ArtsyCrafts - 2 fabulous weekends

What can I say? Lin and I are both totally overwhelmed with the wonderful feedback from the delegates who attended both of these events. We think we have now found a format that works really well, operates at a nice pace, and creates a warm friendly and supportive environment suitable for newbies and experienced alike.

 So many people told us in their evaluations that this altered art weekend was the best they had ever attended, which was the biggest compliment to us we could ever hope to receive. So take a look at the pictures below from the event, because maybe this kind of thing is somrthing you might like to attend in the future. We had people in the last 2 weeks travel from as far away as Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Devon, and even some international,"across the ditch" people came from France, Holland, and Norway. So if you live in England, the location near Milton Keynes is very central, and close to Luton airport. So don't try telling us it's too far away, we won't believe you!!! LOL

We provice everything for the weekend that you need. In fact if all you arrived with was a pair of Tim Holtz scissors, you would be set to go! Here is the table set for the first class, with step out colour notes, the class kits, and lots of goodies on the table to work with. We issue each person for the whole weekend with a metal working kit, so you have a basic tool set with paper stumps, a mat set, sanding block, glues etc for you to use whenever you wish.

Each table also had one of these samples to refer to so you could see how the colours might work together.

We were very pleased that just about everyone got all their projects finished at the event, so the timings were pretty much on the button for all the classes. People seemed to enjoy all the projects and techniques we taught, and everyone met new people and made fantastic new friendships.

Here are some of the projects we made in various colour groups. Below is French Maison (blue and beige),  Autumn Days (warm tones of rust, olive and brown), and English Rose (soft pink and cream). We also had Peacock (rich greens, blues and chocolate with gold and copper highlights), Cappucino (coffee coloured shades of brown), and Country Charm (pale soft shade of duck egg blue and pistachio green with silver highlights.

 Within the groups there was the opportunity to ramp up the colours or tone them down based on your personal preference. So it was fascinating how a table could have huge variations by only using some of the colours, eg just using green instead of blue and green, or by creating the project rich instead of pale with cream or white base.

The rooms were quite spacious, with an area for the shop at one end of the room. With 5 people per table, and supplies in the centre, there is plenty of room to flap your wings, and yet you can still reach what you need.

As you have probably gatheredhe theme was "time" and the main project was a large clock which we created over 3 sessions. We also made a mini box decorated inside and out, a small arch shaped concertina book and a UTEE metal clock embossed embellishment with grunge wings, perfect to decorate a diary or journal cover.

The techniques and products we focussed on were viva Decor Terra texture paste, Kaisercolour paints, and Viva Decor precious metal colour paints. Our aim during the weekend is to use most of these products a few times in different ways so that people grow in their confidence with those products, and understand the versatility of how to work with them in a variety of situations. Each event we also try to incorporate an item with UTEE, and so we had a session with the melt pots too. Melt pots are always a new thing for some of the delegates, but it's nice to show how versatile they are.  And of course the glue of all these sessions are Lin and my specialty areas; Metal and Stamps. We incorporate new techniques and ideas with Metal and stamps in all the sessions so that people learn many ways to use these products together.

If one thing came through in the evaluations forms is that it is very evident to the delegates at ArtsyCrafts events how much preparation Lin and I put in. It is very important to us that people go home with full colour step-by-step notes for each session. We impart so much information, that it's nice to have a professional resource to refer back to when you are at home and wondering "how the heck did i do that?" 6 months later!

 

"A bit of me time" Mini Box.

This was a cute little box which we painted, decorated with stamped/ coloured papers, and then adorned the inside with metal embellishments.The outside has a fob watch with a cracked face on the cover. The sides of the box had cuttlebugged metal on them.

"Storytime" Arch concertina book

The cover chipboard and pages were all painted with Kaisercolour paints, stamped, and we did some masking, adding more paint for depth, and decorating insdie the arch with metal birds on pearl metal.

"Time Flies" UTEE Embellishment

The clock with wings was our UTEE class. Lin worked out that using UTEE on top of embossed metal is a great way to support the metal instead of using a polyfiller type product from behind. So we stamped an image onto pearl metal, embossed (puffed out) the metal, then glimmered it and finally added a layer of clear UTEE. this was cut out with a cookie cutter. To this we attached wings made from painted and stamped grungepaper.

"Tick Tock" 

So to our big project, the clock. We taught this over 3 sessions. The face of the clock was textured with Terra which we stamped into. Once dry we painted it with acrylic paints, and sprayed with glimmer mist, and added some Viva Precious metal colour accents to the high points.

We also painted some metal to match the colour of the clock face so that we could stamp on this surface for embellishments on the canvas, however, some people opted to do these directly onto the copper painted metal.

The base that the clock rests on is a large rectangular canvas. This was painted, and stamped. with pale colours. Then overstamped with Viva preciuos metal colour.

