Exciting New Product and Demo Days

Hi everyone, Darcy here. I've just popped by today to firstly let you know where we all are and secondly to introduce an exciting new product to you.

This weekend is The Craft Barn Extravaganza in Surrey. Two whole days hosted by The Craft Barn, on site at their huge shop. They have marquees set up in the car park for this amazing event {Sat and Sun} of free demos and bookable workshops with special masterclasses on Friday and Monday. In total there will be 27 demonstrators, with 3 of our very own PaperArtsy team there to wow you with their creative know-how.

Leandra, fresh off the plane from New Zealand, will be demonstrating both today and tomorrow. Jo Firth-Young and Lin Brown will also be there tomorrow. In addition Helen Chilton will be demoing Lynne Perrella stamps, and there are always other demonstrators using our Freso Paints among other products. So if you are in the area then do pop by and say hello. The weekend promises to be packed with creative inspiration, with all the latest products on show. The Craft Barn shop will be open all weekend of course, and particularly well stocked for the occasion, so you are able to purchase all the products that are being demonstrated.

So where are the rest of us? This weekend is also the bi-annual show at Doncaster. Stamp Magic, the stamping and papercraft show is held in the Doncaster Dome. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the show, and that is where you will find the rest of the PaperArtsy team.

Myself and Emma will be demonstrating, Mark will be running the till and, if we ask her nicely, Gillian might pop on and do some demos too. Do pop by and say hello, we love to see you, and if you are new to our blog then come and make yourself known. I promise we are a friendly bunch. We have a great stand ready for you, full of all our latest products, and that brings me to this...

We now have stocks of Caran d'Ache Fibralo pens. You can find them in the online shop here. These are so new that you won't find much information about them online.. I know, I searched all over lol They are fibre tipped, water soluble pens, bright and transparent and available in 30 colours.

They are ideal for sketching,drawing and colouring in, adding fantastic pops of colour. I had a little play with them just to see what they could do.

I found that using them direct to sucky card made them tricky to blend, the sucky card just sucks in the ink, BUT when you use them over paint... oh wow! They are especially wonderful over Fresco Chalk Acrylics, like they were made for each other. They blend beautifully, either with a finger tip, a damp paintbrush or a waterbrush (the ones you fill with water)

I tried out a few techniques, this small tag was first painted with Fresco paint and crackled. I then dripped and stamped and coloured in.

Because they are water soluble, you can splatter them with water and then blot the colour away with a paper towel. Notice the scrap of lace... that was coloured with the pens too. The images are from EDY07

Next I painted this board first with Fresco paint, then I built up some shading using the pens and blending with my fingers. I stamped and coloured the fish, and added drips to the heart. The images are from LPC024.

Now here is where I got really drippy. After seeing many 'drip-type' artworks online, I had an idea for this journal page. I drew and coloured the eyes and glasses, then I used Background Plate 5 to add the numbers. Then I coloured random sections at the top of the page and then sprayed them, allowing the vibrant ink to run. I completed the page using the alphabet from JoFY 21. These pens are just perfect for colouring in letters, you only need the tiniest amount of ink on each letter, then using a damp brush you just blend the colour out to fill the shape.

There are also 3 metallic colours available, Silver,Gold and Copper in the fine tip.

Here I applied the gold pen directly to a stamp, I breathed gently on the stamp to dampen it and then stamped onto the page. Amazing effect, and so easy!

My next sample involved using the pens through stencils, again you only need the smallest amount of colour and a damp brush. I also used grunge paste on this board. I then scribbled with the pens onto a non porous surface, spritzed with water and then picked up the ink with a brush. It worked really well at covering the grunge paste.

Here is how the board ended up, the stencils are gently fading in the background while the brighter colours pop on the flamingo, from EDY05

Next I wondered how they would cope over canvas. I coloured and dripped on this small 6"x6" canvas board. I then added text and washi tape.

I finished this sample by adding images from HP1301, I painted some smoothy card with chalk, and then used a blue pen directly on the stamps. this means you can blend the ink after stamping and create a much softer image.

Finally, after all that colouring,painting and dripping I had a pile of papertowels that I had used to clean my brushes and to mop up the drips... don't throw those away, let them dry out.

Here I glued a paper towel to a large tag using matte glaze.

It gives a great surface. I coloured some sheets of smoothy with more pens, and then used stencils to create these flowers. I also added grunge paste in the background, which, once dry, was coloured with the pens.

The stencils are from the Lin Brown Collections and the text is from ELB06.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these samples. I will show them in more details with step out photos over on my blog over the next couple of weeks. I will have them all and the new pens with me tomorrow at Doncaster. We will only have a limited number of sets available so be sure to pop by early and get a set for yourself.

