2019 #15 Coral: Midori Tags Notebook with Hot Picks {by Ellie Knol}

2019 Topic 15: Coral

I love this idea, crackle glaze and gel printing, sounds like fun! Looks Like fun! Amazing results so it must have been fun!!! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ellie Knol from PAPER-STAMPS-COLOR with you today, and I'd like to share with you the making of a Midori Notebook... 

I've been thinking of making a junk journal some or other time and decided I would make one for this post. In the end I decided to go with blank paper for the inserts to be able to stamp some script on the pages. A real junk journal will have to wait.  

Thinking of the color 'coral' we surely think of the coral we can find in the sea... that's why I chose blue colors with the orange-y ones. 

I wanted to use mainly coral for the cover.  I painted the cover (recycled from a book with poems) with white gesso, then with Coral Fresco Finish, dry-brushing the color on, adding Crackle Glaze here and there was what I thought would work with what I wanted to achieve, and it did! 

I wanted to use all the colors, shown on the photograph, on the cover in vertical lines, but didn't want a linear background as such. The colors and mediums are: Smoked Paprika, Cherry Red, Peachy Keen, Coral, Blueberry, Glass Blue, Southern Skies, China, Satin Glaze and Crackle Glaze Fresco Finish. Not on the photograph: Snowflake Fresco Finish For stockists of the NEW Fresco colours See here.

I had to put my thinking cap on first..
Gel plate? Yes... 
How to apply the paints ?
...with a brush.. NO... the paints will dry too quick...
...with a brayer ? no.. that will mix the colors too much...
...with a palette knife .. yes! 

I put a drop of each color (coral too!) along the top edge of the gel plate (8x10 inch); I kept the color ranges of oranges and blues next to each other, first some blues, then some oranges, then more blues, then more oranges, and ending with some blues. I used a palette knife with rather a long blade, so I could swipe the colors downwards over the plate without cleaning it in between. I printed straight onto the cover; the crackles appeared in seconds.
When dry, I covered it with a layer of Satin Glaze for protection. 

Leftover paint on the gelliplate always make for beautiful prints! I left it to dry and pulled a print with the use of a thin layer of white Snowflake Fresco Finish. 

 

A close-up of the print.... I love it and will be using it for the cover of one of the inserts. 

There was still a little paint left over; I pulled a print with a thin layer of China Fresco Finish, and it also pulled dried up paints from the plate; they were on the plate from an earlier session of printing. This print will cover the second insert. 

From yet two other prints I made four two-sided tags to go in the inserts.
To attach to the tags, I coloured whitish thread with Coral Fresco Finish. An easy way to do that is to add a drop into a zip lock baggy, mist it with a little water, add the thread, close the bag, and smoosh the color onto the thread. I added some pieces of shells to the threads to add some interest.

The inside of the cover has been covered with a print made with Coral Fresco Finish and this pull also grabbed some leftover dried-up paints from the plate. 

Note that the paper was cut from a roll of paper, and will have to be pressed with a bookpress for some time.

So, here it is: two inserts and four tags in a cover from a recycled book, bound with two elastic bands.  

The color of the light blue cover of this insert is very subtle; I sponged over the beautiful PS139 stencil by JOFY with a coral color of distress Oxide and stamped script on the edges too; with the coral hue and with a dark brown.

 Insert One. 

Insert Two.
The stamps used on both inserts are from the HP1111 stamp set. The flowers were colored with watered down Coral Fresco Finish.

I sponged some patterns on the edges of the tags with the same stencil mentioned earlier. As a last detail I stamped script (from various HP stamp sets) onto the bottom right hand side of the pages and onto the tags. 

I came to the conclusion that I really love this (Coral) color! It would also be nice to use in combination with greens (or purples) for a totally different look, I am sure!!
Making this type of booklets is a time-consuming job, but such a joyous one, and makes for a perfect gift for whomever likes to write or journal.. or just as a keepsake.
I will certainly make more of this type of book!!

I am happy you joined me today and hope you got inspired to get crafting.. ENJOY!

A comment is very much appreciated!! Thanks... 

