2022 Topic 09: Leftovers {by Jenny Marples} with Urban Snapshots stamps

Hi everyone, it's Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons) with you today, and I'm here to share a 'paper piecing' technique which allows you to add colour to some intricate stamped images using leftovers.

As the post progresses you'll see how this idea developed from a basic double page spread in one of my art journals, and through another two collage pages, before I finish a more detailed paper pieced postcard. I even use up the leftover paint in a final collage! Here's a couple of the finished pages to whet your appetite; 

I won't be going into too much detail explaining how this first collage came together because it's the lessons learned along the way that are the important bit. The background is just layering of neutral tones and textures (papers, lace, gesso) and some PaperArtsy Grunge Paste applied through the Sara Naumann stencil PS219.

I wanted to use the main window image from the PaperArtsy Urban Snapshots USAA3 stamp set but just wasn't happy with my first painted version. This is where I would highly recommend stamping your images on some clear plastic packaging to test what it will look like on top of different backgrounds - I've found some leftover painted tissue from my Venice book which is much more colourful and better suited to the image.

You'll spot below how in the finished collage I've masked off the border around the window so it blends more with the rest of the spread. It is worth going as far as trimming the border off in one piece if you have the mounted version because they are easily reassembled when stuck on a stamping block. The numbers come from the PaperArtsy Minis MN23 stamp.

I had some leftover gel plate printed tissue in yellow and have used the lamp-post from the PaperArtsy Urban Snapshots USAA2 stamp set on it to balance the composition, adding white highlights to emphasise the shape.

The words come from the Alison Bomber EAB20 'Night & Day' stamp set.

The next journal page starts with the lesson learned - these images work well stamped on multi-coloured backgrounds - so I've pulled out my collection of yellow leftovers and picked a bit that had a combination of 'Lemoncello' PaperArtsy Infusions and 'Toffee' PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint on it. The doorway image comes from the PaperArtsy Urban Snapshots USAA2 stamp set mentioned earlier.

To lighten it slightly I've added 'Chalk' PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint, applying with a brayer from a small gel plate. My next tip is never clean your gel plate! You'll see why at the end of this post.

To make the door stand out even more I've painted over that part of the stamped image with the 'Chalk' PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint before re-stamping it - use a stamping platform to make this process a lot easier.

At this point I wanted to make the door red but rather than risk painting and re-stamping the image again I thought about stamping it on a leftover piece of tissue. Digging out the poly-pocket with red leftovers, you'll see I have any number of gel plate tissue prints pulled to clean off my plate when it gets overloaded.

If the colour isn't quite the right shade adjust it with another thin layer - in this case 'Scottish Salmon' PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint warms the look up nicely. Again, don't clean that gel plate just yet!

After stamping the door on this tissue I've cut around it, glued it to the original image and added a little clear embossing powder for good measure. This paper piecing method seems to have worked well and is a touch less fiddly than painting and re-stamping multiple times.

The background include a combination of PaperArtsy Printed Tissue and stamped images from the Hot Picks HP1501 stamp set. I've also found a piece of 'mop up' tissue left over from cleaning up 'Golden Sands' PaperArtsy Infusions.

If you are unsure about where to stamp in the background try stamping your main image in it's final place on the page and then working around/over it safe in the knowledge your cut out doorway will be placed over the top in the end.

In a change of heart I applied coats of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Matte Glaze over the image to remove the shine and included words from the Alison Bomber EAB15 'House & Home' stamp set.

Taking paper piecing in a slightly different direction I decided to try stamping the highly detailed gate image from the Urban Snapshots USST2 stamp set onto two slightly different coloured leftover pieces of painted tissue. The top edge of one was torn and layered over the other to create a simple two-toned look.

Of course it needs mounting on something so I've re-purposed a PaperArtsy postcard with more PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Matte Glaze, 'Chalk' PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint and a discarded teabag.

To complete this page I've used a bit more PaperArtsy Printed Tissue, some teabag paper stained with 'Golden Sands' PaperArtsy Infusions and the gate image, glued onto some of the paper left over from making the original journal.

And here's the finished collage, complete with more hand stitching and the words from the Urban Snapshots USST2 stamp set.

Time to get slightly more ambitious with this paper piecing technique! On the left you'll see where some more of that mop up tissue has been added to the back of another postcard and over-stamped with the script image from the Hot Picks 1501 stamp set. The second of the images from the Urban Snapshots USST2 stamp set has been added on top as a guide. On the right I've stamped portions of the image on contrasting leftovers ready for cutting and adding on top.

The extra colour and contrast makes such a difference to the finished look of the balcony especially when highlights and detailing are added with with black and white permanent ink pens. The trailing plants look better with the addition of some colour too, stippled delicately over the top. Remove any unwanted shine with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Matte Glaze.

I couldn't resist adding a number from the PaperArtsy Printed Tissue on this whilst the words come from the previously mentioned Alison Bomber EAB15 'House & Home' stamp set.

Just time for one final page which you may remember from the beginning of this post - the facing page in the Paris art journal.

To finish I've used up that leftover paint from the gel plate, pulling it on tissue and combining it with more PaperArtsy Printed Tissue and the text and stars stamps from the Hot Picks HP1501 stamp set. 

Going right back to things used in the first collage, the words are from the Alison Bomber EAB20 'Night & Day' stamp set and the PaperArtsy Grunge Paste dots have been applied through the Sara Naumann PS219 stencil.

