Miracle Nature designs with Alison Bomber {by Miranda Degenaars}

 

Hello everyone

Miranda here with you today and I'll be sharing my fun play with the new wonderful release of mini stamps and stencils from Alison Bomber. And also four new colors of the PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic paints. I used the FF239, FF240,FF241 and FF242.

I had a hard time choosing which products I was going to use( not my strong suit) I chose most of the new mini stamps to play with except for the pine trees. 

At first I had no idea where I was going to but I knew that I was going to  start with some large pieces of watercolor paper to create a fluid background. And then I would see what to do next.

I diluted the paint with plenty of water creating a very fluid mixture like watercolor paints. I used all 4 of the new colors.

I love the effect of the flow of paints on my 300 grs watercolor paper. I made one piece of paper using the colors Leaf, Dusk and Misty of the paints.

And one adding the Twig color. Love the structured effect this gave. I am not so much a lover of brown but sometimes you need to do a step out of your comfort zone

  

Then I felt the need to create small square cards....9,5x9,5 cm. I used a self made template to see which pieces of the background I liked most...

And I cut 12 squares of both backgrounds

So the fun could start having 12 square pieces to play with 

I used an old reversed stencilling technique with a stencil from Alison's previous release. This is the PS523. A great stencil for abstract techniques too.

I applied the paint (Twig color) onto the stencil. It is still a diluted paint.

Then put the stencil with the paint onto the background and press with a kitchen towel

This is the result. I love playing in different ways with stencils. Positive, negative,  just spraying with water to subtract color and all kind of other mediums. 

It works also great using crayons as I used here. Mist the stencil and apply the crayon on top. These stripes create a lovely kind of tree trunks don't you think?

Well, I played along and finished with this part of the pile also using the new mini stencils here.

Then off to some stamping using these delightful mini stamps. Here I started using the AMB012. A perfect stamp to go with a watercolor effect. I choose matching colors of distress inks and Neocolor II crayons. Of course you can stamp using the Fresco paints too but I am a bit of a lazy crafter and did not want to clean immediately my stamps.

Just spritz your stamp with a bit of water. The amount of water is important for which effect you want. If you use too much water the image will be blurry. Too less water mostly will create a part of the image.  The background trees are a bit lighter and the trees in the foreground more dark.

Then it needs some interest onto the foreground. That cute little sprig ABM010 was perfect. I misted it and applied a layer of crayons to it. The first print is the darkest and then some repeat stamping so the image became lighter.

Now I needed to do some accents.....so I took a white pencil and marker. And I thought the sentiment set 'Nature' AB021 would be a perfect match for all these cards. Love all the quote stamp sets from Alison.

And most time I have to finish with some shimmer spattering because I am a Magpie. I finished coloring the edges with the crayon.

Here is a close-up

I can't show you every photo of all twelve small square cards because then it would take too much time and space (and a coffee break). But I will show you some shots of different color use, adding of embossing powders and how I finished all twelve cards with matching envelopes. 

Then I thought it would be a great gift to put them in a matching box. So my 'tiny' cards project became a bit more extensive. 

Partway through I felt the need for more color, more Autumn vibes. 

On this card I have used the 3 mini stamps ABM012, ABM009 and ABM010. Also I have used the mini stencil PM041

And here I've added the AB058 (Meadow grass) for some larger branches with leaves and embossed them using gold.

And these lovely berries are from the mini stencil PM037.Here some reversed stenciling, some plain stenciling and using some embossing powders too on the sprigs.

 Almost forgot these toadstools.....I am always intrigued by these creatures of the woods. In so many colors and shapes. I also used the mini stencil PM041. 

A variation in blues using the ABM014 stamp and mini stencil PM039. I felt it needed some white embossing on top. To get a crisp look of embossing powders over an inky background make sure your background is dry and I like to use an anti static bag to go over the top before stamping and embossing.

And as you can see I was again generous using some sparkle paints. Love my sparkles....

These are the finished cards in the blue-green-brown combination

And here the finished cards with the warmer colors

And now onto the finishing touch of a matching envelop and putting these tiny ones in a gift box.

And here is my gift box. Really loved making this...to put my tiny treasures in.

The large quote was a perfect match on top.

If you can see ..there is even more room for extra cards! 

The quote is also from the AB021

 

Here I used some ultrahigh embossing powder to create a lovely effect. Also perfect for snowy scenes....

I really enjoyed playing with this new release and it also matches perfectly with a lot of other designs of Alison Bomber.

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3 Things - Traveler's Notebook {by Martine Dubé}

Hi everyone, Martine here from @martined.crafts with you today for a ''With 3 things'' challenge post.