Ellie Knol

Blog: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl/   http://ellieatcs.blogspot.nl/ 
Owner of : https://www.facebook.com/groups/DutchArtJournal/  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008479362838 
Pinterest: https://nl.pinterest.com/ellieknol/

2019 #15 Coral and eh.... *Beans!* with EEA02 {By Lotte Kristensen}

2019 Topic 15: Coral

It's fun to work onto a surface with a difference, and on this occasion, Lotte has repurposed a tin ready to receive her stamps and paint! ~ Leandra

Hey, it's Lotte here - in an up-cycling mood!  Not only have I used an empty bean tin for my project, but also some of that wonderful tissue paper your PaperArtsy Fresco paints often come wrapped in.  I really like re-using 'rubbish', and the ribbed texture of the can which shows through the layer of paper is particularly cool, IMHO.  So, let's get started!

Have you seen all the new Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints which are newly out?  They are just scrumptious (yes, there *really* isn't any other word to describe them!!) and of the new coral-y colours, I was particularly taken with 'Scottish Salmon', which is what I used here...

 ... together with the Eclectica Everything Art 002 stamp set, one of my faves ;D

So, to begin with, I used a tin opener to remove the bottom of the empty, clean tin.  Then used a pair of tin snips to carefully cut down the middle, and shortened to about 15 cm. I used a rolling pin to flatten the tin as much as possible.  The edges are VERY sharp, so DO be careful!!

Next, I painted the sheet of tin with some white, high viscosity acrylic paint, and when that was dry, a coat of the delicious Scottish Salmon Fresco Finish:

Next, I finger-stamped the large and small blob stamps in Orange Blossom Ranger Archival Ink:

Using Versafine Onyx Black ink pad, I stamped out my chosen images onto tissue paper, and let it dry very thoroughly:

Some people Netflix and chill...  I Netflix and fussy-cut!  😂😂

Then I used gel medium to stick the images onto the tin, using the tip of the brush to really get into the ribs of the surface:

A little tip: I always buy heavy gel medium, and then thin it if I need a lighter coating, like here.  Just place a blob of gel medium on your craft sheet or palette and mix with water.

Lastly, I gouged some holes at the top of the tin, added some eyelets and stuck some hemp cord through:

I used a black permanent fineliner to add some scribbles to the edges of the images, including the antennae of the moths:

So, that is it!  I really liked making this plaque, the urban grunge vibe you get from upcycled materials always gets my vote :D  I decided against adding any embellishments - I tried a couple, but really just loved the simplicity of the black and white image on the vibrant background.   I would love to see what *you* come up with, so don't forget to share your makes on the PaperArtsy Facebook group page!

Until next time :)

Lotte x

Instagram: Alice Overground

2019 #15 Coral: Blushing Coral Butterflies with LPC {by Alison Bomber}

2019 Topic 15: Coral

It's always exciting making new discoveries and Alison's use of corals for skin tones is a tip I'll be using. Her gorgeous paint washed seam binding and ombre sentiment makes for an intricate and soft tag showing off some classy painted ladies!

Hi everyone, it's Alison here from Words and Pictures.  I bet you never thought I would be turning up in the Coral fortnight!  It's definitely not a colour I'm used to playing with.  I have made occasional forays into the worlds of pink and/or orange, but you could probably count them on one (and a bit) hands.

But there was one stamp collection I could absolutely envisage me wanting to use Coral with, and it had to be Lynne Perrella's new butterflies. The faces of Lynne's women are one of the places I do reach for a warm blush of pink - and the latest Coral Fresco Finish Chalk Paint colours looked as though they could become my new favourites for that purpose.  And who doesn't love a colourful butterfly?  Time to find out!

I worked on a jumbo tag, which leaves lots of space around that intricately adorned head, so that the exquisite details aren't overcrowded.  Both she and the tiny hanging tag at the top are from LPC043.

I had a lovely time juggling with paint colours which would complement the beautifully warm blush tones of the new Corals.  Here's what I came up with... some aquas, some blues and some greens.  These are colours I'm much more at home with, of course.

The background is very simply painted in Snowflake with some Cloud 9 to warm it up, and then I sponged Seaglass, Glacier Ice and a couple of hints of Granny Smith around the edges for a soft border.

