Waterfall Mini Album with JoFY Products {by Martha Ponsanesi}

Hi everyone, Martha (craftingmartha) here today to hang out with you on the blog.
Have you seen how many lovely new releases have come out? I’ll be getting stuck in myself soon, but for now I’ve made a mini waterfall album using the ever-popular JOFY stamps and stencils.

I absolutely love JOFY’s flowers, they’re so cheerful and whimsical and they’ll brighten up every page of this mini album. 

I decided to create the mini album from scratch, so I picked four of my favourite PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics in Caribbean Sea (FF94), Bubble Gum (FF116), Slimed (FF137), Firebird (FF210)  and the Smoothy A4 White Stamping Card (SCA4), from which I cut out six pages measuring 4" x 4"  and of course I kept the leftover bits too!

I thinned the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics down with water, then used a small flat brush to add some loose stripes to the leftover pieces of card. 

For the album pages themselves, I switched to a larger brush and gave them a full wash of colour...

...a fun and relaxing way to get started.

To make the background a bit more interesting, I used a blending tool to apply the Mattint in Fern (MT03) through Stencil PS231.

I went for a tone-on-tone look with the Mattints on the pages, so along with Fern, I also chose to use Mattint in Shark (MT04), Bellflower (MT17) and Foxglove (MT18) to keep things soft and harmonious. (These last two Mattints are among the newest releases, so if you can’t find them on the PaperArtsy website, you can check the list of PaperArtsy Stockist here).

For the backs of the pages, I used the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics, applying them through the PS309 stencil with a blending tool, for a coordinated finish.

I wanted the first page to set a different tone from the rest, so I grab the JOFY's Printed Tissue PT03 ...

...and I applied with Mattint in Acid (MT14), which created this beautiful blend of colour.

Have I mentioned how much I love JOFY’s flowers? For the look I had in mind for the pages, I needed a floral cluster, there’s a gorgeous one in the JOFY133 set, but I wanted a few more, so, using masking technique, I turned some of the single flowers from JOFY101 and JOFY123  into the clusters I had in mind.

Now it’s just a matter of cutting them out and moving on to the tricky part, building the ‘mechanism’ for my waterfall mini album!

 

Now that we’ve created our pages, we need to build the structure onto which they’ll be applied.
The measurements are shown in the photo, but for convenience I’ll list them here as well: a piece of Smoothy (Regular) A4 White Stamping Card (SCA4) measuring 9½" x 4", with the first score line at 3¼" and the following ones every ¼"; a strip measuring 8" x 2"; and a small piece measuring 2½" x 1¼".

Apply some glue along the spine, starting from the second fold, attaching what will be the last page, and continue with the others in reverse order.

Then finally attach what will be the first page, the one we had previously decorated with the Printed Paper (PT03).

On the shorter side of the structure, glue the 8" x 2" strip in place as shown in the photo…

…and then apply glue over the entire surface to stick down the last page of the mini album.

Decorate the longer part of the structure using the Stencil PS309, this will remain visible when the waterfall mechanism is activated.

Then attach a tab to help flip through the pages. 
The mechanism is now ready!

Using Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white stamping card (SCA4H), create the cover that will serve as the base for the waterfall structure. Cut a piece measuring 11" x 4", with score lines at 5¼" and 5½", and colour it using the same PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics used for the pages.

I liked the idea of echoing the elements used on the pages in the cover design, so I decided to use the polka dots from the JOFY101 set, and later I’ll add some stamped and cut-out flowers.

With the Mattint Foxglove (MT18), I glue a piece of Printed Paper (PT03) to the end part of the inside cover.

And now we can proceed to glue the waterfall structure onto the cover, applying glue only to the area indicated in the photo.

The flower clusters we created earlier, once cut out, make a lovely decoration that also serves as a holder for our photographs, just be sure to apply glue only along the two side edges.

To make the inside cover a bit more interesting, I cut a pocket from one of the leftover pieces of SCA4, then decorated it using stamps from the JOFY133 set.

Inside, you can insert tags, memorabilia, or similar items.

Here is my finished waterfall mini album! I really enjoyed alternating between the purely creative part, decorating with colours, stamps, and stencils, and the slightly more technical part of building the structure, even though it was quite simple.

