2016 #13 Building Block {by Jo Firth Young}

2016 Topic 13: Paper Piecing

Hi everyone Jo here to share with you my paper piecing project. I enjoyed creating this project so much because, if you'll excuse my project related pun, paper piecing is right up my street! 

Paper piecing is something I use a lot when I'm creating with my stamps. The clean drawn line and the little ziz-zaggy sketched element I doodle on those lines make the layers and pieces easy to match up.

My project is a street of houses created on a block of wood - one of the (many) off-cuts that I rescued from the skip we had during recent extension work on our house - these off-cuts are perfect sizes for projects like this one. The blocks of wood are lovely to work onto - for painting, stamping, and a nice smooth surface for gluing.
I've used the house from JOFY29 as the main image for the project and altered it to create different versions... using the houses and trees in this way is something I've been wanting to do for ages and I love how it turned out.

JOFY29

Step One: I painted the block of wood Tinned Peas/Zucchini & Lake Wanaka/Blue Oyster but decided it was too much colour so I painted a wash of Stone/Snowflake over the top, then stamped the number images from HP1604, and chevrons from JOFY36 using Stone.. these stamped images are barely visible and that is the effect I wanted. I didn't want a 'busy' background because I planned to use patterned papers for the house and I didn't want them to clash.

JOFY36

Step Two: I planned the 'street' on a block of wood the same size as the one used for the project (9.5x4.5x18.5cm). I stamped lots of house and tree images, cut them up as needed and lightly glued them onto the block. Creating this 'toile' version meant that I could make sure all the houses and trees fit/are spaced nicely around the block, something to refer to.

Step Three: On one side of the block I stamped a house and several trees. This gave me the image that all the others could be measured and placed in reference to. I couldn't do the same on the other sides because all other houses were altered in some way.

Step Four: I wanted to create houses that coordinated, were the same but different and so I raided the 6x6 paper stash and gathered papers. I mainly use 6x6 papers when paper piecing with my stamps because the patterns have been shrunk down (from the 12x12 sheets) resulting in a daintier image, and more pattern detail fits in to the stamped image. 

Step Five: I stamped the houses onto papers with a blue/grey/green colour scheme. To change the size/height of the houses I cut out the centre level to change how they looked. This is easy to do - simply cut across the house above the first floor window (houses 3 & 4 above), or above the front door (house 1) and move the bottom levels of the house upwards. I attached the house back together by overlapping the layers, NOT by cutting them off - I find the join is easier to disguise this way. Once the basic houses were assembled I added details - the trim under the roof, the canopy on the door, I painted all the windows in shades of grey and added shiny gold door knobs (Fresco Finish Gold).

I stamped and cut out entire trees (onto brown patterned paper), attached foliage (stamped onto various green papers) and then cut the trees down as needed. 

Stamping and cutting out all these elements is an 'in front of the TV' sort of job, I find it quite relaxing.

Step Six: The background was looking a bit bare and so I added more foliage with Kay Carley's seed head from EKC02 (Zucchini), and JM33 (Black)(painted in shades of Coral).

You can also see in the photo below that I added more 'Stone' to the block around the base - this was because I felt the block looked cold. and I also wanted to neutralise the colour a little more.

Step Seven: Once all the houses and trees were assembled it was just a case of sticking them all to the block, referring to the 'toile' block for placement guidance. I used Matte Medium for this.

On this side of the block there are several trees which I've used to add some subtle layering and depth - the tallest tree is stuck onto the block, and then the house was glued over the top - making the tree look as if its growing behind the house (maybe its in the back garden!) and then smaller tree (bush) is glued on top of the house.... three layers of depth.

I thought the block needed 'something' around the top edges - especially on the narrow sides of the block - so I stamped smaller motifs from JOFY29 (the key, and the phrase 'home sweet home' - both stamped in black and filled in with Fresco Finish Gold) and the die cut word 'home'.

   

Here are all four sides of the block, and a couple of photos taken from a corner angle so you can see how the street flows around the block.

   

    

Here's a close-up of one of the houses... I love all the different papers and patterns!

I think this is one of my favourite projects I've made recently - the fiddly twiddly bits and pieces involved in creating all these little houses has been a lot of fun - finding the papers and patterns and putting them together - the options are endless... I think I'd like to live on a street like this! 

I hope this has inspired you to stamp onto you 6x6 paper stash and create houses, trees, animals, flowers - aaaah the paper pieces options are endless! Of course you can create a similar street on a board canvas, grey board, cards ('new house' card?!) or a scrapbook page.

Over on my blog you can see another project I created with the houses that didn't make it onto the street.. 

