Pinch and a Punch {very gently of course}

Blimey, it's March already and I am very excited. SO much going on this month, new stamps out soon, March ArtsyCrafts is in the new Warrington venue, and a show at the end of the month.

But first up this month is Craft Stamper catching us on the hop again. We have had emails this morning from people wanting to buy the  stamps on offer for the article I wrote for the April issue out today. I haven't even got a copy yet, but some of you out there have!! So i just managed to upload the offers , check out this link http://shop.paperartsy.co.uk/craft-stamper-april10-253-c.asp and you can get your hot little hands on all you need to make this fun project. 

The birds are stamped on pearl metal but this whole thing would look cool done with Rum and Raisin papers too if you're not into paint.

Try it in your fave colours. How cool does it look in pink and brown...this one by Jo Firth-Young ...here's the back

 and the front.

The project is a collaboration by Lin at LB Crafts and me, it's one of the classes we taught at the October ArtsyCrafts last year. All the peeps loved this as it's a fair dinkum proper stamping project. Looks simple, but actually there are quite a few tricky dickie techniques in there that many of us haven't used for year and years. So something nice to get your teeth stuck into. In class we were surprised at how many peeps didn't realise you could actually stamp on top of paint so easily and with such sharp results - well you can with kaiser colour paints as they produce an extremely matt and chalky surface that accepts ink beautifully.

All the stamps used for this are from the ever-so-quirky Ding and Dong family of Squiggly Ink stamps, and don;t forget to check out the matching minis. These are time themed bird stamps-very cool.

Have a great day, and if you made this at AC post the link to your blog to show the world!! Don't be shy!


Leandra
PS be a twit with me: twitter.com/PaperArtsy it's not hard!

Good Times {Leandra's World}

Yoo hooo...yes I'm here...I know its been a while, and there was me thinking how organised I have been! Maybe I was a tad delusional about that....??? My attempts to blog have been scuppered of late. So now that the laptop is temporarily resurrected after a 3 day near-death experience, the kids are away at school so I can actually access a computer, and I have a break in the rubber pressing schedule, I can take a breather and fill you in on the latest goings on here, cos when i write it all down there has been quite a lot on!

New You Tube Project
Half term holiday I had a great day with Millie, Ella and Mill's friend Marie making this little trinket box. It is such an easy project. The boxes are here, and they make the most beautiful little gift for anyone. The kids had no problems making this at all. And you can see us all playing and sharing nicely together here on this new PaperArtsy technique video. Don't forget to subscribe to the PaperArtsy Youtube channel so you can see more demos like this.




A project like the teeny box is an awesome idea for a kids party. 3 of our kids have birthdays in Summer here in the UK, so 'Art & BBQ Parties' are all the rage. We make some stuff, have a paddle in the in the temporary pool, finish making the stuff, have a BBQ...and just oooze thru the day. It's easy to host because the kids are entertained the whole time! All the other Mums are really impressed because its something different and no one does old-fashioned home based parties any more so you become an art goddess/ cool mum overnight. Because we have 3 birthdays in 4 weeks here I also like that these events turns out to be a really affordable way to have a bunch of kids over. Even Miss 16yr old thinks this is an acceptable activity to have friends over for! Tip: for impeccable behaviour infer you might video bits for youtube! LOL


Play Day with Jo and Lynne
What else have I been up to? Had a great day with Lynne Howe and Jo Firth-Young getting some new Arch samples made for the March ArtsyCarfts weekend in Warrington. 

This is a new idea I had with 2 of the brand new Ten Seconds moulds that will be available any day now. I am sure Cheryl from TSS planned for the moulds to be used this way, but I felt pretty chuffed to work this out myself! LOL I fitted bits from new moulds into the frames made by another. These should all be in stock soon, along with the new colours of metal. mmmmmmmm

Here is Jo meticulously painting her balls to be used as the base of the Leandra Bead, She discovered a new way to drip them so they look like the shape of a Xmas ornament. We liked the Jo FY variation - a lot.

