2021 Topic 12 : Sustainable Crafting with TS {by Etsuko Noguchi}

   2021 Topic 12: Sustainable Crafting

 

Etsuko thought about how to create a really useful item for this post. She has made an accordion folder with pockets, perfect for storing ephemera or loose small papers. But she also made (and beautifully decorated) an envelope for each of the gaps in the folder. So many great ideas within this and I think we all really love to create and end up with an item that has a purpose.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, It's Etshko(My favorite things) with you today, and I'm here to share with you Handy Holder with Envelope packets. I chose this project because it is a fun way to remake and reuse the parcel packages and direct mail envelopes and little less waste. It's also a great way to spend my time working with lovely designer Tracy Scott stamps and my favourite Frescos colours.

The first step was to make the masterboards. Fresco paints were printed on a thick sheet of printing papers using a Gel Plate. Using the technique I learnt in Tracy Scott's workshop 'Index Card Art 2', I spread a thin layer of the above Fresco Chalk Acrylic ( Banana, Cerise, Cerulean and Electric Violet in my case) but you can use any colours you like choice. Then one colour at a time, print onto the Gelli Plate. Mist with water using a spray bottle on the Gelli Plate, use a brayer to blend the water and paint, then use an eyedropper to drip Isopropyl Alcohol in places and print on paper. The circles like this will appear where the alcohol has been dripped. Repeat this process until you get a nice shade, and then you will have some masterboards. As always, this process is very enjoyable with many happy accidents.

The next step is to make the cover for the holder, using my favourite Tracy's stamps that are used over and over. I cut a used parcel package to the size of the holder. I then used two sheets of Gel-prinedt papers in similar shades and stamped Tracy Scott set 054 and 057 (TS054, TS057) randomly in Ranger Archival ink (Leaf Green and Blue Violet) to cover and pasted the holder base. Next, I stamped the three mandalas of (TS055) with Ranger Archival ink (Jet Black) on Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white card. On the same piece of paper, painted Fresco Chalk Acrylic (Cerulean, Electric Violet and Zucchini) and stamped three small mandala of (TS055) in the same number in Ranger Archival ink (Jet Black), cut and stick it in the holder as shown in the picture. Size of the holder--Length 8 1/4" (21cm), Height 5 1/4" (13cm), Depth 3/4 (2cm).

I wanted a slightly darker colour so I added Fresco Chalk Acrylic ( Southern Skies )

The majority of the paper is used for the dividers and bellows of the holder itself, leaving some for the envelope collage.

This is the front, I put the clasp on it, using Fresco Chalk Acrylic (Cerise) and Tracy Scott set 055 (TS055) and black elastic band.

And the back.

The holder itself useful enough, but I made the pocket in it that can be removed, using a direct mail envelopes. I though it would be fun to make a collage on top of it and remake it. Each envelope was coated with White gesso and once dry, the same as the masterboard technique was used to print the envelopes with the Gelli Plate.

I used my finger to apply Fresco Chalk Acrylic ( Banana, Cerise, Cerulean and Electric Violet ) on the Smoothy ( Heavyweight ) A4 white card. I then stamped Tracy's lovely floral stamp set 061 and 058 ( TS061, TS058 ) Fuchsia and Magnolia and Mandala set 055 ( TS055) in Ranger Archival ink ( Jet Black ) on the card and  cut them to use as the focal point of each envelope. Also I used masterboards leftover as a rectangular and circular cutlayer.

The final touch is  the addition of the sentiment from Emma Godfrey's flower set 14 ( EEG14 ) to the holder.

The theme of Sustainable Crafting was bit difficult for me, and thinking about how to reuse limited resources - I need to use up lots of my old supplies too. Also I made this because I think it's about being able to collaborate and create/work with stamps and stencils from wonderful designers and then turn it into something good. Then share it with people and have fun connecting all the time. 

 

Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Etsuko xxx

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2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour with TS {by Claire Snowdon}

Watching someone layer up elements is always a treat. Claire has built up each layer with care, so each one is distinct and amplifies the textural effect. Her favourite colour pink is loud and proud going from the purple pinks right through to the orangey hues and is definitely the star of these beautiful ATCs.

~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Claire Snowdon here with you today to share a trio of ATC's I created using my favourite colour - PINK!  To be honest I was pretty surprised about the distinct lack of love for pink during this topic......I think I'm only the second blogger to choose it for this topic.

Creating on multiple pieces at the same time is one of my favourite things to do when I'm not using a journal - it leaves plenty of room for error as you can just discard one piece if you don't like it.

 

So to start with I took my three ATCs and swished on Fresco Finish Chalk Paint in Blah Mange, Sorbet and Cerise to create a kind of marbled effect.

Once dry I used a Tracy Scott stencil (PS201) and Grunge Paste on each ATC to create some texture and extra interest.

 

 

Whilst my Grunge Paste was drying I moved onto the focal elements for the ATC's. I stamped two of the flowers from Tracy Scott set 61 (TS061) onto some PaperArtsy Smoothy card then used watercolour pens to add colour.  Then I fussy cut the flowers into three separate elements and inked all the edges in black.

Now that my Grunge Paste stenciling was nice and dry I went in with the Infusions to grunge them up a bit more - I used Magenta and Raspberry.  Spritzing with water, dabbing and drying until I was happy with the effect - I really love using Grunge Paste and Infusions together as the paste takes on some of the colour in places and then the infusions puddle in the grooves too so every time you use them it's unique.

I decided the cards needed some black - so I went in with black ink and a crackle stamp from Tracy Scott set 52 (TS052) and added the stamping at random to each card.  I also edged around each card using the same black ink too.

I also added splatter to all three cards using three colours of Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Little Black Dress, Cloud 9 and Gold.

The last thing to do was assemble each card - I took some black cotton thread and added it to each card underneath the main floral image. I attached the flowers with foam pads to give them some extra depth.

And the very final touch was adding a quote sticker to each card.

Here are some closer up photos of the finished ATCs - I really love how textural they turned out.

 

The black cotton thread was another textural element that created another layer of depth on the cards.

Here are the three completed ATC's - you can see how the theme running through each card is consistent however they are all very individual.

And some close up's of each of the flowers from Tracy's beautiful set (TS061).

And one final photo of the three ATC's together.

I love how my ATCs turned out - the techniques I used to create them could be used for any number of projects for example cards or journal pages.

Creating these in my favourite colour has been so much fun - but any colours would work equally well! 

Thank you for joining me today,

Claire x

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