2018 #15: Artist Trading Coins with EKC {by Chris Cresswell}

2018 Topic 15: Artist Trading Coins

Hi everyone, it's Chris Cresswell from loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk with you today, and I'd like to share with you my Artist Trading Coins and Holders, using some of Kay Carley's recent stamp sets and stencils. 

I was really excited earlier this year to catch onto this new version of Artist Trading Cards when I saw a FaceBook post which featured some examples of Artist Trading Coins. I was intrigued. I then went onto Pinterest to see if I could find more, only to find very few had been uploaded. Only six in fact and a short Process video created by Joanne Hodges (aka Craftyhodges) who got this idea while taking a shower! Of course, there are hundreds now but I clearly entered this mini world at its very early stages. I'm very grateful as I adore making them. I have particularly enjoyed creating these for PaperArtsy, using Kay's lovely stamps and stencils because the flowers fit the 2.5" size so well and because they achieve the same purpose as the original Artist Trading Cards, which is to provide samples of an artist's work: in this case a sample of a PA designer's work! I have also created a 'Holder' for storing the ATCoins. The small size Pringles tin is a perfect fit for these Coins. 

This quickly became a Mixed Media project. I knew that I wanted to make several ATCoins but I wanted to keep them fairly simple to really show off the beautiful flowers, butterflies and dragonflies that Kay loves to design. I always start with a Masterboard and die-cut the Coins once the background is complete. 

I first put down a layer of Distress Oxides followed by various PaperArtsy Infusions, sprayed with water to create a lovely watercolour effect. Infusions work so well on top of the Oxides. There are more process steps of this stage on my blog tonight if you haven't yet tried this technique, here 

I used 340gms PaperArtsy Smoothy Card for these backgrounds. This is the 12" x 12" size, so I was able to die-cut a lot of Coins from these three colour combinations. 
Having made the backgrounds for the Coins, I then started on the backgrounds for the ATCoin Holders, again using the same size PaperArtsy Smoothy Card, but adding some texture using PaperArtsy Grunge Paste and two stencils: PSO34 and Kay's new stencil PSO97.

First I used PSO34 to scrape grunge paste through the stencil, all over two sheets of the card, in its natural form.

Once dry, I brayered several Fresco Chalk paints across each surface. On one sheet, I used predominantly pinks and oranges, on the other sheet I used a mix of blues, purples and greens. Again, I have listed the colours used on my blog. The raised stenciled circles resisted a lot of the colour so quite a bit of white space was created. 

Once I was happy with the colour blends, on each stenciled sheet, I used Kay's new stencil (PSO97) to add further grunge paste on top of the coloured background. This is such a pretty stencil and wonderfully firm to take heavy media. This time I wanted to add colour to the grunge paste before applying. This was when the surprise happened. In the photo you can see I used Magenta Infusions on top of the pink/orange background. I had hoped by using the Infusions I would create a vibrant raised set of stenciled images. However, to my surprise, I found that when this dried the colour had paled down considerably. At first I was disappointed but gradually found that I loved the new colour that the mixing with the grunge paste had created. The same happened when I mixed Violetta Infusions with the grunge paste for the blue/green background.

The little daisy is from a much earlier stamp set: EKC03.

As you can see I added further doodling to the raised stenciling and used a Sharpie white paint pen to colour in the daisies.These were now ready to cut to size and wrap around the Pringles Crisps tins to transform them into Mini ATCoin Holders. 

The tiny butterfly and dragonfly are from sets: EKC03 and EKC06.

The next step was to stamp out some of the gorgeous flowers from Kay's new stamp set: EKC19 and my all time favourite stamp set: EKC15.

I used Black Archival ink for one set and Memento for the other set, again stamped on PaperArtsy 340gms Smoothy card. One set would be coloured with Copic markers, thus the need for a Memento ink pad, and the others would be coloured with Derwent Inktense Blocks which I grated into little pots and added water to. These three Coins (which are my favourite) were coloured with the Inktense Blocks, cut out and adhered to the Coins:

Each Coin is embellished with stamping, doodling and mark making before the final image is adhered on top. The final flourish in the three above was to add some text and a little DecoArt Media Liquid Glass in the centre of each flower. Once completed I generally adhere them either to black or coloured card or some of the  many MDF Coins I have in my stash!

