The future comes one day at a time

I made this card for the Doors, windows and architecture challenge on the Paperartsy blog.

I was impressed and inspired by Lin Brown's post on the PA blog. I did not create a whole book, but just stamped one image and coloured that with Derwent pencils.

It took some effort to create the background. I tried a lot of things. They all ended up in the garbage bin. In the end, I took a card, coloured it with white gesso and Haystack Fresco paint. The sentiment is stamped on paper coloured with Distress Ink.

Stamps used:
building: US-Arched Apertures Plate 1.
script: Travel Plate 2.
image, sentiment: Hot Pick 1007.

Birds tag

I made this tag for the Masks challenge on the Paperartsy blog.

The background of this tag was coloured with Aged Mahogany and Dusty Concord Distress inks. On top of that I used a Tim Holtz mask and sprayed with Dylusions ink sprays. However, the effect was not yet good enough for me. I repositioned the mask, and painted with Butternut Fresco paint. This is the mask in the upper corner. For balance, I did the same in the lower left corner.

To finish the background, I stamped a leaf from ELB02 in white.

The birds are from chipboard and painted with Haystack, Zesty Zing, and some Autumn Fire Fresco paints. The little ribbon pieces in the bottom right corner again provide some balance.

I was inspired by the post by Ingrid Vichova on the PA blog, and wanted to create a lot of depth, like she did on her art journal page.

I hope you like it.

Pink and orange tag

I made this tag for the Pink and orange challenge on the Paperartsy blog.
Not the colours I use very often, so it took me some time before I knew what to create.

I used Butternut, Rusty Rose and a little Snow Flake Fresco paints for the sky. I created a scenery with stamps from Stampers Anonymous (car, branches and birds), and houses from Paperartsy HP1110.

To finish, I used a white pen for some details of the car and for some lights in the houses.

Heart tag

The second challenge at the Paperartsy blog is Hearts.

This tag is inspired by the example from Wendy Vecchi.

The heart is coloured with Zig Art & Graphics markers.
I embossed part of the tag with an embossing folder. I painted part of the tag with Honey Dew, first just a random area. Later on I changed it into another heart and drew a line around it with a black pen. I coloured the embossed diamonds with Lime Light fresco paint.

The cog is painted with beach hut.
The heart stamp is from EDY02, the sentiment is from Stampers Anonymous.

Transparent Art

I have not played for a very long time. This year I decided to do more with all the crafting materials we have, and decided to follow the challenges on the Paperartsy blog. Every two weeks a new challenge seems an easy start, without too much rush.

The first challenge is Transparent Art.

For this challenge I searched for something transparent. I found a box with Memory Glass and some copper wire. I applied some Alcohol inks on the glass, but this may not be visible on the images. Then I glued it to a scrap of paper.

The background of the tag is painted with fresco paints (Snowflake, Ice blue, Sky, Old Gold).
The stamps are from HP1108 and Genetleman Plate 2.

I hope you like it.

3UP Challenge with Darcy stamps

When in March the next 3UP challenge was announced, I immediately sent an email to apply for the Eclectica {Darcy} stamps night. I was very surprised and pleased to be elected! So here is my project. The other projects can be found here.

I chose the EDY05 stamp sheet. I really like these stamps. They have so many details. All images in this project are from this stamp sheet. When I was colouring the images, every time another detail emerges that I had not yet seen.

For this project, I used a 8 by 8 inch canvas, that I painted with a mixture of Mushroom and Snowflake. Using Grunge Paste and the 'Mini Art Is' stencil (TCW261s), I stenciled some text onto the canvas. Next, I added more colours. I used Beach Hut, Lime Light, and Haystack with Chocolate Pudding to create a light brown colour. On the edges I used some darker colours, Hey Pesto and South Pacific. I painted some patches onto the canvas and then spread the colours out with a wet wipe. This creates a nice blended background.

I stamped the bird on a piece of smoothy card and coloured it with Derwent ColourSoft pencils. The frame is made from a piece of chipboard and is coloured with Brown Shed and French Roast.

The border is stamped in black and coloured with Hey Pesto, South Pacific, London Bus. The grass and the flowers are stamped with Pesto green and coloured with Hey Pesto, South Pacific, London Bus, and Zesty Zing.

Create Art Every Day

This card was inspired by the cards Ellen Vargo made on the Paperartsy blog. But it turned out to be completely different!