And because we call Jo the queen of the cuttlebug, she duly lived up to her reputation, and worked out how we can do the Split cuttlebug technique Lin and I developed for the arch frame using an embossing folder that I thought wouldn't work because of its orientation...if that doesn't make sense then you'll have to wait to the retreat to find out how that works! LOL Needless to say she is one clever bunny and Lynne and I have booked her to come and show us more bug ideas for a whole day!! (exciting - cos I have a few ideas of my own to try)

ArtsyCrafts in March
If you want to join us for ArtsyCrafts in Warrington mid-March, there are are still some places available. Personally, the arch is my most fave class because it incorporates everything I love the most: fabric stamping, metal working and UTEE. All great techniques, plus we have 2 other classes, 1 of which is totally new allbeit an adaption of a previous concept. Booking information is here, and you should check out the youtube video with samples and other info too.

Stitches Trade Show
This weekend just been we had a lovely time at the Stitches trade show in Birmingham. This is a show just for retailers where all the latest products for the year are released. The hard part is working out what you *need* and what you can't live without, and trying to find something that no one else has spotted! LOL 

Our 2 May ArtsyCrafts retreats have a 'flights of fancy' theme, so Lin and I were eyes peeled for trinkets and products to squeeze into the schedule. Like this - adorable little tweeter box. Just love it, but it's not available yet. Soon.

The drive up we had a lot of snow, at one point we followed a snow plough pushing snow off the road on the M6! The good thing was the roads were pretty quiet, so we still made good time. It seemed the aisles were pretty quiet early on, so I had a lovely chat catching up with Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door while she was starting off her demos for the morning. Lin and I went out for a lovely meal with Rachel at CHA last year, so it was great to see her again.  At the same time we then got nabbed by Claudine Hellmuth and Mario (that's Claudines golden locks front right!) so we all chin wagged for a while, and Rachel showed her the crayon resist technique on the gorgeous rose stamp she has.

We were all stunned to see Mario (Tim's right hand man) in jeans, this never happens, even in a blizzard he is known to stick to shorts. I tweeted this pic to see if anyone could guess who it was. Teresa from Ranger clocked him within minutes. LOL

Flicked over to the other side of the booth to watch Suze demo the meltpot for a while. Lots of peeps watching had been in Ranger classes the day before and were loving all the great things she so effortlessly makes. Here I got a quick shot of Suze's stuff on one of the stands at the show, with Suze! 

Every year I get to see Suze on at least a few occasions at various trade shows, and Mark and I had a great afternoon walking the show with her while she was on a break. It's like escorting a royal comedian/phtographer around the show! We had a lot of laughs and spotted a lot of demos and products and people who we all knew. She goes click, click click with the camera non stop to document every step of the way. She is such a great blogger. Check our Suze's blog for a day by day blow of the show and her exciting time here in England and at QVC this week. She is back in June so maybe you can catch her for a class at the Craft Barn. I'll be demoing there too in June for the bi-annual demo day - great weekend, and Lingfield is a typically English, very pretty village.

Suze and I were very excited to see Michael de Mengs newest book on one of the stands. Love his work.


Tim was in fine form as usual sharing all his tips and tricks with his latest products. He has new inks (which we will have available to use and buy at ArtsyCrafts in a couple of weeks...they are already here ready packed in the class kits...every new colour!!)  Also his new book is jam packed with step outs of all the techniques he has been teaching for years, and showcasing how they fit in with his various product lines. A great reference. I can't wait for his new sizzix line to ship. I am not much of a die cutting girl, but have seen how tim uses them a lot over the last couple of years, and I guess this means I will need to get a big shot. Can my green bug do it all? I am not very up with the play on all things die.

I loved this antique expandable box he keeps all his 'bits' in. Here's a close up. Bet airport security love that!

And waiting in the wings, ever so excited to meet Tim was the lovely and very talented Linda Elbourne. She is such a Tim fan...well stalker is probably the word really...LOL...and she was so in awe she was pretty much struck dumb in his presence. I think if Wendy Vecchi was there too (her other idol) she probably would have passed out in the booth. Tim made a gorgeous sample for her, and she was holding it like the most precious relic in the world. If you could get her to part with it for a peek then you were doing well!! He signed it and she managed to pull herself together to pose for a piccie!

This is the second photo, still a bit blurry, sorry Linda.... must practise with my iphone, I'm good at close up product shots, not so good with peoples!!