The fun part is always the final stage, deciding on the focal image and final embellishments. You will already have seen many different ideas for completed ATCoins this week and there are many more on Pinterest. For some of these, and as a tribute to Kay's preferred style, I've added some glitter to some of my Coins. Often I will add Collage Pauge to ensure all layers are firmly attached, especially if I've added beads and tiny fragments. At other times, I will add DecoArt Crackle Glaze or  Distress Collage mediums. The choice is yours. In the photo below, you can see a close-up of some of the Coins with added glitter and three Coins made from one of the left-over sheets that I created for the Holders:

These little mini art works are quick and easy to make and there are a number of Swaps organised by various groups, including my own facebook group: Mini Marvels. I hope the ATCoins you have seen tonight and throughout the week inspires you to have a go yourselves. Kay Carley's stamp sets are a great way to get started. Any of the Coins shown here are available for swapping if you're interested!

Blog: www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook: Chris Cresswell
Twitter: @artmadnana
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To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 15: Artist Trading Coins will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 16th September 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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2018 #11 Enshrined: Traditional Shrine with LPC {by Chris Cresswell}

2018 Topic 11: Enshrined

Well, she might have taken the long way around, but Chris always has such an enjoyable time getting there! I adore the bright colours of this shrine, and Lynne Perrella stamps are always a delight to use! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Chris Cresswell here from www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk with you today, and I'd like to share with you my interpretation of the current theme: Enshrined. 

I was used this opportuniy to explore my large collection of Lynne Perrella stamps for this project which I think is perfect for such a theme. I already had a little ATC box shrine that I bought from www.calicocraftparts.co.uk some time ago but I knew I wanted to create a larger piece  to justifiably display these wonderful stamp images. 

When I think of a 'Shrine' I have a set of mixed images in my mind ranging from the religious shrines of Christian pilgrimages to Mother Shipton's strange cave of petrified hanging artefacts in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Yet, the image that really stuck with me for this project was taken from my memory of the Hindu temples and Shrines I visited in Sri Lanka a few years ago. I was struck by their vivid colours and beautiful floral displays. So, I decided that my shrine would also be bright to echo the colours I witnessed there. I hope you agree that brightly coloured shrines can work too.   

.

I decided to adapt a large wooden tag from my stash to create a simple shrine shape. I collected all my pieces together and gessoed them before painting and assembling. I had no idea what I was going to do at this stage. I never have a finished result in my head. i just go with the process and choose each step as I go along.

To make it look less like a tag and more like a Shrine I had to create an Apex. Much more fiddly than I thought. I used greyboard for this, simply cutting two triangles and covering  the gap between with thin strips of greyboard.  

With the ATC shrine and label box in place I measured the width of the sides and gaps in order to make panels for the stamped images. Now, anyone who knows me knows that if there is a long way round to do anything, I will find it! For some reason I felt it was a good idea to first create greyboard panels before cutting the same sized panels using PaperArtsy 240gms Smoothy card. All greyboard panels were then gessoed before painting around the edges. Although this gave me more depth for each panel it really wasn't necessary.

The next time-consuming idea I then had was to cut each panel to size from the brayered Smoothy card before stamping the images. This was such a crazy idea! It was soon obvious to me that it would have been far quicker and far easier to stamp the images I intended to use on the brayered background first and then cut them to size! I used Vanilla, Haystack and Pumpkin Soup PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk paints for this initial layer. 

After cutting each panel to size (I had already decided on the sizes by selecting specific images from the stamp sets and measuring them) I added further colours: Smoked Paprika, Coral, Bougainvillea and China Fresco Chalk paints to the panels by dry brushing. 

They were now ready for the stamped images but how fiddly was this going to be to fit the carefully measured stamp images to fit each accurately cut panel exactly? Never again. I live and learn. I managed, but only with the help of a stamp positioner.You can find the stamps here.

 

Although, to be fair, my choices were limited to the size of the panels. The Elizabeth 1 quote is not a PaperArtsy stamp, just one from my stash which blended in well with these images. I stamped using Ranger Jet Black Archival ink. I love how the background colours come through the images and the contrast of the black ink against these colours. I originally intended to add colour to the images but, after stamping, felt it wasn't necessary. However, bright colours needed to be added somewhere!

I started by embellishing the main image (from LPC031) with all sorts of beads from my stash, some German scrap and Applique strings that I've collected over the years. I painted some flowers using Bougainvillea Fresco Chalk paint around the outside of the ATC box to contrast against the layer of China Fresco Chalk and drew around these with a Sharpie fine point white paint pen. Now for the flowers.

