2015 Round Up: Circles, Pigments, Wearable Art {curated by Penny Nuttall}

Happy New Year!

So, how's the head after last night ?? New Year's is a bit like Christmas all over again, but a bit louder and maybe a bit more fun too! It's Leandra back here again, and a big welcome to 2016!

There's a phrase that motivational speakers often use to get people fired up and thinking about their future..."What would you do if you KNEW you couldn't fail?". If nothing was a barrier or excuse, what would you do? 

Can you think of lots of little things, or maybe one big thing. Make it personal, this is about you, not your partner, your family, just about you and your deepest wish. Maybe you could write it down to think about it, could you make it happen someday? 

Often our first response (even more so as we get older and grumpier) is 'No' or 'I can't' or 'I don't have time' or perhaps the needs of other people around you might be your imaginary handbrake. But what if those words were 'Yes', 'I can' or 'I'll make time' ??? And what if those closest to you said 'go for it' ....then how would you feel?

How important is it to you, because if you really want to make it happen, I think you can.

You may need to do some research, ask questions, search online, look for help, start a savings plan, perhaps there actually are other options out there for you that might get just a little bit closer to that dream?

I would like nothing more than for you to achieve those things.

Enjoy tonight's post, it's a bit of a mixed bag of topics for Penny to pull together, but she is very resourceful and I'm looking forward to seeing what posts she has selected to highlight tonight!

No snoozing...grab a cuppa and  a slice of Christmas cake (have you got any left?), and let's take a look together shall we!?

Enjoy

Leandra

Hello Bloggers, Penny here, joining you this evening with a special PaperArtsy post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

I hope you are all feasted, rested and recovered and ready for a gentle stroll through some of the creative treasures of this, or rather last! PaperArtsy Blog year.

I don't know about you, but I certainly have times when the muse disappears and a creative desert seems to stretch before me, leaving frustration and annoyance. Usually its not lack of ideas, but some sort of blockage between mind and hands. I always seem to do better when I am given a project brief and, more importantly, a deadline to meet. That's where the PA blog comes in. It's never an easy process; words, paint and projects fly across the room like something out of a Harry Potter film. I don't always like the end result. But its SO good when something works!

I have really enjoyed seeing the things other people make in both the blog posts and the challenges, and watching their creative process (and the struggles of those who were brave enough to admit them). So let's take a look at just a few........

Topic 16: Circles

Have you ever noticed how nature and circles are connected in a huge number of ways....the circle of life, the geometry of flowers, the architecture of animal homes and many others.

I look to nature all the time for inspiration, and many people in this two-week topic did too.

Here's a work of art by Trish Latimer that has everything for me: it's 3-D, mixed media, naturalistic, wonderfully composed and beautifully made. See how Trish combined artwork, wire and Glossy Accents to create these HERE.

I can see these as lovely pieces of jewellery ....please?

Ruth Mescall took a more direct approach to the natural circles theme with this subtle coloured almost under-the-microscope picture.

Ruth is a master with the Grunge Paste! (I never get it to work this well). It is stencilled and stamped, with just a touch of rubbed on gold to bring out the texture. Lessons please? Check out all her details HERE.

Jo Firth Young is an expert at the "clean and simple". It's not easy. Balance and composition have to be exactly right. I can't do it.  (Note the CAS style commentary here!)

This is my favourite and shows exactly what I mean: the circle and stem balancing, just a little bit of pink at the bottom (!). Love it. Come and refresh your memory as to how Jo was able to work her magic HERE.

I chose this last project because I love it's subtle interpretation of the theme: well that and because it is just really pretty and beautifully presented. I wouldn't have thought of this colour scheme....but I have now....Julie Ann Lee shows how to create this HERE.

There was a huge number of imaginative challenge entries for this topic, but for me this one stood out for all the above reasons. Thank you Ana. K.

Topic 17: Pigment Powders

Pigment powders...hmmm.... Speaking as someone who, you may remember, can't be trusted with a bucket of sand and a hairdryer, anything powdery fills me with dread.

