2016 #2: Crazy Patchwork Heart By Karen Daniell

2016 Topic 2: Hearts 

Hi everyone Karen Daniell here, sharing a project with you for the hearts theme.

This evening I am showing you a crazy patchwork heart. My mum taught me to sew when I was a little girl, and so I have always loved playing with fabric. I decided to use a patchwork technique for my project but using card and paint as well as fabric and lace.

Step1 – First I made my heart template. As I was working with a 12 x 12 canvas board, I took a 12 x 12 piece of paper and cut out a heart shape. I then drew the crazy pattern onto this, starting with a triangle in the centre, then dividing the rest of the heart into sections. I made 2 of these one to keep as a reference and one to cut up.

Step 2 – Using the pattern, I cut out a heart shape in Bondaweb and ironed it onto a piece of Linen Scrim. (Bondaweb is a double sided glue which is activated by heat, used in sewing to bond fabrics together). I cut the scrim heart using pinking shears, leaving about 1cm around the Bondaweb.

I then brayered Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint onto pieces of Lightweight Smoothy Card and white cotton fabric. I used Bora Bora, Candy Floss, Guacamole and Chalk on some and Spanish Mulberry, Mermaid, Guacamole and Chalk on others. On the card pieces I then over-stamped some of the smaller images from JOFY13, JOFY24 and JOFY32, using Spanish Mulberry, Bora Bora and Chalk. I then used my pattern to cut pieces of the card and fabric to fit the heart. I tried to alternate the fabric and card to give a contrast.

JOFY13

JOFY24

Step 3 – Using Jet Black and Potting Soil Archival ink pads I stamped each piece with images from JOFY13, JOFY24 and JOFY32. I then ironed the pieces onto the linen heart to bond together.

JOFY32,

Step 4 – I then coloured in all of the images using translucent Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint. I used Zesty Zing, Hey Pesto, Pumpkin Soup, Tango, Blood Orange, Claret, Autumn Fire and Blueberry. I also used Spanish Mulberry mixed with Satin Glaze and Glass Blue mixed with a little Concrete. When I was happy with it I added a few dots of Chalk to some of the images.

Step 5 – Next I found some pieces of cream lace and glued them over the joins of the card and fabric using matt medium. I tried where possible to cover the ends of the lace. I then worked 3 lines of stitching around the heart with a variegated sewing thread.

Step 6 – Onto the corners of the canvas board I glued some scrunched up tissue paper to give some texture, then I painted it with Bora Bora and Guacamole Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint, adding a touch of Candy Floss, Pumpkin Soup and Chalk. When it was dry I rubbed on some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold to highlight the texture in the corners. The heart was attached to the canvas using matt medium, and I also glued buttons to the ends of the lace.

To finish I stamped the alphabet from JOFY21 onto scraps of the brayered card, to spell ‘Hearts and Flowers’, and glued those to the canvas.

JOFY21

I hope you’ve enjoyed this project and that it will inspire you to have a go at some ‘patchwork’ yourself.

Karen xx

I don’t have a blog (yet!), but you can catch up with me on 

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Oh karen I really like this, so pretty and what a different way to use the stamps. The different directions of the flowers provide great movement and the lace adds perfect grounding. ~ Darcy 

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!

NEW {July 2015} PaperArtsy Products: Eclectica³ Lin Brown - Part 2

Hi everyone, Lin Brown here to introduce my newest stamps under the Eclectica³ Designer Series. Leandra and I shot a video recently to show you all my new products. If you missed it last night, here it is again below...

But you might also like to take a look at the video for the products I released at the start of the year, these are a follow on from the flower series which I have really enjoyed using with the stencils. Here is that video: 

I have 4 new stamp sets for you in this July 2015 release:

Last night we took a close up look at sets 21/22, and tonight I have some more 'wingmen' who will work with sets 23/24. Of course they all mix and match really well as you will see.

First up we have Karen Daniell, my very close friend and she certainly was my right hand wing-man when I had my shop. Karen was a bit nervous about doing this for me, but her work is always so beautiful, she really has no need to be worried.......I would love it if she started a blog of her own to share her work with you......if you are reading this Karen.....nudge, nudge!!!