Mark and I had a really nice lunch with the Ranger family before heading home. We usually catch up with these guys for a couple of weeks every year at EU and USA trade shows, so it's always nice to hang out and talk about non work stuff. 

This year it was an iphone convention. Suze and Alain were on blackberry's but the rest of us were comparing iphone apps, flicking photos about, 'bumping' details, acquiring new apps.... have you got this/ that etc.  I was the saddo, my apps are practical things like biz calculator (takes off and adds on VAT, or works out the margin of profit!), weather watch, or flashlight, or the jamie oliver app for peeps in a rush! At least I actually had apps, Dy had none until she got Carl! ROFLOL. Guess she and I don't require these time waster gizmos cos we don't have as many hours to fill on planes as Tim and Mario! Anyway we got shown Talking Carl (the only app Dy now has), and now that I know my account password (Mark takes care of all things techno for me) I also have rat on a scooter too! Small things, but very funny. Hugo now knows how to hold Carl's mouth open and he growls for ages, and if you have a Carl on 2 phones and get them talking to each other they get higher and higher pitched until you think the phone is going to explode! So now we have a new child consequence- 'if you keep doing that you can't talk to Carl today kiddo!' Love that!


If you are not an iphone peep, that last bit probs made no sense at all.

Craft Stamper Mag
In the current Craft Stamper Magazine (March issue) we have some gorgeous samples from our very talented and able Design Team using our newest stamps which are of a time theme.(Clocks Ink and the Dog Stamps) You will see these stamps popping up in the mag a couple more times in imminent issues, so there should be plenty of ideas to fuel your muse. 

Featured in Stamping Contrasts was this image (Clocks plate 1) skillfully used very creatively by Jo Capper-Sandon, Jo Firth-Young, Lin Brown and myself to create a variety of different samples. A big shout-out to them all for playing along with us, and wow have they made some beautiful items! Check out the magazine or their blogs to see snippets of their beautiful pieces.

This is one of the samples I made based on the easel card concept with a see through acetate panel. The background is Rum and Raisin papers washed with gesso. Love those papers, and of the 14 designs, only 3 are Christmas, so the colours and patterns are year-round useful - gotta love that. {BTW these are on sale at only £2.50 per pack for 28 sheets of A5 double sided paper!!}

The full clock collage was stamped on the paper, the clock face masked and purple inks sponged around the edges of the clock. This was laid up to Periwinkle metal and black card positioned on and behind the acetate. (check me-PURPLE!)

Stamped on the front of the acetate is the large grid image from Clocks Plate 2. I then cut out the inner part of the grid to leave a frame. On the back of the frame I painted in Viva Precious Metal Colour (gold) a few elements, then over-painted that with white Kaiser paint. Love this idea and haven't done it for many years. It creates a great window to feature the image behind.


The second sample was only shown front on in the magazine which really doesn't show the depth of the piece. Hopefully you'll get a better idea with these pics.

 

First off the background is periwinkle metal formed on a diamond mould and attached to a circle of chipboard. Some of the diamonds are scribbled on and distressed with white paint, and a few diamonds are decorated with Rum and Raisin papers.

A second chipboard circle is cut to make a frame which is textured with terra and stamped into, then distressed with paint and glimmers. Behind this a piece of acetate stamped with clocks plate 1 is secured. The acetate has the key and postmark painted from the back with gold viva precious metal colour. Use puff pads to lay up the 2 layers of chipboard, and on top of the acetate, the clock is stamped on pearl metal, puffed out, filled from the back and placed in position.

This was quite a complicated piece, but I really enjoyed making it,and the colours are so NOT me but I did enjoy the end result. Maybe I'm going to be a pastel-purple girl this year! 

Right well that is my marathon catch-up post done. Next big job here is to file a whole heap of photos so that we can have a new PaperArtsy Catalogue online for you to see with beautiful artwork from the Design Team. I'll make sure to blog piccies in much shorter posts of the coming days!

Don't forget you can follow me on twitter @paperartsy . I'm a better twit than blogger! LOL

Love to see your comments so don't be shy !

