PaperArtsy Guest Post: Kraft and Black

Yesterday, I had another guest spot on the Paperartsy Blog. Pop over and have a look at what I've been up to.

And don't forget to take part in the challenge too, to win stamps!!

PaperArtsy blog - stencils and Paper flowers

 I'm back on the PaperArtsy blog again tonight. With a short tutorial to make these very easy flowers, and this card which uses lovely stencils.

Pop over and see it in full and don't forget to enter this week's challenge to win stamps.

PaperArtsy Blog

It's time for my PaperArtsy blog post, and it's a clean and simple card again.

You can see it in full here

don't forget that you can use my card as inspiration for the challenge, to win stamps.

PaperArtsy Project

It's time for my monthly project on the PaperArtsy blog again.

This month I've gone for a card that is one layer, but is also shabby chic. One Layer doesn't always have to mean Clean!

I've used the gorgeous limited edition Jofy paint colours.

To finish the shabby chic look I created these shabby corners.

Don't forget that you can use my card as inspiration in the weekly challenge. I'm really hoping to see a few shabby corners there!

Stealing an idea!

Today I needed to make a fiftieth card for a male..... I know! complete lack of inspiration.

And then I just happened to look at today's ShowCASe on Less is more and I saw this card (click on the link to see it) And that was it. I was inspired, so I immediatley tootled off and made my version of this card.

The numbers are banana frog stamps stamped with nougat fresco paint from PaperArtsy. I also used the script from PaperArtsy, again with the nougat paint, in a masked strip. I don't know who made the happy birthday but I use it alot.

While I was at it I also needed a 12th birthday card for a boy, and used similar techniques to create a totally different card.

PaperArtsy Blog: CAS corner

After all the fun of my guest designer stint at PaperArtsy, I was thrilled to be asked back to contribute a regular monthly spot- What I like to think of as my clean and simple corner on the PaperArtsy blog.

My first contribution is a CAS valentine card, which you can see here in full. I haven't used any inks at all to make this card, all of the stamping is done using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints. I love the effect they give with stamping.

You can also enter the challenge, taking inspiration from any of this week's posts : including mine.
I hope you like my card, I'll be back next month with more from CAS Corner.

my final guest designer week at PaperArtsy

Have you seen my final week as guest designer on the PaperArtsy blog? I'm concentrating on last minute gifts and wrapping.

Of course there's a challenge, and you can win stamps.

Although I've officially finished my guest designer work at paperartsy, I'll still be popping up... to make sure that us clean and simple crafters are still represented!!

less is more: christmas card- use a bird

The theme at Less is more this week is to use a bird on a Christmas card.
For the Christmas cards that I make for my book group each year I try to incorporate book pages somewhere on the card. So, that was what I had in mind while making this.
Also every time I see this leaf die from the grunge flower #1 set from PaperArtsy, it reminds me of a bird, so I thought it was time to try it out in that way.
I have used PaperArtsy paints too. The blood orange (for the red breast) and spiced paprika (for the body) are both translucent so show the words through well. The cinnamon (main body) is semi-opaque, so gives a bit more coverage but not too much. I only applied a tiny amount of the paints, anyway, for a subtle hint of colour.

I drew on the eye and feet with a fine tipped marker.

The words are from PaperArtsy's squiggly ink range.

p.s. sorry, I know it's tuesday, but I have no new chutney recipes this week!

my third week as guest designer at PaperArtsy

This week on the PaperArtsy blog (here, here and here) I have concentrated on making cards suitable for batch-making for christmas.
Don't forget to take part in the challenge to win stamps! there's still time

less is more- photo inspirations

This week at Less is more, we are challenged to use this photo

to inspire our use of dark card with a splash of colour.

I made a simple heart stencil from post-it notes and then stamped through it using the small splatter stamp from this paperartsy set and some opaque paints from the fresco range of paints (I used guacamole, sky and cheesecake)


I finished by stamping the sentiment with cheesecake paint.

PaperArtsy opaque paints, work brilliantly on dark card, and a lovely to stamp with.

one layer wednesday: it's all about the sentiment.

I can't resist a good one layer challenge. This week the theme at OLW is "it's all about the sentiment"
I immediatly knew that I would use this sentiment from PaperArtsy, it's a great sentiment but it's also a nice big stamp which makes it a great focal stamp.

I am also entering this card for Daring Cardmaker's theme of "signature style". This is most definitely my signature style, right down to using the splatter stamp, which I seem to use all of the time!

I have overstamped with fresco Hey Pesto paint, which is a transparent paint meaning that you can stamp it over the sentiment and it won't obscure any detail. The stamps I used are the splatter (my favourite stamp) from this set and the flourish from this set.

I decided that the card needed a little more detail, I thought about adding some embellishments but decided that I wanted to keep it truly one-layer so decided to add some pink splatters.

