2015 #14 Scrapbooking with Flowers and Texture {by Jennie Atkinson}

2015 Topic 14: Flowers

Hello everyone! I am absolutely thrilled to be here with you all on the PaperArtsy blog. My name is Jennie Atkinson and my blog is Live The Dream and yes I do believe I live the dream! I live in Shetland, the most northerly island in the UK  (cold and windy at times but fabulous!) and my blog has been my link to the outside world and the opportunity to meet like minded stampers and crafters and of course to follow blogs, such as Paper Artsy, which have been my training ground ... not being able to get to workshops and craft events.

I love all aspects of stamping, inking, scrap-booking, art-journalling and mixed media work but I suppose my style is mainly vintage shabby chic. Those of you who know me know that I love making my own handmade flowers, this being borne out of the frustration of  never having the right kind of flower to hand and the disappointment of buying them on the internet.  So sharing a project with you on the theme of FLOWERS is just perfect for me !

Tonight I am sharing with you a mixed media scrapbook layout using some of my own flowers, but also one of my own photographs. I have recently taken up photography and am still in the very early stages.

When I saw Sara Naumann’s Wisdom stamps (ESN07) with the words 'Photographie Illuminating My Heart' I knew I had to use this stamp plate for my layout.

I used some strong linen style cardstock and got some texture on the page with texture paste and stencils and adding some tissue tape around the edges here and there. I had an idea where the photograph was going at this stage, but nothing else! Everything then got a coat of gesso.

When the gesso was dry I mixed some watery puddles of Fresco Finish Pansy and Spanish Mulberry on my craft mat and added them with a paintbrush slowly at first as it is always easier to add more than take it away. I kept spritzing with water, mopping up and then drying with a heat gun until happy with the colour.  I used Pansy on a mesh stamp here and there adding the paint to the stamp with a paintbrush. I also added splatters again in both Pansy and Spanish Mulberry.

With Jet Black Archival Ink I  used the music stamp from ESN07 and a vintage text stamp (one of those lovely freebies which Leandra is always so generous at popping into one’s parcel). Although somewhat randomly  I do try and keep these within the area of the photograph. Once I was happy with the background I used a sewing machine to attach it to the backing cardstock. I find this the easiest way of attaching the two pieces and I have added more stitching in various places as further texture.

I then started to put together the embellishments.  I used more of the stamps from ESN07 for my text and embellishments stamping with Watering Can Archival Ink and made some roses from white cardstock edged with grey ink.  There is a tutorial for these flowers on my blog HERE.  The leaf chippy was painted first with Sage Fresco Finish and then crackled with Crackle Effect and Snowflake. And then it was a case of layering everything around and under the photograph which is raised off the page on a large piece of greyboard. When everything is stuck down I usually finish off with some dry brush gesso here and there to tone everything together, especially on the metal and buttons.

I love the way the Fresco Finish paints merge together and give such a lovely light effect on the linen cardstock despite being such strong colours.  They are always my go to paint for covering chippies and the Crackle Glaze never disappoints! 

Sarah Naumann’s ESN07  stamp plate also provides wonderful opportunities for subtle stamping on the background as well as elements for layering.

I always wish I had planned things out a little more from the start. The photograph I was using was initially 4 x 6 but was too overpowering so I had to make it smaller which did expose more of the coloured areas on the background. Some gesso helped but I still think it is a bit heavy in the centre of the page.

When I teach scrapbook workshops here in Shetland I always show how turning the same design 90 or 180 degrees can make another great layout! Sorry there is no rotate button for you to try it out!

I do hope this might have inspired some of you to have a go at a mixed media scrapbook layout if you haven’t already done so. And also you might look at some of your smaller stamps in a whole new light.

If you are interested in seeing more of my flower tutorials please do visit my blog Live The Dream. You can access them either on the top bar or from scrolling down the side bar.

Thank you so much to the team at PaperArtsy for inviting me to share a project with you tonight – it has been such an honour!

Jennie

Ohhhhh Jennie, I do love how on the face of it your beautiful Scrapbook LO looks minimalist, but when you see how you have gently built layers, colour, textures, and embellished perfectly with such a fabulous eye for composition and placement, it's clear that you have put a lot of thought into this. Such a peaceful and elegant piece! Frame it! 

So lovely to have you share with us tonight! Thankyou! ~Leandra 

Bloggers and followers...we would love you to join in with challenge #14: Flowers.

