2021: PaperArtsy - A Year in Review {Topics 7 to 9}

Hello again from PaperArtsy HQ,

We hope you are enjoying your daily walk down memory lane to see highlights from the PaperArtsy blog of 2021.

Dounia has selected another series of stunning ideas to share with you today, so sit back, relax and enjoy this review

Today we're sharing picks from Topics 7:Mash Up {with JoFY, Emma Godfrey, Sara Naumann and Ink & the Dog Minis}, Topic 8: Nature's Treasure and Topic 9:Baubles and Bling.

Leandra 

Topic 7 : Mash Up with JoFY, EEG, ESN and I&D Minis

Already half a year had gone by and it was time for our second Mash Up topic! Again we tried to propose a mix of designers/ collections that would bring both focal and background stamps, big and small patterns, open and detailed textures. This time our bloggers combined JoFY's bold florals, Emma Godfrey's funky geometrics, Sara Naumann's layered collages and Ink & the Dog Minis' vintage imagery. They approached this challenge each in their own way and it is so interesting to compare which aspect of the collections each of them focused on, for quite varied, wonderful and, sometimes, unexpected results.

My first pick is this beautiful journal cover by Ellie Knol. I love the contrast she was able to create with a very limited colour palette and no black or any truly dark colour. Her original blog post details her extensive use of stencils and Grunge Paste to achieve the gorgeous background texture. The patterns overlap and meld together to really unify the piece and highlight the focal JoFY butterfly (not a flower!).

Lynn Good went for bright and bold, and JoFY flowers. The stenciled background brings a vibrant jungle vibe, perfect to showcase the warm blooms. How great are the bird focals? They are starkly different from the rest of the piece, both in colour and style, but Lynn cleverly integrated them using the black border stamping. Her original blog post details the twists and turns of this project, a good example of how to adapt when your crafting does what it wants!

Thinking out of the box and going out of her comfort zone, Keren Baker was inspired by Sara's seashells to make this vintage art doll. I love how she diverted lots of the elements from their obvious use. The lovely textures of the dress and the wings really gives a 3D effect and makes the doll stand out. Be sure to go to Keren's original blog post to appreciate all the small details, like the cog heart in the frame or the stamping on the face.

Topic 8 : Nature's Treasure

In the middle of summer, this topic aimed to celebrate nature, her beauty and all the materials and inspiration she offers in crafting. The PaperArtsy collections are certainly full of leaves, seeds, flowers and other natural curiosities and our bloggers did not hesitate in showcasing their favorites. It was also an occasion to reflect on how those organic patterns we have internalized from contact with nature can emerge when crafting, or meld with more 'man-made' imagery. Finally, nature also offers us more physical gifts like leaves, twigs or barks, gorgeous and unique, that we can integrate in our art or use as tools.

Blue might not be the first colour that comes to mind in a topic about nature but Nikki Acton really pulled off the monochrome look in this gorgeous card. The tiled format allows her to display lots of Lin Brown's 'printed leaves', sparing her having to choose, as she explains in her original blog post. Using a different hue of blue for the quote and main leaf is a genius idea: it makes them pop from the background, while the subtle stamped dots anchor them.

Amanda Pink proved that natural textures and patterns can bloom even from abstract stamps like Seth Apter's. I am impressed how well she married grungy, industrial elements and vegetation inspiration. Her original blog post details how she achieved the fantastic texture of the background, reminiscent of bark. Watching the piece transform along the multiple steps of the process is mesmerizing! 

In her project, Dounia Large chose to use Nature's Treasures as tools and materials rather than images. Her not-a-book is lined and decorated with dyed cork. For the cover, she experimented with pressing leaves into the paper and revealing the patterns with Infusions. A delicate look with easily obtained materials! Go to her original blog post to discover the process and see all the details!

Topic 9 : Baubles and Bling

It's Christmas in August! This year, we tried to be good and propose inspiration well in advance of the Holiday season. Our bloggers ended spending the summer in tinsel, I am sure they are thanking us... This topic is a fun one, sure to appeal of the magpie inside all of us! Time to bring the glitter, tinsel and foil out of hiding place and indulge in all things shiny. We thought these elements would pair great with baubles: tiny versatile canvas where sparkles are not only acceptable but expected! Our bloggers did not hesitate to play with size, shape and texture for a wide range of cheerful atmospheres.

