2015 #16 Circular Boxes {by Julie Ann Lee}

 2015 Topic 16: Circles

Hi everyone! Julie Ann from Magpieheaven here, joining you this evening with a post about decorating an inexpensive box, using Fresco Finish Paints, Waxed Tissue, Satin Glaze and a little Smoothy Card! Tonight my project has had me going around in circles, but not in a bad way! The circle is such an beautiful shape, even when it comes in the form of ridiculously cheap little boxes from 'The Works'! This project took just a few hours to complete and turns a humble item into something that would happily house a precious gift!

Step One: I began by taking a strip of masking tape and fixing it around the edge of  my box. These boxes are a very snug fit and quite delicate, so I've found it's best not to add too many layers of paint: if you do, the lid will be just too tight! I painted over the whole of the box with Vanilla Fresco so that when I removed the tape only the lower part would be covered. I really like the neutral tone of the box appearing between the tissue I've added later, as it has a vintage look.

Step Two: Rather than discard the tape, I stuck it to my craft mat and decorated it with some stencilling through sequin waste using London Bus and Chalk Frescos. 

I then stamped over this without an acrylic block with the beautiful text from HP1505 in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival .

Step Three: You can see my tape in the middle here. I also painted some Damask tissue on the reverse side with a wash of Nougat then dipped a juice lid into little puddles of Chalk and London Bus Frescos and used it for mark-making on the tissue, before stamping on the poppy heads and text from HP1505. Finally I painted a piece of Smoothy Card with Sherbet and London Bus Frescos and then stamped the poppy from HP1505 onto it in Squid Ink, clear embossing for greater definition.

Step Four: Now it was time to transform this little box! I tore the tissue, attaching it with Satin Glaze randomly. When the first top coat was dry, I edged the box with a little more of the Potting Soil on a piece of Cut 'n Dry Foam and stamped some more of the text in the spaces, before applying another coat of Satin Glaze. A swipe of Classic Treasure Gold completed this half of the project.

Step Five: I added a few last tissue scraps to the lid and then fashioned the 3D poppy. You can see I really did take photos as I went along, as the Glaze hasn't dried in this one!  First I painted the back of my card with Squid Ink Fresco Paint and then cut my stamped images into sections of differing sizes, which I sprayed with a little water before curling them around a pencil. It was then a matter of waiting until they were dry, adding some Treasure Gold to the back and then forming my poppy carefully; sculpting and sticking the petals into place with Glossy Accents. The centre is a tiny pearl painted with Squid Ink with a little Indigo Treasure Gold added.

It took very little time to create a special circle gift box out of an object that cost less than a pound! These stamps are so incredibly versatile that they work equally well whether you use them for 3D projects, canvases or journals. I reach for the Fresco paints so often now that I don't use ink pads nearly so much: I find I can achieve a coordinated project far more easily. And the waxed tissue is a great solution if you need to stamp on a curved surface!

I do hope you will try 'going round in circles' on a project of your own that features circles in some way and link up with the PaperArtsy Circle Challenge. 

Meanwhile, I am Julie Ann (@woletz1) of Magpieheaven, hoping that you continue to have a lovely creative Summer.

What a fun idea Julie Ann! I can really see that a stash of these made now to use for small Christmas Gifts later in the year could be a really good strategy! Love your colour scheme too! Love how the damask tissue pattern is just visible in the BG, adds an interesting detail! Thanks again for such a lovely project, I know how busy you are juggling a lot of late, we really appreciate it ~Leandra

Did you know that you can play along with us on the PaperArtsy blog to share and explore with us how you interpret the current theme: Circles. If you are inspired by any of our contributors on the blog this fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE.

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Circles challenge link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 6th, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #10 Blossoming Bottles {by Pavla Hozíková}

Topic 10: Bottles

Hello, my name is Pavla and I come from the Czech Republic. I’ve recently discovered the joys of art journaling. I don’t label myself as an “art journaler”. A journal is a tool for me, rather than a goal. I don’t do the art journaling for the sake of journaling but I just create my art IN art journals - I simply consider my journals as a collection of individual pieces of art bound together. I was really thrilled when Darcy asked me to do a guest blog post for you tonight with a project based on the topic of Bottles. 

