PaperArtsy: Fiona Whitehead

Wednesday, 26 August 2026

3 Things - New Year Card {by Fiona Whitehead}

Hi everyone, it's Fiona Whitehead from Crafty Stamping with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. It is really interesting to see how each maker comes up with different ideas and techniques with the same 3 items. Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a colour product. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea is to do something crafty in our personal style restricted to these 3 items.

So let's take a look at what I received from PA HQ ...

I was delighted to receive a Christmas stamp set as I do love creating for the season. I received this delightful set by Sara Naumann ESN39, a Paper Artsy Stencil by Sara also PS203 and Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Wisteria opaque.

The added beauty of this stamp set though is that it is not just for Christmas. Those lovely leaves can be used for any project and the added ephemera pieces can also be trimmed to be used without the seasonal sentiment. The addition of those lovely stars too makes it a great set for all year round.

My first thought when I saw the Wisteria was oh! - not a traditional colour and will it work for a Christmas project? And oh yes I think it really does. It gives it a lovely wintery feel and as this is not a colour I would normally choose I was delighted to have a play with it and add an extra colour to my palette of normal grunge!

Lets take a closer look at what I made ....

I used the leaf stamps in a few different ways. Firstly I stamped directly with Versafine Clair Nocturne onto the background I had created which will be shown below in the Stencil section. I had them coming off the right hand side of the cardstock.

I also stamped and cut them out and coloured them with Paper Artsy Fresco Winter Green Semi Opaque - I wanted to have some leaves for layering on my card.

For my tag I decided to stamp onto some old book pages. I was lucky to find a page that actually had the word December on it so I kept that visible. I love to use old books in my crafting - some baulk at the idea but we either use them or they go to landfill and I think it's far better to give them new life.

I added some extra bling to the leaves and the berries with a sparkle pen - it is Christmas after all and deserves a bit of shine. You can also see I used the stencil over the tag again in the Iced Spruce and the Wisteria just giving a subtle extra detail.

Before I used the stencils I brayered card stock with the Wisteria Fresco Paint.

I then used Distress Oxide (Iced Spruce) to add stencilling. The soft green of the Iced Spruce worked well against the Wisteria background and gave a soft look to the stencils.

I also used the stencils with a gel plate loaded with the Wisteria paint, and then pressed the stencil into it. I then lifted the print onto paper to give a great background. I also reverse stencilled by spritzing with water and getting an extra background on to paper.

Before the paint was dry I added some Winter Green paint to the gel press and pulled another print. I then added some Snowflake white paint and pulled yet another print - very subtle but you can just see a touch of the coloured paints underneath. Lots of great backgrounds for future projects.

I also enjoyed adding some of the Wisteria and Winter Green paint to some Texture Paste and applied that through the stencil. On white cardstock it gives a lovely effect with a touch of both paint colours visible.

I wasn't finished there though. On cleaning my stencil onto my glass mat I even spotted another excuse for a background so lifted off those stencil marks onto some black cardstock.

It's very easy to go down rabbit holes when you are using paint, stencils and a gel press!

I stamped over one of those stencilled backgrounds with the ephemera stamp which can just be spotted under the tag on my finished project.

As I mentioned at the start - Wisteria is not a colour I would normally choose but I just loved working with it. This was using it on top of another brayered background and then the paint pushed through the stencil.

The paint colour goes really well with Versafine Very Peri Ink which I used for the words. In the end I didn't use this one on the sample I'm showing here but I did create another card with it which will be on my blog at a later date.

Using a brayer with paint onto water colour paper (which has an inherent texture) also gives an interesting result where that texture of the paper is really highlighted by the paint.

And here is my finished card. I'm a texture girl and love the way this card has interest with the background stencilling, the cut out leaves and the book page tag.

The extra circles on the card and the tag were made with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in Snowflake and the lid of the paint bottle. A tip I learned from Alison Bomber which adds an extra dimension to the card rather than just white splatters.

You can also see the little piece of ephemera mentioned earlier sticking out from behind the tag. The ribbon on the tag is a lovely piece of silk ribbon from my stash.

I like to add a little extra bit of interest by adding some fabric and here I've added cheesecloth behind the leaves. I watered down the green paint so that it was a lot softer for the leaves.

I've had a lot of fun playing with these lovely products. I've learnt also that I must embrace different colours and work outside my comfort zone - perhaps some colours can be used for projects we wouldn't normally think of.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my project and reading through the steps. Let me know if you use Wisteria in your Christmas projects - I'd love to come and see.