PA 2017: Blog Year in Review: Topics 17-19

Hello again from PaperArtsy HQ,

This is the last of our 2017 review posts. I hope you have all eaten all your Christmas leftovers, and are planning for a safe and Happy New Year. As 2018 looms, it's hard to accept the turn of the century was only 18 years ago. We were all so excited to see if computers would fail the world over, but of course they didn't ! In that time, all our kids have grown from babies to adults. I wonder what life will bring in the next 18 years? I guess we cannot begin to imagine.

Tonight I'm sharing my picks from Topics 17-19, the last 3 topics of 2017.

Leandra 

Topic 17: Shades of White

I was so excited for this topic, but boy were the bloggers challenged by it. Every single one of them said how hard it was to work without colour, yet every single one absolutely LOVED the results and surprised themselves in the process. 

Moral of this: step outside of your comfort zone and stretch yourself to try something new! It might be food or a flavour, maybe its a new job, or maybe a different hairstyle? As you contemplate 2018, what can you push yourself to do differently? Embrace change, why not!

My first pick is this amazing assemblage by Liz Borer. I have seen her make several of these niche frames over the years, and she always kicks the concept out of the park! Amazing!

Wanda layered up a simple 'leaf' stamp by Ellen Vargo, and suddenly it was a white poinsettia! All the layers underneath are also amazing!

Anneke showed us just how many shades of white there are in the PaperArtsy Fresco Paint line - and she hasn't even got Antarctic, Stone, Moonlight.....in that mix! 

But look at what she made...

And Ingrid had so much fun doing this with our Squiggly Ink stamps!

Topic 18: Torn, Ripped and Burnt

So we are lucky no one burnt their house down after this topic, but naught pyromaniacs emerged en masse! What is it about playing with fire that we love so much!

I'm pretty sure Raquel did not resort to flames - she is such an expert with Vintage inks, that she could represent torn or burnt perfectly with her inherent distressing skills! This post had a sewing theme, and the details are stunning!

And I loved the experiments Lauren got up to, this background was fascinating - go and read about the process here.

This post by Kate Yetter was another of her journal cover masterclasses in layers and colour!

And this layer blew my socks off! How stunning is this!

Topic 19 : My Favourite Things

Which bring us to our final topic of the year! It was nice to round off the year with bloggers doing what they most like to do! The biggest problem they all had was choosing where to start!

Claire S got into the Zinskis - and journalling, I'm sure those 2 activities have been a favourite past time for many people this year!

Chris Dark went for textured backgrounds slathered with lovely layers of paint and metallic accents (that seems like a lot of our recent topics rolled into one!)

Lauren's elf in a stocking went down well last week! I must admit, he found his way onto my Xmas cards too! Cheeky chappie.

And finally Ellie rounded up the year with the perfect post where she shared her loved of many recent topics too.

There you have it , 2017 on the PA blog. A mahoosive thanks to all our Blogging team! They are fantabulous! Unparalleled. Totes Amazeballs....I'm sure you will agree!

The past year has been one of political and economic turmoil for many of us the world over. Be it food shortages, weather bombs, extreme viruses (medical and technological), impossible to fathom terrorist attacks, people fleeing their beloved homelands, or election results that we could never imagine. The world has become a smaller place in the past 2 decades since the turn of the century, and yet, it seems so much bigger in our daily lives now that we are more aware about what is happening outside of the 4 small walls we call home.

I'm sure we have all be touched by the anguish and pain of this seemingly incessant turmoil.  As we go about our daily life, we can still choose to be kind, we can choose to share our talent with other people, and we can only try our best to make wise choices in the face of adversity.

Our blog will continue to be a crafty lighthouse of inspiration. Thanks to the tremendous blogging team we have collected over numerous years, we are honoured to be a safe place for you to visit to enjoy their talents, and make your own kind of crafty magic in response. A big thanks to them and to you too!

Have a safe and Happy New Year, we'll see you on the other side with lots of good stuff planned for your enjoyment in 2018!!!

We very much look forward to doing it all again with you next year! Be on the alert, we start fast this year before we hit the tradeshow season....and you know what that means!!! ....shhhhhhhh.....not telling you yet....

Leandra 

2017 #17 White: White Odyssey with ESN {by Florence Adam}

2017 Topic 17: Shades of White

It's the lovely Florence from France back to share how she built up a beautiful background with elements, textures and stamps! Enjoy!

Hi everyone, it's Florence and I'd like to share my shades of white piece with you.

I was really fascinated by the subject of “shades of white”, however when i was faced with the thought of designing something based around the subject, my thoughts strayed as I was  confronted with some strange and challenging philosophical questions. What is the colour white? How many shades are there? Is white really a colour? Staring at my empty and white board I wondered: “Is this work already finished?”.

