtsy Zinski Art stamp set ZA35 and a Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Rusty.

I supplemented with a few of my favorites. Especially Copic markers and coloured pencils for colouring and a selection of Infusions.

I usually love making cards, but when I saw all these fun little characters, I thought they would be perfect for a little booklet. This way, each of them could have its own page and become the star of the show.

Lets take a closer look at what I made ....

I absolutely loved these quirky little characters from the Zinski Art Stamp Set ZA35 ! As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to colour them in my favourite warm and vibrant colour combination and let each of them become a little star of its own.

I stamped the image onto white cardstock with a alcohol friendly ink (Ink on 3) and started colouring them with my Copic markers, building up the colours gradually with lots of light and shadow.

Of course, I couldn't resist adding some turquoise and orange – two colours I really love using together, especially with all those warm browns. For the finishing touches, I used my Prismacolor pencils to deepen the shadows and add a little more contrast. Then I added some white highlights with a Gelly Roll pen – those tiny details always make such a difference!

Once I was happy with the colouring, I carefully cut out all four characters without leaving a white border. I then coloured the cut edges with a black permanent marker so they would blend seamlessly into the backgrounds of my booklet.

I love working with water-reactive media such as watercolours and Infusions to create backgrounds. For this project, I chose a combination of Infusions that would complement the Fresco Finish Rusty and the colours of my stamped images: Just Walnut, In the Navy, Royal Blood, A Bit Jaded and Orange County.

I started by making some colour swatches to see how the different Infusions and Rusty would work together.

I mixed the Infusions with plenty of water and applied them with a brush, allowing the colours to flow and blend into each other to create a loose, organic background.

Once the background was dry, I placed my coloured images on top to check the overall colour balance. I loved how the turquoise, blue and rusty tones in the background picked up the colours in the characters.

I used the PaperArtsy Stencil PS245 to add more texture and interest to the background and make the surface feel more lively.

I placed the stencil over my painted background, choosing the areas where I wanted to add some extra texture.

Using a small piece of sponge, I applied Fresco Finish Rusty through the stencil, keeping the application quite loose and irregular.

I also used Seth Apter Mini 014 (previously Eclectica³ Mini stamp 46) to add some black details to the backgrounds. I love how these small graphic elements add contrast and bring all the different panels together.

To finish the background, I added a few white paint splatters. That final detail adds even more texture and bring all the layers together.

With all the elements ready, it was time to assemble my booklet.

For the base of my little accordion book, I folded a strip of sturdy cardstock into a simple concertina shape and joined it at the back.

For the pages, I cut the finished background into six panels, inked the edges in black and added a white mat. They were now ready to be arranged on the accordion base and decorated with my coloured characters.

I really love how each page has its own little character while the colours and background details tie the whole project together.

Here are a few closer looks at the finished pages. I kept the layouts fairly simple so that the colourful characters could really stand out against the textured backgrounds.

Here is a closer look at my little characters.

This was actually the very first blog post I have ever written, so taking all the step-by-step photos along the way was a new experience for me too! I really enjoyed the challenge of receiving three surprise products and figuring out how to bring them together in one project. It was such a fun creative journey, and I am very happy and grateful that PaperArtsy invited me to take part in “With 3 Things”. I hope you enjoyed my little accordion book and perhaps it has inspired you to have a play with your own supplies too. 

Thank you so much for joining me for my first PaperArtsy guest blog post!

Love, Eva

Facebook: Eva Schoch

Instagram: kre_v_ativ