Darcy x

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PaperArtsy on tour {Downunder} ...too cool !!!

Hi guys, Leandra here, helloooooo

Well it has been secret squirrel city here at HQ the last week or so, the excitement just bubbling under the surface....what is she on about this time??? ...well read on...

...sometimes in life when bad things happen, good things follow...well this is one of those things !!

A few weeks back our house in New Zealand suffered some water damage in a storm that dumped an extraordinary amount of rain in a very short time. Thankfully the insurance has got it all under control. However, we have been non stop in touch with builders, roofers and so on trying to decide the best plan of action and make the right decisions. Our lovely tenants have moved out today to relocate their business further north (this was already happening pre-storm anyway), and we have a new set moving in next week. With all the to and fro-ing...eventually one thing led to another and Mark decided that perhaps it would be so much easier if he went back and had a good look at the house overall, and have a bit of a catch up while there with friends and family.

So I told him go for it, have fun, say hi to everyone for me and see you when you get back....however, he was pretty keen for me to go with him so we could both decide what to do. He prefers to do things with me, rather than on his own (awwww), but I'm thinking of 20 reasons NOT to go (call me weird)...but life is so much easier if one of us stays here at HQ! 

I said I would go if we could organise demo days in a few shops, next thing we were planning a Melbourne stop off prior to NZ, and then a blink later and the whole trip was booked! Well I guess that's a yes then! We're off.

I've been up late most nights this week talking to a zillion kiwi people, booking appointments with them, planning accommodation with friends and family up and down the country, organising shop demos and classes, as well as keeping up with the normal demands of PAHQ. It's not been easy, we are an elf down, as the lovely Emma is on holibobs in Portugal at the mo! I think this is why Mark wanted me there now - his personal assistant is on board to manage the 'PA on-tour' diary/ itinerary !

For those of you who don't know our story, I was born in England, but raised in NZ since I was 5. Went to school and uni, got married, had kids in NZ and then with the kids aged 1,3,5 and 7, we left New Zealand 13 years ago (this week actually) to go to England for a 3-5 year working holiday. Mark has been back to NZ once to sort out some business issues, and I have never been back so I'm feeling quite emotional about the whole thing! Well if I'm honest, I'm trying not to think about it yet. Once I'm on the plane it will hit!

If you are down under and wondering which shops I might pop up in, below is all the info you need, it would be lovely to see you, all the shops concerned can provide you with more details, so contact them direct.

Shop 1: Crafter's Cupboard, Melbourne, AU

 

Friday May 23rd : Crafters Cupboard, Berwick (am class, afternoon/evening demo)

• Book online or 
• call Jennifer on 03 8790 5287 or 
• email customerservice@CraftersCupboard.com.au

Shop 2: Art of Craft, Mt Maunganui, NZ

Thursday 29th May: Art of Craft, 4 Aranui Drive, Papamoa (demos all afternoon/ early evening)

• call Dianne or Jason  on 07 5720595 or
• email admin@artofcraft.co.nz

Shop 3: Craftables, Auckland, NZ

Saturday 31st May: Craftables, 9/ 36 William Pickering Drive, Albany, Auckland (demos from mid afternoon)

• call Paula on 09 414 4100 
• email paula@craftables.co.nz

 

A huge thankyou to these retailers for agreeing to have me in store at short notice. I can't wait to meet you and share PaperArtsy products and techniques with you all.

If you are coming to the demos, what will you see? I will be working with a wide variety of our stamps, stencils, paints, Grunge Paste, Treasure Gold showing many ideas and techniques and you might even get to be hands on and have a go yourself!

While we are away, Emma will be here looking after PA HQ while we are away, so all orders, Wholesale and Retail will still be shipping as normal.

It's our {10th} BIRTHDAY !!

Here we are, very, very excited! 

This month we are celebrating 10 whole years since we started PaperArtsy !

We have LOTS planned for this month, and it all officially kicks off on Sunday as we welcome back this semester's Guest Designers for the final month of their blog contributions. Of course they have their amazing projects lined up, but....

...each designer is also doing a special birthday post on their final night using brand new rubber stamps, so we will have new stamps to release every week this month! On these special birthday posts the designer will have blog candy to give from their own blogs, and back here we will continue with our weekly challenges which will also have new stamps for prizes.

Plus....some of our past, and future guest designers are back to do special Birthday blog posts that we are squeezing into the schedule too!

From our signature designers, Lin and Jo we also have MORE NEW STAMPS this month too, so JOFY 16, JM23, JM24 will be released along with a lovely project from Jo herself.

Jo Firth-Young will be at the Craft Barn demo day this weekend, August 3rd, showcasing her BRAND NEW STAMPS. She will also be teaching with them at Birds in the Barn on August 18th, and Colemans Craft Warehouse on August 31st/ Sept 1st.