 

I used a stamping platform so that I would be able to re-stamp the details after painting.  First a light stamping in Watering Can Archival...

Then some fun applying all my paint colours and blending and contrasting...

(I usually put small dots of each paint colour that I want to use straight onto my craft mat as a palette, and then use a water brush to paint with. You don't have to put much water through, so sometimes the paint is going on almost undiluted, but you can easily add water to soften a wash if you need to.)

And then the re-stamping..and if you're thinking that it now looks a bit too dark and grey, I agree...

... but the joy of opaque Fresco paints is that you can reapply colour over the top again if you feel the need.

I have to just show you a couple of close-ups of Lynne's amazing butterflies...

... so intricate and delicate, and you get such clarity with PaperArtsy rubber, even on images as detailed as these.

I didn't really register until I was painting it that the woman's garment around her shoulders is also a butterfly's wing.  That's the thing with a Lynne Perrella image - you're always finding beautiful, unexpected extras!

And I was right about loving the Corals to create skin tones and blushing cheeks, by the way.  Let's have a look at the woman on the tiny cut-out tag...

I'll show you the underpainting before the second stamping.  The base skin tone is very watery Peachy Keen (the lightest of the new shades), the first layer of blush is Peach Nectar, and then there's a touch of Coral for that extra flush of heat or pleasure!  Her lips have a smear of Scottish Salmon.

Oh, and then I added a bit of the Scottish Salmon to some Chocolate Pudding (yuck, don't make me eat that combination!) to create a rich auburn for her hair which would echo the coral tones elsewhere because it has some coral mixed into it.

The stamped ribbons are a combination of the same coral paints.  Sorry I didn't fussy-cut out all the bits in between the swirls of ribbon when I cut out the tag... I thought I'd probably mess it up.

The dragonfly wings (another brilliant Perrella touch - I love how they echo the opulent bow around her neck) are done in the aqua tones of Seaglass, Waterfall, Calypso; blue tones of Glacier Ice, Lake Wanaka and Space Cadet; and the green tones of Teresa Green, Granny Smith and Lawn. 

At this point I decided I was really cheating a bit too much... I was basically playing with my favourite blues, turquoises and greens with only the tiniest accents of coral.

Time to up the coral game with my sentiment.  (Hands up who also spotted that I changed the swirling ribbons on the tiny tag from green to coral in the end!) . The quote comes from one of my newest sets, EAB14 The Happiness Edition (see the launch post here if you missed it).

I created a soft ombre background with my coral paints and then stamped in Watering Can Archival again before adding some Wow Vanilla White embossing powder.

I find it's best to stamp with Archival ink when I'm embossing my quotes.  An embossing ink usually gives a slightly stickier, slightly splodgier impression which means you don't get quite such a crisp finish once you've melted the embossing powder.  When you're working with words, that can make all the difference between being able to read them or not!

I added some more script floating off into the background to echo the words around the women's heads.  It's a PaperArtsy stamp, but it's one I got as a little freebie with an order, so I'm not sure what set you might find it in.  It's become a favourite of mine, so if anyone knows...

Ooh, I almost forgot the actual ribbons.  With that full-on coral panel at the foot of the tag, I needed to balance it with some more coral up top.  I spritzed the ivory seam binding with water and smooshed one strand in some watery Peachy Keen in places, another couple in some dots of watered-down Coral, and left the last one off-white.  I love them...

I do think it's amazing how those extra coral touches really make the corals pop throughout the tag...

... even though they are mainly just tiny flecks within those intricate butterfly wings.

So it turns out that this coral business could definitely convert me into a more frequent user of pinks!  I really loved the youthful blush it gave to my butterfly women.  And as a contrasting accent against my much-loved blues, greens and turquoises, it makes them look even more beautiful and jewel-like too.  It was a voyage of discovery, but I'm happy with where I landed.  I hope you'll be inspired to explore the coral reefs too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  It's always lovely to hear what you think... especially when I'm out of my comfort zone and playing with being pretty in pink!
Alison x

Blog: Words and Pictures
Pinterest: butterfly crafter