2020 #10 Postcards with ESN {by Carol Fox}

2020 Topic 10: Recycled Packaging

Intro
There is something super appealing about white, black and a splash of blue on kraft card. The white space is less 'white' when you work with kraft (duh) and somehow that adds a warm balance which I find super-appealing! Carol works her magic utilising many of Sara Naumann's stamps, and there are always a load of interesting elements within them to suit the painted layers perfectly!
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Carol with you today, and I'd like to share with you some postcards made with my favorite packaging to recycle those lovely Amazon Kraft Coloured envelopes.

I have made some 6 x 4 postcards to send in the place of Cards, either for birthdays or just a random "miss you card". I do usually send these naked through the post so I make them flat. Here I have simply stenciled and then added stamping over the top with paints and inks. I used a combination of paints and inks as this adds more layers and I was also introduced to my new must have background stamp, and yes I do admit to being a little bit in love with it.

My finished postcards. I usually send them naked through the post like this, but due to the present circumstances I have added an envelope and this is shown in the last photo.

Background stencil with PS046 and Chalk fresco Paint. I went for a softer white as I thought this looked nicer against the Kraft coloured card.

My new favourite background stamp set ESN09 stamped using Marbles Fresco Paint. I pounced my paint gently onto the stamp with a bit of cut and dry to avoid to much paint and a smudgy image.

  

The words from ESN05 stamped in black archival in. 

Using sets ESN21 and ESN28 I stamped an image on each card using black archival ink.

I added the same splatter image I used before from ESN09 but this time I stamped it in black archival ink. I like how the same image stamped in different mediums adds depth to my postcard.

I didn't like the way the quote had covered my 'Carte Postal' on one of my cards, so I decided to colour in the words on each card and this helped to lift the words in front of the circle stamp. I also ran my ink pad around the edge of the cards to frame them a little bit.

On my envelope I simply repeated what I did for the cards, but I masked off a bit in the middle with a post it note to give a space for the address.

These are very quick to make and are handy for a last minute Birthday card and I like them in preference to a proper card as they remind me of when I was little and we always seemed to get loads of postcards in the summer from Holidays, a bit of the lost past now with all the social media sites and everything being so instant...grief showing my age here!! But I suppose they appeal to the retro chick in me and I love writing my message on the back. My family did think I was either weird or to mean to give them an envelope at first but I think they get it now. Also if anyone still reads proper books they make great bookmarks. 

Have a lovely Day and I can be found at the following places.

Carol x

Blog: http://gingernonutsbits.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GingersAlteredBits/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gingernonuts/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/gingernonuts/boards/

2020 #10 Tribal Chiefs with EGL {by Amanda Pink}

2020 Topic 10: Recycled Packaging

Intro.   
Life is like a box of chocolates, and Amanda has managed to repurpose that white bumpy layer that comes just inside the lid! Any excuse to buy choccies so we can make cool BG's right?? Absolutely love these tribal face stamps from Gwen's new release, so much personality with a splash of quirky creative fun too!
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Amanda (ink-a-pink) with you today, and I'd like to share with you the project I have created for the current topic: 'Recycled Packaging' .

I have a few pieces of what I would call 'Tribal Art' around my home so thought I would add a few new additions by creating a trio of framed panels featuring some of the 'Tribal Chiefs'  that are on one of Gwen Lafleur's newly released stamp sets. The panels are made up of recycled packaging, texture, tribal colours and patterns, not forgetting of course the ever so fabulous 'Tribal Chief's' themselves.

Having no end of cardboard packaging cluttering up my garage I thought I'd use some of it for my project. I picked out some hardback envelopes and a cardboard folder/ wallet. I also added some chocolate box lining into the mix too! 

As I mentioned in the intro the stamp set I worked with was PaperArtsy Eclectica (Gwen Lafleur) collection (EGL09)

Normally when I create I start with the backgrounds and work from there but this time I worked in reverse beginning with stamping and painting the 'Tribal Chiefs'. Why? I was a little undecided on the colour palette of the backgrounds so thought if I painted the 'Chiefs' first that would help me decide.

I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish acrylics to colour the 'Chiefs' (Willow, Waterfall, Captain Peacock, South Pacific, Cherry Blossom, Claret, Butternut, Tangerine Twist, Haystack, Mustard Pickle, and Midnight) 

I knew that I could potentially loose some of the fine detail stamping if I was painting the images so I used a stamping platform to stamp them and kept everything in situ while I painted. By doing this once the paint was dry I was able to overstamp the images with ease and precision to replace any lost detail. 

Seeing them coloured definitely helped direct my choice of colour palettte.

However, I did decide to use just 3 of the 'Chiefs' for no other reason than '3's a magic number' in art, right? 

The backdrop panels for the 'Chiefs' were cut out of the cardboard folder. They were covered with chocolate box lining and coloured using some of the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints I'd used to paint the 'Chiefs': (Claret, Tangerine Twist, Captain Peacock and Waterfall)

I like how the chocolate box lining added some delicate 'bubble like' texture which was enhanced by the Fresco colours.

