PA Blog 2020 Year in Review {Topics 1-5}

 PaperArtsy Blog 2020 Year in Review - Part 1/4

 

Hello from PaperArtsy HQ,

This is the time on year that we reflect on the year past. Despite the turmoil and upheaval that a virus has wreaked across our globe, to me, time seems to have passed in a flash. Maybe that is because we managed to move country within the year too, which certainly sucked up more recent months. I can certainly understand, that for many people, perhaps this year has dragged. It seems people are aching to move forward into 2021!

 

We have much to be thankful for. Crafting has brought relief to many people this year. It is a good form of escape. To get lost in the process of creating art helps put to the back of your mind other daily concerns. It also gives an opportunity to express feelings and frustrations too. Despite the unusual circumstances, did you find time to create more this year? Did you learn something new or pick up a new hobby? 

 

Many of us have been challenged in ways we least expected? Making ends meet, paying bills, keeping our jobs. To have your job-security and ability to function questioned so unexpectedly from an event beyond your control has been a pretty stressful set of circumstances to face. I hope that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I am sure that when things do start to get back to normal, that we all will appreciate more our environment, the opportunity to travel and appreciate other cultures, and the relationships we enjoy with colleagues, friends and family, or even meeting up with fellow crafters again!

Tonight we are sharing highlights from Topics 1-5: Love is in the Air, A Hint of Spring, On this Tag, Mighty Mica and Mark Making.

Leandra 

Topic 1: Love is in the Air

My first pick is this amazing beauty. If Valentine tends to make us think of cards, Jenny  Marples has repackaged all the classics of love (pink, hearts, lace) in this gorgeous box  (link to the original post).

I adored how clean and simple this book cover is, with great colour impact. Ellie Knol really has an eye for the details that make the difference, like the tiny cut-out numbers (link)

Additionally we saw all often associate love with warm colours and cute patterns. Helen Chilton went another route with this colorful and quirky heart (link).

 

What about a love project with no heart? Check the layers on this beautiful inspirational card. Claire Snowdon manages to project the feelings even without the usual imagery (link).

 

Topic 2: A Hint of Spring

 

Spring traditionally heralds the rebirth of nature. Jennie Atkinson perfectly encapsulated this feeling in soft purples and deep greens (link to original blog post).

 

I love how Lotte Kristensen also went with the "new leaves" idea but hers remind us that Spring also often brings back color after a drab winter. So bright and funky! (link)

Look how the big Jofy blooms fill the space on this small notebook by Chris Dark. The black background really make the colours pop, even with soft blues and greens.(link).

Additionally, Josefine Fouarge made great use of her stamps (Gwen Lafleur's circles) to build coordinated background, pattern papers and focus elements in this striking tag. (link)

Topic 3 : On this Tag

My first pick is this bright and quirky series by Etsuko Noguchi. Tags and minis pair perfectly and she really brought the Zinski characters to life with popping colours while grounding them with textured backgrounds (link).

I loved how Corrie Herriman mixed Scrapcosy's vintage images with bright colours. Her use of stark script and subtle texture grounds the focus images while letting them pop  beautifully (link).

And I hope you didn't miss Nikki Acton's concertina book. The tag shape mimics book pages while providing just a little bit more interest.  (link)

I adored how  Amanda Pink included the tag in her composition. Still a key feature yet also an element among others, brought together by a clever use of colour (link).

Topic 4 : Mighty Mica

I hope you didn't miss this abstract piece, a rare treat on our blog! Helen Chilton cleverly used the micas shifting and shine to reveal the texture in all her layers(link to original blog post)

I adored how Lynn Good did not hesitate to mix micas and bright colours. She broke out her sparkly pens to give shiny highlights to her flowers with great effect (and a lot less mess!) (link).

Additionally the long time crafters among us remember mica sheets. Autumn Clark surely does and included fragments everywhere in her journal, creating subtle texture and shine (link).

Topic 5 : Mark Making

I think these tags by Autumn Clark are a beautiful example of how fun and creative mark making can be. Lots of layers mixing to make new texture or reveal little stamp details! (link)

I love how Jenny Marples decided to do her marks in relief. The careful composition and contrasting colours really make that red heart stand out. (link)

For her marks, Keren Baker's stamping in bleach and thread effects produce a striking result! The embroidery on the bee makes it look alive. (link)

It is fabulous to look back on what our superb bloggers have shared with us over the course of the year.  Don't forget to save the posts that float your boat on pinterest. You'll hit the New Year with a dozen ideas to crack on with!

Leandra

2020 #4 Mighty Mica: Lynne Perrella Pendants {by Cat Kerr}

2020 Topic 4: Mighty Mica

Introduction:
We have another new face to the blog today, but I'm sure she is known to many of you. It's Cat Kerr, and she is a whizz with jewelry ideas, and for this post, she has come up with a fantastic pendant using the new Lynne Perrella stamps.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, 

Cat Kerr here and I am thrilled to be sharing my new Multi-Layered Pendants with you today! 

As curiosity-driven artist, I am always on the hunt for new material combinations. There's nothing I love more than having the opportunity to take non-related materials and figure out how to marry them together to create one piece of jewelry, with one voice. 

Figuring out the layers is the fun part and in today's project, I do exactly that by combining materials such as Paper Artsy Stamps, Metal, Leather, Mica and so much more! Plus I share all the steps with you so that you too can create multi-layered pendants! 

Check out the video I've made of the process below...

The beauty of creativity is that there are no limits. When it comes to creating layers, everything and anything can be incorporated into your project. 

As I type this now I have a sheet of Clear Craft Plastic on my work table, I have Seth Apter's Embossing Powders, and a pile of monoprints I created...all of which would make interesting layers in my next project. 

