2016 #2 Vintage Heart {by Jennie Atkinson}

 2016 Topic 2: Hearts

Hi everyone Jennie here with you all tonight and I would like to share with you this evening a small project for the hearts theme using some of my favourite Vintage Ink and the Dog plates.

I love stamp sets which contain tickets, postcards and labels and so I thought I would combine three of my favourite sets to create a background as well as using them for the embellishments.

Step One: I started by making my background covering a 5" x 3" piece of grey/white board with some cream cardstock and randomly stamped all over using the two postcard stamps from ID Words4 and Potting Soil Archival Ink.This was a little dark so I gave everything a coat of gesso before splattering with some watery ink.

 ID Words4

Step Two:  Using the same inks  and cream cardstock I stamped this fabulous label from ID Ephemera 2 and the filmstrip lady from ID Letters 6. The sentiment is from ESN07  plate.

ID Ephemera 2

ID Letters 6.

ESN07

Step 3: And so to the heart. I covered a die cut grey board heart with gesso and then a covering of Golden Iridescent Copper Acrylic. I let it dry naturally and then heated some Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE) on it before stamping into it with the small postcard from ID Words 4 doing my best to try and get the postage frank and carte postale lettering on the heart. It took a couple of tries, but the beauty of UTEE is that you can reheat it and stamp into it again! Finally I rubbed some Potting Soil Archival Ink over the top to highlight the stamping.

Step 4: And then everything was layered onto the board creating different layers with foam pads. I added in some lace, a small paper rose, pearl buttons and a metal key.

Step 5: I always feel that my metal or buttons appear a little harsh so I paint a little gesso on on them here and there and on this occasion added some of the Golden Copper Acrylic to tie everything in together.

I expect that many of you have these older vintage stamps in your collection and I hope I have provided some different ideas for using them. I am not sure what I will use this small project for yet, but as it is our 40th Wedding Anniversary this year I think it will make a lovely cover for a small memories book. 

Thank you so much for joining me tonight and I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Jennie x
Blog 

Thanks Jennie, your panel is lovely and will definately make a perfect book cover. These older stamps are often overlooked but they have so many interesting gems on them. thankyou for bringing these sets back to life. ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts  topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

2016 #2: Crazy Patchwork Heart By Karen Daniell

2016 Topic 2: Hearts 

Hi everyone Karen Daniell here, sharing a project with you for the hearts theme.

This evening I am showing you a crazy patchwork heart. My mum taught me to sew when I was a little girl, and so I have always loved playing with fabric. I decided to use a patchwork technique for my project but using card and paint as well as fabric and lace.

Step1 – First I made my heart template. As I was working with a 12 x 12 canvas board, I took a 12 x 12 piece of paper and cut out a heart shape. I then drew the crazy pattern onto this, starting with a triangle in the centre, then dividing the rest of the heart into sections. I made 2 of these one to keep as a reference and one to cut up.

Step 2 – Using the pattern, I cut out a heart shape in Bondaweb and ironed it onto a piece of Linen Scrim. (Bondaweb is a double sided glue which is activated by heat, used in sewing to bond fabrics together). I cut the scrim heart using pinking shears, leaving about 1cm around the Bondaweb.

I then brayered Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint onto pieces of Lightweight Smoothy Card and white cotton fabric. I used Bora Bora, Candy Floss, Guacamole and Chalk on some and Spanish Mulberry, Mermaid, Guacamole and Chalk on others. On the card pieces I then over-stamped some of the smaller images from JOFY13, JOFY24 and JOFY32, using Spanish Mulberry, Bora Bora and Chalk. I then used my pattern to cut pieces of the card and fabric to fit the heart. I tried to alternate the fabric and card to give a contrast.

JOFY13

JOFY24

Step 3 – Using Jet Black and Potting Soil Archival ink pads I stamped each piece with images from JOFY13, JOFY24 and JOFY32. I then ironed the pieces onto the linen heart to bond together.

JOFY32,

Step 4 – I then coloured in all of the images using translucent Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint. I used Zesty Zing, Hey Pesto, Pumpkin Soup, Tango, Blood Orange, Claret, Autumn Fire and Blueberry. I also used Spanish Mulberry mixed with Satin Glaze and Glass Blue mixed with a little Concrete. When I was happy with it I added a few dots of Chalk to some of the images.

Step 5 – Next I found some pieces of cream lace and glued them over the joins of the card and fabric using matt medium. I tried where possible to cover the ends of the lace. I then worked 3 lines of stitching around the heart with a variegated sewing thread.