Then we added quotes in black, and together with the metal panels and painted embellishments, plus the clock numbers it all starts to come together.

The 4 metal panels to go on the canvas had been embossed on the Ten Seconds Studio moulds.

 The panels were painted and perhaps glimmered to antique them.

We also created some other clock metal embellishments (the painted/stamped pieces mentioned before), and of course the numbers for the clock were also stamped onto metal.

It was wonderful to look at all the artwork that was displayed around the room as each person developed their own version of each project. We were amazed how the artwork different even within a table.

Here is a group photo of weekend number 2, we never got a piccie from the First weekend, but we'll make sure to do this at future events! 

Colours choices at ArtsyCrafts events

When people register with us to attend the event, they indicate their colour preferences from a list of up to 10 options. We count up everyone's first choices, and this determines the colours available at the event. For this event, 'French Maison' was so popular we had 3 tables of that colur scheme (soft blue and beige) and we were thrilled that practically everyone at the event got their first available colour choice to make the main project (clock).

When making other projects over the weekend we allow a free choice system so that delegates can have a go at a different colour, which means there are about 2-3 opportunities to try something different. This system also means that you don't know who you will sit with until you arrive, and at the end of the weekend you have met so many new people, that even those who came with friends were happy to have made many new ones too.

Lastly can I say a huge thankyou to all who came and made the event such a success and so enjoyable. Both groups each weekend were so lovely to teach. Even those who were out of their comfort zone jumped in boots and all to give every project 100% effort and it really showed in the results. We were in awe of the wonderful and inidividual ways you all expressed yourselves. And of course Lin and I couldn't do it without our fabulous helpers. Here we all are in the picture, from the left Jo, Lynne H, Lin, Karen and Leandra.

This was the 5th ArstyCrafts event we have offered, and with so many new people and committed fans who have attended every single event, we anticipate the march 2010  weekends will sell out fast. The popularity and high quality of these events have created a demand point where we could probably offer 3 weekends, but we cannot fit this into our schedules. So with this in mind, we expect it's likely to be a bit of a rush to book places. To be fair to everyone, we will be announcing the details in full for a few weeks before the booking date commences. If you are on either the LB Crafts or PaperArtsy mailing lists, you will get an email, otherwise sign up to this blog or Lin's blog (LB Crafts) where the same info will also be made public. Start saving now, we have a fabulous theme lined up and Lin and I have already had a meeting where we have sketched out some potential class ideas! I think you will love it...we are buzzing about it !!

If you attended one of these events, please can I ask you to leave a comment on this blog post and a link back to your blog post about the weekend so that people can come and take a look now and in the future your opinions of ArtsyCrafts weekends and the items you made.

Have a great weekend, now that the rough winter weather has arrived, it's perfect to start thinking about Xmas cards and gifts...maybe you could make small clocks for gifts???

Leandra

Part 4 - Viva Decor Paint Effects

The backgrounds I used on lots of the samples I have been showing you over the last few posts are all using Viva Decor Products. 

 This silver metal sample is done with a base coat of Graphite Ferro into which I stamped with a really fine script stamp from Clocks Plate 1 . I quite like the graphite colour because when you paint over it you can see the nice black texture being accented by the Metallic Paints (precious Metal Colour) over the top.

People often ask me how to choose which colours to work with. 

First you want to identify what colours you most often use and are drawn to, are they soft muted tones, or bright and vibrant? When you shop for clothes, are there particular shades you are drawn to all the time? Generally the colours that automatically come to mind for you are your starting point. 

Lets say you pick Pink as you fave colour, next look at the range of colours in Viva, and pick another colour either lighter or darker...so perhaps Blackberry. Now you want to choose something contrasting, green is often partnered with plum shades (so check out Olive, Golden Green or Emerald Green). In this sampleI used Olive. 

I often finish with the tiniest touch of another contrsting colour on top, in this sample I went lighter to Mother of Pearl. But the colour I opt for most for this job is gold because it goes with everything beautifully, one of those 'must have' colours. Below is the same colour combo, but this time with Gold on the top..see how it warms it up, and add another striking contrast.

Nearly always when working with these combinations I will also use what I call a standard metallic: gold, copper, silver etc.. on the very top layer, it just adds a bit of sparkle.

 Now this sample above is interesting. On top of the graphite Ferro I started with a Turquoise Kaisercolour acrylic paint. Using Cut and Dry foam, this beautiful paint was pushed right down into the recesses of the stamped ferro , particularly on the right hand side of the background, the left side was left with the black peeking through. On top of that I brought the contrasting colour of Olive kaiser colour. I found if you add 2 thins coats you get a deeper version of the same colour highlighted. When applying the Olive, just drag it across the Turquoise, and the stamped texture pops. The last step here was to add the Gold Viva Precious Metal Colour. It really lifts a piece in a way that a picture just can't capture.

