PA 2017 : Blog year in review: Topics 13-16

Hello again from PaperArtsy HQ,

I hope your Christmas break is going well, although many of you will have had a day or 2 back to work, for many people its a relaxing time over the Christmas New year week. Here is another post looking back and celebrating the inspirational ideas presented on the PaperArtsy blog in 2017.

Tonight I'm sharing my picks from Topics 13-16

Leandra 

Topic 13: Metallics

Metallics have been such a strong trend in interior decor for a few years now, and naturally this is also reflected in our crafting. Gold leaf, metallic paints, embossing powders, mica powders and sprays, there are multiple ways that all these elements can successfully add the blingy 'magpie' effect into your work!

Autumn Clark created such gorgeous Xmas cards with Lynne Perrella stamps and a pop of shine. My first pick is this amazing beauty by. A very ...(link to original blog post)

Jennie's trademark soft shades contrast with gold perfectly in this textured assembly of vintage-looking elements.

I thought the delicate metallic embossed colour on Alison's post worked perfectly with the shades of brown. Both she and Raquel prefer to stamp in brown, than black, and i must push myself to stamp wit other coloured inks this year! There you go, one New Year's resolution sorted!

Topic 14: Glitter

Well, yes, we chose Glitter as a topic!!. So don't fall over in shock! But all these sparkly blingy things fell into the same zone for this round, so glitter it is...take a deep breath!

Chris Cresswell made a wonderful array of cards and these popsicle sticks fitted the tall zinski stamps perfectly, look at the cute glittery tops! Go and check out her post, so many card ideas here!

When Jo Firth-Young happened to drop into HQ, and saw me planning out the topics, she booked herself a glitter spot there and then! She LOVES glitter, and Christmas is always her perfect excuse! Here she has decorated an advent calendar perfectly!

The really funny thing about this topic was that (apart from Jo) almost ALL the bloggers were OUT of their comfort zone with glitter, so many went for the non-traditional glitter option, or used very little of it. This was one of those very subtle takes on the topic from Sue Carrington. Fabulous!

And Corrie added subtle holographic glitter to her Halloween backgrounds!

But I was blown away by Raquel's Star decorations. She turned her 'flat' star stamp into a whole bunch of glittered tree decorations!

And Keren used alcohol ink pens to colour glitter paste!! Clever clogs that she is!

Topic 15 : Pearlescent

So glitter lead us nicely into the pearly area of mica, pearlescent paints and so on! You can see this really kicked us into a festive vibe in October! Plenty of cards and decorations were being made in readiness for Christmas!

I loved this frame by Autumn with the pearly vibe to the eggplant EP, but the panel inside was a gorgeous marbled effect! How elegant!

Helen made pearly skins....

And then stamped on them! How does she think this stuff up?!??

I adored Ruth's soft mosaic tiles! These would make an amazing frame for so many pieces of art!

And Bryan created some fast cards with his layering of pearl onto other shades for a quick 'pop' of pearl.

Topic 16 : Rustification

Well we couldn't miss out 'rust' in this round of metallic madness! Many people knew about our rusting powder, but never really played with it extensively! The trick is you need to glue it down first with a good gel medium, then spritz, keeping it damp until the colour is at a tone you prefer. My best results are direct onto untreated wood or fabric. (so no painty base layers) But our bloggers had other ideas to try!

Sue Carrington rusted everything in sight, then created a fabulous homage by the way of this collage.

Clare M used layers of paints to create her rusty effect. This is such a striking background!

Nikki nailed a patina effect (of course she did!!) as she is well known for her patination skills! The colours in this are amazing!And she also used that gorgeous star of Raquel's!

 

And finally for this topic we saw Miriam rust a stamp image onto fabric! Worked a treat too!

It is awesome to look back on what our bloggers have created. Tomorrow will be our final wrap up of the final 3 topics of 2017. Thanks for being part of our blog, and following along with our designers, and responding to their creativity!

Leandra 

2017 #15 Pearlescent: A Pearly Gift Bag with JoFY {by Kate Yetter}

2017 Topic 15: Pearlescent

Kate is back! I really like her way of creating, she is very organic, and there is a hint of scrapbooker to her method of composing layers, and I super-love the dimension she always achieves too! Check out the photos below, lots of details. A lovely way to enjoy the weekend. And relax.....

Kate here, sharing a holiday themed gift bag featuring pearls. I love working with products that lend a pearlescent effect so I chose to work with liquid pearls for this project. I find that I don’t often reach for liquid pearls when creating a project because it is one of those more forgotten embellishments. But a little bit of shine and dimension can go a long way in creating an eye catching creation.

I started out by stenciling with grunge paste on a grocery bag. I covered it in gesso and allowed it to dry. My favorite part of this whole project was sprinkling Golden Sands Infusions over the stenciled area and spraying with water. This was my first time working with Infusions and I couldn’t get over the variety of colors that presented upon spraying with water. Usually, I add 2-3 colors in my background because I like variety but that was unnecessary with the Infusions.