Step 6 – Onto the corners of the canvas board I glued some scrunched up tissue paper to give some texture, then I painted it with Bora Bora and Guacamole Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint, adding a touch of Candy Floss, Pumpkin Soup and Chalk. When it was dry I rubbed on some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold to highlight the texture in the corners. The heart was attached to the canvas using matt medium, and I also glued buttons to the ends of the lace.

To finish I stamped the alphabet from JOFY21 onto scraps of the brayered card, to spell ‘Hearts and Flowers’, and glued those to the canvas.

JOFY21

I hope you’ve enjoyed this project and that it will inspire you to have a go at some ‘patchwork’ yourself.

Karen xx

I don’t have a blog (yet!), but you can catch up with me on 

Facebook 

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Oh karen I really like this, so pretty and what a different way to use the stamps. The different directions of the flowers provide great movement and the lace adds perfect grounding. ~ Darcy 

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

2016 #2 Don't lose your heart! {by Debs Wainwright}

2016 Topic 2: Hearts

Hi everyone Debs here, joining you this evening with a post about Hearts. I have a love of hearts and as Valentines Day is not that far away, it was easy to decide to make a card for the occasion. I didn't use traditional colours as I'm not that keen on red; I was drawn to a more vintage style, and Claire's little Cupid from ECL05 was perfect.

         

Step One: I created my background using the hearts from ECL05 and Archival Ink in Potting Shed on to a piece of Smoothy Card which I had cut to size. I aged the edges of the card and then mounted it onto bronze metallic card.

        

Step Two: I used Blue Bister to add a pop of colour to the background. I activated the Bister with Crème brûlée spray From Lyndy's Stamp Gang which gave a fabulous lustre to the card.

Step Three: I stamped my feature onto a smaller piece of card, and aged the edges. I distressed the edges of the card using the Archival Ink and then gently brought the colour into the middle lightly to provide some colour on the Cupid image. She was then mounted onto the same bronze card.

Step Four: I stamped my words onto leftover card, and mounted them to match. Next came the heart, which after stamping onto the bronze card, was cut out.Using a heat tool on the heart for a few seconds changed the bronze coating giving it a wrinkled look. This was then put in place.

                  

Final Step: I assembled the card and once it was completely dry I painted the Cupid's body using Fibralo water Soluable pens, I love these pens over Fresco Acrylic Paints as the colour moves really well. Lastly I added some little gold pearls to finish the look.

 

Claire's heart from ECL05 is just the perfect size for the card, but I think it's a little dominated by the amount of blue in the background. I think I'd use a less Bister next time to give a more subtle affect, which is what I was after. I do love the colour though!

I would love to see what you create with your hearts. You don't have to have 'love' on your mind as hearts can be used in many ways, for example,  you use hearts to create flowers, or in your backgrounds for added interest, or why not string up a few for a wall hanging? The choice is yours!

You can find more about me on my Blog, Pinterest, and Facbook. 
I also teach a journal class monthly at Birds in the Barn in Essex.

Hugs Debs xx

Perfect use of Bistres, and how fab that your heart went kind of wrinkly looking! Love the soft sparkle too, thanks Debs for sharing with us tonight! ~Leandra

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

2016 #2: Mixed Elements Heart {by Lin Brown}

 2016 Topic 2: Hearts

Hi everyone Lin from Yoursartfully here.

Tonight I'd like to share with you a post about recycling and Bister Powders.

My challenge was to make a project using some stamps from the Urban Snapshots range for the theme of hearts. This had me scratching my head, trying to figure out a way of tying the two together. After searching through my stash of substrates in search of anything heart shaped, it suddenly dawned on me that it really couldn't be more simple than using the iconic shape of a heart to show and share my love of trees.

With the idea in the back of my head that we should all be better at recycling, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share a project with you that uses left overs from some experiments I did with my Bister Powders. 

Step One: I gathered together some scraps of fabric that I had used for Bister Powder experiments. I had spritzed the fabric with water before sprinkling on the Bisters (I used Yellow, Blue and Green). Sometimes I needed to spritz more water to get the powder to dissolve which made the fabric very wet. Because of the amount of water involved, I laid the fabrics on paper to mop up some of the liquid. These papers turned out to be very useful as you will see a little bit later. I also used the powders through some stencils too, to try and control the patterns a little bit. Whilst the patterns were not crisp images, they turned out to be very useful.