If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight (July 26 - Aug 9th), or perhaps you want to just do your own thing with flowers...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 Flowers link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Aug 9th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #14 Large Flower {by Wanda Hentges}

 2015 Topic 14: Flowers

Hi everyone!!! Wanda here, joining you this evening with a post for the Flowers theme. I thought it would be fun to make a large flower to hang on the wall but, was it ok to make an enlarged copy of a stamp. After emailing Leandra the answer was, yes, it is, as long as it's a one time thing and not for making multiples for commercial gain.

I stamped the flower from ELB24 onto white cardstock and, using a laser printer, enlarged it as much as possible but it still fit onto an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper.  I made 5 copies onto white cardstock.

ELB24

I cut out 2 complete flowers, 2 flowers with just the center petals, and one flower that has just the "front" center petals.  As I started cutting the last one I realized that since there was just a bit holding each petal onto the center that I would probably manage to tear them off before I was done ... So I stopped and coated the back with Golden gel medium. I just brushed it on not bothering to get it really thin and smooth as I wanted the extra strength. Once it was completely dry I finished cutting it out. You still have to be careful not to "overcut" between the petals but it worked well for strength.

Fresco Finish paint was used to add color. I started with one of the large flowers and quickly painted all the petals with blueberry and then began painting each petal separately using china, lavender, smurf, wisteria, and snowflake. I didn't blend too much allowing brush strokes to be seen.

Here is one flower with all the petals painted. I painted the other flowers in much the same way except on the other large flower I didn't paint all the way to the center.  It was going to be the bottom in the stack and it wasn't necessary. Honestly it was probably only necessary on one of the full center petals pieces and the front center petals piece but I painted them anyway.  

I only painted the actual center on the front center petals piece. I mixed chocolate pudding and squid ink and painted the whole center and then using a texture tool added spots of toffee.  I've had this tool for years and years.  It was bought at a rubber stamp convention when they used to have them in Iowa. I don't remember what it was called but it has a plastic mesh stuff glued to the end of a finished wood stick. 

If this was going to be a gift, I would have painted the backs of all the flowers but I'm keeping it.  I intend to hang it in the bathroom so I wanted all the flowers to be sealed and I did this by painting them, front and back, with satin glaze.  The satin glaze also brightened all the colors and gave a fabulous finish to the flower!!!!  To give added dimension to the petals, working on a foam pad I used a stylus tool to puff the paper forward.  I could have worked it to be more smooth (which I did with the painted center) but leaving the lines added a more realistic look to the petals.  I stamped the quote from ELB24 onto a scrap of white cardstock with Archival Ink jet black, cut out the words and glued them to the painted center and then painted the center again with satin glaze. Using a Posca paint marker I went around all the petals on all the flowers except for the one with just the front center petals. To give more variety to my layers I stamped text using Minis MN61 onto the ends of the petals on one of the complete flowers and one of the center petals flowers. I left the front center petals flower without marker or text.

MN61

I attached all the flowers together just in the center with foam mounting tape.

To make a hanger for the flower I used 2 cardboard circles that I had and some craft wire.  I twisted 2 pieces of wire and glued them between the circles with heavy gel medium, clamping them together and allowing them to dry.  I then attached the hanger to the back of the flower being sure it would hang with the words upright.  

Once they were all attached just in the centers, I thought it needed more so I carefully lifted the front petals and added dots around all the petals of the next layer using a white Posca pen. I then added the white swirl to the front petals holding my breath and hoping I wouldn't mess it up... success. Finally I glued each of the very front petal with a blob of gel medium behind the center of the petal. They needed to be glued so they wouldn't flop when the flower was hung up but I wanted them to keep their dimension and shape.  

I LOVE how this came out!!!!  Bonus... my husband also likes it, yay!!!  This could be done with any color or how about making a flower and each layer is a different color group.  That would be really pretty and fun!!!  I hope you have a chance to get painty or inky and create something for the current Flowers Challenge.  

~Wanda

You can find me on my Blog and also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest.

A quirky piece of art to grace any wall space Wanda, love the enlarged multi-dimensional petal layers and the white highlights. So glad it has the tumbs up from hubs too. Thanks for sharing your creativity with us.

We would love you to join in with challenge #14: Flowers.

If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight (July 26 - Aug 9th), or perhaps you want to just do your own thing with flowers...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 Flowers link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Aug 9th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #14 Golden Hours Among The Flowers {by Lynne Moncrieff}

 2015 Topic 14: Flowers

Hi. Lynne (Adorn) here, joining you this evening to share a canvas featuring a stamped paperclay focal. I was keen to return to this technique, something which I explored for my Guest Artist tutorial last year however this time with a highly detailed collage stamp from HotPicks 1507. 

