Weeks whizzing by

Yesterday we had snow, and this afternoon and tonight it's going to snow heavily down here in Essex, and the East of England, so I think this morning is my last chance before school ends to get those last few presents sorted out. You  think you have it all done, and then you think of another 6 things you forgot about. So just thought I'd get a note out to you all before I hit the panic button.

My mother is here from New Zealand this year, she has just spent the last couple of weeks up in Lancashire for a family wedding, and catching up with some old school friends, then on Monday she will come down to us. We have lots of evening parties planned next week, so I think by the time Christmas eve arrives we will enjoy a day on the couches watching the tele!!

We launched a PaperArtsy Youtube channel last week and I have put a couple of videos up relevant to recent blog posts. 

Firstly stamping into texture. In this video I used Terra and Ferro, but you don't have to use both on the same project, you could use one or the other. I put a couple of dark colours into the dips, but you can put light in the dips, or leave as is and put darker colours on top. It really is a lot of fun, and great for onto wooden frames or surfaces as well as papier mache or chipboard.

I am expecting a delivery of Terra and Ferro today, so there will be plenty of choice in the shop, plus we have a whole lot of new wooden items to put online too, so get your orders in now ready for that wonderful week between Christmas and New year whihc is a great art-play time!


The second video is the technique of 'puffing' metal. For this you can stamp an image and puff out sections of it. The image might be a bird cage, the castle turrets, birds on a wire, or in the case of the video, a simple flower which makes a beautiful card or scrapbook embellishment. But I also added a simple frame to it.

We will continue to add more videos to the PaperArtsy channel so you can see first hand how to use products that we stock. If you have any specific request, then let us know.

Wishing you all a totally fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Leandra & Mark.

Part 4 - Viva Decor Paint Effects

The backgrounds I used on lots of the samples I have been showing you over the last few posts are all using Viva Decor Products. 

 This silver metal sample is done with a base coat of Graphite Ferro into which I stamped with a really fine script stamp from Clocks Plate 1 . I quite like the graphite colour because when you paint over it you can see the nice black texture being accented by the Metallic Paints (precious Metal Colour) over the top.

People often ask me how to choose which colours to work with. 

First you want to identify what colours you most often use and are drawn to, are they soft muted tones, or bright and vibrant? When you shop for clothes, are there particular shades you are drawn to all the time? Generally the colours that automatically come to mind for you are your starting point. 

Lets say you pick Pink as you fave colour, next look at the range of colours in Viva, and pick another colour either lighter or darker...so perhaps Blackberry. Now you want to choose something contrasting, green is often partnered with plum shades (so check out Olive, Golden Green or Emerald Green). In this sampleI used Olive. 

I often finish with the tiniest touch of another contrsting colour on top, in this sample I went lighter to Mother of Pearl. But the colour I opt for most for this job is gold because it goes with everything beautifully, one of those 'must have' colours. Below is the same colour combo, but this time with Gold on the top..see how it warms it up, and add another striking contrast.

Nearly always when working with these combinations I will also use what I call a standard metallic: gold, copper, silver etc.. on the very top layer, it just adds a bit of sparkle.

 Now this sample above is interesting. On top of the graphite Ferro I started with a Turquoise Kaisercolour acrylic paint. Using Cut and Dry foam, this beautiful paint was pushed right down into the recesses of the stamped ferro , particularly on the right hand side of the background, the left side was left with the black peeking through. On top of that I brought the contrasting colour of Olive kaiser colour. I found if you add 2 thins coats you get a deeper version of the same colour highlighted. When applying the Olive, just drag it across the Turquoise, and the stamped texture pops. The last step here was to add the Gold Viva Precious Metal Colour. It really lifts a piece in a way that a picture just can't capture.

Here is another close up. This one is in really pale shades. Pistachio, Silver gold, and Ice blue on top of a black background make a nice modern metallic palette.

Remember to spray your rubber stamp with water before you press it into the Ferro. The water acts as a release agent.You can really see what a great result such a fine detail stamp gives.

Yes the effects are awesome, but now that you can see them close up like this you get a better idea of how beautiful they really are!

All these productds are available online in our shop www.paperartsy.co.uk 

The countdown is on to ArtsyCrafts.  Only 5 sleeps to go!!! Lin and I are putting the final touches to kits, notes, table products and my Mark is pressing rubber for everyone to use!

Tomorrow Lynne and Jo come to me for our fianl day of prep together. It's going to be a great couple of weekends to come and I am very excited to see what you all think of the several classes we have planned.

Leandra

Day 2: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

PaperArtsy Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 2: Featuring Joanne Wardle using Nut and Meg Plate 2

Joanne is the newest member to our design team having only been with us a couple of months, but we have already realised she is a whirlwind to keep up with - she gets the “fastest stamper in the West” prize for turning out beautiful projects faster than the mailman can deliver them.  She has a fresh clean style which works well with these Nut and Meg stamps, but she is equally versatile with our collage images, and extremely creative with her ideas to boot! Take the time to check out Joanne's blog.