For this challenge, PaperArtsy sends the same three items to 3 people from our blogging team. It is really interesting to see how each maker comes up with different ideas and techniques with the same 3 items.  Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a colour product. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea is to do something crafty in our personal style restricted to these 3 items.

So let's take a look at what I received from PA HQ ...

When the PaperArtsy package arrived with the ''with 3 thing'' materials, I was surprised to find the Holiday!/New year Theme  stamp set ZA35 from Zinski Art, a Rusty Fresco Finish paint and a snowy stencil PS245. It was still summer  when I received the kit, so I wasn't ready  for winter yet ! That's when I decided to create something totally not holiday themed.

I also used other Fresco Finish paint colours in my project in my project. They are Buff, Magic Moss, Prawn and Snowflake, to complement the Rusty.

Lets go look at what I made.

The first thing to do is prepare the paper for the size of journal you want. I use a sheet of copy paper folded in half and cut my other papers the same size. 300gms watercolor paper is used to make the cover and the copy paper, the grid paper and the 200gms watercolor paper are used  for pages.

Now I have to decide what design I will make for my covers. I choose simple, clean shapes.

On the first one, I decided to do hand drawn lines in Fresco Finish Rusty. It doesn't have to be perfect  lines.

I added some black pen lines for more definition and texture.

On the second cover, I went with circles of all sizes to cover the page using Prawn. I will add some stencilling and black details to this one.

On the third journal cover, I used a paint brush to make some marks with Magic Magic Moss. 

I also added some black line details with a marker later. I outlined the shapes and sprinkled dots for more interest.

Next I prepared the fabric for the traveler's notebook cover. I cut 2 pieces that are about 1.5 cm or 1/2inch bigger then the papers for the journals. I created a template for the oval shapes I wanted to add. This helped me evenly distribute and align them.

I used the same 3 paint colours, Rusty, Prawn and Magic Moss to do my fill the shapes.

I use the stencil on the Prawn circle journal to make dots by using different parts of the stencil. You can even make some outside of the circles like I did.

 

I also added free hand black outlines to help make the circles look finished and tie the covers together.

With the journal covers ready, the next step is to create the booklets by folding everything in one go. This includes the cover and the inside paper pages. You then need to put something heavy on top of the booklets over night so they stay flat. 

    

When I folded the booklets, the edges became uneven so we need to trim them. I cut them to 20cm x13.5cm (about 5.25 x 8 inches).

Before sewing the booklets, we need  to pierce holes using a craft pick. I made a template for easy spacing!

The last step to finish the booklets is to sew them!

                                                       

Now, for the main cover. Using my 3 colors, I stencilled the ovals with different densities of dots using different parts of the stencils.                                        

                                                                        

I love the different effects it creates, while still being cohesive.

Instead of using a black marker on the fabric, I sewed some black lines around my ovals to create texture.

Don't forget to prepare the pockets before sewing around the cover! With all the structure done, I was then ready to work on my focal elements.

I stamped and coloured my images using the same colours of Fresco Finish paints. I know my stamping look bad, but I will stamp again once they are all colored. Stamping this way ensures the lines will be on top of the colours and the images will look nice and sharp.

The 3 bears worked perfectly for my 3 journals and the Fresco Finish Rusty makes a great bear fur color! Then I fussy cut my images and placed them on my 3 booklets.

For the fabric cover, I wanted a fabric embellishment. This step is always fun to do. I used one of the images I have coloured, scanned it and printed it on fabric with the help of freezer paper. Freezer paper can be found in sheets or rolls, it's used by quilters for paper piecing quilting. Since mine is a roll, I cut a piece the size of my copy paper and iron my fabric on it. I then put a piece of tape at the end going in the printer to help it stay put when printing, otherwise it will get stuck in the printer.

Before printing, I set my printer to enlarge the image 40%. I felt the bigger size worked better with the ovals, and made it different than the inside one.

Before sewing the contour of the cover, I sewed the bear on it. Since my cotton was on the thinner side, I used some double sided adhesive (for fabric not for paper) to secure my fabric to a second piece of cotton, ironed both piece together and then stitched it all around.

Here's my traveler's journal with 3 little booklets made of different kinds of paper!  You can sketch, paint or write and in the pocket you can collect tags ,ticket, stickers and much more.

I hope this project will inspire you to create your own and for anyone that is not into sewing, you don't have to made the cover out of fabric, it can always be made out of cardstock.

Meet the bears!

Thanks for stopping by hope you enjoy!

Martine

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