She might have chosen an usual colour palette, but Helen Chilton surely brought the baubles and the bling! She certainly understood the assignment! I love how the warm colours pop against the silver. In her original blog post, you can see all the little touches she added for cohesion and maximum sparkle! She also shares her foiling technique. I particularly like how it highlights the texture of her Grunge Paste stenciling, so interesting. 

PaperArtsy designer Tracy Scott came out to play, not surprising as this topic seemed to be made for her! She certainly loves a bit of bling. Her original blog post details all the layers that went into this gorgeous piece. I love her bokeh lights effect, both simple and effective, it is such a great idea. It creating a wonderful depth in the background and helps the baubles stand out and shine (figuratively and literally)!

In New Zealand, it was actually winter for Tracy Springer, which did not stop her project from being bright and warm, but with a fur coat touch!  Her baubles are fuzzy and her doggies are cheeky in this lovely series of cards and their holder. I love her colour palette, not classic but still close enough to 'feel' Christmassy. Go to her original blog post to meet all these cute critters in all their bling out glory. Get your sparkle out indeed!

 

Hang in there, as the review continues for another couple of days more, see you same time tomorrow!

Leandra  

2021 Topic 9: Baubles & Bling with NEW ZA {by Tracey Springer}

 2021 Topic 9: Baubles & Bling

With vivacious colours and humorous sentiments, Tracey has embraced the whole bling theme and run wild with it. The sausage dogs are busy partying hard and with the addition of pom-poms this is a fabulously vibrant Christmas collection.
~ Keren.

Hi everyone, it's Tracey Springer with you today. I have been having so much fun playing with Elena Zinski’s new stamps (ZA 65, 66, 67). Sausage dogs! They are so incredibly cute! Who doesn’t love a sausage dog? I let my crazy style out for a run! Christmas in July … why not? 

I started by thinking about what colours I wanted to use, and pinks and greens really stood out to me. (Pink is not your traditional Xmas colour but I love it!). I then brayered some backgrounds with my gel press (I usually do 15-20 at a time) and I also did some solid 12x12 pages using Fresco Finish ‘Cerise', ‘Eggshell’ and my favourite ‘Sargasso’. I loved the distressed look that brayering straight onto the paper achieves. 

I then stamped out a lot of the images and started colouring (I love my Copic Sketch pens for blending). I formulate my ideas as I’m colouring; scenes start coming together in my head and cheeky sayings seemed to fix themselves to certain dogs.

I cut some card size backgrounds and stamped the little song (I can still hear Elena singing it LOL!) then decided I needed some more solid colour panels to mix and match, so I brayered ‘Sargasso’ and ‘Coral’ onto the edges of some white strips.

Then I play around for days sometimes, trying various coloured images on different backgrounds until I’m happy and it matches the picture in my mind.

I love layering and 3D foam taping for various heights and depths (it’s very hard to photograph but just play around with layering). I always seem to finish my pieces with black inked pen lines and a heavy layer of Gesso to frame. 

I also added a lot of ‘bling’ in the form of glittery sparkles, diamantes and silver metallic twine but that really didn’t want to show up in the pics!

I then decided to finish my project off with a cute little gift bag/box to hold the cards – using up a sheet of 12x12 which I had earlier brayered in ‘Cerise’ paint. No measurements or instructions, I just folded and glued until it looked right! Glittery handles, funky pink pom-pom trim and a cute little tag finished it off. 

I really hope you enjoy playing with these delightful sausages as much as I have, and Yay for a head start on Xmas cards!

Take care,

Tracey

Instagram: @tracey_springer

2021 Topic 9: Baubles & Bling with EKC {by Kay Carley}

  2021 Topic 9: Baubles & Bling

With a non-traditional colour scheme, using gorgeous pinks and purples that Kay is well known for, she's created some wonderful hanging bauble cards which, at first glance seem like CAS cards, but if you look carefully she's created subtle layers with such a gentle sparkle.
~ Keren.

Hi everyone, it's Kay with you today, and I'm here to share with you some simple Christmas card makes.

For this project I wanted to show you why I designed my bauble stamp set (EKC22) with plain baubles. This was to give you scope to have lots of different decorated baubles. You can simply stamp them onto patterned paper if you want really quick and easy decorated baubles or you can use stamps/stencils to add decoration to them. Another option is to doodle into them!