Yesterday's Memories by Karen Daniell using ELB23 

My first project uses the Poppy stamp, which I knew I wanted to use as soon as I saw it. It works so well with the sentiment, so I painted and stamped a 6x6" grey/white board and layered the Poppies in one corner, and then the sentiment in the opposite corner.

Sunflower by Karen Daniell using ELB23 & 24

My second piece uses the beautiful Sunflower stamp - my favourite I think, as it just reminds me of summer. I painted a large Manila tag, keeping the colours fairly light, so that the layered sunflower would show up well against it.

Tulip by Karen Daniell using ELB23 

This project uses the elegant Tulip stamp. I stamped and cut this out on Smoothy card and layered it onto another painted and stamped piece of grey/white board.

Next up It's Kay Carley. I have admired Kay's work for many years, her work is so elegant and beautiful, she has a great eye for colour and attention to detail. You can see more from Kay on her blog Kay's Crafty Corner

May your day.... by Kay Carley using ELB23 

All of my three samples are created by embossing the main images with white detail embossing powder and coloured with Copic markers. The backgrounds are Distress Inks and accents have been added with a sprinkle of enamel embossing powders that have been heated from underneath.

Poppy by Kay Carley using ELB23 

Although this sample was made using the same technique as the first, notice the dramatic change simply by swapping colours.

Trio of Tulips by Kay Carley using ELB23

It's interesting how an alternative background colour really changes the golden tones of the yellow/orange tulip, from the pretty and delicate colour scheme of sample one, to a vibrant, striking colour scheme for this final sample.

And finally it's Gabrielle Price. I have loved the work that Gabrielle has been creating in her journal recently and invited her to be one of my wingmen in the hope that she would work in her journal to share here tonight, and I'm delighted to say she did!!! You can see more from Gabrielle on her blog Crafty Thoughts

Journal Page by Gabrielle Price using ELB23 & 24

I wanted to use the gorgeous sunflower stamp to see if I could make a different style of flower - I rather like it! The flowers are all painted on tissue paper which, although delicate, allows you to build up colour on both sides of the paper meaning you can get some really rich results, especially on those fabulous tulips!

Pink Sunflower by Gabrielle Price using ELB24

I love Lin's Bougainvillea paint - I think it's my favourite ever and so I brayered Tangerine Twist, snowflake and Bougainvillea in lots of thin layers to build up a real depth of colour. I love the little accent beads as the centre!

Book paper Sunflower by Gabrielle Price using ELB24

When I first saw the sunflower stamp I knew I had to create a 3D flower. Using book paper on Clearly for Art, I painted the flower and the heated it to make it mouldable. I was going to embellish the centre but couldn't bear to cover up the text!

Finally, I'd like to share with you a few of the items I have made with my stamps.

Project One: Pink Tulip by Lin Brown using ELB23 

I'm sure Leandra will have smiled to herself when she saw this project for the first time. I can remember commenting on her favourite pink and orange colour combination... in not a favourable way... and here I am using pink and orange and not for the first time either!!! 

(edit Leandra: I might have mentioned it in the video Lin!)

Step One: My first project this evening uses the super quick background technique as shown in my Splodger Background Video. You saw it yesterday, and here it is again if you missed it....

I normally like to use opaque colours for the 'splodger' technique but I opted for Bougainvillea and although it is a semi-opaque, it is highly pigmented and works a dream. The translucent colours over the top are Tangerine Twist and Tango.

Step Two: Adding colour to the stamped images. Don't forget to heat set any stamping with Archival ink before painting.

Step Three: I sponged Snowflake Fresco Finish on to my stamp followed by Limelight to create a more opaque version of Limelight. I found if I mixed the two colours together before applying to my stamp, the white over-powered the green.

Here's a close up... so you can see some of the layout in more detail. All the flower elements were stamped on to pre-painted Smoothy cardstock. If you enjoy a challenge, all the tiny flowers were cut from the border stamp on ELB23!!!!! As a finishing touch to my background, Bougainvillea through stencil PS001 with added blacks dots were just the element to fill in gaps.

Project Two: Garden Meadow by Lin Brown using ELB21, 22, 23 & 24

Although the intention this evening was to focus on stamp plates ELB23 & ELB24, I really wanted to create a garden so I've actually used stamps from all four plates!!! My project is built on one of PaperArtsy's 5" x 7" white/grey board substrates, it is the perfect size for my flowers.

