{3UP} Night 7: BRAND NEW Hot Picks

Hi Everyone, it's Leandra here for the final night of this semester's 3UP challenge. Tonight it's a special 3UP as we are featuring the 6 brand new Hot Pick Stamps HP1301-HP1306. 

In celebration of this release, it's become a 6UP, not a 3UP tonight ! ...see what we did there?? 

I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation to see what they have all been up to with these beauties so lets take a look! We have already been shipping these stamps to retailers over the last 3 weeks, so some clever retailers who stalk us daily have already got them available in store and online, and plenty more orders are shipping out as we speak!

FIRST UP: Lisa's Butterfly Canvas
A lot of different techniques have been used by Lisa to create this canvas. She's custom-made flowers, and used the butterfly section of the large collage repeatedly as individual embellishments.

Name: Lisa Winnard
Blog: www.lisalisamakes.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @lisa_winnardStamp: HP1301

Lisa Says: My name is Lisa and have been crafting since I was a tiddler. I am a full time mummy to two beautiful little girls age 3 and 1. I am a stampaholic and love any kind of messy crafting.

I decided I wanted to introduce lots of different textures to this creation and succeeded by using lots of different techniques.

I created my own canvas background by attaching muslin cloth to an old picture frame back, then used Distress Ink to colour the background. I stamped onto cosmetic tissue and used melted beeswax to adhere the tissue images to the board. I also stamped directly on to the muslin cloth to create a different look from the beeswax images. I added extra wax around the edges to create a raised bumpy, textured surface then added some gilding flakes on to the board to create texture and add some colour and shine.

I stamped various images on to textured white paper, inked and die cut them into flower shapes and dipped some in the beeswax and others into clear UTEE to create a shiny texture. I stamped the butterfly image from HP1301EZ onto smooth card, heat embossed using clear powder, cut them out and inked them with Distress Ink.

Lastly I used the LIVE WORK CREATE stamp, stamped on to white card, inked and cut them out individually. I sat each piece in a silicon frame mould and poured clear UTEE over the top to create three mini frames.

I added the measuring tape to create a 3D effect and more texture around the flowers to mock the image on the butterfly stamp. 

Thanks
Lisa

SECOND UP: Miriam's hanging boards
Miriam has a mixed media masterpiece, here, lots of technique and a great end result! Love how she has added layers of paints softly and gently to the background.

Name: Miriam Grazier
Blog: MiriamGrazier@BlogSpot.com
Twitter: @MiriamGrazier
Stamp: HP1302

Miriam Says: Hi, I'm Miriam.  I live in Bristol but am originally from Cardiff (the Welsh accent comes out after a few glasses of wine!).  I'm married and have a very clingy black cat who follows me around everywhere and likes to perch on my shoulder like a parrot! By day I am a HR professional and I love to spend my free time cooking or creating -  my chocolate truffles are very popular at Christmas!  I started crafting 7 years ago and haven't looked back.  I am a stamp addict and love nothing more than getting covered in paint and ink. I was delighted to be selected to create something as part of the #3UP challenge and had great fun using these gorgeous stamps - hope you have fun creating!

Take 1 small and 2 x 8x8" grey-white boards. Cut one of the larger grey boards down to create a  2in wide rectangle. Cover all of the grey boards in Chatsworth papers. Cover areas of the full grey board in grunge paste. 

While the GP is still wet, spritz the number stamp and stamp it into the grunge paste - this leaves the lovely texture in the GP and because the stamp was wet the GP does not stick to the stamp making it easy to clean. Allow the GP to dry.

Squeeze a few drops of each paint onto a craft mat and water down a little. Sponge the paint over the dried boards.  By sponging the paint it created a lovely texture. Because the paint was watered down it still shows part of  the papers through.  In areas where I wanted the paint to be darker I just added a bit more sponged paint. I kept adding more paint until I was happy with it. I then let the 3 boards dry.