I have lots of these little roses in various colours in my stash. I think I bought them from www.thehobbyhouse.co.uk a few years ago. I love the way I was able to wind them around the frame before gluing it to the ATC box. With the addition of a few more acrylic gems and Ranger White Opal Liquid Pearls, the Shrine was complete and ready to be inserted into the niche I had left inside the stamped panels.

More German scrap, Applique trims, metal flowers and a few gems completed the Apex of the whole shrine. I love the contrast and richness of the bright gold against the purples and the blue painted Shrine. It works for me! I hope you like it too.

These Shrines are fun to make and give you opportunities to rifle through your stash to find all sorts of things to adorn them. Stamped images are great to use for something like this, perhaps stamped into clay to create even deeper panels or stamped onto stampboard perhaps? I do know that when I make my next shrine, I will not make the same long-winded mistakes I made with this one. Until next time, happy crafting.

Blog: www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk
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Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 11: Enshrined will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, July 1st 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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2018 #6 Bunting: Counting Sheeples with ZA {by Chris Cresswell}

2018 Topic 6: Zinski Sheeple Bunting

Hi everyone, it's Chris Cresswell here from Loopsandlines with you today, and I'd like to share with you my response to the current challenge on Bunting and Banners, using the lovely, quirky, whimsical stamps designed by Elenazinski Art for Paperartsy.

I was really pleased to be given this opportunity to create a banner using one of Elena's new stamp sets as I wanted to make something for the nursery for my littlest grandfairy. She is 18 months old so I wanted to make something bright and whimsical for her room, and Elena's quirky sheep are just perfect! I think she will love it. I hope you do too.Yet again, I started with one idea then added a further idea as I went along.

This ended up so long, more than two metres, that I found it difficult to find somewhere to take a photo of it at full spread. Thus, a quick nip into the garden between showers! I started by die-cutting nine circles. I chose this shape due to the round shape of the quirky sheep. 

The colours I chose to use here are: Granny Smith, Bubble Gum, China and Yellow Submarine Fresco Chalk paints. Lovely, bright colours but not so overpowering that they will take away from the main focal images. That's the beauty of the chalk finish. I then followed this step with some stenciling using similar, but lighter colours from the colour palette. 

It was at this stage that I decided I wanted a more glossy surface, so out came Fresco Finish Gloss Glaze. I haven't used this in ages and I found myself wondering, why not? It not only adds a superb gloss finish but seals the first layers too if you want to stamp or embellish over the top. 

At this point I decided that I wanted to add some different shaped tags to the banner. So, using different colours and stamping rather than stenciling (background stamps from my stash), I cut and created these; Sour Grapes, Amethyst, Beach Hut, Jade, Slimed, Sargasso (all from Seth Apter and Tracy Scott Paint sets).

Again, I wanted to keep the backgrounds simple so as not to confuse the main images. It was hard not to doodle across those backgrounds.I love that Sargasso Fresco Chalk on top of the new colour: Slimed. Delicious. 

The stamps I used were taken from sets: ZA01, ZA07 and the new set: ZA21.

I used Copic Markers to colour the images as I find using paint to colour in quite tricky. Copic markers work well over Fresco Chalk paint and they are lovely and bright and permanent. However, they do not work well with ranger Archival ink pads as the oil in the ink reacts with the alcohol in the pens causing the ink to bleed. So, you need to stamp with a water based dye ink eg Memento ink pad (Tuxedo Black) by Tsukineko. I used PaperArtsy Smoothy 240gms card.  I used Gloss Glaze over these stamped images too. Now, for the fiddly task of stringing them all together.

The bunting ended up being extremely long but, luckily, I had a long piece of gingham to adhere all shapes onto. The cut out images on the triangles are some background images from Set ZA01 that I absolutely adore and often use in my journaling.

I am absolutely sure that my youngest granddaughter is going to love this new addition to her nursery. I just hope there is enough wall space to accomodate its length! We are coming to the end of this particular challenge on the PaperArtsy blog but if you haven't entered your project yet, there is still time. Banners, Flags and Bunting are great fun to make and can help to make any occasion (or any room) very special. I hope I or any of the previous bloggers have tempted you to have a go. You'll enjoy the process and the finished result!