JoFY Collection: Set 40

I stamped on my colored background and many of the embellishments with JoFY 40.

After I created the background, I glued it to a plain kraft gift bag before adding embellishments. I rolled up paper and tied them together with muslin that has been stamped and dyed with Infusions. 

The JOFY stamp set was perfect for this topic. I used the liquid pearls to create the pearls underneath the baubles in the cloche, as well as to accent the lines of my background stencil and to fill in the string of lights.

I added some chipboard, fibers and string to embellish as well.

This piece is full of dimension that the pearls and stamps together have created

I hope you enjoyed this project and are inspired to create your own packaging as the holidays are approaching.  Don’t be afraid to make your packages a work of art! At first I was a little worried about how this was going to turn out but once I started creating, I couldn’t stop adding more! 
 
Kate Yetter
 
Blog: http://scrapyardthe.wordpress.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/katesscrapyard/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/katesscrapyard/

What a stunning gift bag this is! I totally adore the infusions spritzed into the texture paste and then the fibres and stamped layers are just so much fun. Anyone receiving that would be totally blown away! Great project, thanks Kate! ~ Leandra

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

Our creative team love to read your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired!  

Why not join our 2-weekly challenge by blogging your create response to the current topic and link it here?

The current topic link Topic 15: Pearlescent will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 29th October 2017, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store.

2017 #15 Pearlescent: Pearly Trio's with Squiggly Ink {by Bryan Evans}

2017 Topic 15: Pearlescent

I do love a touch of Squiggly ink at Christmas...it's one of our older stamp collections, and it's a clean and simple collection which allows lots of scope to colour, or not. There are numerous Christmas stamps within the Squiggly series, and they certainly lend themselves well to fast cards or tags...watch Bryan work his magic with them!

Hi everyone, it's Bryan here from GeezerCrafter, sharing with you my Christmas Accessories using some of the range of Squiggly Ink stamps along with some Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints, Distress Oxides and Pearl Glaze. I chose Squiggly Ink, as I love the large open spaces to add colour, and wanted to make some quick and easy projects.

This idea came from Ellie Knoll, Ellie used the round Gelli Plate and Distress Oxides, I improvised and used some thick plastic packaging, double sided tape, worked a treat. Distress Oxide Vintage Photo, then Distress Oxides in Peeled Paint are a perfect match!!

3 simple projects, a Concertina Card, a Place Setting Card and a Tag. I used the same technique to apply the Pearl Glaze, Thanks Ellie! If you are applying the Pearl Glaze over Distress Oxides, use just 1 or 2 brushstrokes otherwise the Oxides will reactivate.

Squiggly Ink: Egg and Nog - Plate 5 (SIEN5)

Don't forget to use those decorative corner punches!!. I love working on Kraft card, Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints are a perfect match. Kept it simple and just used Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints Bougainvillia, Banana, and Tango. 

Bright and Cheery... Love the effect of the Pearl Glaze.

 Squiggly Ink: Nut and Meg - Plate 3 (SINM3)

Just one colour here, Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint Caribbean Sea. I applied the Pearl Glaze with a brayer, and you can make your own Pearlescent card!!

Love the subtlety of the Pearl Glaze.

Squiggly Ink: Nut and Meg - Plate 7 (SINM7)

I am looking forward to seeing your pearly makes, I have found the Pearl Glaze fun to work with and like the subtle effect that can be achieved. Next time I will experiment more with the product and try mixing with some Fresco paints and other mediums. If you have young people over Christmas you could just stamp the images and leave blank with some small colouring pencils- keep them amused!! I found the Concertina cards fun to make, have a try.

I will put some dimensions of the cards on my blog.

Blog: Geezer Crafter
Facebook: Bryan G Evans
Pinterest: bryan evans

I love how you have used so many different colouring ideas with these, and the pearl glaze over oxides is fabulous, they are then sealed and ready for more layers to be applied with no more re-activation of the Distress Oxide ink! Thanks again Bryan! ~ Leandra

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

Our creative team love to read your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired!  

Why not join our 2-weekly challenge by blogging your create response to the current topic and link it here?

The current topic link Topic 15: Pearlescent will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 29th October 2017, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store.

2017 #15 Pearlescent: Snowflakes and Stars with EEG {by Hazel Agnew}

2017 Topic 15: Pearlescent

Good evening, Hazel joins us tonight as our own Pearly Queen, a deserved title as she wows us with a 50 card session. 

Hi everyone, it's Hazel Agnew from Mellifluous Meanderings with you today, and I'd like to share with you my excitement in creating many many Christmas cards using Emma Godfrey and Kay Carley products.

Eclectica³ {Emma Godfrey} Set20

Eclectica³ {Emma Godfrey} Set19

PaperArtsy Stencil 070 (PS 070)

The ideas while using these fabulous products just kept coming and solving the Christmas card problem while having fun was such a bonus.

To be honest, I don't know where to start, but I must calm down and get my head into some order. I don't want to bore you with tedium, so a few details first and then the group pics....a bit like being back at school! 