Once dry I stared to stamp in Archival ink - I stamped the background numbers over the large board and corners of the cut board. For the 100mm board I stamped the large image with the crab. On the cut board I stamped a quote from the new Eclectica Lin Brown stamps

I glued the small 'crab' board to the middle of the larger board. I always collect shells from my holidays in Portugal and so thought this project would be a perfect opportunity to use them - I glued these on with glossy accents. Once dry and secure I added treasure gold to different areas of the boards - this gave some highlight and shine

To finish, I marked and punched holes in all of the boards.  I attached the boards using jump rings which I had rubbed with Treasure Gold. I attached string to the top to finish.

THIRD UP: Hazel's Ink Pot and Quill

Always one to think outside the box, this time Hazel's chucked out the ink, and created a faux quill for her telephone table....I can't help it... I'm now imagining her phone to have one of those wind up handle things...and an operator at the other end

or perhaps it's like this...

in situ ...voila ??

...I think I'm in trouble already next time she see me...however, you'll be relieved to know Hazel can tweet though so she's thoroughly modern regarding her social-media skills on t'internet!! 

Name: Hazel Agnew
Blog: craftroomgran.blogspot.com
Stamp: HP1303

Hazel Says: Hi, Hazel here, otherwise known as craftroomgran or zimbud (Leandra's reference to me needing a zimmer… NOT) {Leandra edit: Hazel of course refers to our imaginary zimmers - we have competitions decorating them and racing them down the motorway (they have wheels, and go really fast)... I have been crafting since I retired in 2008 and finding PaperArtsy on Twitter has totally changed my approach from churning out cards to altered art. Encouraged by the fabulous PAtwits I created a blog in October 2013. A little known fact about me (which Leandra asked us to include) is that I had piano lessons from the age of 5 till 18 and enjoy playing Beethoven, Mozart etc and also singing. {Leandra asks: so is the piano a zim-attachable unit decorated with red sparkles with a matching chopper guard flag thingy ??? #welljell } 

So here is my challenge, entitled 'La Colmena'. I was lucky enough to be sent the stamps HP1303 I decided to make something useful and upgrade my phone table accessories. They were mismatched and in need of a makeover. 

I emptied the ink from my Windsor and Newton bottle, Grunge-Pasted through a stencil, painted the bottle with French Roast and then rubbed on Treasure Gold: Aquamarine and Spanish Topaz to highlight. I turned my biro into a quill pen by making a feather as Julie Ann showed us earlier this semester.

I added a matching Grunge Paste stencil to my note box, stamped with some of the script and added half of the face stamp using Archival Coffee, once again highlighting with Treasure Gold.

I crackle-glazed the front of my notebook and stamped assorted script onto it using a mixture of archival inks to give a random scribbles look. Then I cut some Metal Card to fit one corner and wrote "vins" on the reverse, pressing through on top of a spongy mouse mat. This was to copy the stamp with the word Vins on the top. I then rubbed Treasure Gold in Oxynite, Spanish Topaz and Brass onto it and glued to make a pocket. I made some "business cards" using more of the stamps and tucked them in.

Now for the wooden box. After covering it with Fresco paints I made a cover for the drawer by once again using Metal Card. This time I wrote "Plumes" and "Crayons" on each side and repeated the Treasure Gold process. I randomly stamped the large script stamp once again using archival inks. Finished off the box with Treasure Gold on the edges.

To finish the feel of the project I made faux letters, stuffing envelopes with card, ageing them and tying them with aged ribbon. I made notelets with half of the face, edged with gold pen and made an old photo, painted over with Gloss Glaze and created a postcard. 

I was going to weave a story about this ageing actress called "La Colmena" The Beehive, who was desperately clinging to her past but have already rambled on for too long. I also took many more detailed photos, but will probably put those onto my blog.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy looking as much as I have enjoyed playing with PA's glorious products!

Hazel

FOURTH UP: SUSAN's rolled paper canvas masterpiece
Susan has done great things with paper and stamps on this piece! It's very clever! I love how she has used rolled papers as her background!