I was inspired by Ivy Newport’s work and decided to create a collage with old papers, like music partitions and books (apologies to the books). I then applied a soft layer of white gesso, trying not to cover everything, I find that this gives the background a refined feel as you can see through the old book paper prints.

Once I had my background done, I've jumped straight into the layers, texture, volume, and 3D parts!! Sterile gauze, buttons, sand, micro beads, feather, threads, sardine can opener, anything you have will do the job!

Eclectica³ : Sara Naumann - Set 21 (ESN21)

I embossed my dragonfly with white powder on tracing paper, so it looks frosty.

I stamped with Jet Black Archival ink the beautiful dragonfly designed by Sara Naumann. Then I used some puff paint around the piece, this crazy paint is really fluffy under the heat, creating a perfect 3D effect. This small piece will actually be my focus point. To make it more interesting, I used UTEE powder to create a glass effect.

It's never easy taking good photographs of a normal project, but it's a nightmare when you need to take a good photograph of a white project!

I hope you will enjoy this piece, make your own one and be creative!! It's been a while since I wrote a blog, it was nice to be back again!

Blog: mlledantan.canalblog.com

Facebook: Florence ADAM
Instagram:mlledantan
Pinterest: Florence ADAM

Wow, this is gorgeous! I am loving how everyone is exploring the white texture vibe so perfectly. Love those the puffy effects too!!

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 17: White will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 26th November 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 #17 White: 'Ladies of the Forest' Triptych with LPC {by Chris Cresswell}

2017 Topic 17: Shades of White

When you build textures, and apply some white paint to soften, everything looks gorgeous! Add some Lynne Perrella stamps into the mix, and Chris has a truly lovely interior decor piece!

Hi everyone, it's Chris Cresswell from loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk with you today, and I'd like to share with you my triptych canvas, Ladies of the Forest, using a few of Lynne Perrella's fabulous stamps designed for PaperArtsy. 

I must admit that this was a huge challenge for me. I usually work with a lot of colour and bright colours too! I generally shy away from neutrals and monotones although I really admire those artists, like Lynne Moncrieff, who prefer to work within a minimal colour palette. However, as soon as I brought Lynne Perrella's images into the mix, ideas began formulating. Now, I am very much a 'process' person. I have a vague idea of what the final result should look like but I generally don't plan beforehand how I'm going to get there. Sometimes the end result is a bit of a surprise - as this was!

My first intention was to create some 'white on white' Christmas cards, but as I started collecting various products in different shades of white (for someone who loves colour, I seem to have a surprising amount), a mixed media project was increasingly calling out to me. Then I came across a long piece of cardboard packaging and I knew that would be perfect for the base. After that, everything just fell into place. 

A lover of the rule of three found me rummaging through my stash of wooden arches to find three that would be the right shape for the stamped images I knew that I wanted to use and also be large enough to spread evenly across the base. 

What followed was a series of process steps, some of which proved entirely unnecessary; such is the problem of not having a clear plan in mind! I tend to make decisions as I go along and invariably find myself thinking, "Oh I didn't need to do that". However, I do find myself following a similar pathway as I approach each project: gesso, collage, paint. One clear plan, however, was to keep to different shades of white and introduce metallic silver at different points for gentle contrast. As this would be a Winter scene, there would also be added glitter!

I covered the entire base and (quite unnecessarily as it transpired) the arches with an assortment of delicious papers and tissue stock from my stash, gluing and sealing everything with gel medium. As the final layout would essentially be white, I wanted elements of the collage to peek through the various white layers at the end. I started by painting over this collage base with a very watered-down Snowflake Fresco Chalk paint in order to make it more translucent. However, I realised that this was too bright for the more 'vintage' feel I was after, so this was quickly followed with a layer of Nougat Fresco Chalk paint, similar to an Antique white. Perfect. Now, an idea of where this was going began to take shape in my mind.  

I had no problem choosing three stamp images for the arches as these are my all-time favourites: LPC008, LPC018, LPC028.

Lynne Perrella Collection: Set 8 (LPC008)

 Lynne Perrella Collection: Set 18 (LPC018)

 

Lynne Perrella Collection: Set 28 (LPC028)

This is an example of having taken an unnecessary prior step as I now changed tack and decided to stamp the images onto the top, thin layer of a silver and white, snowflake-patterned serviette. The images were embossed in silver as I wanted them to be quite subdued. However, the faces were not prominent enough so I 'borrowed' an idea from Lynne Perrella herself (True Colours, Somerset Studio publication, p.14) and stamped the faces onto PaperArtsy Smoothy card, again in silver, cut out the faces, and glued them on top of the first images. Much better. The frames were first painted with Pewter Fresco Chalk paint then stamped on top using Encore Silver ink by Tsukineko. 