Snowman Pennant 
by Joanne Wardle

This is a fun way to add some Christmas Cheer to your home. And a great project to do with the kids if you get roped into helping out at school this Christmas. Joanne describes the process:

Cut a triangle from a 7”x5” piece of white card. Rub faded jeans distress ink onto a craft sheet and spritz with a silver mica based spray. Dab the card onto this and allow it to dry. This creates an easy background paper versatile for all kinds of projects.

Once the paper is dry, spray it with the silver spray again for extra sparkle.

Stamp the snowman (SINM2) and holly decoration (SINM2)  onto white card and cut out. Colour the snowman with markers and add clear glitter glue to the edges of the snowman with stickles.
Stamp Merry Christmas directly onto the triangle in black ink.

To embellish, stamp the snowman again onto blue mirror card and cut out just the buttons and attach to main image. Punch a snowflake from blue mirror card and attach with a snowflake eyelet.

To complete, secure the holly decoration and snowman in position, add two white eyelets and silver wire to hang.

 Snowman Acetate Card 
by Joanne Wardle
Acetate is such a great substrate to use for a card. The added dimension it brings from using the inside of the card as a backdrop for the front decoration is simple yet a very striking idea.

Using a piece of acetate 15cm wide, 16 cm tall, cut a 5cm deep triangle away from the top, and fold to form an unusual shaped card.

Stamp snowman (SINM2) onto the white card, colour with markers and cut out. Stamp text background (XM4) onto white card and trim. Stick this to the inside of the card. Cut a slightly bigger piece of green card and stick this behind on the outside of the card (this will give you somewhere to write your message).

Adhere the snowman to front of card - lined up with text. Embellish with a snowflake punched from double sided adhesive, and add glitter. Add a strip of double sided tape to front and add glitter to that too.

 Gift Tags 
by Joanne Wardle

Use A7 cream card (i.e. A5 cut into quarters) folded in half, this is a great size for a small gift tag or card. 

Stamp the snowman (SINM2), directly onto the card in brown permanent ink. Colour with watery distress inks. Stamp text background (XM4) onto scrap of cream card. Cut out some words and attach with 3d foam.

TOP TIP: To create a watercolour effect with Distress Ink, either apply ink to craft sheet, spritz with water and pick up with a brush, or pick up colour direct from ink pad with a water-logged brush.

Thanks to Joanne for these wonderful ideas. These are quick and easy for those of us who need to get cracking on this year’s cards for the masses!

Christmas Spice Bag 

by Joanne Wardle

This fabulous little idea would look superb on any Christmas tree this year, and what’s more, its smells scrummy!

Stamp the Holly Image from the Ink and The Dog Collection (Xmas Plate 1) in Jet Black Archival ink onto a fine weave fabric . For example, white cotton or calico. The finer the weave of the fabric, the better the quality of the image will be.

Dry, and decorate the berries with red sequins and seed beads. Sew into a little pouch, and fill with Christmassy spices. If you leave the top open, you can re-fill each year. Attach with a clip to your tree.

Terra-Metal-Man of the Snow 

by Linda Brown (LB Crafts)

Lin is my partner in crime for the ArtsyCrafts events which we design, teach and plan together. (PS I think there is only 1 place left on the second weekend retreat) This little guy is one of the things she has been demoing at recent shows with the new Nut & Meg stamps.

Apply Viva Décor Golden Orange Terra texture directly to an arch-shaped piece of chipboard, making it thicker on one side that the other. Use you finger tool so you can feel the depth of the texture. With a damp stamp, press into the texture with Mini 44.

Dry the terra with a heat tool, or set aside to dry naturally (about 15-30 mins).

Apply Black kaiser colour paint over the top part of the arch and terra with cut and dry foam. Dry.

Stamp the snowman (SINM2) onto Pearl metal with Black StazOn ink. Use watered down Gold and Olive Viva Décor precious Metal Colour Paints with a fine paintbrush to colour the buttons, scarf, gloves, nose and hat of the snowman.

Use Gold Precious Metal Colour to highlight parts of the orange and black texture on the chipboard.

Make a tape sandwich with the stamped metal, Humungo tape and cardstock, and outline the stamped lines of the snowman with a pointed Teflon tool. Cut out, and stick the card-backed snowman to the chipboard with Matte Gel Medium or Glossy Accents.


 A huge thankyou to Joanne and Lin for their fantastic and inspiring ideas for today's post.



PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we’ll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg Plates 2 and Xmas Plate 1 on EZ Mount worth £18.80. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting (05 Sept 2009), and is open to all players worldwide.