3 Things - A trio of cards {by Helen Ranger}

Hi everyone, it's Helen Ranger from butterflywings_beautifulthings with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. It is really interesting 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 ...

I was absolutely delighted with the products selected for me to explore. The wisteria paint is such a pretty colour and it will be very interesting to use it for Christmas. The stamps are a lovely vintage style very much what I enjoy creating with and the stencil is super versatile, I know that I will be using this a lot in the future.

Lets take a closer look.

After a little deliberation considering creating a large tag on a chipboard substrate or maybe a

set of postcards I decided on something more practical. A trio of Christmas cards.

I love mixed media so these cards have lots of different elements to them. I am a 'more is more' creator, but if you are not, there are several steps you can bypass and still have a nice result at the end. 

I have not given you specific measurements for the background and matt layers as your card sizes may be different to mine. I used 5 x 7" 5 x 5" and  6 x 6" card bases in different colours to vary the look. So lets begin.

Above I have stamped some of the stamps using archival ink onto cotton fabric and heat set with my iron. You can only see tiny fragments in the finished cards so if you don't feel confident to do this you can leave this step out and use cheesecloth or patterned/coloured fabric scraps.

Above I stamped the leaves with a sticky ink pad onto Dura-lar film and used 'silver pearl' embossing powder to melt it. I love doing this technique on vellum and even tracing paper, and then I saw Katy Norgate using 'Dura-lar' film on one of her makes. Now I am hooked, a key feature that it is heat resistant, so it does not buckle when you use a heat tool.

Below I stamped with a variety of inks onto cardstock. As it happens, I didn't end up using all the different colours, so I now have spares for other projects. 

Next I set about fussy cutting the leaves, leaving a small white border around them. Yes I do my fussy cutting by hand, (I was recently asked this on the PaperArtsy people Facebook page.) I added rock candy glitter to the leaves for added sparkle.

I heat embossed the stars from the stamp set multiple times across my background cardstock.

This gives a lovely raised shiny finish for the background of our cards. We will be finishing the background off later on with the stencil.

A close up of the finished leaves fussy cut and showing the icy finish of the Rock candy glitter.  Alternatively you could add stickles, glossy accents or if that is not your thing just leave this step out.

I cut out the focal image with an oval die and heat embossed some of the stars onto it. 

I also coloured the leaves a little with coloured pencil and added a shadow around the stamp

and postage mark area. You can see this detail in the finished cards.

I love using different textures in my mixed media art so I knew straight away that I wanted to use my favourite background technique with the stencil; tinted grunge paste!

Above I mixed PaperArtsy Grunge paste with my Wisteria fresco paint. Grunge paste can dry fast, so I tend to quickly apply the paint/grunge paste mix through my stencil - a bonus that you don't have to wait too long for it to dry! Did you know Grunge Paste is an uncoloured product? You do not need to use too much paint to add a tint: opaque paint colours are best for this technique.

On two of the card bases I chose to cover the whole area, on another I used different parts of the stencil, I prefer the ones with full coverage using the entire stencil.

Wash everything as soon as you have finished with plenty of water.

This is what it looks like when the Grunge paste/paint mix has dried; I love the subtle shade it gives a fabulous raised textural finish.

Here is a close up of the texture and colour that you achieve, pretty isn't it? I love using this technique in my mixed media art.

I wanted the matting layers for the cards to coordinate with the background layer, to achieve this I used the Wisteria paint on the edges.

Here I am adding the Wisteria Fresco paint by dry brushing onto the card. I only add it to the edges where it will be seen. It looks a little bit scruffy here but in the end it will come together. The dry brushing gives a nice visual texture, if you don't like this then you can do a full coverage of the Wisteria paint to give a solid matt layer.

The finished matting layers for the three cards - I have machine-sewn around the edges. I enjoy crazy wonky stitches rather than neat straight lines, but you do what you prefer. If you do not want to sew you could draw lines around the edges instead with a fine tip pigment pen or a gel pen.

I chose to add some double sided foam pads between the layers for added dimension. You can see in the image below that the texture created with the dry brushing looks appealing with the background layer added on top.

I like some loose threads to be seen if you do not trim them off, pull the last stitch to the reverse of the matting layer and tie a small knot before adhering the background layer. If you are using a double sided tape or liquid glue you do not need to tie off the threads. The glue will hold it in place.

Now to bring all the elements together and finish the cards. Let's add some fabric scraps.

I have used vintage lace, stamped cotton and I found these wooded snowflakes and small buttons in my stash. Play with the layers until it is right for you; once you are happy glue it all into place.

Here are the finished Christmas cards, each one is unique which makes them an extra special gift to give.

I do hope that you enjoyed reading about the process making these cards. I don't usually create Christmas cards until later in the year but I found this to be great fun and now I have made them I feel happy that I might be more prepared than usual. It was so nice creating these without the usual pressure of having lots of other festive jobs to do at the same time.