Hopefully this tutorial has given you some ideas for using up your leftovers to colour in those more detailed images - I know it's something I'll be doing again. And don't forget, if your scraps are not quite the right shade just add a bit of extra colour to make them perfect.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Jenny

Blog: https://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenny.marples.73

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2021 Topic 5 Find Your Vibe with LPC {by Jenny Marples)

  2021 Topic 5: Find Your Vibe

It's amazing how singular pops of vibrant colour draw the eye into a beautiful neutral colour scheme yet still allow the project to be vintage styled and subtle. Jenny has woven text, Lynne Perrella images and tonnes of texture to make this gorgeous handmade book with great tips for tea staining.
~ Keren

 

Hi everyone, it's Jenny Marples (Pushing The Right Buttons) with you today, and I'd like to share a new notebook that features the designs of Lynne Perrella. The theme is a combination of Spring birds and postage inspired by some of the stamps in her more recent releases (LPC45, LPC47 and LPC48) all given a vintage junk journal vibe with lots of texture and layering.

Creating books has become such a passion of mine and there are lots of things to learn along the way. The cover is usually the easy bit and there are lots of ways to put flexible spines together. Getting the pages inside completed can be more of a challenge since there can be quite a few to tackle and it's easy to lose a few days decorating them! I've focused on the decoration part in this post to stop it from becoming too long; if you are interested to find out how the book itself has been put together you can find all the details over on my blog here.

The cover 'sets the mood' for the rest of the book with neutral tones and a pop of colour, hand stitching, glimpses of fabric and those words which Alison Bomber curates so beautifully.

When starting a new book I find it really helpful to pick the colour palette; not only do you know which paints to use as you create new elements, you can also go through your scraps to find those leftovers that coordinate perfectly and can finally find a 'home'.

Above you may spot the teabag and bottle of Infusions; when tea staining paper you are going to get different results depending on the type and make of paper used. I already knew the cartridge paper would develop a pink tinge to it which would not work so well with the paint colours, so I added a tiny bit of 'Golden Sands' Infusions powder to the 'brew' - bingo! That has me thinking this method will also be useful for replicating the looks you get from using flavoured teabags to stain papers.

Below I've used the trick mentioned in my previous post of 'auditioning' an image on a page by stamping it onto some clear plastic packaging to help work out what the finished design will look like.

Here's a lesson in never giving up on those 'mistakes'; I pulled a couple of prints from a large gel plate using wet strength tissue but my plate was in full sun on a hot day so the prints didn't pull so well. I decided to add a layer of the 'Seaglass' paint to the reverse and then tore the tissue up so that it could be stamped on and layered onto tea stained pages.

In the photo below you'll see where I have used some of that gel plate printed tissue with one of Lynne Perrella's stamps from set LPC48, embossing it and mounting it onto some linen fabric. Remember you can use your Fresco Finish paints to stain seam binding, ribbon and more so that your trims will match perfectly with your page designs.

The lady with the bird's nest hat from stamp set LPC48 reminded me of portraits seen in those old hand-tinted photographs of years gone by. After stamping her onto tea stained paper I painted in the ribbon and eggs to make them stand out, heavily diluting the 'Seaglass' paint as it is opaque so that the image details were still visible.

Having seen a few of the techniques used to create the book let's take a look at some of the pages, starting with that lady with the bird in her hair from stamp set LPC47. The design is very detailed and was added to a Grunge Paste textured surface so I stamped it onto some tea stained paper and fussy cut around it before adding it onto the background.

In the same way you stamp onto paper and card it's equally possible to stamp and paint onto fabric like this linen. Fraying the edges and adding stitching with other trims help to frame this lady from stamp set LPC47.

I'm realising that it helps to have some pages which are plainer than others to give your eyes a place to 'rest' as you flip through a book. The double page spread below features tea stained paper that has been stencilled with Sara Naumann's PS219 stencil, hand stitched with an interconnecting leaf pattern and had a little of the gel plate printed tissue applied to it.

Mixing up the various page sizes through a book can give a glimpse of 'what has been and what is to come' helping to encourage the viewer into moving through the book. The little page below has had one of those postage references added to it with an image from Sara Nauman's PS218 stencil. Remember once you have added the paste and/or paint through that doesn't have to be the end; adding shading and highlights can give it more depth and dimension.

The next page has a lot going on with a pocket, a tuck spot, a textured tag and a subtle stamped background; keeping the colour palette really works here to prevent these various elements and layers from competing with each other for attention.

Taking a closer look at the background you can see where I've repeat stamped and heat embossed the large stamp images from set LPC45 onto brown wrapping paper before applying a couple of coats of diluted 'Heavy Cream' paint to take down the colour.

Here's where I used that smaller bird stamp on a small envelope pocket layered onto lace and a vintage book page. It's the perfect place to tuck a tag.

Rather than adding words from another of Alison Bombers stamp sets to the already 'complicated' pocket page they are able to draw their own attention in a much simpler layout on the following side.

The background for this page was created using a piece of dress pattern tissue, creating a backdrop for the stencilled leaves and words from Sara Nauman's PS218 stencil. After applying Grunge Paste through it I added some of the 'Guacamole' paint to make it pop.

The torn piece of gel plate printed tissue was blended into the fabric background on this page with Grunge Paste and paint before the image could be stamped on top. I love how a single row of hand stitching helps to 'ground' it.

The same technique of 'grounding' an image has been replicated below, this time with some of the paint dyed seam binding. The gel plate printed tissue has been used to frame it too, adding that extra pop of colour.

 

As you flip the next little page over it hides most of the image below with just a thin border of the blue/green peeping out at the side to hint at what lies beneath. More of Alison Bomber's words compliment with the final side (the inside back cover).

And at last we come to the framed lady, clear embossed and mounted behind an oval aperture that has been covered in layers of 'Gold Rush' and 'Heavy Cream' paint before being hand stitched around the edges.

Making books can take time but the results are so rewarding, bringing a sense of accomplishment and something you can flip through to provide inspiration for future projects.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Jenny

Blog: https://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.co.uk/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/jenny.marples.73
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