Name: Susan Jennings
Blog: artycreationinspiration.blogspot.co.uk.
Stamp: HP1304

Susan Says: Hi, I am extremely lucky to be a stay at home mum.  Prior to my career change I had been employed as an accounts administrator for a group of garages located in the West Midlands.  I have always been involved in the madness of craft, I guess you could say I was born with it in my genes.  My skills range from knitting, sewing, cross stitch, upholstery and of course paper craft. What I am not so  good at is twitter, pinterest and facebook, my blog is pretty new too. It was set up a few years ago but it was only when my friend suggested I enter one of my creations onto a challenge site I realised you needed to have a  blog, it’s still quite basic but I’m getting there, slowly.  My first ever job when I was 16 was adding colours to enamelled trinket boxes on an outwork basis 50p a base, 25p a lid, it was pocket money, it was only when staring into a shop window I realised how much these little beauties were worth to buy. 

Anyway back to business. A 6”x6”box canvas was painted with Nougat and dry brushed with Chartreuse, stamping using the new Hot Picks HP1304EZ script and 50c stamps in Honey Dew and Chocolate Pudding added detail. 

Rolls were made from brayering with Chartreuse, Chalk and Honey Dew and stamped in black archival ink using the Script stamp, the edges were distressed rolled and lashed together with twine. Hat pins covered in White Fire and Onyxite Treasure Gold and pushed into the top of the rolls, treasure gold was added to edges of canvas.

The face was stamped onto Card painted in Chocolate Pudding, Crackle Glaze and Blush and cut out, Blood Orange added colour to lips and cheeks and a Chartreuse to the eye lids. Hair was made from stamping the 50c and 25c stamps on card painted in Chocolate Pudding, Blood Orange, Tikka and Chutney, heat embossed with black embossing powder and cut out, Treasure Gold was added to the edges. 

The same circles were used to make the flowers, slits were cut into each circle, tweezers were used to curl the corners and a brad added to the centre. Stems were made from wire twisted into leaf shapes which were stuck onto leftover paper, the leaves were cut out and glossy accents added.  A few metal embellishments were added to complete the look.

FIFTH UP: MARIETTE's flower card

I love this distress watery stamping card technique. This is really versatile for all kinds of projects!

Name: Mariëtte van Leeuwen
Blog: www.stampingmariette.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/stampingmariett/
Stamp: HP1305

Mariëtte Says: Hi, this is my 3UP entry with the new Hot Pick stamps. I am an addictive stamper for several years now and love the diversity of stamping. There are so many techniques you can incorporate in your art, it’s so versatile and it never bores me. In fact after a busy day at work it helps me to relax and gain new energy by stamping. The messier the better! 

I had the honor to play with the new Hot Pick set HP1305 and decided to show you that PaperArtsy stamps can also have a soft and romantic touch. The technique I used on this card is stamping with distress markers and using a water-colour technique for a soft feeling.

Scribble down some ink from your distress marker (tea dye) on your craft sheet and blend it with water. Take up the mixture with a big brush and apply it randomly onto a piece of water color paper. Dry. Color the flower collage stamp directly with distress markers. I used the following colors: worn lipstick, crushed olive, peeled paint and brushed corduroy. Before stamping onto your water color paper, spray water on the stamp with a mini mister. Then you can start to blend the colors on the flower and leaves with just a small brush and a little bit of water.

With a blending tool and brushed corduroy distress ink go around the edges to create a border and add depth into your card.

Adhere some white lace and create a bow from twine. The little flower as embellishment is done with the same water color technique as described above. The little flower stamp is from the HP1009 set. Adhere the project to white paper and finally on pink cardstock to match the color of the flowers. I hope you like the way I used this fabulous stamp.


SIXTH UP: Sandie's mini book
Sandie has made her own fantastic book, and bound the papers, these could be used for ohhhh so many projects!! A great technique.

