NEW: Seth Apter {by Ruth Mescall}

Jan 2019 New Products
Eclectica³ Collection {Seth Apter}

A note from Leandra:

I don't know how Ruth does it, but she seems to make magic effortlessly when she gets out paint, infusions and a little touch of bling! Here colour palette is always subdued, and I think her ideas are perfect for interior decor projects. I can imagine a house full of Ruth art experiments! 

Yesterday, Seth announced his new products and a list of stockists here, so if you want to know more take a look there, meantime, buckle up for a good dash of infusions and Ruth!   ~ Leandra 

Hi everyone, it's Ruth with you today, and I'd like to share with you an idea for project using Seth's wonderful new stamps, it's also confession time, I felt so inspired I couldn't limit myself to using just a few of the stamps...I think I used them all! 

Here's a reminder of Seth's new stamps announced yesterday and available from PA stockists now.

 

 

With lots of wonderful circular imagery in this release my first idea was to use the grid image from ESA11 as a background and lots of interweaving circles from ESA12 on top as a card or wall art but this very quickly became a journal cover and then the idea just grew. 

I knew I wanted to use infusions and hoped they would mingle in the white embossed grid. Having painted the background with Chalk I sprinkled on Olive Tree infusions before spritzing and also dry brushed the album edges with Steel Grey Fresco paint.The seek image EM39 on acetate was a must-use for the front cover framed by one of the circular images. A perfectly coordinated Leandra-bead from my stash complemented the shrink plastic hand image on the spine.

Circles overlapping, sitting inside one another, tumbling over the edge, boy did I have fun....and yes a touch of gold here and there. I used a mix of paper in the album and Smoothy Stamping 340gsm for the 'die cuts'...I was easily able to find a circle die that would trim the inside of the circle for me and then trimmed the outer edge of the image by hand.

More circles, this one is such a crisp image and already a favourite. I used two colours of inkpad to create the shading, lightly tapping with a darker one. A black pen added dashes throughout the album pages.

I found the mini stamps worked great along the edge of the pages, this brick image in 2 colours worked so well under the circles and whilst I've created a mini album with simple stamping, the ideas could easily be transferred to cards. 

From circles to squares and rectangles and more stamps that layer up so well. 

The images are so detailed that they still work beautifully when stamping with infusions, this is one of my favourite techniques that creates a subdued watercolour effect.

Stamped with ink for this page, can you tell the watch frame is another favourite.

An infused hand! Unfortunately I can't share all the pages here today (there are loads!) but promise I will share the remainder on my blog very soon. 

I thought I'd end by going back to the beginning and share some more details from the front and back covers.

I think this photo shows how well the circular images work together and if wanted can sit inside one another. These stamps are perfect for mixed media projects, journal pages or simple cards and the mini album would make a great teaching project, either making your own journal or decorating the pages of a bought one with simple stamping. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to unleash my creativity with these inspiring stamp designs, it's yet another great release from Seth!

Ruth x

Blog: a love to create
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These stamps are available from PaperArtsy retailers now, see the product announcement post here for details. 

2018 #20 Foiling: Grungy Christmas with ESA {by Ruth Mescall}

 2018 Topic 20: Foiling

Love how the foil really lifts these backgrounds-turned-trees! Just one of the several ideas Ruth presents here. I love the kraft tags made from the negative foiling too, and like she says, even without sentiments, they have that perfect Christmas vibe! Get your cards done fast and with ease before the rush of December! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ruth here with you today, and I'd like to share with you a way of using some of Seth's fab new stamps with foiling to create some quick Christmas cards. 

I always like to get the most out of stamps sets and the grungy images and patterns of ESA09 work perfectly when embellished with a little foiling for a contemporary card. Simple triangles or box shapes work really well and while there is a theme to them each one is different, allowing you to be creative even when you're making a batch of them. I frequently add a touch of gold or metal to my projects but this topic allowed me to really indulge in my love of foiling and revisit a few techniques. 

I didn't think bright white smoothy card would work with a grungy colour palette but it was perfect. I used Fresco Acrylic paints to make lightly brayered or painted backgrounds and the colours were Blue Lagoon, Venice Blue, Twilight, Winter Green, Magic Moss, Sea Glass, Slimed and Cerise.