I’m working in a journal I specifically dedicated to this year’s PaperArtsy challenges. I like to work in square sized journals, so I make my own. This one has canvas paper – it can be a pain sometimes because it curls when it’s wet, but I love the texture. First, I gelli printed the background using Smurf and South Pacific Fresco paints with a little bit of glazing medium. I’ll be using just these two colours because I’m going for a bit of a tone-in-tone look. 

I’ve always loved texture and my favourite supplies to work with are stencils (I usually cut my own designs) and texture pastes. For this project, I had a wonderful image in my mind – of stencilled bottles, layered one over another, different texture pastes… I even cut a set of bottle stencils. But you know, when I tested this idea in theory, Plan A was abandoned very quickly – and nobody needs to know, right? 

So I cut the bottles from a piece of cardstock instead. I covered the shapes with crumpled deli paper (similar to Waxed Tissue). I lightly sponged the Smurf paint over the shapes, just a bit, only to get a bluish tint. Then I used the South Pacific paint around the edges on one side to create a shade on the side of the bottle. 

Then I stamped some flowers from the EDY09 set.

I decided to fussy cut them rather than stamp them directly on the layout. It was an afternoon well spent… I coloured the flowers with orange and red markers. Because the layout is a bit monochromatic, the flowers will stand out. Notice that each flower stem is bended slightly differently – I took advantage of the stamp’s flexibility. {Well, I don’t have such a long stamping block, so I had to bend it anyway. LOL}

Now it’s time to assemble the page. First, I glued down the bottles. Notice that I went around the edge of them on the background with gesso to make them pop up a bit. Then, I added the flowers.

Finally, I glued down a quote. I cut the focal word on my Silhouette machine. I also added a bit of shading around the bottles. 

I really enjoyed making this layout even though it wasn’t in my usual bold and bright colours.

I hope you got inspired. See you some other time!

Pavla

Blog: pavlart.blogspot.com

Twitter: @pavlah

Instagram: pavla_art

Wow Pavla, not your usual bold colours true! But we can't call these dull colours either! The orange really pops against the blue, and the bottles stand out beautifully with their gorgeous texture and shading! Love how this makes a wonderful page in your PaperArtsy Challenge journal! Thanks for sharing with us! ~Leandra

We would love you to join in with challenge #10: Bottles If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Bottles link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, June 7th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #1 Playful Portfolios {by Helen Chilton}

2015 Theme 1: Fragile Papers

Hi everyone Helen here, joining you this evening with a post about Waxed Tissue paper and heated Portfolios. By shaving the Portfolios onto tissue paper and then screwing it up into a ball, it stops the shavings blowing away as you heat them and also reminded me of tie dying with material. You can work with one colour at a time or lots of different coloured shavings in one go. The Portfolios melt and you can scrunch the paper up several times to spread the colours.

Step One.

Fold a sheet of the tissue paper in four and scrape some of the Portfolio pastel onto it:

Step Two

Scrumple up the tissue paper and heat with heat gun. Squidge it around a bit:

Step Three.

Open up and add different colour shavings. Scrumple and heat:

Add further colours in the same way:

Step Four.

When you've finished, separate out the layers of tissue paper. You'll see the crayon has seeped through to each layer. I've used the lighter one for stamping my image onto and the darkest for making my background:

Step Five.

To make my project, I stamped text onto the tissue paper first in coordinating colours of Distress inks, then added shavings and heated.  Then I stamped the text in white Portfolio crayon over the top. To do this, heat the stamp, rub over the crayon, heat again and stamp:

Step Six.

Stamp the image from Hot Pick 1004 and die cut this and bottom layers using  Grunge Flowers 2 and 3. Layer onto white Portfolio stamped corrugated card and add embellishments.

Hot Pick 1004

I like the element of surprise you get with this technique - you could try working from dark to light with the Portfolios, or adding a whole layer of melted white on top to create a subtler colour palette.This technique works equally well with the Waxed Kraft Crunchy paper which is a little more robust. I got round the fragility of the tissue paper by using several layers at once. 

Thanks for looking! Helen

Thanks Helen, your command of the Portfolios never ceases to amaze us. Such vibrancy from a relatively simple medium.. and of course because they aren't wet, your fragile tissue isn't compromised.. only enhanced. 