Step One: Having prepared my board with a layer of Grunge Paste through Emma Godfrey's stencil PS016 and scratched a pokey tool through some Grunge Paste at the bottom of the board to create some grass, I set about painting the background. First, a stripe of Snowflake across the centre followed by a stripe of Caribbean Sea at the top.

Step Two: Blended both paints together with a touch more Snowflake.

Step Three: And Finally Hey Pesto for the grass. When dry, I added a small amount of Classic Treasure Gold to to texture of the Grunge Paste.

Step Four: All the flowers were stamped with Jet Black Archival ink onto Smoothy cardstock that had already been painted with Fresco Finish paint. Highlights and accents were added with translucent paints after I had heat set the ink. 

Here's a close up ...not sure how well it shows in the photograph, but I found that tiny dots of Ranger's Black Enamel Accents added a lovely finishing touch to the tiny flowers and poppy heads.

                     Project Three: Copper Sunflower by Lin Brown using ELB24

I still love working with metal, and this large sunflower is an ideal image for all my favourite metal working techniques so I couldn't let this opportunity pass by without making one metal sample.

Step one: I always use StazOn Ink for stamping on to metal, because its a solvent ink, it dries really quickly and gives a crisp, sharp image. I stamped the head of the sunflower first, made a mask before stamping the stem to ensure there was no gap between the two.

Step two: Using a stylus, trace over the image.

Step three: For interest, I added the sunflower message.

Step Four: I flipped the metal over, leaning on a foam mat, I used a paper stump to puff out the back of the sunflower. These embossed areas will need filling to protect them so I filled them with Grunge Paste.

Step Five: I decorated random areas of the background by rubbing over a rigid Ten Seconds Studio mould with my paper stump, then refined with the teflon toipped tool and filled in the gaps with a stippled effect using the teflon tipped tool.

Here's a close up.....I made a separate centre for the sunflower with has been mounted onto card for stability.

I have loved every minute of creating these samples to share with you this evening to see some of my work in real life or catch me teaching a class, I am booked to be at the following venues:

Birds in the Barn Marks Tey, Essex: July 25 - demos, July 26 - Shadow Box class. 

Stamperama show, Stevenage: August 2 - Demo on PaperArtsy stand.

The Craft Barn, South Nutfield, Surrey: October 3 - demos, Oct 4/5 - classes.

Otherwise, my blog is Yours Artfully / twitter @yoursartfully

I have thoroughly enjoyed making all the samples for these blog posts and I hope that my guests and I have inspired you to try one or two of these ideas yourself. I always find that new products bring out new found creativity in all of us, so I hope that you will enjoy using these new stamps just as much as we have. 

Lin

Artist Trading Post, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, UK.
Birds in the Barn, Marks Tey, Essex, UK.
Creafine, Papendrect, The Netherlands
Creativity Cards and Crafts, Eastbourne, UK
Countryview Crafts, Potton, Bedfordshire, UK.

Frantic Stamper Inc, Oregon, USA.
Imagine That Papercrafts, Essex, UK.
Let's Create, Lincoln, UK.
Scrapatouille, Brignoles, France.
Scrapbook Centrale, Quebec, Canada.
Snazzys, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK.
Stempelfee-Shop, Hilden, Germany.
Stampers Grove, Edinburgh, UK.

Stamping Corner, Zuid Holland, The Netherlands.
Stempelfee-Shop, Hilden, Germany.
Stempeloase Munich, Munich, Germany.
Swanstitch, Deal, Kent, UK.
The Artistic Stamper, Faversham, Kent, UK.
The Craft Barn, South Nutfield, Surrey, UK
The Craft Den, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK.
The Forget Me Not Kraft Kabin, Rochford, Essex, UK.

That's Crafty, Harold Wood, London, UK

Don't forget, the Topic 12: Stencils challenge is open for an extra week while the new product announcements take place this week. You have until Sunday, July 12th 5pm London time, to link your art. Perhaps Lin has inspired you to do some metal work tonight? It's a perfect fit with the Shiny Stuff Topic!!!. Perhaps Lin has inspired you to do some metal work tonight? It's a perfect fit with the Shiny Stuff Topic!!!