Here is another close up. This one is in really pale shades. Pistachio, Silver gold, and Ice blue on top of a black background make a nice modern metallic palette.

Remember to spray your rubber stamp with water before you press it into the Ferro. The water acts as a release agent.You can really see what a great result such a fine detail stamp gives.

Yes the effects are awesome, but now that you can see them close up like this you get a better idea of how beautiful they really are!

All these productds are available online in our shop www.paperartsy.co.uk 

The countdown is on to ArtsyCrafts.  Only 5 sleeps to go!!! Lin and I are putting the final touches to kits, notes, table products and my Mark is pressing rubber for everyone to use!

Tomorrow Lynne and Jo come to me for our fianl day of prep together. It's going to be a great couple of weekends to come and I am very excited to see what you all think of the several classes we have planned.

Leandra

Day 11: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

Day 11: Featuring Jo Capper-Sandon and Isabelle Norris

Using Nut and Meg Plates 5 and 6

Well I know many of you are great supporters of Jo and Isabelle. They are back the last time today with these 2 plates, and certainly, true to form, they have both put their own spin on the possibilities with a few little black images! How do they do it? Well who knows what goes on in their heads, but we are certainly the benefactors of their generosity in sharing their creative ideas. 

Jo creates a beautiful table setting, what a delight this would be to sit down to on Christmas day. Isabelle celebrates after Christmas Day with a page of memories to treasure in years to come.

Wonderful ideas here today, and there is no excuse not to do this for your own families this year...as you have plenty of time!!

The fairy stamp (SINM6) is an extremely popluar one, and another plate that will get used year round. Jo also used some of the elements from Nut and Meg plate 5 (left), and I love those little penguin styled birds! 

  

Fit for Royalty: Christmas Table Setting

by Jo Capper-Sandon

Napkin Ring
Tucked away in the back left of this photo.

• Cut a piece off the end of a kitchen roll tube.

• Cover it in green paper overlayed with a narrower silver piece of mirri (mirror) card.

• Stamp 'leaf' (petal taken from flower ,SIEN2), trim and add colour to indicate shadow. I used a cool grey copic marker.

• Stamp, cut out flower and cut in half. Colour and cover with irridescent stars.

• Finish with a button and rub-on stitches.

 Christmas Cracker

• Take a plain shop bought cracker or make your own.

• Stamp Poinsetta and daisy flowers (SIEN2) onto white card with black memento ink. Colour and cut in half.

• Place a blob of silicone under the daisy flower half on the straight edge and lay it ontop of the poinsetta half, at a wedge (45 degree) angle.

• Once dry glue the 3D halves onto the cracker.

• Stamp Love, Joy, Peace (SINM5) onto white card, colour border and trim. 

• Glue  onto the centre of the cracker.

• Add irridescent stars and buttons to finish.

Place Card

• Fold a piece of silver mirri (mirror) card.

• Stamp the fairy and the poinsettas onto white paper or thin card. Colour using Copics.

• Build a 3D skirt from the flowers as before. Cut off fairy legs (ouch) and glue the skirt onto the fairy top half.

• Print the name. Scribble a rough area of Copic marker. Cut out both leaving a white border, and glue the name onto the coloured panel. Mount onto the place card.

• Finish by adding rub-on stitches, button and irridescent stars (on wings and Copic panel)

 I bet you loved that project!! I did when the photos came in from Jo. Very cool, and so much fun too. You could adapt this to a little girl's birthday party too! Remember to post a comment to win some goodies including the stamps used to make this project.

Christmas Fairy Notes

by Jo Capper-Sandon

This one is pretty in pink! And if you want to make something a little differnt for a gift, then here it is!

• Stamp holly border around a plain white card square frame.
  

• Stamp and cut out fairy. Colour both.

• Cut out a rectangle of preprinted paper and cover note book. Using a matching Copic marker colour a square to act as the background for the fairy.

• Layer the fairy, the frame and the background in the position you like and glue together.

• Using 3D pads mount the framed fairy onto the note book.

• Stamp words and heart using Stazon onto the copper metal sheet. Outline the words with a teflon tool.
  

• Outline the hearts with a teflon tool, then flip over and puff out on the soft mat with a paper stump from the reverse to puff them out. Fill recess of hearts with glossy accents (to support the metal) and cover with black card. 

• Leave to dry overnight, then cut out. Glue the metal embellishments in place

• For the pen, randomly stamp 'fairy' word onto the same pre printed paper and cover the pen barrel with it. Glue in place to finish.

Thanks to Jo for those lovely items, you can see more of her work on her blog. Now we finish todays post with a Christmas Layout from Isabelle Norris, whose blog is here.

“Love joy peace”

by Isabelle Norris

• Paint a piece of white card with Viva Decor Precious Metal Colour Orange-Yellow. Once dry, Stamp the fairy (for her top which you will cut out) and the hearts (from SINM5) .

