2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour with JOFY {by Jo Firth-Young}

  2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour

We do love a JOFY mini book, and even better when it's a pink-black-gold combo! Jo goes through her back catalogue to show just how perfectly all her stamps can work well together in the background and of course she also manages to find the perfect focal points to adorn each page beautifully.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jo Firth-Young (www.jofy.co.uk) here with you today, and I'm here to share with you a small concertina book I made using my 'favourite' colour - I say my 'favourite' colour but it really is so hard to pick just one colour isn't it?!!

I chose PINKS, - including HOT pink - the gorgeous Cerise. Hot pink seems slightly rebellious - it says 'look at me!'  It makes a statement doesn't it. I've teamed it with Sherbet, Gold and black to quieten it down a little... but not too much. lol

The mini book I created (final size 8x8cm) came together quite easily - I didn't start with any expectations of what it was going to be... but I took inspiration from an even smaller book I have on my desk (I do love tiny 'junk'/art journals!). 

It features lots of the small designs that are on my stamp plates and I've been wanting to make a slighter larger project using phrases. 

So I gathered up Smoothy card and paints and just started playing - I used lots of bits of 'this and that' - I had FUN making it, no pressure.  I used many of my favourite techniques - and all that HOT PINK colour!! 

The finished book just makes me smile- it has a really positive feel to it - I chose to feature lots of the little phrases & words that are dotted among my JOFY collection - I wanted to give them their '5 minutes of fame'. lol

I started by creating a master-board on a 13x6in panel of Heavy Smoothy. I painted it with diluted Sherbet Fresco Finish paint, used stencil PS250 to add small spots in Cerise and larger spots in Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide.  

Then, I added letters (JOFY101) in Gold Fresco Finish to break up the pink and add a touch of shine to contrast the matte pink paints. I intentionally left 'open' spaces.

Once all the painted layers had dried I added more details: I stamped blocks of small dots (EM57), and drew around the large dots with Stabilo All pencils in white and black diluting the lines with water.

I folded the panel into 4 x 3in strips, cutting off the remaining 1in strip.

 

I realised that 4 rectangle panels didn't give me enough space to work on - not enough pages, and I thought rectangles might be slightly restrictive so I cut the rectangles into 8 7x7cm squares - much more versatile and more pages! win win!

Now to decide what colour card to mount the squares onto for the concertina structure.  I often try out several backgrounds colours before making a decision - its definitely worth looking at different options - some might surprise you!  I tested white, black and my firm favourite: kraft. The different background colours definitely create a different look - the white is fresh, the black is very dramatic and the kraft gives a softer look. I decided on black for my book- a change from the white or kraft that I might normally reach for.

I measured and cut a strip of black card to mount the squares onto allowing for a border to frame each piece.

.... and when all the background details were finished I sewed each panel in place.

 

Here are pairs of page with the details of stamps used... details on the panels are die cuts, stamping, stenciling - created from pieces cut/created for this piece and from project 'left-overs' - repurposing bits and pieces. I really like adding all these little details to these small pages.

'Life is good.... ' is from JOFY46.  The numbers on the right hand page are from JOFY88 - this was a 'scrap' piece saved from a previous project (its always worth hanging on to interesting bits and pieces). These numbers were part of the planner sets I designed but it great to see them being used for something else.

The left hand page features bud stems from JOFY26 and 'Grow' from JOFY97 is part of a phrase but works just as well on its own.
I heat embossed most of the images stamped in black - the gloss of the embossing is a nice contrast to the matte Fresco paints.
The flower on the right hand page is JOFY61, and this page features one of the background stamps I added for more detail on some pages - the white embossing really makes it pop.

 

 

'Be a rebel' (great phrase) comes from JOFY50 - the ombre painted word uses Cerise and Sherbet. The flowers on the right hand page are from JOFY26 (shown above) - I stamped the flowers directly onto the background and added an additional one for added interest.

Here are the final two pages featuring JOFY72 (I like how the word 'you!' is accentuated by embossing it in gold), and JOFY102. 

Black and pink is such a great colour combination isn't it! and with those pops of gold and white!! Fabulous! 