For this topic I decided to look at tips for this technique in an effort to get over the fear.

The most important of these came from Sam Butler: "Don't take the lid off" ! I feel that advice was just for me.  I love this powder cog stencilling and the tinted texture paste. Check out all Sam's tips HERE.

To get this suitably creepy watercolour effect, Helen Chilton rubbed Brusho crystals directly onto the stamp before spritzing with water; clever. See just how she did this and other techniques HERE

Kay Carley stamped and embossed the image in this technique, this  kept the colour a bit more contained: control, I like that. Love the colour choices. See how this transformed into a beautiful card HERE.

In total contrast Catherine Johnson likes the unpredictable, very brave. See how this leap of faith turned out HERE

And Kay Ballard is truly experimental, so much inspiration in this post, so many techniques to try, see them all HERE.

And only Darcy could come up with damp baby wipes and a heat gun! These are brilliant to stitch into. Check out how they transformed into a moorland scene HERE.

The challenge entries didn't fail to inspire either.

                               

I chose this one, for the colour (love that bit of green), balance, texture and the poignant words. In this post Pavla Hozikova also shows how to make your own powders.

Topic 18: Wearable Art

Are you still with me or are you catching up on your festive sleeps?

Wearable art is what I do, and I love it. You can see my process for creating this fabulous corset HERE.

Lynne Moncrieff's delicate heart in a box tells of history, riches and love (oh dear getting all poetic now). The faded lavender colour and the distressed crackle paint and tissue stamped

heart tell the story and the box with tags present it beautifully. See how she uses neutral shades so effectively HERE.

I wanted to pick out this detail on Nicole Maki's happy and very skilfully stamped apron. Stamping on fabric comes with it's own specific difficulties but no problem here. I love this layered flower and the detail of the stitching in the centre. Wearable art can be more art than wearable but I would happily wear this. Check out the finished apron HERE.

SO pretty Diana Taylor! A combination of Ellen's tribal style stamps with Tim Holtz dies, Glossy Accents and black glitter on black. Look for versatility in your stash and make unusual combinations. Think outside the box! These wearable pieces are just stunning, see them HERE.

Wanda Hentges has painted and stamped on stretchy t-shirt material with such skill.I love the design of this, so balanced and well thought out and worn with pride. it looks so professional, see how she explains her process HERE.

My last challenge choice: Lucy Edmondson's floral espadrilles. Dreams of colour, sunshine and dry weather! Lovely.

And finally from me....

I know I said I like a challenge but come on Leandra, there are limits to what this tiny brain can process! Basically, you want a mash-up of the three themes put together? so I put my thinking hat on..........and then PaperArtsied it.

I took something circley from JOFY, with circle wires and round button centres, coloured with powder pigment into wet (had no powders so scraped Inktense sticks with a craft knife) and some gold leaf here and there, and topped my hat!

And there it is. For more photographs and detailed step by steps take a look at my blog page

I would also like to thank all the other blog and challenge contributors for their inspirational work. I have only scratched the surface of this year's talent, so take a bit of your recovery/ sorry! holiday time to look back for yourself .

Best Wishes to All,  

Penny.

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2015 #23 PA Twits Pin {By Lauren Hatwell}

 2015 Topic 23: Christmas Gifts and Cards

Hi everyone, long time no see. It's Lauren Hatwell here. 

Give a PA Twit a home this Christmas! I've exercised my "thinking outside the box" skills for this one to give you an idea for a quick and easy Christmas present. I think it's a really fun, adaptable idea and I hope you will like it too!

 (I've used ELB23 for my project)

Step One: I painted a scrap piece of Grungeboard with Fresco Finish Paint in Blue Oyster, Tango and Snowflake. Two coats of each colour should do it.

ELB23

Step Two: Next, I stamped and embossed the images I needed from ELB23...

Step Three: I carefully cut out all the pieces. I did the bits for the eyes with a round punch and then edged the pieces with black ink.

Step Four: I stuck all the bits together on another thin piece of card to stabilise the piece and then cut the bird out in it's entirity so I had one piece to work with. Once you have a single piece, draw around it and cut out an extra piece of card, felt or Grungeboard to use as backing and set it aside.

