PaperArtsy Stencil Challenge

A postcard with the technique 'Stamping into Grunge Paste' for the PaperArtsy Challenge #12; Stencils.

This was inspired by the video of stamping into grunge paste from PaperArtsy's Leandra.

A postcard sized piece of cardboard was cut and grunge paste was applied through a stencil.

Some stamps of Japanese caligraphy, bamboo, and crackle were pressed into the paste.  When dry the card was painted all over with a mixture of blended acrylic paint colours.

The raised areas of the card were sanded, once the paint was fully dry, to expose and highlight the grunge paste.  Some extra detail was added with Distress Ink and Heavy Gel Gloss Medium through a stencil.

The main image was stamped onto kraft brown card and roughly cut out.  Some areas were highlighted with Distress Ink pens.  The image was mounted onto the postcard with dimensional gel glue along with a painted wooden embellishment.

Another card was also made with the same colour way.  This background was the first attempt of the technique, which didn't quite work as the grunge paste was too thick and not dry enough.  I still liked the effect though, so it got finished it off, adding extra stencil detail and the image and embellishment as before.

ATC Swaps - Spring 2015

I have just about managed to keep up with the ATC swap UK makes this year.  This one was for the 'April Showers' swap and I made five the same (yet all slightly different!).  It is a dark blue and black Distress Ink background spritzed and dripped with water and stamped with some foliage from Claritystamp's Wee Folk.  The raindrop was coloured with the same ink and stamped with umbrella man from the Wee Folk using archival black ink, some detail was added at his feet and, of course, the rain.  The drop was then triple embossed with clear embossing powder and glued onto the card. Finally some more 'raindrops' were added with drops of glossy accents.

Next up it was  'Black, White and One Other Colour'.  I had just got these great Oriental stamps from PaperArtsy so, even though 'Oriental' didn't win the vote for the theme that month, they had an Oriental flavour anyway.  Each card was done the same, in a different colour.

The backgrounds were stamped with spots in colour and overstamped with the sketchy image in black archival randomly.  The main images were stamped in black archival ink and coloured with watercolour paint from Inktense blocks.  Some areas were painted with more concentrated colour than others and some tiny areas were coloured with fibertip pen.

The main images were trimmed to fit the size of the cards and mounted with dimensional gel glue.

The next swap was the Oriental theme anyway!  Five cards were made, but they were a bit of  a mixed bag.

  

The Japanese lady and the bamboo image by Judikins were two of the first stamps I ever bought. Here, the Japanese lady was coloured with watersoluble wax crayon and blended with a water brush. This was mounted on a stamped background of blossom from Claritystamp.

These butterflies were decoupaged over a simple background of a Japanese fabric stamp.

Love this new stamp (PaperArtsy).  It's been cut down a little to fit the card and mounted again on a background created using the blossom image

This card was created using stamps from the Artemio Oriental Dolls stamp set, the background with random stamping in two colours using the flower.  A black marker was run around the edge to frame the card.  The doll was stamped in black archival ink and coloured in using Distress Markers, was cut out and mounted using dimensional glue gel.  The card was finished off with some dragonfly brads.

Finally, the latest swap is 'Must Contain Newsprint'.  Using some newspaper scrapbook papers as the background the adverts on each piece of paper inspired the images on the top; watches, garden, travel, theatre and perfume.  Lots of different stamp brands were used on these, so were freebies.  PaperArtsy, Crafty Individuals, Clarity, Anna Griffin and Indigoblu.  The accent colours come from pink and orange sugar paper giving lovely muted tones.  The blue colour, and some of the orange colour, was added with a Distress Marker.  The cards are mainly constructed by simply collaging the stamped images, but some paper piecing has been done  too.  The paper piecing has worked especially well with the garden card.  Some of the elements were mounted using dimensional glue gel.

Sherwood Art Week ATC Gallery 2015

This was the fourth year for the Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap at Sherwood Art Week. Once again we had a great collection of cards made using different media and techniques, including acrylics, printmaking, silk painting, mixed media, papercraft, stitch, fabric and rubber stamping.  Some cards even came in their very own envelopes.

It was great this year, to have Nottingham Free School swapping with us.