Name: Sandie Cottee
Blog: http://itchifingers.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/artysan/
Stamp: HP1306

Sandie Says: I work full time as a nurse but creativity is my way of life.   A balance of work & play is really important to me and a few hours creating can put my world to rights.  I would describe my style as eclectic, I love paper, multimedia and textiles as well as trying out new ideas.  I am passionate about photography and journaling, and my main love is handmade books.  We have a campervan and although space is small I always pack creative projects that I am working on.

I have run book-making and other classes and hope to do more of this in future.  What I needed is a pocket notebook to write down ideas.  I was so excited to be chosen for this 3UP and the stamp set I received (Hot Picks HP1306EZ) had the perfect quote!To paint the book cover tear or cut thick paper to preferred size - fold to make 12 double pages. For the cover I painted 4 of the sheets using Fresco Finish chalk acrylic paints mixed with liberal amounts of water and painted both sides.

Randomly layer each sheet on top of each other onto a waterproof surface.  Leave to dry but while the sheets are still damp separate and lay them out to dry completely.

Choose one sheet for the cover of your book. The rest can be used for other projects or as additional pages.

Using the large nautical stamp, mask off the design, and stamp the text across the back and front cover in white. For the focal point, use a design of your choice (I used SITT1), then stamp the quote, cut in strips and mounted to black. Insert the pages into the book, and 'sew' a closure with ribbon.It fits perfectly into my pocket, and I loved exploring ways with these stamps. Thank you for letting me take part, it's been huge fun.

Thanks to all of our 3-upsters this past week. You guys always put on a good show! We can't thank you enough.If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 5pm (I know, that's tomorrow) and go in the draw to win a surprise prize at the end of the week. As it's the end of the semester, the prize will be a special goody bag with a variety of items to the value of £50. 

Each entry generates you a ticket in the draw to win. Maximum number of entries per person is 3. Your entry must be a new creation made this week, and explain which person's 3UP entry inspired you to play along. Good luck, winners will be announced on Sunday May 4th, 7pm.

{3UP} Night 6: Eclectica - Ellen Vargo

Hi Everyone, it's Leandra here for the sixth night of this semester's 3UP challenge. Only one more night to go! It's been fabulous to see all your comments of encouragement for this week's volunteers! Thank-you! They appreciate it very, very much!

Tonight it's all about the fabulous Ellen Vargo. She has been a wonderful Guest this past semester, and as the newest Designer here at PA, we have loved seeing her own bright and colourful ideas with her stamps.

From the comments I have received at shows recently I know a few of you have been sitting back with quizzical looks on your faces regarding Ellen's stamps, but increasingly I am also hearing 'I get it now' after seeing more and more ideas of how they can be used with gellie plates, brayers, or stripped back painted, stamped layers. Once the penny drops it doesn't take long to get hooked! Abstract is my first love, so I'm into these 'boots and all' ! I think it is fabulous that Ellen does bright and zingy, and someone else can see them as soft and subtle. The variations are endless! My catch phrase seems to be 'versatility', and these stamps are definitely that!

Of course, don't forget we sneakily released 2 more stamps into the Ellen family just this past week! EEV05 and EEV06 We have been shipping these out to shops already, and they add more options to what you could do with Ellen Vargo's stamps.

Tonight's 3UP volunteers were excited to be picked out of the hat for this evening on the blog. Thank-you for volunteering to be part of the 3 UP challenge. We really appreciate it!

FIRST UP: It's Kirsten with a textured, layered abstract composition

To say Kirsten fretted over this is an understatement. You know when you have an idea in your head and you can't get it to work in reality? That! She nearly didn't come to Ally Pally so she could have a day to try and get it pulled together (...I twisted her arm...), she nearly pulled out altogether (...Darcy talked her round...), and now that we can all see this amazing creation, we all wonder what the fuss was about. Not to dismiss her struggle... it's easy to say/ see in hindsight, but of course we have all been there mid-struggle, and while a deadline can induce motivation and productivity, it can just as easily be disruptive to the creative process the closer it looms once the panic sets in! Regardless, Kirsten-the-victorious overcame all the obstacles, and she has certainly pulled the rabbit out of the hat! Well done!