Here you can get a better view of the inside of the cover, with the pocket and the first page covered in printed paper. I coloured the word “bloom” using Mattint Foxglove, and the little flower was cut out from a leftover piece of Stamping Card.

By alternating colours, stamps, and stencils, I tried to give the pages a vibrant yet cohesive look. The white squares are just waiting to be used as photo mats for the pictures that will be stored in this mini album.

I’m really pleased with how this mini album turned out. The waterfall structure has always intrigued me, it's often used as an additional element in more complex projects, but here I wanted it to take centre stage. Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I’ll definitely be making more! Next time, though, I might not leave the strip that holds the mechanism plain white… I thought it wouldn’t be visible, but the edges are, and I’d prefer them to be coloured.
Can’t wait to see your creations too.

Have fun.

Martha xxx

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2023 Topic 4 : Mail Art {by Nikki Acton} with Jo Firth-Young stamps

Hi everyone

Nikki (@a2a.craft) here with you today.

My recent crafting pursuits have been quite bright and colourful, but I have been intending to rediscover a bit more of the vintage/distressed look. This project gave me the perfect opportunity. I decided to re-purpose an Amazon delivery cardboard envelope for this Mail Art topic - I hope you like it!

Along with our Mail Art topic, our theme is Texture - so I had fun building some textured layers to decorate my recycled envelope. I used crackle glaze, embossing powder and folded card to create the different effects you can see.

I had a good idea of the design / layout of the project I was planning, but wasn't sure how the layers would come together. I gathered my chosen stamp set, stencil, paints and inks plus the recycled envelope of course.

I kept my colour selection quite simple - blues and browns! I find it is too tempting to reach for too many colours sometimes. With a layered project, with different patterns or textures it is important to have something that brings them all together - in this case, the colours.

My starting point was to paint over the text / torn card on the envelope, so I reached for PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Mud Splat (FF61). As an opaque paint this covered most of it easily. Once dry I added a thin layer of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Crackle Glaze (FF22) using an old credit card.

Once dry I added PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Concrete (FF63). If you haven't used Crackle Glaze before - you need to add your top layer of paint quite quickly and generously as it reacts very quickly giving wonderful crackle!!

While I was waiting for the Crackle Glaze to dry I started making some quick backgrounds for my flowers. I wasn't sure how these would be used at this point - but I knew I would use them somewhere!

The first is paint brayered randomly and the letters stamp stamped in Ranger Distress Oxide - Faded Jeans. I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Venice Blue (FF133). The flowers and letter stamp are from my chosen set - JOFY stamp set 101 (JOFY101).

The second background used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Summer Sky (FF150) and Ranger Distress Oxide - Broken China. This time I stencilled with the ink using PaperArtsy Stencil by JOFY (PS373)

Having completed my crackled envelope base layer and some backgrounds for my flowers I then needed to build some layers and my mini envelopes.

 

A simple but effective way to create a bit of grungy texture is to score some cardboard - to give the effect of wooden or painted panels. Having cut some card to size I dipped it into 2 colours of ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Walnut Stain and Ranger Distress Oxide - Faded Jeans. Once dry I highlighted the scored lines and edges with the brown ink.

Next I created my mini envelopes using an envelope scoreboard. These are about 2.25 x 1.5 inches or 5.7 x 4cm. Some more ink dips and edging around the folds and edges. I added a few stamped images from Stamp Set Mini 132 (MN132).

Now I needed to finish the Amazon envelope. I added more PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Mud Splat (FF61) to the edges and stencilled some PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Venice Blue (FF133) using PaperArtsy Stencil by JOFY (PS329).

Now to put it all together and see what was working and what needed a bit extra. I noticed I needed an added layer between the panels and the stencilled circles so just added a paint sponged layer - distressed at the edges with my scissors. You might also see the white embossing powder around the edge of the stencilled circles.

I added some brads and velcro to the envelopes so they open and close; somewhere to hide little notes maybe!

 

 

Finally I needed some words and what better than this quote from Alison Bomber stamp set 01 (EAB01).

 

I love that I have gone back to a bit of distressed vintage! I think the fun part of this project was building up the textured layers - not everything worked - there is one sitting on my desk waiting for a new home!

Nikki

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