Blog:Jofy
Twitter:Jo Firth young
Instagram: JoFyJo
Pinterest: JoFyJo

Wow Jo this is so cool, a whole street on one block. I would have to turn it around every time I walked past! The different patterns absolutely transform the basic house, great fun! ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #13: Paper Piecing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were directly inspired by their post. 

All challenge links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Paper Piecing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 10th 2016. The winner will be announced 1 hour later at 18:00.

2016 #13 Quilted Bag {by Sue Carrington}

 2016 Topic 13: Paper Piecing

Hi everyone it's Sue here and tonight I'd like to share with you a post about patchwork, paper piecing and quilting.

The project I'm sharing is a little canvas bag on which I've created a type of patchwork pattern and also done some quilting, which I haven't done for years. This project has reminded me of how I used to love making cushions and doing the quilting by hand.

Step One: I started by masking off the front of the bag to create small squares then filling in the squares with different colours of Fresco Finish paint. The first colour I used was Lake Wanaka.

Step Two: The next colours were Granny Smith and then Autumn Fire.

Step Three: Once I filled in the first set of squares I removed the masking and replaced it but this time over the top of the painted areas. I then used Yellow Submarine to fill in the remaining squares to create a border. No need to fill in the whole square as the middle will be covered.

 

Step Four: Next I stamped the door image from Arched Apertures Plate 2 onto some tissue paper. 

Arched Apertures Plate 2

Step Five: Then I painted them on the reverse using Lake Wanaka, Granny Smith, Yellow Submarine and Autumn Fire, but only down the side panels, when the paint was dry I painted over the whole of the back with Caramel.

 Step Six: For the central patch I dyed some Egyptian cotton in cold tea then stamped the door image onto the fabric, fraying the edges. I also dropped some pieces of lace into the tea too. 

 

Step Seven: I cut a piece of wadding just slightly smaller than the cotton and sandwiched it between the fabric and the bag, handsewing around the edge. To define the door I stitched around the arched shape. 

 

Step Eight: I glued the tea dyed lace into place and also some buttons and a key which I hand stitched aswell. 

 Step Nine: The text from Arched Apertures Plate 2 was also stamped onto a small piece of tea dyed cotton and hand sewn into place. 

Below is a final close up shot which shows the quilting of the door quite nicely.

Paper piecing and quilting is a really fun way to create different patterns and the introduction of fabric brings a different element in to your project too. Paper piecing isn't something that I would do often, and if you don't want to create an image from the paper then a background is a great way to use your paper creations.

Sue 
Blog - Stamping Sue Style
Twitter - Ink_and_me

Great layering and quilting Sue, and that painted check border is a great frame. Simple but very effective. The extra little touches of frayed edges and buttons add perfect texture.

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #13: Paper Piecing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were directly inspired  by their post. 

All challenge links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Paper Piecing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 10th 2016. The winner will be announced 1  hour later at 18:00.

2016 #13 Owlandish {by Lesley Ebdon}

2016 Topic 13: Paper Piecing

Hi everyone, it's Lesley here and tonight I would like to share a fun canvas board showing you the 'Owland' I have created using PaperArtsy's cute and quirky Squiggly Ink stamps and lots of paper piecing of tiny cut outs.

Poetic licence comes into play here because my little owls are out and about when the sun is high in the sky so for once they can enjoy seeing pretty colours through their googly eyes instead of shades of grey, lol!

Step One: I took two A4 sheets of decent quality copy paper and cut them in half so I had four A5 pieces. For two of them I used lots of green shades of PaperArtsy's Fresco Finish paints deliberately applied very randomly with my brayer. On the other two pieces I used shades of pink (yes PINK) on one and shades of orange and yellow on the other.

Step Two: I followed the painty layers with stamping lots of small Squiggly Ink images (plus a tiny flower from a Cat's Meow set) using different colours of Fresco paints and Archival Inks to create masterboards. I also applied a pinky orange mix of Fresco Finish paints to the top half of my canvas board by pouncing the paint on with a sponge but I was on a roll and forgot to take a pic, lol!

SI Swirls and Curls 5

SI Flora and Fauna 4

Step Three: The next step was to create the rolling hills from the two green masterboards. First I drew the shapes I wanted onto scrap paper, cut the pieces out and then drew round them onto the masterboards and cut them out again....two from the darker sheet and one from the lighter. I stamped out the sun, owls and the houses I wanted to use onto the pink and green sheets using Black Archival ink and cut them all out.

SI Flora and Fauna 3

Step Four: I painted a coat of Golden Matt Gel Medium over the bottom half of the board and also onto the back of the paper pieces for the hills and stuck them to the board marrying up the shapes so there were no gaps. I followed this with sponging some green Archival Ink along the tops of the hills to give them more definition. I then set about positioning the pieces on the board to see where I wanted them before stamping them again directly onto the board, with the exception of the owls, using Black Archival Ink. The two larger owls I stamped onto white card and cut them out.