What about you, what do you see in front of you that can be incorporated into your next Multi-Layered Pendants?! 

Happy Creating friends, 
Cat 
          
Website: https://www.catkerr.com/  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cat.kerr2  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catkerr92/  
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catkerr/ 

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter here for upcoming workshops and product release dates.

2020 #4 Mighty Mica: Beautiful moments with EGL {by Corrie Herriman}

2020 Topic 4: Mighty Mica

Introduction:
The composition of this canvas has so many delicate details to be appreciated - tone on tone stamping, using white or light paints to knock back a darker paint colour, using a stamping platform to great effect, coloured pencils, and of course, mica! Corrie shares each step so well, I'm sure by the end you will see how all those steps make a difference!
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Corrie with you today, and I'd like to share with you a 20 x 20 cm canvas that I made with the beautiful new stamps by Gwen Lafleur. 

I was so excited when I received this gorgeous stamp set {EGL05} which is one of my favourites from the new release. I had never worked with mica, apart from with mica powder, so I went in search of some sheets it as I really wanted to try it. Unfortunately I could only find one pack and it was dark brown; not what I wanted so it was back to the drawing board to come up with another idea. When I found some mica flakes in the back of the cupboard that I had never used, I decided to use those instead.

This is what I came up with. It is a 20 x 20 cm (about 8" x 8") canvas. It was fun to make and putting the pieces of mica on the flowers was a labour of love. Here's how it came together:

I really enjoy colouring with Copic Markers but for this project I thought I would do something different. I stamped the whole set onto some {Smoothy Card} and left all the stamps in the stamping tool so I could re-stamp them later in the exact same spots. 

I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics to paint all the stamped images. Looks a mess like that but wait and see ! I used these colours : {Snowflake}, {Nougat}, {Gold Rush}, {Tinned Peas} and {Blue Bayou}. I used these same colours throughout the project. 

Remember I left all the stamps in the stamping tool. Here's why: all the stamp lines were gone because I painted over them, I just had to put it back into the stamping tool and re-stamp. I used Archival Ink in {Jet Black} to stamp before and after painting.

I then added a little bit of shading on all the images using coloured pencils. This worked a treat ! I then cut all the images out and went around the cut lines with a black marker to make it look like I cute them out perfectly!

Next I sat down with a cup of tea and added mica flakes, one by one to the flowers and the buds, so all the blue paint is covered in mica. It is such a shame that you can't really capture the shimmer/glitter in a photograph very well. Believe me though, it is very pretty and sparkly ! Next I turned my attention to the canvas.

I decided to keep the background really simple because I wanted those beautiful images to be the stars of the show. I painted the canvas with some Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in the colour {Nougat} and then added some stencilling with mask {PM008} By Emma Godfrey using the {Blue Bayou} Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic. 

Because I wanted the images to shine I knocked the stencilling back with more Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, using the {Nougat} again and also the {Gold Rush}. I mainly used my fingers to do this. I also decided to add some dictionary words because I thought it would go well with my canvas. They are the words: Flora, Natural and Fauna.  After this I added the images together with a part of a word chip by Tim Holtz which I coloured with a Copic Marker to get it rid of the stark white.

When the images were adhered, I used some dimensional tape as well here and there, I thought it needed something else so I added a tiny bit of stamping. I used some Ink & the dog minis for this. They were {MN56} and {MN75}. 

As I said I really love this stamp set by Gwen Lafleur and I really enjoyed using it. I can see lots of other uses for it, including birthday cards, art journal pages (my next project) and even tags and ATC's. I really like how my canvas turned out and wonder how it would have looked in different colours and with maybe just a background made with mica powders or mica sprays. I hope I gave you some ideas to have a go yourself. 

Thank you very much for being here today and I hope you'll visit me at my other locations too : 

blog: www.MadeByCHook.blogspot.nl

FB: https://www.facebook.com/corrie.herriman

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/corrie.herriman/

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/c/CorrieHerriman

2020 #4 Mighty Mica: Art Journal Page with JOFY {by Lynn Good}

2020 Topic 4: Mighty Mica

Using mica subtly can really lift your art. This fabulous floaty floral art journal page is adding a real zing to our Mighty Mica topic. Love all the doodled details to the JoFY images.

Hi everyone, it's Lynn from Memories On The Page with you today, and I'd like to share with you an art journal page that I have created this month using the awesome JOFY91 stamp.

As soon as I saw this stamp I knew it was one that I had to have in my collection and couldn't wait to create with it for the Mica theme. What a great stamp to use with Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens that contain Mica.

I began by stamping out the flowers onto Paper Artsy Smoothy Card then colouring them.  I have used Copic Markers to colour and Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens to highlight.  I haven't worried about the edges as I am going to fussy cut them out.

Once I have stamped and coloured enough - the fussy cutting begins.

I then coloured the background of my art journal page using Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paints - Zesty Zing, Bubble Gum and Tango.

I then put the fussy cut flowers in place and adhered with Matte Medium.

Next, I stamped around the background with mini stamp MN22, then used black ink through stencil PS135

It is hard to photograph the mica in the flowers, but where the dull look is - that's actually mica and looks awesome in real life.

I have then added the title which is from JM40.  I stamped this onto plain orange cardstock and coloured using the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens.

I have then added some white marks around the layout by colouring in some of the petals and scribbling around the stencilled flowers. A black edge completes the layout.

This was so much fun that I would love you to have a go yourself.  Find your favourite stamp and let loose with the colour - just remember the colour wheel rules; choose colours next to each other or opposite.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget if you are going to create a page, we would love to see it, so upload it to the Paper Artsy People page on Facebook.

Til next time - happy crafting!

Lynn.

Blog:  memoriesonthepage.blogspot.com.au