Vintage Clipboard with NEW Seth Apter products {by Mags Woodcock}

Hi everyone, nice to be back with you again, Mags here with you today.

This year on the blog, we have free reign to do a deep dive into a PaperArtsy product ranges of our choosing. For this post I have been exploring some new products designed for PaperArtsy by Seth Apter.  Four new Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and three new stamp sets.

Today I'm looking forward to sharing how I combined these new products with some of my favourite PaperArtsy products and book pages from my stash. I wanted to give my project a vintage vibe and you will see how I achieved this, along with a definite French feel.

I really enjoyed creating all the separate elements to this project, especially mixing the new paint colours to create some vintage inspired tones. I also included some Rusting Powder and Just Walnut Infusions in the mix for a touch of grunge.

For my project I was using three new stamp sets by Seth Apter, sets 46,47 and 48 (ESA46, ESA47, ESA48, available from a PaperArtsy Stockist) and four new Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics, Castleton (FF231), Pumice (FF232), Admiral (FF233) and Kiln (FF234) (available from a PaperArtsy Stockist).

You can probably see by this photo, that the stamps have a French theme. This had an impact on the inspiration and thoughts behind my project. Read on and I will explain.

When I received the paints and stamps my mind started whirling with ideas. Leandra had mentioned that the stamps had been designed by Seth, to be used at the Art Retreat being held at PaperArtsy HQ in France. As my signature style is vintage with a touch of grunge, it's not surprising that my thoughts took a turn in that direction. My idea for the project was to create a series of cards or sheets of paper with a vintage style photo of a guest at a retreat. A little like a check list, marking everyone as present. These would be held together on a vintage style clipboard. So lets start to create the backgrounds for those pages.

I love to create distressed backgrounds with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and a brayer. I used Smoothy (SCA4) paper as my base and brayered on small amounts of the new paints, Castleton (FF231), Pumice (FF232), Admiral (FF233) and Kiln (FF234) mostly concentrating on the edges of the paper. I varied the sequence of paints on each sheet to give a slightly different look.

To give the backgrounds a vintage look, I brushed on a wash of Just Walnut Infusions (CS25). When this was completely dry I spritzed again with a mini spray bottle filled with the diluted Infusions mixture. I like the blobs of Just Walnut this created.

It was now time for the stamps to come out to play. I used some of the words on the backgrounds, stamping in black for impact. In this picture I used Eclectica Seth Apter ESA46. You can probably see that I added some stamping on the edges of the background, this gave some extra visual texture.  Finally I mounted each sheet onto vintage book pages to give a border.

I was very happy with how the backgrounds turned out, just the right amount of distressing and subtle grunge. It was now time to move on to creating the embellishments and ephemera using the rest of the stamps.

For my next steps I decided to experiment with the Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic  paints, mixing them to create more options. As you can see, the combinations were fabulous, with some unexpected results.

I was particularly drawn to the combinations of the darker colours, Kiln, Castleton, and Admiral, mixed with Pumice.

I used up the leftover paints brushed onto Smoothy paper. I didn't worry about creating a smooth coat of paint, in fact I wanted a distressed uneven look as you can see above.

I used the label stamp set (EAS48) from the stamp trio to create some ephemera, Ranger Archival ink was ideal for that.

To add a more aged look to the labels I spritzed the sheets of stamped labels with diluted Just Walnut Infusions, as I had with the backgrounds. I love the dried splodges that resulted. When they were dry it was time to cut them out.

I had finished cutting out the labels and had quite a lot of painted paper leftover. It was ideal for die cutting, I used the recently released Sizzix dies designed by Seth. I wasn't sure how I would use the die cuts, but I liked the way they looked.

Now that I had some lovely aged ephemera to add to my project, it was time to move on to building my pages.

I had some French vintage book pages in my stash and those mixed nicely with the stamped labels and die cuts. I backed each Vintage Tim Holtz photo with a piece of cotton rag paper which had the Frescos brayered on to it. I also included some vintage lace and cotton fabric.

It was now time to move on to the clipboard.

I had this mini clipboard in my stash for a while, just waiting for it's moment. As you can see it was a bit new looking for my project. That was easily remedied. A couple of coats of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Heavy Cream (FF203) and a section of Printed Tissue (PT07) adhered with Matte Glaze (FF52) and it looked a lot better.

I love rust, so the obvious thing to alter the shiny clip at the top of the board, was to add rust. This is a very easy process with PaperArtsy Rusting Powder (RP45). I coated the clip with Heavy Gel Medium, adding a couple of cocktail sticks to stop the clip from sticking down and together. A heavy dusting of Rusting Powder to coat the gel, left to dry and the excess brushed off. I added few spritzes of white vinegar to the powder and left to activate overnight in a well ventilated room.

The next step was a bit of an experiment, I wanted to seal the rust, so it didn't mark my pages. I decided to try a coat of Matte Glaze over the rust. It seemed to work well.

A few spritzes of diluted Just Walnut Infusions and the look was complete. You may notice a gap in the rust on the clip, there was a piece of washi tape covering that area, which I removed after rusting the clip. I will explain in a moment.

I wanted to use one of the labels at the top of the clipboard, so stamped and distressed it as before.  It was a perfect fit when it was cut out and adhering was easier to the unrusted part of the clip.

I loved how this all came together so easily and I know I will be using the leftover die cuts and labels in future projects.

Here are a few photos of the finished project, with some close ups.

So as you can see in this photo, I created 3 pages to work with my Vintage style clipboard. The two ladies already had some colour to the photos, the gent was just black and white. I used a small amount of Fern Mattint (MT03) to colour his shirt, I didn't want him to be left out , haha.