I made a background using Haystack, Limelight, Brown Shed, and Autumn Fire fresco paints. I used some Claret on the corners. Then I stamped the leaves from the ELB02 sheet in Haystack. With black and white pens I outlined the leaves which makes them really pop!

The face and hat are stamps from Lost Coast Designs. The sentiment is an encouragement to myself to get out the paints and stamps every day, also after a busy day at work, LOL.

Bicycle Cards

These four cards are inspired by the Abstract Cards made by Ellen Vargo, who is this week's Guest Designer on the Paperartsy blog.

I pretty much followed the same steps. I coloured a sheet of A4 paper with a brayer and several Fresco's. Yes, there is some pink in it, Orchid! The other colours are Haystack, Beach Hut, South Pacific and London Night. On top of this, I applied Pewter, a Fresco Finish Metallic acrylic paint. This is the first time I used Pewter, and I really like the metallic effect!

Then I cut the paper into 4 pieces, and continued with stamping and creating more layers. I started with the cogs from Clocks 5 in Haystack. I applied Grunge Paste through a Mini Harlequin stencil and coloured it with Treasure Gold. To finish the background I stamped the ruler from Clocks 5 and the numbers from HP1108.

I stamped the motorcycle (HPXT05) and bicycles (stamp company unknown) on a piece of white paper, cut it, inked the borders with Little Black Dress, and glued them on the cards.

One of the cards in detail.

Brayered Tag

Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life. The quote on this tag is one of my favourites. I try to get out the inks and paints every evening, even if is it for just half an hour. It really gets me detached from my work.

The tag is inspired by the tag Ellen Vargo made on the Paperartsy blog. I used the same techniques to create my tag.

The background is made by brayering several layers of yellow, green and blue Fresco's. I used Haystack, Lime Light, Guacamole, Hey Pesto, Beach Hut, and Baltic Blue. I also added some red accents with London Bus.

The yellow dots are made with a stamp from HP1004. I used the Dylusions Luscious Leaves stencil with Grunge Paste and some Treasure Gold.

Vintage Archivist

Some time ago, I started a new project. The idea was to create a masculine / steampunk collage inside a wooden frame. I bought the frame, and started on the background. And then it just laid there on the desk. I had no idea how to continue.

This week some inspiration came. I cut 3 gothic arches from chipboard, and coloured them with Little Black Dress and Chocolate Pudding Fresco paints. I used Antique Linen Distress embossing powder and a swirl stamp to add some texture. The distress powder nicely matches a colour in the background. The man is an image from Google. The images in the left and right arches are from the Paperartsy HP1108 stamp sheet.

Next, I continued with the background. I applied Grunge Paste through the Mini Harlequins stencil. I also tried some rough texturing around the edges, but the peaks are not as high as I wanted. Not enough GP, or not given enough time to dry... As can be seen on the photo, I coloured the Grunge Paste first, with Old Gold. In an effort to create more peaks I added some more GP straight from the jar.

I coloured the area between harlequins with a Eggplant and Baltic Blue. Although it is quite dark, I like it, because it matches with other parts of the background. The harlequins themselves are coloured with Brown Shed, and then highlighted with Treasure Silver. This really makes them stand out!

This is the final piece. The label is made from a piece of metal. The word 'Archivist´ is from the same Paperartsy HP1108 stamp sheet.

Submitted for: Challenged by Alison Bomber on the Paperartsy blog.

Shrink Plastic

Earlier this week Jo Myhill used Shrink Plastic in her project on the Paperartsy blog. I wanted to make something with shrink plastic as well. I am sure we have it, but where is it? After a long search in our large pile of stamping and scrapbooking supplies, I thought I found it. I coloured it, stamped an image on it, and started to heat it. Whatever I tried, so shrinking... Turned out, I had used acetate, it said plastic on the package ...

Long search again. Now I found it, it is called 'Krimpie Dinkie' in the Netherlands, and it even has a manual how to use it. (Yes, I read the manual). I painted it with Brown Shed fresco paint, stamped the image from HP1108, heated up the oven, and waited. Now it shrinked, which is always very nice to watch. This is the result. The colour turned out a bit dark. Next time, I use a lighter colour.

I painted the ATC with Sky Blue fresco paint, and then dry brushed Baltic Blue fresco paint on top. The upper right corner is made with Grunge Paste, the cogs stamp from Clocks 5, and Treasure Gold. The face and the text are also from the HP1108 sheet.