• Paint another piece of white card with Viva Decor Precious Metal Colour Gold. Once dry, stamp the fairy (this is for the skirt you will need to cut out).

• Stamp the fairy on a white piece of card and cut it out. Don’t worry about the stars at the bottom of the dress, just cut them off. Cut out the arms so you can lift them from the dress.

• Stamp the fairy on your scrapbook page (1). Glue the cut out fairy on the stamped one and colour it (except for the skirt and top) (2).The stars at the bottom of the dress which you did not cut, now appears as they would normally.

• Glue the skirt and top and add glitter glue to the wings for a very sparkling fairy (3)

• Flowers: Stamp the flowers from Egg and Nog 4 onto patterned paper. The top flower is embossed with the Cuttlebug. The raised lines are painted with Viva Decor Precious Metal paint (gold)

• Borders: top and bottom of the page, stamp the “holly and swirl” border from SINM6 and highlight with glitter glue.

• LOVE JOY PEACE from SINM5 was stamped and cut out and used as a title for the page.

Thanks again to Jo and Isabelle for today's lovely projects. We'll see you all tomorrow for the last of our 12 Days of Christmas Posts. Hasn't it gone fast!!



PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we'll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg plates 5, Nut and Meg Plate 6. All the stamps will come on EZ Mount worth £18.80. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting, 14 September 2009, (lucky for someone)  and is open to all players worldwide.

Day 5: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

Day 5: Featuring Jo Firth-Young 
using Nut and Meg plate 5 

Yes we do have an abundance of Joanne's on our Design Team, but this is the last one you will meet. This, our 3rd lovely and very talented Jo Firt-Young also writes fabulous articles for Craft Stamper. Yes we do move in high circles here at PaperArtsy.

Jo F-Y has graced the cover, no less, of a Stampington Wedding Publication, and has all kinds of official “crafting and teaching” qualifications. I have known her for over 8 years – she was a regular attendee of the monthly PaperArtsy classes we taught here in Essex way back before we made Rubber Stamps. And back then I was instantly wowed by Jo's amazing way with colour, she would create the most sunning altered books, and I really thought she should be teaching us, not the other way around! 


Jo is also one of our co-teachers at ArtsyCrafts retreats. She has a great sense of humour, and is one of the few on our Design Team who live near PaperArtsy World HQ. I adore her attention to detail and the huge variety of things she produces. She has a really unusual way of bringing her ideas to fruition, far more well thought out, tried , tested, sketched and planned than most of us splodging peeps, so we probably should call her a “proper” artist! (and then she would blush) Jo is a non-tooting crafter, and we need to recognise her talent with a huge booming fog horn. You can check her out on her blog here.

Birds are in the House 

by Jo Firth-Young

Jo was here at PA HQ just as the new Rum & Raisin papers came off the press, so she managed to create this sample and incorporate the new papers into her project. She used the following rom the pack of 28 papers: Blue damask, Green text, Stripe, Red. 

The birdhouse panel:
Cut a white piece of card 8x23cm.  Stamp birdhouse (SINM5) at the top in black ink.  Colour

On a separate piece of card stamp the parcels from the Christmas tree image (Nut and Meg plate 3) 3 times. Colour in and cut out.

Arrange the parcels at the bottom of the white piece of card under the birdhouse (don’t stick down yet) because you need to draw a long post connecting the birdhouse and the parcels. Take the parcels away and around the base of post draw ground grass and tall stalks – run some of them up the post. Colour in.

Rearrange the presents around the base of the post and attach.

The tag:
Cut a piece of chipboard 12.5x26cm. Shape the top to look like a tag.

Cut a piece of the blue damask paper 21cm tall, and a piece of the green script with text 8cm tall. Do not trim the width of the paper at this point, keep it the A5 width , as it comes in the Rum and Raisin pack.


Border punch the bottom edge of the blue panel. Run both of the patterned sheets through a glue machine, or use you preferred adhesive on the back to secure to the chipboard. Position the green sheet at the bottom of the chipboard tag, trim the sides to fit. Centre (widthways) the pattern of the blue sheet onto the tag, and attach to the tag so it lies over the green paper. Trim.

Tie a piece of ribbon around the tag a third of the way up positioning knot to one side.
Punch hole at the top of the tag, add eyelet.
Attach the stamped panel.

  
Stamp the ‘do not open…’  image (Noel Plate 4) onto a piece of the red "Rum & Raisin" paper and cut out. Embellish with a gold pen around the edges. Attach to the card over the top of the birdhouse panel.
Thread ribbons through the holes at the top of the tag.

The reverse of the tag: 
Cover with a piece of white card/heavyweight paper.

Stamp flourishes (Noel plate 4) in gold over the bottom third over the tag.

Cut a piece of striped paper 5cm high and attach to the tag – overlapping the stamped images.

