ATC's in Series with Seth Apter stamps {by Floss Nicholls}

Hello everyone, Floss here with you today...

Would you believe, of all the years that I have been creating mixed media...or art in general even, that I have never made a batch of ATC's?! Today I changed that and made some in a series using Seth Apter rubber stamps.

The first thing I did was mark out my paper and added washi tape to give me a grid which left me with a clean white 3mm border all round the ATC card. I used a standard playing card size. I then used a palette knife to add PaperArtsy Seaglass acrylic to areas of the grid.

Closely followed by gesso onto some areas over and clear of the Seagrass and let that dry before sprinkling infusions onto newly wetted areas...

I worked it with a large watercolour brush to spread the colour...and leave puddles.

 

I used one of the stamps from the Seth Apter set ESA49 to stamp text to cover more than one ATC card so that only parts of the stamp were visible on a few of the cards. 

I did the same kind of positioning with the circles stamp from the Seth Apter set ESA50, but instead of using ink, I painted the stamp with PaperArtsy's Blood Orange Acrylic to bring some contrast colour in.  

And again using the feather leaf shape stamp using ESA49 and Pine Grove Fresco Finish Acrylic.

 

The long thin shape worked beautifully across two cards as well as the length of one card...it really did not matter that it went over the taped borders as I would be peeling them off at the end.

I used opaque vanilla WOW embossing powder for extra details.  I used parts of the rubber stamp cross as well as whole crosses from the Seth Apter set ESA49 on the cards.  I heat set the powder making sure all the powder had melted.

 

I felt like some of the embossed words needed something more... 

and so I decided to use my palette knife to smear PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Squid Ink Acrylic over them...

 

I thought this made the words 'pop' a little more.

Once all the embossing and stamping was completed I was able to remove the washi tape...some of which I would keep for another project as it had some great textures on it!

I really liked how using the tape separated and spaced the design elements leaving a crisp edge which is very unlike me.  I usually favour ripped or overspill edges! 

Rather than using a guillotine or paper strimmer I decided to rip the borders against a metal rule.  I tested which way to rip first so that I had the 'cleaner rip edge' I found that pulling the card image part worked best for my preferred outcome.

After I had separated the cards, I rounded the corners, edged finished them and finally added some of the 'squiggly lines' from stamp set ESA49 and embossed them using Opaque vanilla Wow embossing powder.

Well that's it for now...

Much love,

Floss x x x

If you are in the UK somewhere near East Sussex then you'll find me in my workshop as I have a few mixed media classes coming up.

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Mixed Media classes with Floss in East Sussex UK

3 Things - Fussy Cut Fish {by Zoe Hillman}

Hi everyone, it's Zoe Hillman with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post. 

This feature on the PaperArtsy Blog is where 3 identical items are sent to 3 members of the PaperArtsy Blogging team. 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 of this challenge is to do something crafty in our personal style with these 3 items. 

We can incorporate other PA products into the mix if we feel it is necessary.

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

PaperArtsy HQ sent me some fantastically fun Kate Crane products which included 3 mini stamps, KCM006, KCM008 and KCM021. A stencil, which was a special limited release for Simon Says Stamps STAMPtember event PSSSS25 and a bottle of A Bit Jaded Infusions.

Kate Crane's designs always inspire me to "play" and I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to make when I started, but I knew I was going to have fun. I wanted to create lots of elements using the gorgeous products I had been sent and decide how to assemble later.

I used the A Bit Jaded Infusions to create backgrounds which I later cut down for finished pieces. I love infusions, you need such a tiny sprinkle and a spritz of water to create these incredible inky backgrounds and you never get 2 backgrounds the same, which I personally love.

I love using my gel plate to pull backgrounds, especially with paints. I used the stencil PaperArtsy sent me and some of their Fresco Finish Paints in Coastal and Pumice. I brayered the pumice Fresco Finish paint onto my gel plate, allowed that to dry and laid the stencil over the top and brayered the coastal Fresco Finish paint through the stencil. To lift the background I used another thin layer of the pumice Fresco Finish paint.

I cut down the gel plate background I lifted, stamped and fussy cut some stamped images from mini stamp KCM008 and coloured with a gold pen, before assembling.

As well as using the stencil to pull backgrounds off my gel plate, I blended Distress ink through the it and, holding the stencil in place, lightly spritzed with water to create a mottled effect.

Using a stamp from the new Hot Picks HP2601 stamp set from PaperArtsy, I stamped through the stencil with Archival ink. I don't use a stamping block for this as I find it's easier to push the stamp through the stencil with my fingers.

I used part of the background I created with the infusions, cut down and stamped with hearts from mini stamp KCM021. Mounted onto the stenciled background and finished off with a Stabilo Aquarellable pencil to add some shadow detail. Kate Crane introduced me to this pencil in her class that I took and it's something I use a lot now.

I stamped fish from mini stamp KCM008 and watercoloured, then fussy cut, carefully, very carefully! I know fussy cutting isn't everyone's jam, but I find it really relaxing and very much enjoyed the challenge of fussy cutting around the intricate hanging hearts.

I used the A Bit Jaded Infusions to add some colour to a background and stamped on top with mini stamp KCM006 ready to create some sentiments for my finished cards.

You can probably tell how much I was enjoying stamping and fussy cutting the hanging hearts from mini stamp KCM008. I stamped lots and fussy cut ready to add to a background I created with the A Bit Jaded Infusions and cut down.

Here are my assembled pieces using a variety of the backgrounds I created and the stamped images I fussy cut and watercoloured. These are ready to send to friends.

Here are some close ups of my fin-ished cards.

And of course, I had to make some mini moos as, to me, these are a Kate Crane signature piece and I was lucky enough to take a class with her a couple of years ago where she introduced me to this cool tiny creative format and I've become obsessed with them.

I have loved this challenge and as I suspected when I began, I had a lot of fun creating with these cool products from PaperArtsy and Kate Crane. I hope you've enjoyed my post and it inspires you to create something.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe 

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