The above has sisal fibres behind the focal element and I have layered the stamp and postmark area to give interest. You can also see the slight shading that I created using coloured pencils.

You can see tiny fragments of the lace and fabric scraps peeping out from behind the icy elements.

I am looking forward to creating a few more cards for Christmas with these products, I might try a few different colour ways and use up some of my left over stamped images. You could also make co-ordinating tags for your parcels or use the leaves for table setting place markers.

If you enjoy my style and want to see more of my creations you can find me here...

Blog: https://butterflywingsandbeautifulthings.blogspot.com/

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3 Things - New Year Card {by Fiona Whitehead}

Hi everyone, it's Fiona Whitehead from Crafty Stamping with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. It is really interesting 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 ...

I was delighted to receive a Christmas stamp set as I do love creating for the season.  I received this delightful set by Sara Naumann ESN39, a Paper Artsy Stencil by Sara also PS203 and Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Wisteria opaque.

The added beauty of this stamp set though is that it is not just for Christmas.  Those lovely leaves can be used for any project and the added ephemera pieces can also be trimmed to be used without the seasonal sentiment.  The addition of those lovely stars too makes it a great set for all year round.

My first thought when I saw the Wisteria was oh! - not a traditional colour and will it work for a Christmas project?  And oh yes I think it really does.  It gives it a lovely wintery feel and as this is not a colour I would normally choose I was delighted to have a play with it and add an extra colour to my palette of normal grunge!

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

I used the leaf stamps in a few different ways.  Firstly I stamped directly with Versafine Clair Nocturne onto the background I had created  which will be shown below in the Stencil section.  I had them coming off the right hand side of the cardstock.

I also stamped and cut them out and coloured them with Paper Artsy Fresco Winter Green Semi Opaque - I wanted to have some leaves for layering on my card.

For my tag I decided to stamp onto some old book pages.  I was lucky to find a page that actually had the word December on it so I kept that visible. I love to use old books in my crafting - some baulk at the idea but we either use them or they go to landfill and I think it's far better to give them new life.

I added some extra bling to the leaves and the berries with a sparkle pen - it is Christmas after all and deserves a bit of shine. You can also see I used the stencil over the tag again in the Iced Spruce and the Wisteria just giving a subtle extra detail.

Before I used the stencils I brayered card stock with the Wisteria Fresco Paint.

I then used Distress Oxide (Iced Spruce) to add stencilling.  The soft green of the Iced Spruce worked well against the Wisteria background and gave a soft look to the stencils.

I also used the stencils with a gel plate loaded with the Wisteria paint, and then pressed the stencil into it.  I then lifted the print onto paper to give a great background. I also reverse stencilled by spritzing with water and getting an extra background on to paper.

Before the paint was dry I added some Winter Green paint to the gel press and pulled another print.  I then added some Snowflake white paint and pulled yet another print - very subtle but you can just see a touch of the coloured paints underneath.  Lots of great backgrounds for future projects.

I also enjoyed adding some of the Wisteria and Winter Green paint to some Texture Paste and applied that through the stencil.  On white cardstock it gives a lovely effect with a touch of both paint colours visible.

I wasn't finished there though.  On cleaning my stencil onto my glass mat I even spotted another excuse for a background so lifted off those stencil marks onto some black cardstock.

It's very easy to go down rabbit holes when you are using paint, stencils and a gel press!

I stamped over one of those stencilled backgrounds with the ephemera stamp which can just be spotted under the tag on my finished project.

As I mentioned at the start - Wisteria is not a colour I would normally choose but I just loved working with it.  This was using it on top of another brayered background and then the paint pushed through the stencil.  

The paint colour goes really well with Versafine Very Peri Ink which I used for the words.  In the end I didn't use this one on the sample I'm showing here but I did create another card with it which will be on my blog at a later date.

Using a brayer with paint onto water colour paper (which has an inherent texture) also gives an interesting result where that texture of the paper is really highlighted by the paint.

And here is my finished card.  I'm a texture girl and love the way this card has interest with the background stencilling, the cut out leaves and the book page tag.

The extra circles on the card and the tag were made with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in  Snowflake and the  lid of the paint bottle.  A tip I learned from Alison Bomber which adds an extra dimension to the card rather than just white splatters.

You can also see the little piece of ephemera mentioned earlier sticking out from behind the tag.  The ribbon on the tag is a lovely piece of silk ribbon from my stash.

I like to add a little extra bit of interest by adding some fabric and here I've added cheesecloth behind the leaves. I watered down the green paint so that it was a lot softer for the leaves.

I've had a lot of fun playing with these lovely products.  I've learnt also that I must embrace different colours and work outside my comfort zone - perhaps some colours can be used for projects we wouldn't normally think of.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my project and reading through the steps.  Let me know if you use Wisteria in your Christmas projects - I'd love to come and see.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have fun crafting!

Fiona Whitehead 

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