2022 Topic 15 : Paper, Seeds and Twigs {by Renata Peley} with France Papillon stamps

Hi everyone, it's Renata Peley with you today, and I'm here to share with you a couple of winter and Christmas projects made using a selection of stamps designed by France Papillon. Originally, I wanted to create a few Christmas cards, then I went on making some canvases and in the end, I actually made both. So, I hope all these projects will manage to inspire you and get you in an early festive mood.

In my opinion, Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons. Unless it’s raining all the time of course. :) If you look at nature, you can see an abundance of beautiful colors. And not just colors, but shapes as well. While some leaves are dry, crunchy and curled up (and I just love the sound when I walk on those), I can still find some green, fresh ones. And those green ones that I found while walking with my kids from the school were perfect for the project I have planned out.

At the beginning of my crafting session, I decided to start with a couple of round canvases. For what I had in my mind, a regular rectangular canvas would have worked just fine, but I was in the mood to switch it up a bit. Anyway, the first thing I did was to completely cover one canvas with black paint (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint Little Black Dress) and the other one with a mix of paints (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints Caramel and Chocolate Pudding). For the second one, my goal was to achieve somewhat of a bright kraft paper color.

And now on to the fun part. When both of my backgrounds were dry, I decided to start working on the black canvas first. So, what I did was to take a random leaf, cover the back of it with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint Snowflake and stamp it over my canvas. I chose to use the back of the leaf because it is usually more textured than the front. What you have to be aware of is not to put too much of the acrylic paint on the leaf and to distribute the paint evenly. Then press your leaf carefully on your background and rub it in to transfer all those gorgeous textures.

Now just keep repeating the process. You can choose to use the same leaf over and over again or even better, choose leaves of different sizes. In this particular project I decided to go with same type of leaves, but if you wish you can experiment a bit and see how it would look using leaves of different shapes as well.

For the next step, I would highly recommend using a translucent paint, but if you don’t have one, you could try diluting your paint with some water. I chose to work with the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint Southern Skies. It is a beautiful translucent shade of blue and I covered my entire canvas with it.

At this point, I also reapplied a bit of the black paint on the empty areas in the background and went on to stamp the second layer of leaves. I repeated this whole process four times. But this isn’t a precise recipe, so you can try with less or more layers as well. The point of all this is to create layers of darker and brighter leaves and give the whole canvas a feeling of depth and dimension.

 

I was really happy with how this turned out, but I wanted a somewhat different effect on the other canvas. Personally, I enjoy how the white color looks on the kraft color background. It’s very simple but still elegant and stylish. So, for the second canvas I simplified things. I only had one layer of leaf stamping. Of course, you could try layering like I did for the first canvas, but I just wanted to show you that it can look really good with one layer as well. It all depends on the effect you are going for.

Also, let’s not forget that at the start I promised you that I will be making some Christmas cards as well. For them, I employed the same technique that I used for my second canvas. This whole process of leaf stamping can be somewhat messy as you can see on my craft mat, but the technique is quite easy and can be good for making a bunch of card backgrounds in one go.

Of course, I haven’t forgotten to put some white splatters as well on all four projects as a final move to complete my backgrounds. Below you can see how they look like at this stage.

Now the time came for me to work on my focal elements. For this I chose two stamp sets from the latest release from France Papillon. These stamps are really lovely and bring some cozy winter feel. From the FP030 stamp set I have stamped both birds and those cute winter hats and from the FP029 I have chosen a bunch of leaves. I have stamped, heat embossed, fussy cut my chosen images and then colored them using some watercolors. In this case, there is no particular reason for heat embossing the images, but I like that watercolor won’t dull the stamped image outlines as they would if the image wasn’t embossed.

With all of my backgrounds and the focal images ready, it was time to assemble my projects. As my backgrounds were rather flat, I wanted to add some dimension. I added a piece of corrugated cardstock and something else as well to each project. To some of them I will add some dried plants while to others a piece of textile or lace.

I adhered both cards to the card base and then to complete them, I needed a “Merry Christmas” sentiment. As I had none that fit these particular cards, I went on to type it on my own on a computer and print it out. I used this opportunity to test various font types and sizes, until I found those that I liked the best. I have also framed the printed sentiments with a piece of black cardstock.

With these few finishing moves, both of my canvases and cards were complete. I was debating whether I should put a sentiment on my canvases or not, but at the end, I decided against it. This is just a matter of taste and personal preference. Anyway, here you can see how my finished projects look like.

If you pay attention, nature can be quite generous when it comes to art. It is an endless source of inspiration but also art materials. For instance, you can use a simple leaf as an embellishment (dry pressed leaves), as a stencil or like in my case, as a stamp. Also, this technique is rather simple and (speaking to you crafty moms and grandmothers) it can be something to try with your children. When I was preparing for this blog, I first tested this out with my kids. It was fun as first we went out, walked in the neighborhood, looking for pretty leaves, then at home we were doing leaf stamping. I can pride myself on finding a great variety of leaves and got some interesting results.