Creating the focal images and adorning them with beading and Ranger's Liquid Pearls was relatively easy, especially as the pattern on the serviette added interest behind each figure. I spent much more time deciding how to compete the space between and behind the arches, rifling through my stash for inspiration. 

The result was a mixture of corrugated board, beads, ceramic 3D balls (Powertex), lace, voile and texture paste through a stencil. I painted over everything, first with a thin layer of gesso, then another layer of Nougat. I was liking it more and more but it somehow felt 'empty'. I am used to crowded, busy, colourful scenes. This was too tranquil!

The little wooden trees were painted with DecoArt Metallic Silver and I have added DecoArt Snow-Tex to the arches and the twig/trees. Three word tiles were added to the frames before adding final touches with 'Treasure Silver',( to highlight the texture paste) and lots of Ranger's Crystal Stickles!

I also added Treasure Gold in Silver (Connoiseur Art Studio) to the larger beads and glass domes that I had previously painted over with Nougat. The 'Trees, though lovely and twinkly with snow and glitter along the 'branches' needed something trailing through them. I deliberated about hanging little stars from them before finding a lovely string of pearls (courtesy of a Goodie Box from Artful days) that I was able to wind through and around the 'branches', resembling little fairy lights. Now it was looking magical. My ipad camera doesn't do justice to the pretty effect of this as the nylon 'string' is very fine.

This challenge has taken me far out of my comfort zone but I have really enjoyed the journey. Perhaps you have also backed away from what at first seems to be a limiting challenge, but I do encourage you to have a go. The limited colour palette actually gives you a sense of freedom to really explore just what is possible with different shades of white - of course, the addition of silver broke the rules a little, but that's what makes each of our projects unique. Until next time...

Blog: www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook: Chris Cresswell
Twitter: artmadnana
Instagram: artmadnana
Pinterest: Chris Cresswell

Oh my, this looks fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing your small details that bring it all together! I love the textures in between the each of the frames too and the glitter and silver accents are stunning! What a lovely wintry project! Superb! ~ 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 17: White will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 26th November 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 #17 White: Christmas Ornaments with Squiggly Minis {by Ingrid Vichova}

2017 Topic 17: Shades of White

Our bloggers seem to be loving the shade of white challenge, even if it does seem a tricky idea at first, they certainly get on a roll! Ingrid is giving paper clay a whirl in this post!!

Hi everyone, it's Ingrid with you today, and I'd like to share with you my take on the 'Shades of white' theme. At first, I thought, my Goodness! All these gorgeous Fresco paints and you want me to create something white?! And then I thought, why not! I like to challenge myself and in the end the biggest challenge of all was to take the photos of the all white thing. The creative part was super fun! I kid you not, it took me three days to get some decent shots. Even with my studio lights it is a challenge on a dark rainy day. 

I always think of how I can stretch my stash and how I can use it in other than the obvious ways. I have already done stamping in the PaperArtsy Grunge Paste so I wanted to push it even further. I got my paper clay out and it all went from there... 

I'm no expert on paper clay and I use it mostly with molds to make frames and other embellishments for my mixed media art. I never tried stamping on it before so this was more of an experiment. I knew I was going to stick to whites so I needed a bit of a contrast as well as to protect my stamp a bit so I used the Ranger, Wendi Vecchi, Archival Ink in Shadow Grey before stamping into the clay. Is that cheating?:) 

I highlighted with Snowflake paint and then it was too fiddly so switched to a white Sharpie. Is that cheating again?! :) I'm doing really well, apparently.. LOL! Guess what though, I discovered you can use the sharpie as a base for heat embossing so my raised areas were suddenly shiny! Ha! 

As you can see, I added more interest and sparkle to my background before I found these lovely berries and snowflakes. The music sheet was confiscated from my partner. He's a musician, but it's not like he needs it more than I do, right?  

I couldn't stop playing with the clay. The stamping into it became rather addictive. 

Squiggly Mini 26 (SM26)

Squiggly Mini 25 (SM25)

 Suddenly, I wasn't just making a wintery card with a cute clay cat embellishment. I made so many I turned them into some ornaments too. I stamped and cut them out and left them to dry. I came back and nearly keeled over! Not because they were so cute! Because they slightly curled. So, learn from y mistakes and put something over them to keep them flat. I have an obsession of solely decorating 'my' Christmas tree to nothing but a perfection. These, my dears, will be decorating my daughter's spare tree in their bedroom. LOL! But anyway... it's an idea that counts. 