Fresco Finish Metallic White Fire featured a lot in my first creations, as it gave a great sheen to the background. It "aged " the music pages too. Some of the stamping is also White Fire and Pewter. Coffee Archival Ink features too.I enjoyed the rustic nature of these cards. 

Next came the bling!

The background is created by spraying mica mists through Kay Carley's fabulous snowflake stencil. Overstamped with Fresco Finish Metallic Pewter snowflakes. The next picture shows a variety of mica sprays embellished with whatever bling that I could throw at them.

More bling! Simple is best when creating many cards and the sheen is perfect for the time of year.

Same gorgeous stamps but with gelli plate backgrounds. A great way to use up some sparkly additions too.

This close up shows how well the Fresco Finish Metallic Pewter Paint stamps onto black card and how effective simple embellishments can be.

Well, 50 cards in a shoe box ready for writing and still plenty of time to add to them. 
I hope that I have inspired you to begin your card making. These stamps and stencils would be really suitable for creating wrapping paper, gift tags and place cards too. Time to calm down now and have a cuppa!

Thanks for looking and there are more details over on my blog.  Have fun!

Wow Hazel, I would never have believed that you had just 'thrown' embellishments at these cards, every detail seems to well considered as the elements all compliment so well. I don't think I can pick a favourite, I like them all. There will be 50 happy smiles when these plop on doormats this Christmas. ~Darcy

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

Our creative team love to read your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired!  

Why not join our 2-weekly challenge by blogging your create response to the current topic and link it here?

The current topic link Topic 15: Pearlescent will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 29th October 2017, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store.

2017 #13 Pearlescent: Mosaic Frame with LPC {by Ruth Mescall}

2017 Topic 15: Pearlescent

Ruth shows you 3 ways with infusions AND how to make stunning pearly tiles in this post! Somehow she gets it all to work perfectly together - I can't help but wonder how long it took her to commit to arranging the tiles in such a perfectly random way!

Hi everyone, it's Ruth here from 'a love to create' and today I'd like to share with you a frame I've made using a faux mother of pearl technique...yes I've been experimenting again!

When I was looking at picture inspiration for this topic, I came across some mother of pearl mosaic square tiles and thought I wonder if you could create something like that with paint effects, Pearl glaze and something else to create depth? I wasn't sure at that stage whether the squares would be part of a background interspersed with lovely Lynne Perrella images or  a mosaic frame  around one bold image...or even how I would stamp the images, all I knew was that it was time to start experimenting. 

I thought there would be quite a lot of trial and error as that's what usually happens but it came together fairly easily.  I think smaller squares would be even more effective and would allow for different sized images to be used but on this occasion I used a large detailed image for the frame from this stamp set: 

Lynne Perrella Set 009.

Having looked at the tile photo and using shells as another reference I created the first layer, roughly blending lots of paints on Heavy weight smoothy card with cut and dry foam. The paints I used were Taupe, Vanilla, Nougat, Caramel, Snowflake, Concrete, Stone, Pewter (for the back board) and Pearl glaze.

So my idea was to mix Pearl Glaze with 3D transparent gloss gel approx 1:3 ratio. I spread it on with a palette knife and textured them all a little differently with simple tools. I thought I may have applied it too thickly but I was so pleased when they dried as it left a lovely soft  pearly, slightly milky glaze and  exactly what I'd hope for.

Now for the main image, I chose to stamp with Golden Sands infusions. Use Versamark, rub in the infusions and spritz with water. You get  such a variety of images with second and third impressions. The one on the far left more closely matched the colours of the tiles so I used that one and decided to seal it with a wax glaze similar to Distress micro glaze. 

I thought I'd also share the central image from the above photo which is surprisingly detailed, this is using the same method but after lightly spritzing with water I waited a minute before stamping and this is the result. In case you haven't guessed I do like experimenting with infusions and will be using this one as the main image on a card. 

Next bit is easy peasy, 1inch/2.5cm squares just glued and mounted but what about using a steel rule die and creating hexagons or other patterns? All the rough blips that happened when spreading out the gel just add to the mother of pearl effect.

Lastly I just needed to add the main image 'tile' and grout it in place. I had tried a painted gold surround at first but grunge paste was perfect and once dry a little pearl glaze was all that was needed. 

I really hope you can see the subtle sheen and different tones depending on how the light hits the frame and I think this effect would look lovely on a box maybe surrounding a stamped cameo. Are you inspired to create some mother of pearl? ...I hope so. Ruth x

Blog: 'a love to create'
Twitter: @argeum1
Instagram: argeum1
Pinterest: Ruth Mescall

I am amazed at how much colour still pops through the pearly layer you put on top of the painted backgrounds! The tiles look fabulous and the 3 images each have their own appeal too. It's hard to imagine you ever have experiments that don't work! ~Leandra

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

Our creative team love to read your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired!  

Why not join our 2-weekly challenge by blogging your create response to the current topic and link it here?

The current topic link Topic 15: Pearlescent will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 29th October 2017, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store.