We would love you to join in with challenge #1: Fragile Papers. If you are inspired by any of our guests who have blogged on this topic over this fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. This link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Jan 18th 2015, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #1 Box Canvas {by Leandra}

2015 Topic 1: Fragile Papers

Hi everyone Leandra here, 

Tonight I've got videos and lots of pictures for you! I'm brayering left right and centre to show you Part 3 of the brayering series (lots of colours and lots of stamps this time), and then using the results and my Fragile Papers to make a gorgeous feature flower with the adorable Ellen Vargo Eclectica stamps.

If you want to see more ideas using the brayer, and Ellen's stamps, then please go and check out Ellen's blog, she really is the brayering guru! She uses bold bright colours with her wonderful stamps to great effect! Stunning backgrounds which end up quite different to my more soft pastel versions, yet using similar techniques.

Step One: 
As you probably realise already, if you've followed my brayering video series (video 1 here, video 2 here), brayering colour is such a quick, un-messy way to alter card, paper, even fabric. I'm not much of a purple girl, but I do love an ochre/ eggplant combination, and that is the gist of what I had in mind to do.

So first up we need to brayer shades of ochre colour onto our book page. I try to create depths of the same or similar tones with Toffee, Vanilla, Haystack, Caramel and Pumpkin Soup. Then stuck it onto a 4x6" Box Canvas with Ranger Multi Medium (Matte). 

NB. A video showing how to make this ochre BG, is at the foot of this post.

Step Two: 
Well, its not like me to plan things to this extent, but the ideas were whizzing in my head too fast, and I just needed to commit to one of them. I grabbed some Prima Bellies, EEV10 flower stamp, and some charms. Then feeling a bit scatterbrained, I had the good sense to take a photo and thus committed to a plan.

....and then quickly, before I could change my mind, slapped Pansy (fantastic high coverage opaque) onto the bellies.

.... and then added the obligitory Bora Bora by dry-brushing to add interest and depth. Not one to drybrush once, I also dry-brushed Eggplant, Squid Ink, Mermaid and Snowflake. 

It is certainly true that the more layers you add, the happier you will be. More is more when it comes to dry-brushing! Of course, it won't end here, the finishing touch will eventually be Treasure Gold...but which one?? You'll find that out later...

...and then a quick check that the purple tones are looking good next to the ochre tones...

Step Three: 
Onto Ellen's lovely flower stamp set.

EEV10

First up I grabbed the background I made in Video 2...see there was a masterplan all coming together in this blog post!

...and then stamped it in Archival Coffee Ink, a bit softer than Jet Black, nice with the Ochre too. Cut it out; this forms a nice base for what is to follow. I added some depth of green to the stalk with Hey Pesto and a tad of South Pacific.

...and slotted the flower into place on the canvas.

Step Four: 
As I said at the start, brayered and layers of the stamped Waxed Tissue Paper is the focal point of the flower head. 

Check out the video below to see how the paint was layered on the tissue with the brayer, and then I used a variety of stamps: EEV02 (scratchy), EEV06 (Spots), ELB04 (bold solid flowers), HP1304EZ (large script), in numerous Fresco Chalk Acrylic Colours to build up a striking and very easy to achieve, fragile paper.

Step Five: 
Now the background is made, I'm going to stamp it 6 times to make a layered flower head for the canvas, with Coffee Archival Ink. Heat set quickly, sometimes ink bleeds on tissue if you leave it for a bit. 

... like this..

...and then cut them something like this so the layers expose those sitting behind.

Step Six: 
Now it's just a matter of layering the tissue carefully with a touch of glossy accents as a fast glue, and tiny foam pads to add dimension. And always finish things off with a tickle to the embellishments of Brass Treasure Gold.

Here's a video showing the ochre background being made (back in Step One), and the tissue layers, plus a few finishing touches to the project with Fancolour Water Soluble Pens (the student version of Fibralo Pens)

And finally ... here it all comes together.

I hope you have been enjoying the fragile papers, and the new look to the blog? More fragile Papers projects keep on coming this week, I hope you can find some time to have a play yourself, and show us what you can do with Fragile Papers.

Leandra

We would love you to join in with challenge #1: Fragile Papers. If you are inspired by any of our guests who have blogged on this topic over this fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. This link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Jan 18th 2015, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.