Leandra

ArtsyCrafts sneaky Peeks - March 2010

March 13 and 14 are the dates for our first northern ArtsyCrafts events. If you live in the North of England, then we have organised this event just for those of you who asked us to! DeVere Daresbury park is a wonderful venue located near Warrington, and centrally in between John Lennon and Manchester airports (only 20 mins to either airport).

The main project at Warrington will be the Gothic Arch.  A beautiful wooden frame covered in metal embossed with many diffferent techniques. Inside the frame is stamped, bead embellished fabric, lightly quilted. Hanging from the base of the frame is a row of "Leandra Beads" made with UTEE (Ultra thick embosing enamel)

To see sneaky peeks of the arch and other class samples and for more information about the event check out this video. We'd love to have you join us!

UTEE {Birdcage} ...yes it's possible!

Late last year Ranger contacted me to ask if I would submit a piece for their designer wall at the CHA show in Anaheim, LA. (it's on right now as we speak in) Oh I don't know...let me think about it.... well duh... of course I would do something.  

 What an honour to follow in the footsteps of so many great names who have appeared on that wall in recent years!! And "UTEE: the hottest ticket" as a theme was right up my street, so I was buzzing, excited, flattered and totally itching to get going with all Suze's Melt Art goodies.

 What to do...... hmmmmm.......... hmmmmm.... well its more like what NOT to do in a case like this, I mean we have beeswax (I love), Coloured & Metallic UTEE (I adore), Clear UTEE with to Dye for inks (I can't live without).....then of course what about all of Ranger's other cool stuff that it's impossible to keep my hands off like Perfect Pearls, Claudine's Paints, Paint Dabbers, Archival Ink, Distress Ink, Memory Frames & glass.......matte medium, glossy accents.....you know what a Ranger addict I have been for like my whole life.....so it soon became apparant that I needed to be mega restrictive with what I used. I didn't want to overcook the whole thing with too much Ranger....is there such a thing??? LOL But I also wanted some of those Leandra Beads on there too....and I a bird cage.....hmmmmmm

 So I started by sketching out some ideas in my book. The background was easy. We had a large square piece of wood, and a ticket shaped item, also wood. I started with the ticket, did Claudines peeled paper, then proceeded to cover it all up with paint, about 20 layers until I had it the right shade. Lots of black, pool, espresso, sandal, pebble, white, mushroom, pool....over and over... and over 

 I also was clear about what I wanted the square wooden background to look like. Embossed metal at the edges, blue and red paints in the dips of the texture, and then blacken it all up to look quite dark to enable the 'glass' birdcage to 'pop' as the feature. It's just a background right?... so it didn't need it to be too busy or dominant....I laid out the bits I had done so far to get an idea of where to put the metal. And then got started on that.

Stuck the metal down - it was embossed on a Ten Seconds grid...not embossing the whole pattern just some of them...then stamped into some texture (to disguise the metal joins) And let that dry. Next step paint.

Starting with pool and red pepper in the dips, and then adding white over the top...hmmm...liking it pale like this with the white-mushroom dabbers on the top layers...but I knew it needed to be blacker...so hard as it was to do I kept adding more and more black until it got it darker. You can see here how it ended here below with the addition of a few stamped PaperArtsy flowers and ideaology bellies. I like how the pool and red pepper paints just peek through.

 OK now my Big challenge. UTEE on the cage. I still wasn't sure how to do it. I mean UTEE on a wire frame..had it been done before? If so how? I wanted to UTEE a wire bird cage....where did that come from...I don't know.... but how the heck to UTEE it???? 

More Hmmmmmmmm's..... for days.........wire...Runny UTEE.....??? Dip??? Mold and Pour??? ....hmmmmmm...heat gun??? Heat proof gloves????


Several more days of trying to figure it out......Xmas looming....mother coming from New Zealand ...still ......hmmmmmm....... so I spoke to Lin about it Lin Brown from LB Crafts...and of course she said you want to do WHAT??? and how the heck will you do that????  And how will it get there without breaking???? And do you know what day it is already???? 

You are bonkers....mad.....stuff like that.....and then she suggested 'Maybe you'd better make a spare for me to take with me just in case' ...and proceeded to churn her item out in less than 24 hrs and sent me quicksie kind of blurry pics........hmmmmmmmmm......and of course hers was to die for even though I couldn't see too much detail in her late night pics. But yesterday people at CHA saw it and started raving about it so this is the best pic I found thanks to Dy who blogged it at CHA. Fabulous isn't it!