Blog: www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk
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The current topic link Topic 6: Banners & Bunting will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, April 15th 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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2018 #4 Whimsy: Cubes with JoFY {by Chris Cresswell}

2018 Topic 4: Whimsy

This is a lovely idea from Chris taking 'whimsy' to wood cubes! It can be a wonderful challenge to move onto a 'different' surface to those which you most commonly turn to first, what have you got in your stash to head into a 3D world? ~ Leandra

Hi everyone it's Chris Cresswell from www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk with you today, and I'd like to share with you my interpretation of the Whimsy theme using old and new JoFy stamps: Altered Blocks. 

This theme really appeals to me because it's often my style of art journaling. I'm a great fan of Kate Crane's techniques (www.thekathrynwheel.co.uk), an example of which featured last Sunday in Darcy's introductory post. I also enjoy creating mini art, so decided to use these wooden blocks/parts from www.calicocraftparts.co.uk. I bought them as a set, but they are available individually too. The largest is 10cms x 10cms x 10cms. I am very much a process crafter, with no actual picture in my head of the final result. However, this often results in various U-turns and changes of direction as was the case here.

Once I had glued all the sides and assembled each block, I applied a base layer of gesso as I intended to paint all the backgrounds.

After spending a considerable amount of time and using many, various paint colours, I soon realised that painting the backgrounds directly onto the wooden surfaces just wasn't working. I love bright colours and i just couldn't achieve the effect I was after. This called for a change of direction!

So, out came the Gelli plate. I love using Fresco chalk paints on my Gelli plate. I really like the pastel, chalk finish which doesn't lose any of the vibrancy of the colours. I used different colour combinations for each cube. 

For the largest block I used; Blue Oyster, China, Wisteria, Lavender and Purple Rain Fresco Chalk paints. For the middle sized block I used: Cerise (love that new colour from Tracy Scott's new set - FFTS2), Bubble Gum, Cherry Red and Prawn Fresco Chalk paints. And for the mini block I used: Zucchini, Slimed (from FFTS2) and Limelight Fresco Chalk paints. 

I used a mixture of PaperArtsy Stencils and Carabelle Studio Art Printing plates. These are designed specifically to use on the Gelli plate.This was great fun and produced interesting backgrounds in no time. It certainly beats all that dry brushing directly onto the cube! If you haven't yet used a Gelli plate, I highly recommend you do. The PaperArtsy stencils I used were: PS001, PS023, PS026 and PS034.

The next step was equally enjoyable. I had selected together a variety of old and new JoFy stamp sets and set to work stamping out some fun images which I felt would create some whimsical scenes. I deliberately stamped using Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black as I intended to use Copic Ciao markers to colour the images. I think these markers complement Fresco Chalk colours very well. See if you agree.

I used one of JoFy's new stamp sets: JOFY 61 - I just adore those mushrooms - and added various images from some of her earlier sets: JOFY 15, JOFY 24, and JOFY 33. Her stamp sets complement the Whimsy theme so well, which is probably why I have almost all of them! 

Once coloured in to complement the backgrounds, I resisted adding some doodling which is what I would do if these images were on a larger journal page. Here I didn't think the blocks needed any further embellishing. I merely used a Sakura Pigma Micron pen to draw around the images to help make them pop.

I just love this owl from stamp set: JOFY15, and I really love the doodling around the flowers and leaves on the new stamp set: JOFY61. I think you can tell that I love the leaves!

I had great fun creating these little scenes. You might have noticed that I have cut into some of the images, changed them a little and/or turned them upside down. I am going to give this to one of my grandfairies, who will be four years old on the 10th of March. She is having a woodland birthday party, so this will be a perfect little gift to complement the birthday theme. The photo below features my two favourite images of this project. I'm off to make a couple of birthday cards and a Mother's Day card for my dear 94 year old mum, using the left over stamped images. I will post photos of these on my blog post linked to this post. I would love you to pop across!

I do hope you are enjoying all the Whimsical projects you have seen so far. Many of the PaperArtsy stamps lend themselves so well to this theme. I also hope you will consider dabbling in some altered art as I have here, taking a simple wooden block and transforming it into something fun. Until next time!

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

You must complete step 1 AND 2 to be entered into the draw. 

To join our challenge:
1. Leave a comment on the Topic Introduction Post and go in the draw to win a PaperArtsy Apron. 
2. Make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 4: Whimsy will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 18th 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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