And there you have it! Why not use your rubber stamps in new innovative ways! You could swap the clay for a lovely melted embossing powder to stamp in. It's the same process and it's quick too! Try it and make your own embellishments too! The best thing is that you have a vast number of fabulous stamps available from the PaperArtsy shop. You don't have to used the Squiggly Mini 26 or the Squiggly Mini 25 to create these fun embellishments and ornaments. Have a browse to see what catches your eye and treat yourself to an early Christmas pressie. Just don't tell your husband!:D 

Have fun and stay creative! 

Ingrid xxx 

Blog: Ingrid Kristina V Designs 
Facebook: Ingrid Kristina V 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ingridkristinav
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ingridkristinav/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ingridkristinav/

I'm happy for you to get in touch, if you have any questions! 

Being challenged seems to always take you in an unexpected direction! This is fabulous Ingrid, and I'm fascinated by the Shadow Grey ink with the sharpie!! Awesome result! Thank you for such great exploration!

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 17: White will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 26th November 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 #17 Winter Wonderland with EEG by Anneke de Clerck

2017 Topic 17: Shades of White

Another of our regular bloggers has created a pop of soft colour in the background of her white composition. And it looks beautiful of course - its the lovely Anneke!

Hi everyone, it's Anneke with you today, and I'd like to share a wintery 3D scene that I made for the current 'Shades of White' topic. I love creating small dioramas in shadowboxes or mason jars. I enjoyed the process very much although the colors ( is white a color ?) were quite a challenge for me. As you know I'm usually going for bold and bright colors. 
Below I'll share some tips on how to start a project like this.

Shades of white...this topic during this time of year asks for a wintery landscape doesn't it? I knew immediately I wanted to do a diorama. 

First I'll tell you how I started. If I have to do a 'big' project for a challenge I'm often making a moodboard. I looked through my supplies and gathered embellishments and other stuff in white, off white and cream. Not everything what you see ended up on the project but looking at this improvised moodboard gave me instant inspiration.

Next I went through my patterned paper supplies for 'shades of white'. Then I looked for matching PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics. To my surprise PaperArtsy has lots of 'white' paints in their collection! From the left to the right: Concrete, Nougat, Buff, Snowflake, Chalk and Honey Dew.

I wanted to mix papers and paints for both background and trees. Finally I've chosen to work with Chalk, Honey Dew and Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paints. These 'whites' matched best with the patterned paper.

I worked on a paper panel that I trimmed to the size of the shadowbox. I punched 47 inchies out of patterned paper and used 10 cm wide double sided adhesive tape to attach the inchies. As you can see on the photo I laid a pattern out first before glueing everything down. I'm never creating an inchies background randomly. I'm always going for a nice balance between the different colors/patterns.

Eclectica³ Emma Godfrey Set 15 (EEG15)

I overstamped the background with a circle stamp from the EEG15 stamp set using Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paint.

To decorate the trees I used small stamps from different EEG stamp sets: EEG07, EEG14 and EEG15.

I've cut triangles out of patterned paper and added a wash of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics on top. I stamped with small stamps from EEG14, EEG15, EEG07 using Versamark ink and heat embossed the prints with WOW embossing powder Opaque Bright White. I glued the trees on 340grs stamping card to make them more firm, added tree trunks and used 3D tape to attach the trees. 

On the tree in the middle I applied Golden Glass Bead Gel. After drying the gel becomes translucent.

To decorate the shadowbox I used a few products from the Tim Holtz Ideo-logy collection: a tree, a decorative dome, a few deer and a typed token.

I wrapped some of my favorite fluffy yarn around the shadow box.

To highlight the word 'winter' on the token I rubbed over the text with a white Distress Crayon.

I love how the trees turned out. The use of patterned paper adds interest to the trees. And it's amazing what you can do with just a few small and beautiful stamps.

There are no bold colors involved but to my own surprise I'm happy with the result. Note to self: make projects in shades of white more often :)

For this project I used a wooden tray that I bought in a home deco store. By putting the tray on it's side it became a shadowbox. I added a few layers of gesso first to hide the ugly green color. For the top layer I used Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paint.

To create a shadowbox/diorama you can recycle all kinds of boxes or lids or you can use the back of a canvas.  Why not making a diorama in a large mason jar or in/below a glass dome. The possibilities are endless. 

I hope I inspired you to bring your own 3D wintery scene to life. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!

Anneke

My blog

http://somefiddlingonthekitchentable.blogspot.be

Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/anneke1/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/somefiddlingonthekitchentable/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/anneke.declerck

 

Oh yes!! It IS amazing how super small stamps can be used to create big bold patterns! I love how the embossing turned out, such a fantastic project for any room this winter! Lovely! ~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 17: White will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 26th November 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.