*first problem: no pink paint! so I mixed some London bus(transparent) and nougat (opaque) to make a gorgeous pink.

*second problem: this paint was opaque(which I wanted it to be so it would sit above the green) which meant I couldn't stamp it as it would obscure some of the lettering. So I applied it with the end of a paintbrush, just dotting it wherever I felt it needed it.

I really like how it came out, and the best thing was the whole thing took less than 5 minutes!

 (you may note that I've been using a lot of PaperArsty recently, it's kind of taken centre stage on my craft table for a good reason which will be revealed very soon!)

Tag Along Challenge: Polka Dots

This is the first time that I have taken part in the new challenge "Tag Along". I couldn't resist a polka dot challenge, especially as I have had this idea floating around in my head for a couple of weeks. The flower was created by "inking" up a solid style stamp with paint and then adding dots with a different colour paint directly to the stamp using the eraser end of a pencil.

I found that it was important to use as little paint as possible, or else the stamp will easily slip on the paper.

The tag itself is a #2 tag from PaperArtsy. Which is also where the paints and stamps are from (links below)

 

The script is stamped with paint, just lightly touching the tag to the stamp to use only a small part of the stamp. I inked the edges of the tag with brushed cordruoy distress ink and stampes the "smile" and splatter with the same ink. I added a polka dot ribbon, which I inked first with the distress ink.

 Finally, I decided to mount the tag to a card.

materials
Paints: Sky and Guacamole
stamps:  script, flower. smile, splatter
tag: #2

less is more: rust and dark green

I wasn't sure that I would take part in this week's less is more challenge. The inspiration colours are beautiful, but I didn't know what I would do with them.
This is the photo from which the colours have been taken,

Bu then Laura took part and bascically challenged me to do so....

....so then I had to.

I've been enjoying playing with PaperArtsy's fresco paints recently, but I didn't have the quite the right colours, so I decided to have a play at mixing colours.
Cinnamon and smoked paprika made a nice dark rust, Tinned peas and little black dress made a good dark green.

Now these colours made me think of the change of summer to autumn, so I decided to play with paperartsy's small oak leaf die. I painted the die cut with the green paint and then overstamped it with the rust using the splatter mini, repeatedly.

To finish I stamped onto the card with a script stamp and the rust paint. I attached the leaf and a tiny knot of string.

clean and simple stamping : sketch 256

 

 I love this sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping, this week.

 

I made this card, using Stamps and Paints from PaperArtsy.

To make the edge panel, I masked off the section with post-its and applied Hey pesto (transclucent paint) with a sponge. I then stamped a small splatter stamp  with cheesecake (opaque) paint.

I then stamped the splatter stamp again (twice) with tinned peas (opaque) paint (and a little bit of cheesecake).
I finished with a cool star stamp and a good luck stamp

less is more: use a rubber stamp

This week's challenge at less is more is so easy that I found it almost impossible! use a rubber stamp....
okay which one of my hundreds (*coughs-thousands*) of stamps do I choose?

I decided to go for a paperartsy stamp that never fails. It really is a useful stamp.

There was also an optional extra part of this challenge, to use water colours.

so to make this card, I stamped the flower with black archival ink and then just swooshed some water colour paint over it. to finish I stamped the script stamp with dusty concord distress ink while the paint was still wet.

One of the things that I like about this card is that because the archival ink is oil based, it repels the water colour paints, leaving a "halo" around the stamped image.

I am also entering this card for One Layer Wednesday's "silhouette" challenge

less is more: washi tape

This week's theme at Less Is More is Washi Tape. You can either use some you've bought or improvise. I've seen people make it before with surgical tape and wanted to have a go. I had some lovely fresco chalk finish paints to play with from PaperArtsy, and I'm experimenting with the different types (opaque, semi-opaque and translucent.)

I had a scraggy bit of micropore tape, so I stuck it to my cutting mat














 and sponged on the translucent blood orange. I then stamped the opaque sky blue,


 


using this swirl stamp (one of my favourites from PaperArtsy)


 
and then did the same with this splatter (another fave).
 

Then I stamped this script (yet another fave) in black ink.





 close- up

 

I used this to make a card using another PaperArtsy stamp (all of the stamps I have used have been from the  hotpicks sets) and the splatter again. I stamped the flower under the tape, but the splatters over it.

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. I'll definitely be trying it again.

less is more: round and round

This week at Less is More the theme is "round and round"

 I used these really cool cogs from PaperArtsy as well as some of their paints

The crisp edges of the paint are created with post-it notes.

GCSP10: Once in a Blue Moon - Thank You Notes

The current new theme at gingersnap creations is Thank you notes.
I made this simple card with lovely paper, but I finished it with some white acrylic paint.