Also, I know it is a bit early to start thinking about Christmas, but hey I am one of those people who likes to be prepared well ahead of time. :)

Renata 💜

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2022 Topic 15: Paper, Seeds & Twigs {by Ellie Knol} with Tracy Scott Stamps

Hi everyone, it's Ellie Knol (PAPER-STAMPS-COLOR) with you today, and I'm here to share with you a way of bookbinding with twigs using a selection of stamps and stencils designed by Tracy Scott. In the process I also chose to re-bind a butterfly illustrated book, and create a book with blank papers to draw/play in.

I've always wanted to bind a book using twigs as the base to sew the signatures. I finally tried it making two books.

The smaller book has two signatures; therefore the spine of the book has two twigs to which the signatures are attached with thread (book number 35 in my series of binding books).The second book has twigs (from an apple tree) on its spine too, but they are not used to attach the signatures; they are for decoration only.

Before binding, I needed to make the book covers. This is the gel print that started the project...

It is a clean up print onto some recycled paper. This type of paper is from an overhead projector I use at university. After teaching, I take it home and reuse the parts that have not been written on... I love the big squares!
The paper is quite thin. To make it sturdier I glued it to a piece of thick cotton and then onto a piece of cardboard (cut to size!) using with bookbinding glue, making sure I had no air bubbles between the layers. I left it to dry properly before adding two coats of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze on top of the print. This adds a nice layer of protection!

 

 

I then glued all the edges of the cotton inward over the cardboard and went outside to find some twigs. These are from my apple tree and will do the job I hope! At least they are long enough.

I made a copy of this gel print, by scanning the original and printing it with my laser printer.  This version was glued only on the cotton fabric: I now have a background completely coordinated with my covers.

Time to face a difficult but necessary decision: cut the board in two to create a front and back cover for my book.

I then found some lace that would be very handy to put the twigs through and act as a spine... But how to attach it?

With my sewing machine and some very nice rusty color thread I sew around all the edges, also sewing an extra layer of cotton to the inside. I won't bore you with all the details of this stage; I think the pictures speak for themselves.

At this point, my project spontaneously sprouted two whole new parts! Considering the current topic, I knew I wanted to incorporate some book paper and I suddenly thought of a book I was going to restore for a friend. I also decided to make a second book to go with it: this one with only blank pages for my friend to be able to draw the beautiful butterflies... Inspiration takes so many many twists and turns! Does that also happens to you?

I took the book apart and decided to use the THICK boards again. They were in a rough shape, and I could easily separate then in thinner layers to be used again. PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze came to the rescue again, now to protect the top layer of the cut-to-size boards. 

As this is a side project, I will not make this part too long by explaining the making of these covers but I still wanted to show you the gorgeous texture they revealed when covered in PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake with a palette knife!

Back to the covers of my initial books! It was now time to get everything in one place, the covers and background, the stamps and stencils and my notes and ideas.

I chose as my main focal, the gorgeous steampunk butterfly from Tracy Scott stamp set 74 (TS074) and stamped it directly on the covers.

I Coloured the images with watered down PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Copper,

Autumn Fire and Southern Skies to bring them to life.

For them to fit in the ribbon, I split the twig lengthwise. I also whitewashed them with a thin layer of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake to match the cover. For extra protection, at this stage I also added another layer of the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze, especially over the stamped areas.

The front cover... 

.. and the back cover so far.

At the same time, I worked on the covers for my friend's books. I used Grunge Paste through the PaperArtsy Stencil by Tracy Scott (PS338) on the first cover...

...and I chose the twig and berries from the PaperArtsy Stencil by Tracy Scott (PS268) for the second cover.

While the paste was still wet I stamped into it with the butterfly (inked up with black ink)... I cleaned the stamp right away of course!

Here are the covers, all in a row!

I initially intended to keep the covers white but then had the urge to color them (oh well), which I sort of regret although they turned out quite good. I again used the same colors, watered down to reveal the texture.

I went back with white paint though the stencil to soften the main images.

I stamped the element from Tracy Scott stamp set 75 (TS075) onto the second laser copy of the print that was adhered to cotton, and fussy cut these pieces.  They will be used for the closure of the cover.

I took advantage of the leftovers to also stamp the cogs and screws from TS074 to be used as embellishments for the final touches. More fussy cutting!

I used one of them to add a faux-screw to 'hold' the twigs...

At this point I still had a big leftover piece of background left, so why not use it?! I decided to go for my original plan at this very late stage: a bookbinding incorporating twigs to attach the signatures to.

 

As I had two signatures I needed two twigs to hold them. If I had chosen to make a book with five signatures I would have used five twigs.  The signatures are a mix of bookpaper included and blank pages.

 

Twine was added as closure of the cover for the two books. I added a few metal elements, rusted with PaperArtsy's Rusting Powder, to tie the look together. I LOVE the corners!

For the smaller book, I made a 'button' from one the clog as the closure...

Please enjoy all the following pictures...

 

As I have hinted in this post, I think I should've stopped adding and adding to the projects but I do love how they turned out. I learned a lot too, like using the Satin Glaze on top of the papers: it makes them almost like plastic surfaces.. I used this product for the first time; I will use it again I am sure! It's not glossy at all, and makes for a beautiful surface for a book cover for instance.  

In the end I like the smaller book most, as I like to explore bookbinding and this is really a lovely way to add interest to a spine very easily. 
I hope you learned along with me and got inspired to try one of the ideas in this post!

Happy day! Ellie Knol

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