Lin Brown also has some new chipboard products and a new stamp set to share with you too ...good things come to those who wait!

Leandra will be releasing more new YouTube videos that will go up every Saturday, starting this weekend with another easy Fresco painted background idea.

On Sunday August 11th we are particularly looking forward to the Stamperama Stamping show  at Stevenage which will be a fantastic chance to catch up with many of you who visit that show. Lin Brown will be demoing with Leandra all day. It was at this very show, 10 years ago, that we first released 60 quarter-plate (A6) Ink and the Dog stamps. So expect some surprises there too!!

Out and about you can also see Leandra demoing this Saturday morning, August 3rd at Sugar and Spice Crafts, with Marion Emberson and the lovely Nina. The shop is part of the Barleylands Craft Village, near Billericay, Essex, and makes a lovely place to visit with so much to see and do there.

Monster Mondays are here! Every Monday in August, we have mystery birthday boxes available for you to buy from our website. Inside you will find products to the value of at least £50, £75 or £100 that you can purchase for £20, £30 or £40 respectively. The box sizes vary, as do the contents. They are all packed up ready to go, but we will only make them available to purchase on a Monday evening.

The birthday month will come to a perfect close with a very full week of amazing #3UP contributions from our enthusiastic Twitter and Facebook family. At the end of each semester we have a spare week and we use this to showcase the work of our PA blog followers. 

This time I think all the players were a bit surprised by how much they received in their #3UP goodie bags. When these people signed up they didn't realise it was our birthday month. Now they know, and have got stuff in their hot little paws to create with, so the pressure is on. It's all just a bit of fun, in the form of a challenge. I am really looking forward to seeing what they send in this month.

Looking ahead to September, we will be welcoming into the fold another 4 guest designers, we also will have 12 new paints to add to the Fresco range, AND of course, seasonal stamps and products in the lead up to shhhhhh Christmas. Plenty of time for all that malarkey, for now, I am still enjoying the gorgeous summer sun, lots of BBQ's, and a whole lot of birthday celebrating! Not only is PaperArtsy a whole 10, but our youngest, Hugo turned 13 last Sunday, it's my birthday this Saturday, and the following week, Miss Courtney will be 19, quickly followed by Miss Ella turning 17! WOW.

So, a huge thankyou to you, all our wonderful customers, stampers, painters, and crafty pups who have made the last 10 years so thoroughly enjoyable. We love what we do, but most of all, we love to share it with you. We have made and met so many wonderful friends across the globe doing what we enjoy most. If the next 10 are as good as the last 10, then we have a lot to look forward to!

Thank you, Mark and Leandra

PS up shortly is a blog post from Helen Chilton that has been rescheduled to tonight due to a technical hitch last night.

June means {Craft Barn} Demo weekend

Twitter peeps will know that we had a family trip to the wonderful Craft Barn today to help them get the PaperArtsy section of the store ready for the {BIG} weekend....if you don't know what I'm on about then you need to!!

On the 12 and 13th of June, that's just over a weekend away, is the amazing Craft Barn Extravaganza. This is an brilliant weekend where Sandy (CB owner) gets loads of fantastic demonstrators from all over the UK, and beyond to come and show you guys all the latest products, and all their tips and tricks with those products. They hire 2 local halls that are right across the road from each other, and just down the road from the shop, and you can walk around all three venues to watch, buy, chat and schmooze all day long! It's bliss!

I have demoed for the last couple of years at both extravaganzas, and this year my partner in ArtsyCrafts crime, Lin Brown is also able to come to demo Ten Seconds metal and the hilarious, glamorous and very sparkly Suze Weinburg (who I first met at one of these extravaganzas about 8 years ago) is back from the USA with her wonderful Lenny (DH)  to show you all the amazing stuff she can do with a meltpot! 

I am so looking forward to seeing Isa Norris over from Canada, My 'Craft Sheeeeeeet' buddie Beatrice from Katzelcraft is here again from France. (get her to say Craft Sheet in her accent and you will get it). Jean is also there from Crafty Individuals, and I love to catch up with all the other amazing demonstrators who are regularly there each showing their wonderful talent like Julie Hickey, Paula Pascual, Francosie Read, Kay Carley to see what everyone is making at their station. And Paul from Go Create will be whizzing stuff thru the bug and big shot. You'll learn so much from everyone and all their brilliant ideas. There are heaps more people demoing and of course all the Craft barn Teachers too, so there is probably at least 20 fantastic demos to see! You'll love it so make it a date. 

Oh and we will have some new Hot Pick action for you to check out! Don't miss it!


See you there ...won't I ??