Draw around the edges of the entire tag with a gold Krylon pen.

And here's the finished project ! A huge tag!

A big thanks to Jo for this sample, she will be back on another Xmas day, so keep checking back!

Just time for one more sample with Nut and Meg plate 5.

Copper Birdhouse

by Leandra Franich

Create a background of stamped ferro highlighted with copper precious metal colour accents. Make a chipboard panel with painted terra-texture. Make a tape-metal sandwich of the copper metal pieces, and use a teflon pointed tool to highlight the stamped design. Use a herringbone wheel on the stars to add interest. Secure copper pieces to the background with Claudine Hellmuth multi-medium (Matte). Stamp the lights (SINM1) onto appletini green metal, make a tape sandwich for extra strength, cut out and drape around the frame. 

 

PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we'll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg Plates 5 and Noel Plate 4 on EZ Mount PLUS a Rum and Raisin Paper Pack, making a prize worth £23.40. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting, 8 Sept, 2009, and is open to all players worldwide.

Day 4: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

Day 4: Featuring Jo Capper-Sandon 

using Nut and Meg plate 4

Jo has a huge following, no doubt if you are in England you are familiar with her work from Craft Stamper magazine. However she has also featured as guest artist for Stampington too. A testimony to her talent. Her style I simply adore. She manages to be economical, clever, humourous, elegant all at once, and yet she doesn't "overcook" things. She can do "messy" stuff, and yet it looks tidy and almost minimalist. Her projects look "just right", they have just the right amount of embellishment, a great balance of colour and contrast. She has an innate ability to put things together in a very beautiful way with her amazing amazing eye for detail and you find yourself studying all of those little details. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her ideas with this stamp. Check out Jo's blog here: http://jocappersandon.blogspot.com/

Santa’s Invite  

by Jo Capper-Sandon

It’s amazing how using a different shape, in this case round, and a touch of crackle can make such an impact. Jo has created an invitation anyone would be excited to get! Get organised for your Christmas party early this year and impress your friends with an invite like this one!

Coat a sheet of red paper with bronze Viva Croco Crackle. This is a one-step crackle, and the way you apply the croco determines the type of cracks you get. Splat it with a spatula to make peaks, and you will get rounded cracks. Streak it on in a linear fashion, and you get longer cracks like these. It takes about  4-6 hours to crack in a warm room. You can speed it up with a heat gun, but it's probably better to be patient and wait. 

Once dry, glue to a round folded card. For this you want a strong glue, like Claudine Hellmuth Multi medium (Matte).

Stamp the elf using black permanent ink (eg Archival Jet Black, Ranger) and draw a pair of legs to match. Cut out.
Stamp on white the invitation words and then lay them onto red card .
Colour the elf and lay up onto two pieces of circular card along with the invitation panel before fixing to crackle card base.
To embellish, add holly (taken from the tag stamp from the same plate) and a star charm.

A big thanks to Jo for her beautiful project, we'll be hearing more from her later in this feature on another day, so keep checking back! Next we have another project from Julie Harrington, and a vintage touch from Joanne Wardle.
 
Vibrant Elf  

by Julie Harrington

When Christmas is in the middle of summer, like it is for Julie in Australia, the traditional colours often go out the window, and we celebrate with vibrant summer colours. Xmas work functions take the form of Bar-B-Q’s on the beach, or drinks outside in the evening sun. Julie explains how she made this bright card:

This party invitation is a hybrid project; digital and stamped. I printed some scrapbook paper from a Designer Digital Christmas kit.  I started with a base white card background ( ½ an A5 size) so that the invite would fit into a normal little envelope for posting in the mail easily. 

Next I stamped out all the pieces – the elf’s head and legs from SINM7, the party invite from SINM4 and coloured those with coloured pencils. 

I then assembled the striped paper onto the white base, and stamped down the 2 longer sides using the border stamp from SINM6 and coloured the Holly leaves and berries. 

I stamped the words “Christmas Cheer” from SINM3 along the top and bottom. To finish just assemble all the pieces.  The blue paper beneath the invite stamp is a piece of card left over from playing with the Pearl Blue Viva Precious Metal Colour paint, which was actually mixed with transparent crackling paint. I used a paper punch to give the edges some interest. 

And to finish today's post, a wonderful olde worlde tag from Joanne. Check out her blog to see more from Joanne.  http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/

Vintage Santa Tag

by Joanne Wardle

Stamp in black archival ink the Santa (XM4) onto white card with Sepia Archival Ink (Ranger). Cut into a tag shape. 

Lightly sponge Tea Dye Distress Ink onto tag and then spritz with water to spread the colour. Dry with heat gun. Colour portions of image using fired brick distress ink as a watercolour, by inking a craft sheet and using a wet paintbrush. 