 

I used both clear embossing powder and WOW bonding powder. I used clear when I only wanted to use touches of foiling. This is where the left over bits of foil come in to their own, when touches adhere to the hot melted powder. I use a bone folder or my finger wrapped in a cloth to rub over the area, it does get very hot.

This linear design means you can repeat stamp it and I've used it horizontally for the body of the tree and vertically for the trunk. Lots of triangular trees to be made from a small piece of card.

Lines and circles always complement each other, simple but effective.

Slight change here to modern and bright and could even be used for a birthday card. I loved using the brightest paints I could find and the lines, circles and squares of the stamps make each present so individual.

The background keyboard stamp is in Watering can archival to act as a 'foil' (sorry!) to the bright boxes.

Kraft card tags and another technique. After using a fresh piece of foil on the teal tree of the large card (see below), I had a negative stamp impression left in the foil, so I used versamark on masked off sections of a tag and applied bonding powder. I then used the 'negative' gold foil over the area before reheating the remaining powder and using a contrasting colour, result...luscious!

I love making painty backgrounds and this is simple brayering over masked-off circles to evoke muted frosty hills.

The bling of foil works beautifully against the chalkiness of fresco paints.  

I didn't add a sentiment to any of the cards but my OH recognised them as Christmas cards straight away, which must be a good sign! I hope you'll be encouraged to think outside the box with your stamps as they can give a very contemporary twist to Christmas greetings. I also hope you'll have a go at foiling if you haven't already, there are lots of ways to add it, I've only shared a couple today and it is fun to see the transformation it can make.

Ruth x

a love to create

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To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 20: Foiling will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 25th November 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

2018 #17 Colour - A Box of Eggs: Mirror, Mirror with Urban Snapshots {by Ruth Mescall}

 2018 Topic 17: A Box of Eggs (Colour Topic)

I immediately thought of Ruth when this colour topic was proposed, as she seems to naturally gravitate towards neutral tones. The Nature Series of stamps are perfectly chosen, and how apt to find some eggs in the mix too! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ruth here with you today, and I'd like to share with you a plain black mirror I've transformed using some of the yummy new paint colours by Courtney Franich paired with stamps sets from the nature series of the Urban Snapshots Collection.

I've been wanting to make a technique mirror for ages so that was the germ of the idea which turned into a nature's specimen themed project which then inspired by the gorgeous colour palette, developed a hint of bleached beach combing along the way. It may be October but we have been so lucky with the weather here in the UK that I'm stretching out the summer a little longer before we hurtle towards Christmas.

I used the new Twilight colour as a base and had an idea of doing a crackle glaze but quickly changed my mind to dry brushing which would be more subtle. I find dry brushing very satisfying and could do it for ages, adding subtle layers and shading with quick drying fresco chalk paints.  

I picked out 4 pieces of stampboard as I wanted something that would last and after a coat of Eggshell added some cross hatching with Chalk. The eggs and moth stamps were perfect 'specimens' in Watering Can archival ink second impression stamping. 

The Twilight paint shows through the layers of Seaglass, Eggshell, Chalk and Snowflake and I really liked the subtle result, maybe a hint of duck egg blue? 

The maidenhair fern stamp was perfect for adding a frame for the boards and this time they were third impressions in Cornflower Blue archival before adding a few darker touches.

Urban Snapshots Collection: Nature Series

Nature Plate 1 (N1) 

Nature Plate 2 (N2)

Nature Plate 3 (N3)

Nature Plate 4 (N4)

The crosshatching gives an almost linen effect to the images and fits in much better than a smooth, flat background .

Once I'd positioned the 3 main focal points I realised it still needed some additions so raided my beach combing bag of shells and driftwood and then spent a happy time playing and positioning different elements until I was happy.

To finish, well there had to be eggs for 'a box of eggs'! 

As I have a few more of these mirrors (picked up cheaply from a well known Swedish store) I think I might make more as gifts with a different theme. A mirror is a great base to really experiment with layering paint and creating some fabulous effects contrasting the dark with lights in the new range, hope you'll be tempted to have some painty play!

Ruth x

a love to create 
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To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 17: A Box of Eggs (colour topic) will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, October 14th 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher. Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use. 

Prize conditions: Please note if you are a successful prize winner our online shopping cart will give you £50 off the subtotal of products in your basket. This means you will need to pay the relevant postage on the order.  We cannot figure out how to create a prize with a  zero value, but I guess even paying the postage only is still a good deal right!

Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!