You'll notice the edges are a bit rough where I've cut them. I sanded them at the end when the whole piece was stuck together to neaten them.

Step Five: I triple embossed my Twit with clear UTEE to seal everything and make him look like he was enamelled, but you could also get a similar effect with Glossy Accents, GOlden Gloss Gel Medium (High Solid, Heavy), Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel,  Fresco Gloss Varnish (a few coats for increased gloss) or some spray on acrylic varnish; whatever you prefer. 

Step Six: Last thing to do is stick the feathers onto the back of bird before adding the backing piece  and attaching a brooch pin. I added some gems to the centre of his eyes for pupils.

Easy!

So, as promised, it really couldn't be easier. You could easily adapt him to be a Christmas decoration, pen topper, book mark or handbag charm. I've made a few already and they really take no time at all.

Lauren Hatwell (Bluebertie on Twitter)
Marvelous Mechanical Mouse Organ (Blog)

I noticed you omitted to confess to plucking one of your resident chooks for the feathers...is she bald yet with all the additional brooches you've been creating? Poor lass, winter is here you know! As ever, thanks Lauren for very tweety post! LOL ~Leandra

2015 #18 Dreaming of a Sleep Mask {by Clare Lloyd}

2015 Topic 18: Wearable Art

Hello Clare here with a little project which I really enjoyed making as I have recently discovered a love of patchwork. This project raised some laughter too when trying to take a photo. Could I take a photo of myself in the sleep mask (as if)?...then I glanced at the dog...she glared as if to say NO WAY!...so my special Breast Cancer Awareness teddy bear obliged instead!

I began by adding some colour to plain white fabric using Mermaid, PS016 stencil by Emma Godfrey and a stencil brush.

This was followed by some stamping using Orchid, Little Black Dress and my ECL08 stamps.

I die cut out some shapes using PaperArtsy die Leaf #1 and then did some further stamping with the sentiments and face from ECL08 using Black Archival Ink.

These shapes were pinned onto some fabric and I then appliqued them with two rows of machine stitching.



Time to cut out my fabric, a layer of plain fabric and felt using the pattern. These all got sewn together and turned the right sides out. Finally I added some top stitching to define shape and attached elastic.

I haven't put full instructions for sewing the sleep mask, as there are loads of tutorials and patterns on Pinterest which is where I got mine from. I just focussed the arty bit!



PSSSS.....I did try and take a photo of the dog wearing the sleep mask. See it on my blog clarelloyd.blogspot.com. Or find me on Instagram.

This is really cool Clare, teddy looks impressed for sure. With the ever increasing street lights and security lights I am sure we could all do with one of these, and of course now is the perfect time to dream of Christmas. ~Darcy 

We would love you to join in with challenge #18:Wearable Art. 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 Wearable Art link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, October 11th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00

2015 #18 T-shirt and Earrings {by Wanda Hentges}

 2015 Topic 18: Wearable Art

Hi everyone Wanda here joining you this evening with a post about painting on a t-shirt and shrink earrings to match.  When I saw the upcoming theme, wearable art, I immediately knew I wanted to do a t-shirt.  I hadn't done one in years and it was about time.  When I'd finished the t-shirt, it just seemed to make sense to have matching earrings so you get a bonus project in this post.  

Step One: I washed the t-shirt using no fabric softener, dried and ironed it, laid it out, put freezer paper inside to protect the back of the shirt from paint, and used blue painters tape to mask off an area for painting.  I tore strips of tape in half positioning them down the shirt so I would have a torn edge look.  After these were on I added a full strip of tape along both sides so I had a wider margin to protect the shirt.

I've used stamps from the Lin Brown set, ELB22, and also the small scribbly handwriting image from the Sara Naumann set, ESN18.