Over stamp with text and postage stamp from Ancestors plate 2, with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and emboss with Vintage Photo Distress Powder. 

Distress the sides of the tag with a Tim Holtz paper distresser, and age with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  Attach lace and a button at the foot of the tag, and an eyelet at the top.


PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we'll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg Plates 4 and 7 on EZ Mount worth £18.80. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting (September 7, 2009), and is open to all players worldwide.

If you want to stay in touch with the goings on at PaperArtsy, you can follow Leandra on Twitter (@PaperArtsy) or become a friend of Leandra Franich on Facebook. Or subscribe to this blog. We love hearing from you so it's nice to get feedback via all these forums.

Day 2: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

PaperArtsy Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 2: Featuring Joanne Wardle using Nut and Meg Plate 2

Joanne is the newest member to our design team having only been with us a couple of months, but we have already realised she is a whirlwind to keep up with - she gets the “fastest stamper in the West” prize for turning out beautiful projects faster than the mailman can deliver them.  She has a fresh clean style which works well with these Nut and Meg stamps, but she is equally versatile with our collage images, and extremely creative with her ideas to boot! Take the time to check out Joanne's blog.



Snowman Pennant 
by Joanne Wardle

This is a fun way to add some Christmas Cheer to your home. And a great project to do with the kids if you get roped into helping out at school this Christmas. Joanne describes the process:

Cut a triangle from a 7”x5” piece of white card. Rub faded jeans distress ink onto a craft sheet and spritz with a silver mica based spray. Dab the card onto this and allow it to dry. This creates an easy background paper versatile for all kinds of projects.

Once the paper is dry, spray it with the silver spray again for extra sparkle.

Stamp the snowman (SINM2) and holly decoration (SINM2)  onto white card and cut out. Colour the snowman with markers and add clear glitter glue to the edges of the snowman with stickles.
Stamp Merry Christmas directly onto the triangle in black ink.

To embellish, stamp the snowman again onto blue mirror card and cut out just the buttons and attach to main image. Punch a snowflake from blue mirror card and attach with a snowflake eyelet.

To complete, secure the holly decoration and snowman in position, add two white eyelets and silver wire to hang.

 Snowman Acetate Card 
by Joanne Wardle
Acetate is such a great substrate to use for a card. The added dimension it brings from using the inside of the card as a backdrop for the front decoration is simple yet a very striking idea.

Using a piece of acetate 15cm wide, 16 cm tall, cut a 5cm deep triangle away from the top, and fold to form an unusual shaped card.

Stamp snowman (SINM2) onto the white card, colour with markers and cut out. Stamp text background (XM4) onto white card and trim. Stick this to the inside of the card. Cut a slightly bigger piece of green card and stick this behind on the outside of the card (this will give you somewhere to write your message).

Adhere the snowman to front of card - lined up with text. Embellish with a snowflake punched from double sided adhesive, and add glitter. Add a strip of double sided tape to front and add glitter to that too.

 Gift Tags 
by Joanne Wardle

Use A7 cream card (i.e. A5 cut into quarters) folded in half, this is a great size for a small gift tag or card. 

Stamp the snowman (SINM2), directly onto the card in brown permanent ink. Colour with watery distress inks. Stamp text background (XM4) onto scrap of cream card. Cut out some words and attach with 3d foam.

TOP TIP: To create a watercolour effect with Distress Ink, either apply ink to craft sheet, spritz with water and pick up with a brush, or pick up colour direct from ink pad with a water-logged brush.

Thanks to Joanne for these wonderful ideas. These are quick and easy for those of us who need to get cracking on this year’s cards for the masses!

Christmas Spice Bag 

by Joanne Wardle

This fabulous little idea would look superb on any Christmas tree this year, and what’s more, its smells scrummy!

Stamp the Holly Image from the Ink and The Dog Collection (Xmas Plate 1) in Jet Black Archival ink onto a fine weave fabric . For example, white cotton or calico. The finer the weave of the fabric, the better the quality of the image will be.

Dry, and decorate the berries with red sequins and seed beads. Sew into a little pouch, and fill with Christmassy spices. If you leave the top open, you can re-fill each year. Attach with a clip to your tree.

Terra-Metal-Man of the Snow 

by Linda Brown (LB Crafts)

Lin is my partner in crime for the ArtsyCrafts events which we design, teach and plan together. (PS I think there is only 1 place left on the second weekend retreat) This little guy is one of the things she has been demoing at recent shows with the new Nut & Meg stamps.

Apply Viva Décor Golden Orange Terra texture directly to an arch-shaped piece of chipboard, making it thicker on one side that the other. Use you finger tool so you can feel the depth of the texture. With a damp stamp, press into the texture with Mini 44.

Dry the terra with a heat tool, or set aside to dry naturally (about 15-30 mins).

Apply Black kaiser colour paint over the top part of the arch and terra with cut and dry foam. Dry.