I was unsure if the beautiful detail would translate to the clay so it was a step into the unknown but I was happy to discover that none of the detail was lost. I wanted a fragmented appearance to the stamped clay so I rolled out two pieces of white Creative Paperclay which I conditioned prior to rolling with an old rolling pin, working on a craft mat. No need to ink the stamp, simply stamp into the clay but please remember, you must clean the stamp thoroughly after use. I then tore away some of the excess clay from around the image before transporting onto kitchen paper, laid onto a flat surface and leaving to dry. Drying time varies depending on temperature and humidity of where you live.

In the meantime, I returned my attention to the canvas. Working on a 9"x12" stretched canvas I adhered fragments of vintage French book text, muslin, painters' mesh and Tissue Wrap. There is no significance to what I laid down other than to create texture and to allow alluring elements peeking through on the completed canvas. Golden Regular Matt Gel Medium was my chosen adhesive.

Before the paint application, I drizzled GrungePaste to heighten the texture then it was time to have fun with Frescos. I gathered Space Cadet, Toffee, Lake Wanaka, Spanish Mulberry, Antarctic and Claret, all applied with an old credit card.

With all of the lovely texture laid down on the canvas I chose to stamp onto white tissue paper (White Tissuestock is a good alternative) knowing the results would be more defined than if I stamped directly onto the canvas. Armed with several stamps and Staz-on Jet Black, I proceeded to stamp multiple images, more than I knew I would require but I always prefer to have more to hand, it is just the way I like to work!

HP1507

ESN04

ESN05

With a sponge brush and Mod Podge, I adhered torn pieces to the canvas. At this stage it is better to show restraint as more stamped images can be added towards the end of the project. 

Before laying the canvas aside, I dipped the edge of an old credit card into Concrete and Nougat and simply swiped the paint randomly onto the canvas.

If you are anything like me, you will have brushes in all shapes and sizes however this pack of brushes is a wonderful addition and investment and they were perfect for painting the intricate details in the paperclay.

Claret, Spanish Mulberry,Antarctic and Chalk were applied and I continually laid the paperclay against the canvas to gauge whether it would be visible against the canvas yet at the same time be cohesive with the canvas. If you have not painted paperclay before I would advise that water is kept to a minimum. I either worked directly from the bottle with a slightly damp brush or worked from a palette, lightly misting the paint before application.

Once painted it was time to return to the canvas.

This photograph shows that matters have moved on. The painted paperclay was adhered with Golden Regular Matt Gel Medium, applied generously with the two pieces slightly overlapping, allowing the image to match up. I almost wanted the pieces to evoke broken pottery, when fragments are pieced together. Two Idea-ology time pieces create balance to the composition, painting them with a combination of the aforementioned Frescos. 

Stepping back from the canvas I realised that further stamped tissue paper elements were required to fill the gaps.

Not quite finished with the Frescos. Firstly, I swiped Claret onto the canvas with my fingertips, before generously misting with water. Tilting the canvas allowed for a beautiful river of Claret to dribble down the canvas, dabbing with a baby wipe to ensure the layers of stamping and fragments were not obliterated. Once dry I followed with Concrete in the same fashion.

A collection of detail photographs which highlight the texture and layers peeking through the canvas and the beautiful detail stamped into the paperclay.

With the variety of flower stamps available from PaperArtsy you could tailor a canvas to suit your personal style. With the flexibility of being able to cut the paperclay before or after it has dried imagine a more contemporary wall art canvas, with a bold flower(s), molding the petals to create even more dimension or would you prefer something a little bit more whimsical in style. Paperclay brings another dimension to your art and as it is so light, it is the perfect choice whether for cards, tags, canvas, jewellery, etc and as you can roll it to any desired thickness, what about including a thin piece of stamped paperclay into your art journal, so many possibilities and as they say, so little time! I hope my tutorial will encourage you to investigate stamping into paperclay.

Lynne

Blog - Adorn

Thanks Lynne, the detail captured in the clay is indeed stunning, none lost at all. This technique allows for so much dimension to be achieved, creating layers and adding the 3d element without being overwhelming. Beautiful! 