It includes loads of really great ideas...spoons filled with UTEE, embossed metal, painted texture and of course in her signature colour scheme. She also used beeswax, and 2 of her superb UTEE techniques she developed this year...UTEE poured on Ten Seconds molds, (that was a "ka-ching" moment after Suze and Lin had a play day in Lin's shop last year) and she has demoed it around the UK at shows this last year. Fab idea. She also figured out a twist on Suze's cookie cutter technique. Lin pours clear UTEE over a piece of stamped and puffed metal..see the diamond bellie top left...(BTW we taught both these fun ideas at our October 2009 ArtsyCrafts weekend event last year) Lin is amazing. Everything she does is beautiful, well thought out and executed.......so while her piece was winging its way in a timely manner over to the USA.... no pressure ..... I still hadn't figured out...... how to UTEE over wire....

 Let's just start with the Leandra beads and see what happens. So a couple of years back I figured out how to make beads by dipping wire into UTEE, fondue styley. You can read the original post here with step outs. Sometimes I use paper as a base, other times existing beads or sequins. For this project I picked up the blue from the background, painted wooden beads and dipped them into clear, wrapped with wire and dipped again. The beads are attached to the bottom of the cage in the holes created around the cage base. They also look great with perfect pearls trapped in the layers too.

That just left the cage and it's birdie to go on the perch. I started with some mold and pour pressed on the inside.

 And then started with the UTEE on the outside. I found that perfect pearls can change the effect too, so some sections are totally clear (no perfect pearls) and others have a dusting of PP to make it more opaque and shimmer.  You prolly need to see it IRL to get that bit.

 After all the hmmmmm's , it wasn't that hard after all! LOL I was sweating it though....as I had no plan B if it failed! LOL

In the back of the cage the little metal embossed tweeter is very happy on his perch. And I hope he has been well behaved while all those CHA people are peeking at him throughout the show.

So here it is the whole piece finished. 


Glad to be able to share this with you all, and don't forget the PaperArtsy January sale finished soon. Check it out. We added a Bargain Bin this weekend with lots of end of line goodies in it and more are being added daily.

I'll catch you later in the week with some fabulous 'Clock themed' items from our design team.
Take care

Leandra

Good Times {JANUARY SALE NOW ON} at PaperArtsy

It only happens once a year and it starts now, the {BIG} SALE is on now, here at PaperArtsy. So bag a bargain while stocks last.

We are always well stocked with rubber, after all we do manufacture all our stamps on site here at PaperArtsy World HQ, so if you need rubber we make it!!! That will not run out! However for supplies of omther items such a paints, texture paste, papers, wood, metal, chipboard or canvas etc we rely on other suppliers, so those products may go out of stock, but we will do our best to re-order popular items ASAP. 

To be sure you get what you want, it would be smart to order now. We will be busy little bunnies getting your orders out as fast as we can, and remember every order gets a freebie gift!

Spend over £30 and get 10% off

Spend over £60.00 and get 20% off

Spend over £100.00 and get 30% off

on top of that, use your Voucher code from issue 117 out now from Craft Stamper magazine and all UK customers will also get free shipping!

Coming up this month are ideas with the new Ink and the Dog Clocks stamps from our Design Team - and more Youtube videos from Leandra! Stay tuned!

Wishing you all a healthy and very happy 2010

Mark andLeandra

New coolio things to {play} with

We had a fabulous Christmas this year, the snow, albeit a few days early was magical, and all the trees looks just like a scene from Narnia! We had people over for snowmen competitions and lots of soup and bread was consumed to warm up those cold fingers! Our 3 bird roast was superb on the day, and is extremely tasty on sandwiches too!! (Chicken, Duck and Pheasant with 2 stuffings in between)

Courtney's GCSE mock exams are over so she is more relaxed, and my mother is here to visit from New Zealand too, so she is enjoyed catching up with the kids (and all her many rellies up north) after a couple of years.

I look forward to the week between Christmas and New Year being a great time to play with arty things and ideas. This creative time often continues well into January once life settles back down after the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

Mark was a busy bee putting some new goodies on the site recently, so I thought I should let you know what is there, I am itching to play with many of these bits too!!!