I added a touch of detail stamping using the small text stamp on PaperArtsy Hot Picks (HP1903EZ) collection. Due to the texture it did lose some of it's definition.

 

The frames were also cut out of the cardboard folder. I was definitely getting some mileage from that one folder!!

Wanting these to be lightly textured I reached for PaperArtsy's Grunge Paste. I applied the paste, dried and then painted with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic paints (Midnight, Little Black Dress).  However, you could mix the paste and paint together and then apply. The result will be the same and you will save yourself some time!

The first of the two background panels were cut out of the hard back of an envelope and painted with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics (Snowflake)  

I wanted to introduce some kind of tribal pattern to the project so I grabbed some off cuts of card and painted them with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics (Claret, Captain Peacock, Tangerine Twist) . I then stamped lots of diamonds using the diamond stamp from PaperArtsy Eclectica (Gwen Lafleur) collection (EGL09). This is a great way to make use of  offcuts which if you're anything like me you'll have loads of . 

After cutting out the diamonds (no hard job as its straight lines all the way) they were paper pieced to create a repeating pattern on the painted panel. I decided not to use the claret diamonds as I felt they were a little too dark and the colour would therefore be better suited to use on the final background panels. In this case I guess 3 wasn't necessarily the magic number !! 

I enjoyed creating the tribal pattern and was pleased with the result. Although it may seem fiddly and alot of 'faff' it was really straight forward. I actually found the process quite relaxing and somewhat therapeutic. The main 'niggle' for me was that for some reason the cardboard panel kept sliding around on the glass mat! That was easily fixed by slipping a piece of 'non slip' matt underneath. 

The final background panels were again cut out of the hard back of an envelope. 
I worked on card that I adhered to the panels, painting the card with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic (Claret). This is one of the translucent colours so it needed a few coats to get a good depth of colour. 

I felt the panels needed a border around the edges so some 'off the page' embossed stamping helped with that. The small 'symbol' stamp from PaperArtsy Eclectica (Gwen Lafleur) collecton (EGL09) was ideal for this. 

After assembing all the 'parts' of all 3 panels I embellished the corners of the  frames with brass brads. 

I also highlighted a feature of each of the 'Chiefs'.

The flower around the eye of the first 'Chief'.

The leaves on the neck band ....

...and the headdress of the second Chief.

The butterfly decorating the neck of the third 'Chief.'

Its been a while since I used some kind of recycled packaging in my creativity so it made for a refreshing change. It's been a welcome reminder to source my cardboard packaging stash more often rather than reach into the drawer full of greyboard/ mountboard. Much better for the environment and easier on the pocket too! 

Although my framed panels have a tribal theme they could  be created using other themes. The colours, the texture, the patterns and the framed stamped images could very easily be altered. 

Photos could be framed instead of stamped images and the backgrounds could be personalised to the photo.  They could be  special birthdays/ occasions frames that feature (for example) numbers in the frames and backgrounds relative to the occasion. 

Just a few alternative ideas but the options are endless. 

Maybe you might like to create your own themed framed panels from recycled packaging?  You could display them around your home as I will be doing with 'my tribe' or you could gift them to family and friends.  You could even add your own special message or favourite quote on the back of them! 

Thanks for  joining me today/ tonight
 Keep on creating!  
Amanda  
x


Blog: ink-a-pink 
Facebook: Amanda Pink
Instagram: Kynapi10
Pinterest: PinkArt

2020 #10 Tiny Book of Strength with EEV {by Nikki Acton}

2020 Topic 10: Recycled Packaging

Intro
I really love the repeated stripes and dots the Ellen Vargo carved stamps give this piece. It could be a bit autumnal too, and the orange-blue colour combo in rustic tones is delish! There is nothing more satisfying than making something out of nothing, and we can all find some cardboard lurking I am sure!
~ Leandra

Hi, Nikki here today, from Addicted to Art, with a mini book made from a cat food box. 

It's a bit of an obvious choice using cardboard packaging but I recently purchased an Eileen Hull book die and it was a great chance to try it out. The book is 3 x 2 1/4 inches - so being made out of cardboard is very strong! 

I cut the concertina insert to fit and carefully scored and joined so that my book was just thick enough the shut.

I gave it a coat of watery gesso before adding layers of paint. I started thinking I would use gelli prints but in the end took colour straight from the plate onto the gessoed card, I collected a few gelli prints of leftovers on the way which I used later.

I built up the colours on each page using similar colours and adding stamping using a selection of stamps from EEV03 and EEV05.

When I was happy with my background I used the leaf stamps from EEV04 to add some collaged elements - stamped onto my gelli scraps.

I limited my colours to Summer Sky, Aquamarine, Chalk, Celery, Butternut and Prawn.

The perfect quote from Alison Bomber EAB07 (Dreaming and Doing) is spread across the 5 page Concertina.....

With another one on the front along with one of the leaves stamped and shrunk on Shrink plastic.

Packaging is great for making books, I loved the inconsistent surface I used here, and the addition of torn paper scraps gives it a very matt and earthy feel! 

Nikki x

Blog: Addicted to Art

Instagram: @Nikki_Act

Pinterest: nikacton

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