SI Flora and Fauna 5

Step Five: I then cut the owls and houses up into pieces as dictated by the stamp lines and then swapped the pieces around to create houses and owls in two colours. I also stamped the images with the small leaves directly onto the board and coloured them with pencils. I carefully stuck all the little pieces on top of the houses and used a bit of white pen to add a little interest.

Step Six: I then used a paper stump with Black and Olive Archival Inks to create shadows round the houses.

Step Seven: I didn't take pics of the next process either, sorry, but in the previous 2 pics you can see them in position! I stamped the larger leafy branches onto more of my green masterboards, added colour with pencils and cut them all out. I arranged these on my board and stuck them on and then fixed the owls on top with 3D foam. At the last minute I decided to stamp the tiny owls from the Squiggly Mini 26 before stamping the phrase and cutting the words up.

Mini 26

Step Eight: The final touches were the gold nail heads on top of each house and the googly eyes for the big owls. I also used a piece of Cut n Dry foam to edge the board with Tree Branch Archival Ink which I should have done before I started sticking all the bits on.....would have been much easier!

I  ended up with quite a few pieces left over so created the gift tag and card. If you would like to see these in more detail they are over on my blog.

I hope you have enjoyed the creation of my cute project and feel like joining in with the topic using any of the inspiration shown on the blog over the past one and a half weeks. 

Thankyou for stopping by this evening.

Lesley Xx

Blog : Craftymammalovenhugs

Facebook : Lesley Ebdon

Twitter :Lesley Ebdon

Instagram : Lesley Ebdon

This is so much fun Lesley, the little birds and houses just look so great in the two colours and animated with the addition of the googly eyes. A fab gift, especially with the card and tag. ~ Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #13: Paper Piecing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were directly inspired  by their post. 

All challenge links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Paper Piecing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 10th 2016. The winner will be announced 1  hour later at 18:00.

2016 #13 Delft Tiles {by Liesbeth Fidder}

 2016 Topic 13: Paper Piecing

Hi everyone, Liesbeth here.

Tonight I'd like to share with you this evening with a post about Paper piecing !

First thing I was thinking about when I heard the words ,Paper piecing' was a beautiful big fabric quilt. Second thing in my mind was (very Dutch ;-) ) Delft blue kitchen tiles. The Lynne Perrella stamps are so very perfect for this ! So I have chosen the tiles, wanted to create Delft blue antique tiles !

You need to know : the moment I start a project, I never have a plan in mind,never, I just start ... That's the reason I made far to much painted and crackled paper. Just one A4 piece is enough for this project.

Step One: I covered a (one is really enough) piece of Smoothy Stamping card A4 with a layer of Fresco Finish : Southern skies and after drying with a thin layer of Crackle Glaze.

Step Two: As soon as I dried the Crackle Glaze , I covered it with a layer of Fresco paint Chalk. You can find everything about Crackle Glaze and ,how to' in Leandra's video HERE !

Step Three: After drying the crackles, I punched 1 inch squares and stamped them by inking the stamp  with Archival Cobalt and putting the little paper square onto the stamp as shown. I made 4 different tiles, 10 times each. 

I used the following LPC stamps: LPC028,

LPC032,

and LPC014 for this.

Step Four: Onto the left over ckrackled piece I stamped the ,tea cup woman' from LPC014 using StazOn ink Jet Black and I cut her out (without the background, just the woman)

Step Five: I coloured the pieces using  a waterbrush and Fresco paint  Coral (the perfect skin colour !) and Southern Skies

Step six: I sponged the edges of the tiles with black ink to let them pop out..

  

Step seven: I glued the tiles tight onto a piece of off-white cardstock and a blue card. Using some foam tape, I finished the card by adding the woman.

A tiny ,left-over' card !

Well, I hope you like this technique and give it a trie yourself ! Of course you are free to choos other colours or other parts of Lynne Perrelle stamps , there all very good for this style! Have fun  creating your own paper pieced Delft Blue !

Best wishes,

Liesbeth X

Blog: http://liesbethart.blogspot.nl/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liesbeth.fidderdevos

Wow Liesbeth, you always seems to weave wonderful magic with Lynne Perrella Stamps, the tiled background idea is fantastic and the idea to borrow from Delft China is perfect!! Thanks so much for sharing! ~Gillian

We would love to see how you interpret this House topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #13: Paper Piecing, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Paper Piecing link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 10th 2016. The winner will be announced 1  hours later at 18:00.