Step Two:  I mixed Golden brand fabric painting medium, GAC-900, with each of the Fresco Finish paints I used (except when I used little black dress to stamp with) as recommended on the bottle, a ratio of about 1:1.  The colors of Fresco paint I used to paint the background were snowflake, wisteria, and lavender.  I used both a sponge and a brush to blend and work the colors.  I stamped my first image with smurf (mixed with GAC900).  In areas that were still fairly wet the image bled, which bothered me at first and then I decided it looked good for this project.  It was a good lesson though and I was sure help along some areas with my heat tool when I was sure I didn't want any bleeding.  

You will also notice all the scraps of paper covering the shirt.  I thought I'd be fine until I got paint where I didn't want it and realized I was just too messy and needed to cover up more of the shirt :-) 

Step Three: The small flower head is stamped with guacamole (mixed with GAC-900) and I added splatters with this color.  The checkered image is stamped with snowflake (mixed with GAC-900).  The handwriting is stamped with taupe (mixed with GAC-900).  In some spots the stamp picked up some of the snowflake and transferred it with my next stamping which was fine.  The flowers and quote are stamped with little black dress.  The flowers are painted with glass blue and hyde park (both mixed with GAC-900) and added some "grass". The glass blue was also splattered on.   

This picture shows how I spread the paint on my craft sheet to stamp into and then stamp on my project.

Step Four:  After leaving it sit for a bit because I just wasn't sure I was happy with it, I decided there wasn't enough going on and I needed more in the background.  I used the small flower head again, this time stamping with glass blue (mixed with GAC-900), much better.  

It was now time to remove the tape and see how it really looked.  I was quite pleased, except for the spots of smurf paint that didn't belong.

Step Five:  To hide those spots I splattered smurf (mixed with GAC-900) over the whole front of the shirt.  There are also two spots of snowflake (larger spots where I set my paint brush in the wrong spot), but those will just have to be what they are.  I let the shirt dry completely and then heat set according to directions.  I actually did two of the choices.  I ironed the main area and then also popped it into the drier so all the extra little splatters would be set (I could have ironed those also but chose not to).

Earrings Step One:  I sanded one side of clear shrink plastic, painted on a thin layer of snowflake paint, let it dry, stamped the flower with Archival Ink watering can, punched out the flowers using a 2 1/2" scalloped circle punch, and punched 1/8" holes in the top.

Earrings Step Two:  I used the oven, set at 325 degrees, to shrink the pieces.  I set the circles on a piece of chipboard and put them in the oven.  When they were shrunk I took them out and set an acrylic block on them to be sure they were flat.  I did not push down on the block, just set it on top. 

Earrings Step Three:  The flowers are painted with glass blue and hyde park.  Around the edges are wisteria painted on and lavender sponged on.  Next I applied two coats of satin glaze, one brushed horizontal and the second brushed vertical, allowing the coats to dry in-between.  I then decided I wanted to go glossy instead of satin, but first... I somehow had one little white dot on one of the circles and as I was glazing them it became more noticable. I thought about starting over but instead made more dots.  This was done with a Posca paint pen.  I finished up with four coats of gloss glaze alternating between brushing vertically and horizontally and letting each coat dry completely.  I used silver findings and a bead for each earring.

The directions for washing after painting is to wait at least four days before washing the first time.  I did this and then washed it on cold, partially dried it, and hung it to finish drying.  It came out great!!!  It's slightly stiff in the areas that I got a lot of paint but not too much to wear.  Golden recommends using their airbrush fabric medium for heavier applications.  I hadn't planned it to be heavy and I'm sure if I had only used a brush instead of sponging paint in the background, the application would have been much thinner and there would not be some stiffer areas. 

I hope you've enjoyed today's projects and are inspired to make something for this theme of Wearable Art.  If so, please link up to the challenge post because I would love to come see what you've made.

Creative Hugs,
~Wanda
(Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest)

oh Wanda this is fabulous! I adore the tshirt and the earrings are such fun. The way you have the strips going diagonal is inspired, it really draws the eye down. Beautiful blending and stamp choices, and the best bit, seeing you model the finished project. 
Thankyou. ~ Darcy

We would love you to join in with challenge #18: Wearable Art 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 Wearable Art link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 11th and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.