I tried wherever possible to coordinate the stamps so they told a story. My school girl French came in handy at last. I'll let you decide on the story behind each character, but I definitely think this très chic lady is Parisian. You can see here how the pages look on the clipboard.

I love the effect that spritzing the Just Walnut Infusions creates on top of the painted and stamped image. A real vintage vibe.

The painted papers were ideal for die cutting and added some extra texture and interest.

Using the word stamps to add interest to the edge of the pages, the wording doesn't need to be readable.

Last, but not least, a close up of the rusty clipboard.

I hope you have enjoyed reading how I created this project, and how I was inspired, not only by the paints and stamps, but also the Art retreat at PaperArtsy HQ. I know I will be exploring more of the colours I mixed, along with the stamped images in future projects, so watch out in the PaperArtsy People Facebook group.

Happy crafting............. Mags x

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Butterfly Booklet with Sara Naumann Products {by Ann Barnes}

Hi everyone, nice to be back with you again. It is Ann (@aksbarchitect) here with you today.

This year on the blog, we have free reign to do a deep dive into a PaperArtsy product range of our choosing. For this post I have been exploring Sara Naumann's products. One of the things I love about the summer is watching the butterflies silently flutter through the air and alight upon the flowers. They always bring such a sense of peace. When I saw the Sara Naumann butterfly stencil and stamps, I wanted to create something that reflected this peacefulness that the butterflies bring.

Working with the beautiful PaperArtsy Infusions and various papers, I had an idea to use the stencil in a new (to me) way. I was hoping to achieve a dimensional page that would make you eager to look deeper. It took a few tries, but once I was able to make my vision become a reality, the remaining pages seemed to flow effortlessly.

I am looking forward to sharing my process for creating this with you.

For this booklet, I primarily used Sara Naumann Stamp Set 33 (ESN33) and PaperArtsy Sara Naumann Stencil 122 (PS122). I also used the gorgeous PaperArtsy Infusions Dye Stains Raspberry (CS24), Blackcurrant (CS09), and Violet  Storms (CS11).

Most often when I think of butterflies, my mind conjures visions of purples and pinks. The PaperArtsy Infusions created such gorgeous intense colored papers, I thought that using a yellowish base paper would complement it wonderfully. For this I chose PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic in Heavy Cream (FF203) and Ranger Industries Distress Ink in Antique Linen.

Knowing that I would be incorporating hand dyed papers made with PaperArtsy Infusions dye stains, I decided that creating those papers would be the perfect place to begin. Watching the colors spread onto the paper with the addition of water is so much fun! I like to use 100% cotton rag vellum because it accepts the colors easily, withstands a lot of water and also dries flat. Spritz the vellum paper with water, sprinkle the infusions randomly over the page and add more water. Then, layer another page directly on top and repeat the process. This allows you to add color to both sides of the paper efficiently. Once you have completed as many pages as you want, allow them to dry overnight. If there are any remaining crystals that have not dissolved, these are easily brushed off once the papers are completely dry. I also dyed some Bristol cardstock and tracing paper that I would put to use later, both in the booklet as well as in some of my collage art. Having a stash of these gorgeous and vibrant papers is always nice.

My original idea was based on creating a dimensional paper using the butterflies stencil (PS122). I was hoping to use a translucent vellum topper that would allow color to show through butterfly shaped openings. I tried multiple variations of layering and could not get this idea to work out. Frustrated, I then decided that perhaps the colors would only be seen within the booklet... It was when I allowed my creativity to guide me, that things began to head in a direction much more to my liking!

 

To create the cover, I laid the stencil onto my handmade paper and lightly traced the butterflies with a pencil. I moved the stencil around to create a pattern that swept across the page. It is not necessary to use all of the stencil cutout openings in your design, and you can easily make the design your own by changing the angles and positions of the different sized butterfly openings.

Using an Exacto knife, I cut around each of the butterfly wings that I had traced and intentionally left the central "body" section intact. This allows the wings to be folded upward while remaining attached.

Once all of the wing shapes are cut, gently erase the remaining pencil marks. You can then adorn the wings in any way you desire; I added some gilding.

Using the piece of Infusions dyed Bristol, I die cut two ornate butterflies. Then I traced the edge of the butterfly onto one half of a folded piece of cardstock and cut it out with scissors. This created a folding card where the top flap was in the shape of the butterfly and the base remained untouched. Using the butterfly quote stamp from Sara Neumann Stamp Set 33 (ESN33) I stamped repeatedly to create a background.

Using a blending brush and Distress Ink, I added color to the patterned butterfly shape.

This piece was then sandwiched between the two die cut pieces.

I inked a piece of vellum with Distress ink in Antique Linen, then created some tone on tone pattern using the butterfly image stamps from the set. Using the same Antique Linen Distress ink, I inked up my stamps and randomly stamped onto the colored vellum.

Since the images are stamped in the same color, they appear as a deeper shade of the background. I love the look of this, especially on the translucent vellum.

The sentiments that were intended to stand out, were stamped onto the vellum with Archival Ink.

When the butterfly flap sits atop the vellum pages, it creates an interesting and beautiful backdrop.

I wanted to create a similar sweep of the butterflies on the back page. To do this, first lightly sponge PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic paint in Heavy Cream onto the Bristol cardstock and allow to dry. Then using an ink blending brush, ink up a few of the butterfly shapes in the stencil creating the desired pattern.

Once the ink is dry, replace the stencil over the page and add metal leaf adhesive to random areas of the inked shapes. Gold leaf is then placed onto the adhesive and the excess is brushed off.

The final step is to assemble the pages and secure them together with a piece of sari silk to create a butterfly booklet.

I love the way this butterfly booklet turned out. As I turn the pages I am transported to the peaceful flight of the butterfly. Drifting amongst the flowers carefree.

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