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, to take another look through your stamps sets - look for the smaller stamps that are tucked in around the bigger images - bring them out, play with them and make them the feature of your pages - there are lots of little treasures in those sets - I'd love to see what you create!  

Take care

Jo

Website: www.jofy.co.uk

Pinterest: @jofyjo

Facebook: JoFY Jamboree! group

Twitter: @jofyjo

Instagram: @jofyjo

Teaching dates - ONLINE workshops
28.08.21  Loobi Crafts, www.loobicrafts.co.uk ...Wonderfully Wintery

Every Friday until December:  Festive Friday, 18.00 (UK time), in my Jamboree group: Free demo/Card making class 

2019 #13 Mushrooms: "Pinkeltjesland" with JoFY {By Ellie Knol}

2019 Topic 13: Mushrooms

Ohh you are in for a surprise, not one but two projects from Ellie today - she loves her mushrooms! And as ever, she is great with plenty of tips for you ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ellie Knol from PAPER-STAMPS-COLOR with you today, and I'd like to share the making of a frame with mushrooms, from a paper napkin and stamped images from two JOFY stamp sets.

When I think of mushrooms I think of gnomes; friendly little creatures living in the mushrooms. So I tried to picturize it with 'Pinkeltjesland', a scene of the little town where Pinkeltje lives, he and his whole family of gnomes. Pinkeltje is known here in the Netherlands from a series of children books, written by Dick Laan (see picture down here).. 
... they were hiding when I took this 'photograph' .. shy as they are, hehe.

Using the paper napkin with printed mushrooms as a backdrop for the stamped images of JOFY46 and JOFY61, is a nice start for the project.

I chose to add only a little red to the stamped images on the edge of the frame to make all stamped images pop. I love the contrasts between the whites and reds.

I painted the background with Fresco Finish Eggshell to match the color of the paper napkin. 

TIPS for working with paper napkins:

- to separate the top two layers.. stick a tiny piece of tape onto the bottom layer (the one you won't use) and the two top layers are separated easily.
- with a wet water-brush.. draw a line to the paper where you want it to be torn; this will make it tear easily along the wet line.
- to glue it down: add decoupage glue to the surface; put your paper napkin onto the background and dab it with a wet cloth. This will prevent it from sticking to your fingers for instance, and it helps to get rid of any air bubbles or wrinkles. Leave to dry first, before adding a layer of glue over the paper napkin. This will prevent it getting damaged during the gluing process.

I love the tiny circles stamp from the JOFY46 stamp set.. it's so versatile... I added it to the grass to tie the paper napkin's pictures and stamped images together.

I stamped the bubbles (tiny circles) from the big toadstool onto the background before gluing the fussycut of the image to the background.. that's always an option when details of a stamp are not easy to fussycut. 

I think this is going to be a gift for the bedroom of our one-month-old-baby-granddaughter; I think I will have to read Pinkeltje books to her in a few year's time. 

Surprise: 

I have a second project for you; same stamps, another paper napkin, a spread in an art journal. When starting the above project for this theme I stamped all the images in black and brown, not sure which color I would prefer with the red toadstools. I went for the brown ones

... why not use the black ones straight away.. ??
It's always fun playing in an art journal. 

I painted the background with Fresco paints to match the colors of the napkin, to fill the whole spread, as the paper napkin was not as big as the two pages.
The edge is Fresco Finish paint too, drawn with a Needle Nose Dispenser Bottle. I filled the bottle with thinned down Fresco Finish Snowflake, a paint I use a lot! 
You can fill the bottle with any color of course! 

Playing with paper napkins is one of my favourite techniques.
Read through my notes to see some tips about easy use /working with this delicate paper, it's so easy to ruin a whole project when messing it up with the decoupage glue.

I don't know about you, but (being a happy crafter) I always have some new ideas or techniques in the make (in my mind) .. 

Thanks for joining in with me today, and as always I appreciate it when you comment- tell me what you've learned from this post, or what you liked.. or maybe you have some tips / ideas for me? I'd like to hear from you!! Thanks...

Have a crafty day ... 

Ellie Knol

Blog: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl/   http://ellieatcs.blogspot.nl/ 
Owner of : https://www.facebook.com/groups/DutchArtJournal/  
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