Stamp the snowman (SINM2) onto Pearl metal with Black StazOn ink. Use watered down Gold and Olive Viva Décor precious Metal Colour Paints with a fine paintbrush to colour the buttons, scarf, gloves, nose and hat of the snowman.

Use Gold Precious Metal Colour to highlight parts of the orange and black texture on the chipboard.

Make a tape sandwich with the stamped metal, Humungo tape and cardstock, and outline the stamped lines of the snowman with a pointed Teflon tool. Cut out, and stick the card-backed snowman to the chipboard with Matte Gel Medium or Glossy Accents.


 A huge thankyou to Joanne and Lin for their fantastic and inspiring ideas for today's post.



PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we’ll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg Plates 2 and Xmas Plate 1 on EZ Mount worth £18.80. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting (05 Sept 2009), and is open to all players worldwide.

Day 1: PaperArtsy 12 Days of Christmas

PaperArtsy Twelve Days of Christmas

As our lives settle back to normal with the kids back at school and Christmas fast approaching, we thought we’d spend 12 days featuring the new Nut and Meg Christmas Stamps from PaperArtsy's Squiggly Ink Collection as created by our lovely Design Team people.

PaperArtsy recently released some new Christmas stamps called Nut and Meg. Not only will we focus on those stamps, but you’ll see some other Seasonal favourites sneak in along the way. We hope you enjoy this feature. Please leave a comment, and each day a lucky person will win the featured stamps of the day.

Day 1: Featuring Julie Harrington and Nut and Meg Plate 1
Julie is from Australia, she is the designer of our Urban Snapshots collection. Julie is an avid photographer, and her creative-style evolves in a new direction every year. Currently she is into digital scrapbooking, and she blends this with a more physical mixed media approach. She loves strong colours, and we enjoy her vibrant, unique individual approach to her creativity.

For the Birds 
by Julie Harrington
Using our new little papermache birdhouse, Julie made a colourful roost for the little metal squiggly bird. Julie describes how she made this:

Coat the sides of the house with the Ice Blue viva paint and the top with the Metallic Blackberry  colour. 

Once dry I stamped the little snowflake from SINM1 on the walls. Then I mixed a little of the Ice Blue Precious Metal Colour with the Viva Transparent crackle and I painted that crackle mix onto the walls.  It was pretty amazing.  It has actually crackled the bottom layer of paint as well so that what shows through is the natural colour of the Paper Mache box. 

On the roof I put some of the Platinum Crackle Paint which I mixed with a light moulding paste.  It crackled beautifully, and shows the Blackberry through from underneath really well, plus you get that crunchy snow-like texture from the moulding paste. 

For the decorations I stamped the lights from SINM1 and cut them out.  Coloured them to match the colour scheme and attached them to wire which I strung around the roof. 

I also stamped out the presents from SINM3, coloured them in, cut them out and glued them around the bottom of the bird house. 

For the metal bird I used the little bird from the birdcage on SINM6 onto Kiss Me Pink Ten Second Studio Metal. I cut the bird out and stuck it onto the perch.  I thought the roof needed something so it’s got this old flower off one of those house decorating flower stems that were all the rage about 15 years ago, with a sparkly, white brad in the centre.

Down Under "Frozen" Christmas 
by Julie Harrington 
This card uses a lot of left overs from other papers that have been made while cleaning up excess Viva Decor paint off brushes etc. Choose a selection of papers that work together, and stamp the tree SINM1 on each of the papers. Cut out all the tree segments. Punch circles from the lefts overs of these papers.

Onto a paint-streaked piece of card arrange punched circles randomly, and draw wobbly circles around each punched piece. Now decide which of the coloured segments to use for the tree, and stick them onto the background.

Stamp and cut out the present, and stamp the bird (SINM5) colour and secure on the present.
Smother the entire composition with Viva transparent crackle paint.
You can’t see it in the picture very easily, but the texture from the crackle is a relly nice effect. It makes the whole card front look like a scene "frozen" under clear ice.


 

Viva le Tree 
by Julie Harrington
Start by stamping the reindeer (SINM1) onto white cardstock using Weathered Wood Distress Ink.
Then using a credit card, scrape Viva Décor Precious Metal Colour Paints (Lime  and Pearl Grey) over the top until its as messy as you like it.
Stamp out the tree 4 or more times onto 4 or more different background papers.  Cut out the different layers of the tree and choose a selection to make up the tree. Glue onto the background.  

Stamp out the Christmas lights (SINM1) and the presents from (SINM5).  Cut out.  Glue some presents directly onto the back ground and using foam pads position others so that they sit raised off the background.
Place blingy brads or other buttons on corners.
Assemble using double sided tape or dry glue onto green card stock to match the viva paints used.

Rudolf picks caramel for 2009 
by Julie Harrington

The Reindeer card (or moose as I keep thinking of it) is a quick and easy card for Christmas.