Name: Kirsten Alicia Sheridan
Blog: http://isisimaginings.com/
Twitter: @IsisImaginings
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/isisimaginings/
Stamp: EEV03, EEV02

 

Kirsten Says: Hello, I’m Kirsten and I’m thrilled to be part of this new #3UP challenge for PaperArtsy. I started card making about ten years ago, telling myself it would be a nice, easy hobby to have. Famous last words! Since then, I have amassed a room full of all sorts of paints, patterned papers, stamps, stencils, embellishments and the other assorted items that are impossible for us crafters to resist. I am never happier than when I’m sitting at my desk, covered in paint and ink, creating something.

I chose to use Ellen Vargo’s stamps for my #3UP project. I love Ellen’s art work and her stamps are wonderful, with their clean lines and abstract shapes. If I were to tell you all the stages my piece went through we’d be here until next week, so I will save all that for my blog and focus mainly on the background here.

My project was inspired by Henri Gaudier-Breska’s sculpture, ‘Red Stone Dancer’ and the ballet, ‘The Rite of Spring’ and the project initially looked like this:

I got seriously stuck at this point, knowing it wasn’t right, but I couldn’t think how to fix it, so I asked for help and Darcy and my friend Lisa came to my rescue, for which I am extremely grateful.

I wanted the background to be quite muted, but with hints of the shapes that make up the focal images. I gessoed a piece of greyboard first – you could use Snowflake Fresco paint too, but I tend to use it sparingly, it’s too good to be hidden in the background – then began adding and knocking back Ice Blue, Mermaid and Lake Wanaka Frescos, with a paintbrush and baby wipe, until I was satisfied. The next step was splotches of Lake Wanaka with a baby wipe, followed by thin washes of a mix of Snowflake and Ice Blue.  I stamped with EEV02, using the same mix of colours.  When dry this stamping will mostly disappear into the background, but adds another layer of texture.

Next, second generation stamping with Cornflower Blue Archival ink, using the same stamps, a very thin wash of Ice Blue and Snowflake mix so that the stamping doesn't stand out and streaks of Bora Bora and Limelight with a baby wipe – I did this very carefully, knocking back a lot of the paint until there was only a hint of translucent colour. I finished the background with some Bora Bora, applied with a brayer and around the edges, a mix of Beach Hut and GrungePaste tapped on here and there with a palette knife, French Roast was applied with my finger and finally, tiny amounts of Aquamarine Treasure Gold.

Thank you VERY much to Leandra and the entire PaperArtsy team for this opportunity to be part of the #3UP fun and of course to Darcy and Lisa for all their help. I can now look at this piece and not want to throw it in the bin.


SECOND UP: Steven with a set of those cool cube-thingys

Steven also seemed to bite off a big chunk of a challenge, and he also won the battle! I love how he has mixed elements of JoFY, traditional Ink and the Dog, and Ellen's stamps to decorate this cool cube set, with the constant reminder, 'if the plan doesn't work...change the plan' ! Wise advice, and handy to have on the desk at work!

  Name: Steven Macari
Blog: http://pinkelfcrafts.blogspot.fr/
Twitter: @smacari
Stamp: EEV03, EEV02

 

Steven Says: I am a Scottish-Italian male living near Poitiers in France. In order to pay for my crafting addiction I have a day job at CNED, The National Centre for distance learning. I’ve been crafting since I was a kid; knitting, hand and machine, tapestry, cross stitch, tatting, and loads more…. Something about me that PA twits probably might not know?  …… I was an amateur and professional ice figure skater in a previous life.