Step Two: I drew a heart on some tracing paper so that I could use it to decide which area of the patterned fabric to use. Moving this over the fabric is a great way to help you decide. I did also stamp my tree on the tracing paper to give me insight into how it would look,but foolishly forgot to take a photo of that!!!

Step Three: Using Archival ink, I stamped the tree from Urban Snapshots Nature 1. I love how the background looks like a stormy sky. This is why it is such a good idea to use the tracing paper trick......placement is so important.

Step Four: Now for the mop up papers that I mentioned earlier. This was just cheap copy paper but look at the great patterns that were left behind. The one at the top/left is amazing. The fabric I used had a tiny pattern printed on it and this acted as a resist....so cool. The other two pieces were linen with chunkier weave which also left behind some great patterns.

Step Five: I chose the paper with the least amount of colour as I wanted to stamp other images from Urban Snapshots Nature 2 and 3.

Urban Snapshot Nature 2

Urban Snapshot Nature 3

Step Six: This final shot shows how I used small pieces of my recycled papers behind the heart and a layer of lace between the heart and background before stitching everything together.

When I make a project, I always feel that it's the small finishing touches that transform a project that you like into a project that you love. In this instance, it was the addition of the small label. Luckily, I thought to do this before fixing everything to my canvas!

I hope this project has inspired you to to use up some of those papers and fabrics that you can't bear to through away and to take a look at the stamps in the Urban Snapshots range. There are some fabulous images in this range which I hate to admit, I had completely forgotten about but I will definitely be using them more often now. In fact I think I might make two more canvases to enable me to create a triptych

Thank you for joining me this evening.
Lin  from Yoursartfully 

The subtle effects from the Bister Powders has created the most wonderful backgrounds. It is interesting to see how the powders react/take on different surfaces. The images and natural canvas background gives this project a real ethereal feel. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us. ~Gillian

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts  topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

2016 #2: My Heart {by Lynne Moncrieff}

2016 Topic 2: Hearts 

Hi everyone, Lynne Moncrieff (Adorn) here this evening to share with you a post focusing on the theme of Hearts. When, in 2015 I had a Guest post for PaperArtsy, the assemblage I created featured a beautiful ESN linked hearts stamp which I stamped into paperclay. Stamping into paperclay appeals to me for many reasons, especially as a way for us stampers to extend the versatility of our stamp collection. For this tutorial I wanted to return to the hearts stamp, once again stamping into paperclay but this time with quite a different style and outcome to the finished artwork.

Now, I might not be one to get giddy over embellishments but let's talk about Prima Relics and Artifacts! Those creamy, smooth resin embellishments are wonders, blank canvases ripe and ready for us to throw whichever mediums we wish at them. Marrying them up with the stamped paperclay allowed me to create a whimsical art doll. She is ready to give her heart to you. 

Step One: After rolling the paperclay I stamped the linked hearts from ESN11 into it - no need to ink up the stamp.

 ESN11

Step Two: As I only required the large heart, with a craft knife I cut directly through the linked smaller heart. Paperclay can be cut with a knife/scissors before or after it has dried. 

Step Three: Working with the paperclay and an Art Doll Face mould could not be any easier! If you are new to working with paperclay, a few factors determine the drying time:-the thickness of the paperclay element, humidity and temperature. It's always a good idea to make a batch of elements at one time, saves time in the long run. 

Step Four:- A base layer of colour in the form of Distress Stain Spray Tattered Rose was misted onto a large white/greyboard tag before applying Grungepaste . Once dry, I followed with Translucent Paste applied to a heart stencil. To this, I applied Fresco Finish Blue Oyster, Blush and Prawn mixed with Brown Shed (please don't look too closely at my messy bottles!)

Step Five: After the texture and colour was laid down, I set about stamping with Archival Ink Watering Can. Below are the three stages of stamping. 

Step Six: Dipping into the colours used on the tag along with a dash of Sherbert, I lightly and shabbily painted the paperclay elements along with a wooden frame and hearts and two Relics and Artifacts hands. For the Relics and Artifacts wings, I first misted with Tattered Rose, leaving to air dry before dabbing on Nougat and Blush. Note:- I removed the eye screws from the Relics and Artifacts after painting but that is a personal preference only.

Step Seven: The fun part, assembling the art doll on the tag, with my adhesive of choice, Golden Gel Medium. Little touches such as raspberry velvet ribbon, lace, rhinestones and a MOP heart button and to add just another hint of texture and detail to the tag, I swiped Blue Oyster onto deli paper, stamped the handwritten script from ESN18, tearing into fragments before adhering with Gel Medium to the background.

