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

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3 Things - Traveler's Notebook {by Martine Dubé}

Hi everyone, Martine here from @martined.crafts 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 ...

When the PaperArtsy package arrived with the ''with 3 thing'' materials, I was surprised to find the Holiday!/New year Theme  stamp set ZA35 from Zinski Art, a Rusty Fresco Finish paint and a snowy stencil PS245. It was still summer  when I received the kit, so I wasn't ready  for winter yet ! That's when I decided to create something totally not holiday themed.

I also used other Fresco Finish paint colours in my project in my project. They are Buff, Magic Moss, Prawn and Snowflake, to complement the Rusty.

Lets go look at what I made.

The first thing to do is prepare the paper for the size of journal you want. I use a sheet of copy paper folded in half and cut my other papers the same size. 300gms watercolor paper is used to make the cover and the copy paper, the grid paper and the 200gms watercolor paper are used  for pages.

Now I have to decide what design I will make for my covers. I choose simple, clean shapes.

On the first one, I decided to do hand drawn lines in Fresco Finish Rusty. It doesn't have to be perfect  lines.

I added some black pen lines for more definition and texture.

On the second cover, I went with circles of all sizes to cover the page using Prawn. I will add some stencilling and black details to this one.

On the third journal cover, I used a paint brush to make some marks with Magic Magic Moss. 

I also added some black line details with a marker later. I outlined the shapes and sprinkled dots for more interest.

Next I prepared the fabric for the traveler's notebook cover. I cut 2 pieces that are about 1.5 cm or 1/2inch bigger then the papers for the journals. I created a template for the oval shapes I wanted to add. This helped me evenly distribute and align them.

I used the same 3 paint colours, Rusty, Prawn and Magic Moss to do my fill the shapes.

I use the stencil on the Prawn circle journal to make dots by using different parts of the stencil. You can even make some outside of the circles like I did.

 

I also added free hand black outlines to help make the circles look finished and tie the covers together.

With the journal covers ready, the next step is to create the booklets by folding everything in one go. This includes the cover and the inside paper pages. You then need to put something heavy on top of the booklets over night so they stay flat. 

    

When I folded the booklets, the edges became uneven so we need to trim them. I cut them to 20cm x13.5cm (about 5.25 x 8 inches).

Before sewing the booklets, we need  to pierce holes using a craft pick. I made a template for easy spacing!

The last step to finish the booklets is to sew them!

                                                       

Now, for the main cover. Using my 3 colors, I stencilled the ovals with different densities of dots using different parts of the stencils.                                        

                                                                        

I love the different effects it creates, while still being cohesive.

Instead of using a black marker on the fabric, I sewed some black lines around my ovals to create texture.

Don't forget to prepare the pockets before sewing around the cover! With all the structure done, I was then ready to work on my focal elements.

I stamped and coloured my images using the same colours of Fresco Finish paints. I know my stamping look bad, but I will stamp again once they are all colored. Stamping this way ensures the lines will be on top of the colours and the images will look nice and sharp.

The 3 bears worked perfectly for my 3 journals and the Fresco Finish Rusty makes a great bear fur color! Then I fussy cut my images and placed them on my 3 booklets.

For the fabric cover, I wanted a fabric embellishment. This step is always fun to do. I used one of the images I have coloured, scanned it and printed it on fabric with the help of freezer paper. Freezer paper can be found in sheets or rolls, it's used by quilters for paper piecing quilting. Since mine is a roll, I cut a piece the size of my copy paper and iron my fabric on it. I then put a piece of tape at the end going in the printer to help it stay put when printing, otherwise it will get stuck in the printer.

Before printing, I set my printer to enlarge the image 40%. I felt the bigger size worked better with the ovals, and made it different than the inside one.

Before sewing the contour of the cover, I sewed the bear on it. Since my cotton was on the thinner side, I used some double sided adhesive (for fabric not for paper) to secure my fabric to a second piece of cotton, ironed both piece together and then stitched it all around.

Here's my traveler's journal with 3 little booklets made of different kinds of paper!  You can sketch, paint or write and in the pocket you can collect tags ,ticket, stickers and much more.

I hope this project will inspire you to create your own and for anyone that is not into sewing, you don't have to made the cover out of fabric, it can always be made out of cardstock.

Meet the bears!

Thanks for stopping by hope you enjoy!

Martine

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