Stamp out reindeer onto white cardstock and then colour using colour pencils or watercolours.  I used a caramel Bo Bunny paper as the backdrop.  On a piece of contrasting plain cardstock stamp the small snow flake and on an even smaller contrasting piece stamp out “Happy Holidays”.  Assemble.  I used glitter glue on some of the background dots on the card, the presents and on the reindeer’s stars and antlers.



A big thanks Julie for her inspired ideas with these stamps and paints.


PaperArtsy Blog Giveaway: Please leave a comment and we'll randomly draw a name to win Nut and Meg Plates 1 and 5 on EZ Mount worth £18.80. This offer ends midnight GMT the day of this posting, and is open to all players worldwide.

Viva Paint Ideas

I had a lot of fun demoing at the Craft Barn for their June demo weekend, so thought I'd show you a few pics of some of the samples I made before I send them off to Sandy for her to put up in the shop.
I got to demo so many supplies that my desk was a treasure trove of all kinds of goodies. One of the most popular techniques people enjoyed was using the viva decor ferro texture paste. You can use a splodger (spatula/ credit card) to spread it and then stamp into the paste with a damp script or pattern stamp. I used MN44 (french text), and SM08 (squiggly scroll). Leave that to dry (15 mins) and then you can apply Precious Metal Colour paints all over to highlight the texture.

Ferro is available in several rusty colours, so if you want the colour to show, then choose contrasting shades to use on top. I like Gold Iron which is a rusty chocolate colour. Golden orange and Silver Ferro are lighter shades that contrast nicely with pinks and blues. If you opt for a shade like Golden green, it works well with greeny blues like the sample shown here to the left, it's a forest floor type effect.


In this swirly sample you can see more clearly the texture and how I used a few different shades of precious metal colour paints: blue lagoon, green gold, bronze and a touch of violet.

To apply, make sure the paint is well shaken up, place a piece of 'cut and dry' foam over the top of the bottle, then tip the bottle up and back down. Now you will have a spot of colour on the foam and you can easily drag it across the ferro texture lightly. It dries really fast, so you are not waiting around for this at all, it's very instant! I just used a heavy piece of card as the substrate, but you could use grungeboard, chipboard, wood or canvas. The texture is quite flexible, so it won't crack.

This pink sample is on a chipboard base, and then coloured with pink, gold, rose-pink and lilac precious metal paints.

To embellish these samples, I prefer to stamp images from Squiggly Ink Crowns and Castles collection onto copper metal. It's nice to outline the stamped image from the front with a teflon-tipped tool (from the Basic tool set or teflon tool set), then you can flip it over onto a soft mat, and puff out the image with a paper stump. Once you are happy with the depth, fill the metal recess with glossy accents, press onto card stock, and once dry you can cut out the metal image and secure with glossy accents, foam pads or gel medium onto the chipboard as an embellishment.

On this dragonfly sample you can see how the ferro was spread over 3 sections of the card, stamped with the scroll SM08, then painted with precious metal paints in pinks, and highlighted with bronze.

The dragonfly SITT3, and small flowers SITT6 were stamped onto periwinkle and copper metal, layered to card and humungo tape, and then embossed with the pointy teflon tool, and sprayed with glimmer mist. Note how the patterns on the petals catch the glimmer mist. I love how working with metal allows you to give shape to wings and petals. It makes the embellishments so interesting!
On the mini castle sample you can also see the texture of the flowers. The copper was also lightly sprayed with a glimmer.

TIP: If the ferro is too thick when you stamp into it you will get a peaky-frosting effect when the stamp is lifted off. To avoid this, clean your stamp (an old wet toothbrush helps!) thin and smooth the level of the ferro with your spatula and try again. I think it also helps to stamp while the rubber is damp, but the great thing about ferro is you can stamp and smooth until you have the effect you prefer. You do need to clean up that stamp quickly!

This green/brown sample also uses periwinkle metal for the stamped bellies, but they were more heavily sprayed with glimmer, so the colour is less purple and more green/blue. You can also see that I used the croco crackle (gorgeous colours!) around the edges....and I love how once 'cracked' you can see through to the metallic paint underneath beautifully.

Well I am sure you have enough information to give this technique a go! All the paints, stamps, metal and tools are easily found in the shop by following the links in this post.....now all you ahve to do is choose which colours to buy!! My advice, start with 3 shades: a light, medium and dark, and 2 of those should contrast...oh and don't forget to get a metallic accent shade for the peaks.... like gold, silver-gold or bronze.

I still have some other techniques I want to show you with metal and the paints, so I'll post those over the coming few weeks.

Have fun and remember...its more fun to get messy than clean the house!

Leandra

PS. You can now follow me daily on twitter @paperartsy . I promise to tweet interesting facts ... not boring drivvle! LOL .....