I’ve had two promotional puzzle cubes from work hanging about the house for ages and had been wanting to transform them long before the 3UP challenge.  I first thought of simply gessoing them then stamping but the gesso didn’t adhere too well so I scraped off the paper, cleaned the plastic cubes with alcohol and started from scratch. I painted and stamped the background on quality cartridge paper but then realized that it was going to be too thick for the folds so yet another change of plan, but not the goal. 

So, I started again from scratch using a sheet of address labels! It worked! - solid enough to take the wet paint and thin enough to fold. The “scratchy circles” EEV02 were stamped in 'Library Green' and 'Crimson' Archival inks. I base coated with blobs of Zesty Zing, Yellow Submarine and Limelight.  Then I highlighted the inside of the swirls with Yellow submarine and Limelight. For the stencil I used the 'Dot Fade'  layering stencil with Smoked Paprika mixed with Metallic Glaze, which didn’t give the effect that I really wanted but was ok.

 

I used the JM16 to stamp on more labels and coloured with Spanish Mulberry, Blood Orange, London Bus, Limelight, Hyde Park, Zesty Zing, Pumpkin Soup and Smoked Paprika. The words were printed on standard copy paper, coloured with pro-markers. All Flowers and words were fussy-cut, edged with black and then collaged using Glue and Seal. 

Finally I made a little tray of cardboard, and held together and covered with kraft gummed paper (the rolls I use for shipping carton). I then painted a strip of micro-pore and stamped it with the same stamp. The swirl circle is stamped onto a piece of painted grungeboard. I painted another piece of grungepaper and stamped it with MN09. I then hot-glued some acid coloured buttons in position.

THIRD UP: Ruth goes troppo ...in the best possible way!
I am loving this piece by Ruth. She shows so clearly how she has used snowflake to 'block' the layers underneath and bump at the same time. This really lets the upper layers 'pop' and stand out, the overall effect is beautiful. 

Name: Ruth Mescall
Blog: http://argeum.blogspot.co.uk/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ruthiemesc/
Stamp: EEV04, PS002, PS004

 

Ruth Says: My name is Ruth and I love being able to play around with ink and paint and messy stuff and hopefully create. I can't remember a time not crafting and my earliest memory is sitting on my bedroom floor stitching wool through a pre punched picture card. I have only recently started a blog and I am really enjoying entering challenges and sharing. I was drawn to Ellen Vargos stamps, I could see flowers made out of the leaves and loved the batik look of some of the shapes, so decided to go tropical!

I started with a 20x20 cm piece of greyboard and covered it with a piece of white cotton scrap fabric I had. I wanted some text in the background so stamped two of the phrases from ELB06 in Jet Black Archival Ink. After heat setting it was sealed with some matte medium. I then applied fresco colour with a baby wipe and with lightest first used Zesty Zing, Limelight, Smoked Paprika, London Bus, Beach Hut and Eggplant. 

To build up the background I stencilled snowflake through the dotty flower on ELB stencil PS004. I mixed together some half snowflake and half metallic glaze and using the two ‘eye’ stamps/leaf pods from EEVO4 randomly stamped the background, this gave a slightly faded but shimmery effect. Next I used pure snowflake and stencilled the flowers and the leaves from PS002 and PS004.

Using the ‘bump’ technique I repositioned the stencils with a nudge to one side and coloured the various flowers and leaves and once dry added some shading by dry brushing paint for further depth. Grunge Paste was applied through the Secret Garden words from stencil PS004 and then Indigo and Florentine Treasure Gold was smudged over. 

Last but not least the large tropical bloom,  I used some temporary adhesive to stick a piece of cotton onto some Heavyweight Smoothy card and stamped the ‘eyes’ from EEV04 and leaves in the same fresco colours. Next a coat of Satin Glaze, which sealed the card and gave a subtle sheen, once dry I cut out the shapes and then curved them between my fingers and assembled 3 rows of 5 petals to get quite a dimensional flower that was glued in place. 

I did enjoy playing with these stamps, thankyou!