This little 'jewellery' box caught my eye as a nice thing to alter. I would look superb with some metal or paint on it, but it has a clever insert to accommodate a necklace or earrings, so if you make jewellery for gifts, then this is a must for you and at £1.08 (GBP - pounds sterling)

  

We also have a pair of papier mache suitcases; these are the best and would look great on display in a room. £2.84 for both suitcases before VAT.

The small notebooks are a reasonable price too. The ones with the window niche have graph paper, just pale grey squares, so not too dominant, but I totally love that niche in the front. The plain covered books have regular lines, and again, books like this work well with a metal cover to jazz them up.  10x10cm are 51p, 14x14cm are .83p (before VAT)

 

A simple idea to cover the notebooks would be this. Put humungo tape over the entire cover. Run some strips of metal through the cuttle-bug then arrange them on the sticky tape. Where 2 pieces of metal meet each other, it’s a good idea to run a texture wheel (fine dot, or diagonal are good) along the join to ensure the metal has good contact with the humungo tape. Don’t scrimp on the tape, I know it’s expensive, but you need a super strong tape like humungo to do this job or the metal will fall off the book cover before too long.

Next up, the micro canvases. I have been doing all kind of projects on these for a couple of years now and they are so cute. We have 2 sizes, and you get one of each size for .85p I am quite partial to the idea of making these into little houses, with some metal rooves!!

We also have 3 sizes of square canvases (those flat hard backed ones) which fit into a wooden frame. Use them together or separately. Prices from .69p to £1.51 (before VAT)

Loving these wooden ‘icon’ frames, both as a double (£1.05 ex VAT) or triple (£1.56 ex VAT) hinged pieces, they are beautiful to alter and of course, being solid wood, they take metal very well.

Lastly the 3 in a row small frames and the pencil cases are back in stock, these are always popular items. Leandra had a project with the frames in one of the pre-Christmas issues of Craft Stamper magazine.

And a paint palette may come in handy if you plan on using those Viva paints! You will find all the terra, ferro, croco and Viva precious metal colour paints are back in stock so if you were gifted some money to spend over Christmas, those are very versatile products to play a round with for sure!!

Yes we are open this week, and we will be shipping out orders super quick, so if you need stuff either call us on 01277 212911 or place an order online.


Have a great week, we are nearly at 2010!!!! The millenium celebrations don't seem like 10 years ago!!! Yikes! Keep safe.



Leandra

Weeks whizzing by

Yesterday we had snow, and this afternoon and tonight it's going to snow heavily down here in Essex, and the East of England, so I think this morning is my last chance before school ends to get those last few presents sorted out. You  think you have it all done, and then you think of another 6 things you forgot about. So just thought I'd get a note out to you all before I hit the panic button.

My mother is here from New Zealand this year, she has just spent the last couple of weeks up in Lancashire for a family wedding, and catching up with some old school friends, then on Monday she will come down to us. We have lots of evening parties planned next week, so I think by the time Christmas eve arrives we will enjoy a day on the couches watching the tele!!

We launched a PaperArtsy Youtube channel last week and I have put a couple of videos up relevant to recent blog posts. 

Firstly stamping into texture. In this video I used Terra and Ferro, but you don't have to use both on the same project, you could use one or the other. I put a couple of dark colours into the dips, but you can put light in the dips, or leave as is and put darker colours on top. It really is a lot of fun, and great for onto wooden frames or surfaces as well as papier mache or chipboard.

I am expecting a delivery of Terra and Ferro today, so there will be plenty of choice in the shop, plus we have a whole lot of new wooden items to put online too, so get your orders in now ready for that wonderful week between Christmas and New year whihc is a great art-play time!


The second video is the technique of 'puffing' metal. For this you can stamp an image and puff out sections of it. The image might be a bird cage, the castle turrets, birds on a wire, or in the case of the video, a simple flower which makes a beautiful card or scrapbook embellishment. But I also added a simple frame to it.

We will continue to add more videos to the PaperArtsy channel so you can see first hand how to use products that we stock. If you have any specific request, then let us know.

Wishing you all a totally fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Leandra & Mark.