For this project I have used stamps that are contained on (EKC22) to decorate my baubles.

To begin I pulled out the stamp set and stencil that I wanted to use for this project - namely (EKC22) and (PS070) and then made a decision as to what colours of Fresco Chalk Acrylic paints I wanted to use for the baubles. I also had in mind for my 'bling' element to use a twinkly embossing powder so I reached for my WOW! Twinkling Lights EP.

My first step was to begin creating a background onto panels of 340gsm Smoothy card stock. For this, I used stencil (PS070) with Fresco Chalk Acrylic (Snowflake). 

 

I had toyed with the idea of using (Metallic Glaze) for my background but in the end as I knew there would be lots of twinkle being added to the card later on I thought it best to go with subtle interest at this stage! 

 

To be able to stamp different elements into the baubles I needed to create some masks.

The masks were achieved by stamping each of the baubles into the middle of an A4 piece of paper. 

 

 

I used a craft knife to cut out the middle of each bauble. (I keep these masks [both the aperture and the solid bauble] so that they can be used time and time again.)

Next I painted a panel of 240gsm Smoothy card stock with Fresco Chalk Acrylic (Snowflake) before stamping and painting the background of the baubles within a stamping platform.

As I was going to be cutting out the baubles and adding them onto my cards I wasn't careful with my painting. The photo below shows what they looked like before I re-stamped them.

For these baubles I used (Caribbean Sea) and (Globe Thistle) for my base layers and then added a watered down mix of (South Pacific) for the turquoise bauble and (Purple Wine) for the purple bauble. The hanging element was painted with (Gold). Once the baubles were re-stamped I then added my decoration using the WOW! Twinkling Lights embossing powder along with some doodles using a white gel pen. (These particular baubles didn't require those paper masks but all my other baubles did!).

The next photo shows how the baubles were stamped and embossed with the small holly element contained on the stamp set along with some doodled white pen. The colours of Fresco Chalk Acrylics I used were (Globe Thistle), (Purple Wine), (Caribbean Sea), (South Pacific), (Bubble Gum), (Bougainvillea) and (Gold).

These baubles were decorated using the little background stamp contained on the stamp set instead of the holly.

Next I needed to stamp and emboss my different sized card panels.

As I was working with a glittery embossing powder I made sure to dust my panels first with an anti-static bag. Without dusting first I knew I would struggle to get nice clear twinkly imagery as my large holly stamp is quite intricate!

As you can see I just adapted my stamping and embossing to suit each of the different sizes of card panels. The panel sizes I used were DL, 6" x 6" and 7" x 5".

 

To finish I adhered my card panels to card blanks and curled the baubles a little by bending them over my fingers before adding them to the cards with 3D pads.

I used a gold glitter glue for the string to hang my baubles. To give me a guide to follow I first drew the 'string' very lightly with pencil and then traced over with the glitter glue.

Crystal glitter glue was used onto the holly leaves and dotted around randomly onto the card blanks to finish off.

As you can see, having baubles that you can decorate yourself gives you a lot of scope on creating a variety of Christmas cards. As I mentioned at the very start, one of the quickest and easiest things you can do is to stamp the baubles onto pre-printed patterned paper or onto any background pieces that you have created yourself and may have left over from other projects.  

I chose a modern colour scheme for my baubles but you can easily give them a more traditional feel by choosing a red and green colour scheme. Plus if you have a lot of cards to make you can omit the stamping and embossing of the background panels and go for a very clean and simple look. Or you may have a pine branch stamp in your collection that you could 'hang' the baubles from instead and of course you can stamp the baubles directly onto your card blank if you don't want them to look 'dimensional'. Lastly, being that the baubles are all separate stamps easily enables you to adapt your layout depending on the size of project/card you are creating. Lots of possibilities!

Love Kay x

Blog: Kays Crafty Corner
Facebook: Kay Carley

Facebook Group: Crafting with Kay Carley
Twitter: @carleycards
Instagram: kay.carley
Pinterest: Kay Carley

At this current time, all of my teaching is being done online. You can find details of all of my past and current online workshops over on my Crafting with Kay Carley Facebook Group.