Thanks again to all of our magnificent 3 uppers tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and say Hi! We love what you have done with Ellen's stamps tonight, thanks for your persistence, the results were amazing!

If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 5pm and go in the draw to win a surprise prize at the end of the week. As it's the end of the semester, the prize will be a special goody bag with a variety of items to the value of £50. 

Each entry generates you a ticket in the draw to win. Maximum number of entries per person is 3. Your entry must be a new creation made this week, and explain which person's 3UP entry inspired you to play along. Good luck, winners will be announced on Sunday May 4th, 7pm.

{3UP} Night 5: Lynne Perrella

Hi Everyone, it's Leandra here for the fifth night of this semester's 3UP challenge. Tonight it's all about Lynne Perrella. This new release from Lynne has generated so much great feedback. they seem to have struck a chord with people instantly. The detail in her stamps is always amazing. 

Here's a tip from Lin Brown and I who uses these constantly when demoing at shows. Paint your smoothy with nougat BEFORE stamping the LP face image, then its really easy to shade the face and blend additional skin tone shades on top of the nougat base without losing the detail of the facial features. Nougat is an opaque, so to do this after you have stamped would obliterate the details. 

Tonight's 3 volunteers were excited to be picked out of the hat for this evening on the blog. Thank you for volunteering to be part of the 3 UP challenge. We appreciate it!

FIRST UP: It's Carol with a slide mailer

Back in the day we used to decorate single, double, even quadruple slide mailers, and often swap our art with others. If you haven't been around that long, 'slide-mailers' are what lab tech's use to post glass slides with samples around from lab to lab. I guess they have email options these days, and perhaps physical samples possible don't travel as much this way, who knows, but they are still just as much fun!

Name: Carol Plume
Blog: www.kraftypieces.blogspot.co.uk
Stamp: LPC030

 

Carol Says: My name is Carol Plume and I come from Suffolk.  My "pay the bills job" is an accountant/office manager which is relatively stressful, so at night I get crafty!! My blog is Kraftypieces.blogspot.co.uk and I am on a couple of UK  based DT's. One thing you won't know about me is that I'm allergic to tomatoes!  I adore PaperArtsy products and was thrilled to be chosen to play along tonight.

I decided to use a double slide mailer for my project - so I started off by painting with nougat fresco paint, then added stencilled Grunge Paste to the front and back covers, and die cuts texture to the inner cover.  

This was all then covered with JOFY's Limited edition 'chalk' coloured paint with her 'amethyst' to blend from the middle out to the edges. Space Cadet was then added along the edges using a dry brush to add depth to the niches of the interior slide sections.

I hate wasting paint, so the left overs were painted onto a piece of Smoothy card stock. Once dry, the stencilled GP and edges were all highlighted using Treasure Gold: Royal Amethyst, Classic and Sapphire. 

Using the large stamp from LPC030, I placed this onto my craft mat and inked - I then stamped my die cuts, using the stamp up this way means that I can choose the elements that I want.  The entire stamp was then stamped onto my painted card stock, the slides were then placed on top of my chosen elements and stuck down, once cut out I edged the slides using treasure gold. Using two of the smaller images on LPC030 I stamped onto smoothy card stock and coloured using distress inks in the same palette, edging with Treasure Gold.  Taking my painted mail slider I then stamped the text stamp from LPC028 and adhered all the elements in place.  I made a small bead by rolling up some of my painted card stock and added this to some cord along with some beads to add to the spine, a few metal embellishments finished off the piece.

Thank you 

Carol xx

SECOND UP: Here is Stefanie with a dimensions canvas. 
Stefanie has certainly managed to use this stamp set to good effect. The birdcage is a personal fave image of mine so far this year!

Name: Stefanie Ladley
Blog: http://steamfairiecraft.blogspot.co.uk
Stamp: LPC027

Stefanie says: Hi I'm Stefanie, I'm really excited to be sharing my 3Up project with you and hope you like it.  I returned to crafting, following my diagnosis of Fibromyalgia,and would describe my focus as primarily mixed media, I find that concentrating on small projects,and seeing them finished helps me to focus on the positive side of life, which is always a good thing!  Last year I started up a blog.