We would love you to join in with challenge #14: Flowers 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 Flowers link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Aug 9th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2015 #14 Inspired By Russia {by Liz Borer}

2015 Topic 14: Flowers20

2015 Topic 14: Flowers

2015 Topic 14: Flowers

2015 Topic 14: Flowers

 2015 Topic 14: Flowers

 

Hello there, Elizabeth here again to show you  a project within the topic of flowers. I suspect that by now you will have realised that I love flowers and using floral designs within my projects. This time I am going to show you something different based on a decorative painting technique I learned some years ago. I was inspired to do this because I have just been on holiday with my Father and we visited St Petersburg in Russia. The painting technique is from a province in Russia called Nizhni Novgorod and is called Khokhloma. The traditional colours are red, gold and black although other colours such as green and white are used as well. The effect is to imitate gilded metal and is painted onto wooden objects to make them look metallic and heavy. If you google Khokhloma you will find lots of pictures and information about this type of decoration.

When I was taught this style of painting we started with a gold background. The design was then painted in using black paint and then all the areas around the design were painted in black leaving the gold showing in the centers of the design. The advantage of doing it this way round is that the lines of the designs are crisp and neat. It seemed to me that this method of adding colour is very suited to stamping because the design is an outline   stamped onto the background in Black Ink.

To paint this letter holder I sanded the wood well and then used two coats of opaque yellow paint to create a base for the gold paint. Try to get as smooth a surface as possible, if necessary sand the paint again before applying the gold paint. Another version of this technique starts with a red background. Paint one or two smooth coats of a bright gold acrylic paint over the whole area that is to be decorated. When dry start stamping the floral images using Archival Black Ink .

The first stamp I used was the large flower from ELB23. I also stamped this onto some paper and cut the image out to make masks to use as I added more floral stamped designs.

ELB23

I used the large flower and the floral spray from JOFY32 and the tulip from ELB22. I kept stamping more flowers to create the design, using masks as needed to protect the stamped images.

JOFY32

ELB22

When I had finished stamping the surface looked like this. It’s rather muddled at this point but the black background makes things clearer.

The advantage of painting in the background after stamping means that errors can be hidden! On the left corner of this part there are two ‘spikes‘ close to each other. This is because I decided that one of them was in the wrong place and as I knew I would be able to paint over it I just stamped it where I wanted it.

Make sure the ink is dry and then start filling in the background with Little Black Dress. I find that thickening the black areas around the stamped images first makes it easier to fill in larger areas without getting paint where it is not wanted.

Once all the background is black the design shows up beautifully in gold.

This is the corner with two spikes – now there is only one. Hurray for the black paint.

Traditionally the other main colour is red which is added now on top of the gold and the black. This is where I went off playing with other colours in a very non traditional way!  I mixed the transparent colours from the Fresco range with Satin Glaze to make them even more transparent and washed them over part of the gold flowers so that the gold became the highlight colour. The plum flowers were painted with a mix of Plum and Eggplant and then a little Blueberry was added to the mix to make it deeper. The Blue flowers were washed with a mix of Blue Glass and Blueberry.

The central red flowers were mixed with a mix of Blood Orange and Eggplant. I also washed a little of this onto the plum coloured flowers. The tulips were coloured with a mix of Bougainvillea and Beach Hut and I then washed this colour onto the red flowers in shaded areas and also onto the blue flowers. The centers of the red flowers were painted using Limelight and then a mix of BeachHut and Hey Pesto. I also used this colour on the stems of the flowers.

If this were painted traditionally little swirls and leaves would be painted over the black background. This is a stamped project so I decided that a little embossing would be the way to add the little extras. I embossed the spray from ELB23 using Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder Viola Rose Aurora around the edges of the design. On black the embossing looked solid but on the painted areas in was translucen. I then embossed in gold the spray from ELB22 around the edges of the design. This is a picture of one of the sides of the box with just the purple embossing on it.

Here is a picture of the purple and the gold embossing around the design. When stamping the sprays I used the masks again to avoid the painted flowers. I finished the edges of the box with gold Treasure Gold which I rubbed on with my finger.

Here is a picture of the finished project. The finish on the Khokhloma pieces is a high shine and so, although I don’t normally varnish work painted with PaperArtsy paint (it doesn’t need it), I sprayed this piece with a high gloss varnish. This is rather nice because it makes the colours glow.

Various views of the box.

Thank you for joining me tonight.

Liz

A beautifully executed technique Liz, the depth of colour achieved by layering the translucents/opaques is stunning and your custom blend colours are also exquisite. Great to see you experiment with embossing powder rather than opting for the tradional effect. Thank you for sharing your creative inspiration with us.

We would love you to join in with challenge #14: Flowers.

If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight (July 26 - Aug 9th), or perhaps you want to just do your own thing with flowers...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 Flowers link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Aug 9th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.