ESN18, 

One final detail photograph to share with you of the heart she clasps in her hands. This wooden heart was painted with Brown Shed mixed with Prawn before stamping My Heart from ESN11 with Staz-on Jet Black. I had to alter the configuration of the sentiment to fit the heart, inking up a word at a time. To give a beautiful shiny layer I applied Liquid Glass.

It is always fun to take a loved stamp and work with it in a different way, play around with it, creating something that is a little bit different to your "go to" style. Maybe for the Hearts theme you will delve into your own heart stamp collection. A small heart repeatedly stamped in a circle could form a flower head or a single heart to create another style of quirky flower, completing the flowers with a simple hand-drawn stalk. By stamping into paperclay it would instantly bring extra depth and interest to your artwork and the benefit of paperclay, with it being so light, once dry, it is suitable for cards or small tags as well as larger pieces of art. 

Re-evaluating this project, I would probably take the step of either stamping a face into paperclay or adding hand-drawn features. It would also be fun to extend the doll to include legs and dressing her with a skirt of lace. I hope you will have fun exploring your heart themed stamps.

Lynne Moncrieff

Blog 
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This is so lovely Lynne, the doll face and the overall colour scheme is so serene. The different levels of dimension all compliment each other from the grunge paste to the paper clay to the hands and heart. Thanks for sharing with us. ~Darcy 

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

2016 #2: Lavender Blue {by Lucy Edmondson}

 2016 Topic 2: Hearts

Hi everyone Lucy from True Colours here.

Tonight I'd like to share with you a post about gilding the inside of a bottle with gold embossing enamel. It's a heart shaped bottle, to go with our current theme of Hearts. I don't know if this has been tried before, it probably has, but for me it was a fun experiment when I wondered in the middle of the night (as you do!) if it would be possible to melt the embossing  powder by heating the glass carefully from the outside.

I chose to make a home decor item as I have been turning my old bedroom at my Mum's into as much a sanctuary as possible as I spend so much time with her, and it hasn't been decorated since 1974. It's great with Frescos that you can have whatever colourscheme you choose, and I now have many Frescoed items to match my purple bedlinen.

Step 1: To start off, I used the end of a plastic spoon to tip a little gold embossing powder into my bottle and applied the heat gun to the outside. You don't want to get the glass too hot in case it cracks, so go carefully. Stop once it's molten and sprinkle some onto another area and do the same again. ( Ignore the Versamark and the cottonbud, I'd forgotten I had a clear embossing pen for doing the rim!)

Step 2: Drizzle Wisteria Fresco Finish paint inside the bottle, swirl it around until it is fully coated, then let it drain upside down briefly until dry.

Step 3: Dip the rim of the bottle into the gold embossing powder and melt with the heat tool. If you need to touch up any areas, use a clear embossing pen.

Step 4: Now for the embellishments for the neck of the bottle. Use a piece of cut n dry foam to apply a very thin coating of Wisteria to the rough side of a piece of frosted shrink plastic.

Step 5: Die cut the prepared shrink plastic piece into two sizes of heart. I chose the larger size to fit the butterfly from Hot Picks HP1301 I used Jet Black StazOn and I like to take the shrink to the stamp and press all over with my fingers until I can see the design come through evenly. With frosted shrink, I prefer to paint the rough side and stamp on the shiny side as this gives you a glossy final image.

 HP1301

Step 6: I then stamped some smaller hearts in the same manner using script from HP1304 and a small and a large heart with flowers from HP1009. I then punched a hole in the top right hand corner, shrank them with the heat tool, and edged them with gold embossing powder. You could use a gold pen instead.

HP1304 

HP1009.

I threaded the shrink plastic charms onto gold elasticated thread. You can see the shrunk designs a bit more clearly in this final photo. As you can see in the main photo, I am using my mini vase for a bunch of lavender.

This was such a quick and fun project to make! I would love to experiment with different shades of Fresco and some other metallic embossing powders. It could be done very inexpensively by recyling room fragrance diffuser bottles, and could make great co-ordinated table flower arrangements for a DIY wedding! I'm thinking pale gold embossing powder with Nougat Fresco, and a spray of peach roses ..........

Lucy, True Colours

Lucy this is just beautiful, and what a gorgeous, restful colour palette, perfect for a bedroom. How fantastic that you were able to emboss 'inside' of a bottle, genius! I would have been scared to crack the bottle, but you are an adventurer! A really lovely and professional looking piece of home decor. ~ Darcy 

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts  topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, 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 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!