Artful Blooms Coaster

Recently we have tidied up our attic, because we want to redecorate it and use it as our craft room. We found a box with old cork coasters, that are great to reuse.

I applied Mod Podge over the coaster, so that the coaster would not soak up all the paint. When dried, I painted it with Snowflake Fresco Paint. To my big surprise, the paint started to crackle!

I used Lin Brown´s Eclectica stamps for this coaster. The leaves are coloured with Hyde Park, and the flower is coloured with Orchid and Egg Plant.

I used Hyde Park around the corners, and some Hey Pesto over the Artful Blooms stamp. Finally I applied a thick coat of Matte Medium.

Quick Happy Birthday Card

Hi again! A quick Happy Birthday card, today. Just like Joanne did on the Paperartsy blog, I started with a swipe of Zesty Zing. On top of that, I stamped the car from the Paperartsy HP1106 set. To finish the card, I added some glitter over the number.

Inspired by Alison Bomber

This week's guest designer on the Paperartsy blog is Alison Bomber. She started crafting only quite recently, but she has made some very nice creations.

I liked the weathered white crackle over a multi-coloured background, so I tried to recreate it. First, I made a background with Eggplant, Orchid and Baltic Blue. It looks really nice.

But when I crackled it with the Snowflake, actually nothing from the background was visible anymore... I sanded away some of the white to expose the background. No multi-colours, but still nice.

To finish the background, I applied London Night on the upper half of the card.

Next, I selected three stamps from the Ink and the Dog collection. The amazing birthday week at the Paperartsy blog inspired me to use those "old" stamps more often. I used Carte Postale from Words Plate 4, the doll from Dolls Plate 4, and the foot from Travel Plate 2.

I stamped the doll on white card and coloured her with South Pacific and Claret.

To give her something to stand on, I stenciled some pavement using the Luscious Leaves stencil from Dylusions with Grunge Paste mixed with a drop of Claret.

By selecting three stamps to work with, I create a kind of challenge for myself, mostly because the background must be made with other things or techniques. I had to do this in the 3UP challenge with the Lynne Perella stamps, and I really liked it!

3UP challenge

When Leandra from Paperartsy announced a new round of #PAtwits in July, I immediately replied that I wanted to play #3UP. A few days later, I received a big envelope with my 3UP package. It contained the following items:

• Lynn Perella stamp set LPC010
• 3 pieces of chipboard
• 3 pieces of Heavyweight smoothy card
• 3 blue buttons (Fabric Bobbles), 2 spools, a ribbon, a key
• a colour swatch
• a long letter with instructions

It also contained a card with all the Fresco Acrylics Paints colours. My colour swatch seems to consist of Vanilla, Pumpkin Soup and South Pacific. The last colour I have, but for the other two I had to find replacements from my own set of Fresco paints. I decided to use Nougat, and to mix Haystack and Butternut to match the Pumpkin Soup.

A real challenge ...

When I went on to read the long letter, panic hit me... The package contained a Lynn Perella stamp set. The letter said, we can use other Paperartsy stamps that belong to the same collection of stamps. This was probably meant to make it easier but not for me! I do not have any Lynn Perella stamps! Now there is a challenge!

I had no idea what to create with this package ... The only thing I could come up with was to create a triptych with the three pieces of chipboard. I wanted to use the complete stamp set. As I could not use other stamps, I had to find other ways to create the backgrounds.

And after a few days of thinking, and searching through our huge stash of crafting materials, some ideas were forming... I might be able to produce something that could be shown on the Paperartsy blog ...

The left panel

I coloured the left panel with the Haystack/Butternut mix, then applied Crackle Glaze using a palet knife. When dry I added a good layer of South Pacific. It crackled very good! I stamped the image on a piece of fabric with Versafine, and coloured it with watered-down paints. I then sewed it to another piece of fabric with some foam in between to create a cushion. To finish this panel, I cut the spools in half, and wound blue and orange yarn around the spools.

The center panel

For the center panel I used the largest image. First I coloured the Heavyweight smoothy card with Nougat where the face would be. I used the Haystack/Butternut mix where the gate would be. Then I stamped the image with Archival ink. When dry, I coloured the image with watered-down South Pacific. I coloured the chipboard with the Haystack/Butternut mix, and stamped the keys with Archival. The text is made by applying Snowflake through the Mini Art Is stencil (TCW261s). The crown is from Grungeboard and is coloured with Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold. The frame is made from metal sheet.