My package from PaperArtsy was a wonderful new stampset from Lynne Perrella, LPC027. So I wondered what would I create? I decided on a 6x6 canvas.

The first step was to work on the canvas.  I used acrylic paints and a scraped paint technique - starting with a full covering of Fresco Finish Vanilla, then a flesh coloured paint and finishing with a small amount of a blue created by blending South Pacific with Baltic Blue; this blue was also used to cover the sides of the canvas. 

I used a palette knife to apply the paint which helped to control the amount on each layer.  This is shown in the photo.  Once dry I took bits of printed tissue paper and adhered these to the canvas using molten beeswax.  I then took some pieces of greyboard and gave them the same paint treatment, once dry I stamped an image from the Lynne Perrella stamps on each. 

When it came to assembling my canvas, I wanted to create some dimension in it so I took some pre-cut 'inchies' to use to raise the boards off the canvas and I also decided I wanted to set it on the diagonal.  The longest scalloped shaped piece is sitting on two 'inchies' and the two smaller pieces are on a single 'inchie'.  Each piece of board has been edged with a teal/turquoise colour to blend into the theme of the canvas.  Finally I added some embellishments - some flowers (a bit of a departure for me!) and then the more familiar keys, cogs and coins.  I'm really pleased with the finished canvas, I'm usually quite tame with colours but love the bluey turquoise I've used for edging, and the co-ordinating flower.

Thankyou
Stefanie

THIRD UP: Jules with a tag
Jules has got some great ideas on this tag, and I'm liking her colour palette a lot! Very spring like.

Name: Julie Bell (Jules)
Blog: redfishdesigns100@blogspot.com
Twitter: @pinkjules50
Stamp: LPC028

Jules Says: Hello my name is Julie Bell, I have been crafting 6/7 years now and I keep learning new things all the time. By day I work as a Sales Team Captain but as I with most Crafters I would love to make craft my full time job!!  Something you may not know is I am currently teaching myself to draw, it’s a slow process with lots of rubbing out lol x

I chose Lynne Perella as I love the stamps so much. I decided to go for an Easter palette of colours.  I started with a large MDF tag and painted both sides with a double coat of Snowflake. I wanted to try some a little different so I took small sections of white card and sprayed then with a water/paint mix in Zesty Zing and Spanish Mulberry, then instantly wiped over to blur, this leaves some paint blobs behind and also lots of white card. Then I stamped rows using the script and boarder stamps form the set, these where then cut in strips and used to make a weave for the background.

I colour tinted some GP with Sky paint and used that over the top with a reverse chicken wire stencil. Using Pansy, Sky, Candyfloss and Zesty Zing I mixed each one with Nougat  and painted a base so I could stamp the main image 4 times. I cut 3 sections out and layered them over the base on sticky pads to give different levels. I cut out a shape from the PaperArtsy Hardware die and covered in silver TG to use to thread ribbon through for hanging it up. I made a clay flower and painted again with Candyfloss and Pansy. Finished by highlighting and edging with black ink and Silver TG and adding a silver gem embellishment.

I hope you like my tag. 

Thanks Jules x 

Thanks to all of our 3 upsters tonight, please make sure to visit their blogs and say Hi! We love to see what you all like to do with our newest products, so thanks for your continued enthusiasm and participation.

If you would like to play along with our #3UP this week, then feel free to link up by Sunday May 4th at 5pm and go in the draw to win a surprise prize at the end of the week. As it's the end of the semester, the prize will be a special goody bag with a variety of items to the value of £50. 

Each entry generates you a ticket in the draw to win. Maximum number of entries per person is 3. Your entry must be a new creation made this week, and explain which person's 3UP entry inspired you to play along. Good luck, winners will be announced on Sunday May 4th, 7pm.