The right panel

I coloured the right panel with Nougat, and then stamped the image using Archival ink. I masked the image, and painted the background with South Pacific and Haystack/Butternut using baby wipes. I coloured the swirl using South Pacific and Sapphire Treasure Gold. To finish the panel, I added some embellishments from my own stash.

The complete picture

I attached the three panels with the ribbon to a bamboo rod to make a wall hanging. This is the final piece:

This was a fun challenge to do! At first, I did panic because of the stamps I received. After a few days of thinking, ideas were forming and I started to create the panels. At some point, the right panel was an absolute mess, so I decided to start over. This panel is now my favourite!

Leandra and Mark congratulations with your 10th anniversary! Keep up the good work!

Here is the link to the 3UP night in which this project appears: 3 UP Night Six: Lynne Perrella Collection.

Everything you can imagine is real

Today, I played again with the Fresco Finish paints and tried to recreate a background like we made in the Secret Garden class last week. This is the result.


I used some old papers and glued it to a piece of Kraft paper. Then I coloured it with Rusty Rose and Haystack. These colours match the colours in the paper. Using Snowflake and two templates I added diamonds and a clock. Then I sealed everything with Multi-Medium.

When that was dry, I added more and more colours. I used Old Gold on top of the clock, which gives a shiny effect. Some embellishments and a steampunk stamp finished this project.

Playing with grunge paste

Last weeks two very interesting courses for my work kept me very busy. I did not have time for crafting. Now these courses have finished, there is time again to get out the stamps, Fresco Finish Paints, and Grunge Paste. I watched all Leandra's videos on youtube about Grunge Paste. Of course, I had to try myself on a tag. This is the result.


I used a stencil with leaves. The right branch is applied directly on the tag, and I painted over it. This layer was probably too thin, I could not get the white back. For the left branch, I coloured some grunge paste with Hyde Park, and applied this on top of the paint. Here, I used more Grunge Paste, and the result is better.

Inspired by Helen Chilton

This week Helen Chilton was guest designer at the Paperartsy Blog again. She made a very nice masculine hanging board. I used the same colour scheme to create this tag.

;

The background is made with Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints Guacamole and Sky. The swirls is one of my favourite stamps from Stampers Anonymous. The swirls, the man and the crossword puzzle (Paperartsy Gentlemen Plate 2) are stamped with Sepia Archival ink.

On this tag I used Tim's Kraft Glassine Paper. I bought this kraft paper some time ago, but I did not know how to use it. This week's post on the Paperartsy blog and Tim's instruction video gave me some inspiration.

I stamped the leaf (Paperartsy Letters Plate 4) on Kraft Glassine Paper. I then crumpled the paper and applied perfect pearls. The purple piece of kraft paper was embossed with an embossing folder full of numbers. I then coloured it with Lilac Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint and Dusty Concord Distress Ink. The two pieces of kraft paper on the corners are crumpled first, and then coloured with Limelight and Beach Hut Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints, just as Helen did.

The text on the tag says General Failure, but for me it was not! It was fun to try out the Kraft Glassine Paper. I very much like the result with perfect pearls.

Birthday card

I enjoyed the video about the Paperartsy Crackly Tissue Paper. We do not have this stuff (yet?), so I tried this technique using filigree paper, the paper between sheets in a photo album. It worked out quite well, the only thing is that it crinkles a little when wet. In the end, I am quite satisfied with the result.

The stamp I used on this birthday card is from the Paperartsy Hot Picks 1007 sheet.

London Bridge Tag

This week the challenge at the Paperartsy Blog is to use Paperartsy stamps, and Fresco Paints together with metal. A great opportunity to try out the translucent paints that I ordered and received this week.

I coloured a tag with London Bus, then coated it with Crackle Glaze. Once that was dry, I put a thick layer of Baltic Blue on it. It immediately started to crackle, and some large cracks appeared. Wonderful! I love the bright red colour of the cracks.

In the bottom left corner, I played with Zesty Zing and Beach Hut. It created a nice opaque green colour, not exactly what I intended, but not too bad for a first time... The man is from the Hot Pick 1110 sheet. I first applied some Snowflake so that his face would not be too green...

The London Bridge is a stamp from Crafty Individuals, that I stamped with Stazon on metal. I then coloured the picture with Chocolate Pudding, Beach Hut, and South Pacific. I created some depth by puffing the bridge from the back.