Planner Pages with PaperArtsy

Happy Mix Media Monday on Topflight Stamps, today we are going to play with planner or journal pages using PaperArtsy. Do you write in a journal? If you do is pre-prepping your pages something you do? Sometimes I do like to prep so I thought we could have some fun seeing some inky steps I like to use. 

I tend not to need the page to match the days events. I just want to add some fun & color to my writing. I journal almost everyday. I like to have the stories written down for the photos I take. That way if I decide to work on a mini album or planner page the story is already documented. Do you ever look back at a photo & wish you remember why your kids were laughing? This is a great way to keep track.

Let's Get Inky!

Step 1: Pull out a stencil & some paint. I used Fresco Finish Paint This paint has a matt finish, dries quickly & is easy to write on top of. That makes it pretty unique in the world of acrylic paint. I like to use a cosmetic sponge to dab paint through the stencil. Less is more if you want a crisp image. 

Step 2: Add some stamping. I picked 2 colors of paint for these cool leaves. Green Patina & Magic Moss. Added a quick spritz of water & applied with a brayer directly to the stamp. Just a light coat works best. Then stamp, ink up, then stamp. 

I love the varied color this technique gives. Remember to wash your stamp immediately, you don't want dried paint on it. I use an old toothbrush to get the paint out of tiny grooves. 

Add a Focal Image

Once my background was dry it was time for some fun images. For this layout I chose the PaperArtsy Zinis 23 & 32, cute little tweetie type birds. To make fussy cutting easier, stamp the image onto the background 1st. That way the fun little dots & accents transfer. 

Next stamp with archival ink on card stock & color in with markers or paint. I used watercolor markers just for fun. Love this little guy!

I added 2 of the birdies they add so much!!

I still felt like it needed something so some watercolor paint was in order. I added the paint on the leaves. The acrylic paint acts as a resist so my image still shows up. A bit of a border ties it all together. Now my page is ready for me to add the day, a quote, some photos or washi tape whatever is the order of the day. 

 

How About Another Page?

 I made 2 more pages using the same stamp & paint technique. For this one I used a circle stencil & the paint Slimed & Aquamarine. I used the same colors to stamp using Seth Apter stamps. 

 

Infusions

Adding a title seemed like a good idea. Using a small tag and some Infusions for color was up next. Simply tap out some powder. Add a few spritzes of water- see the magical color. Spread color around. I made 3 tags using a different color for each one. Lemonchello, A Bit Jaded & Black Current. Options friends.

 

Once the tag was nice & dry Seth's title word Now was used with black ink, then embossed with Seth's Aegean Sea embossing powder which is translucent & makes the word pop. 

I still needed a little pop of color so this fun hand stamp was painted. Just love this look. Hot Tip: while you have paint out, grab some spare card stock to make extra pieces to have on hand of decorating other projects. I used Cerise & Smoked Paprika.

 

Once again ready for washi tape, photos and the super important journaling. Love how much that pop of color with the hand adds. 

Best for Last

I just love this big butterfly flower stamp by Tracy Scott. I knew I wanted to use it on one of the pages. Stamping it out 3 different ways so again I have images ready to go in my stash. From left to right. 1: use Infusions on card stock. Let dry and stamp. 2. Paint using water color paint randomly on card stock, dry & stamp. 3. Stamp 1st then color using Dylusions spray either in a water brush or with a paint brush. 

Quick pic of the Infusions. 1st- put powder on card stock, you can see a little goes a long way. 2nd- add water spritz, less water for more vibrant color. You can also add more powder if you need to. 3rd- move paper around to get paint to move & blend. Use a paint brush if needed. This paint has walnut crystals which give them the dynamic look. If you don't want as much of the brown crystal look you can dab them up using a paper towel. 

As you can see I went with the Brush Marker painted version. I just love how dynamic these colors are. Thanks so much for hanging in on this very long post!! I hope you get the chance to get inky today! Remember photos of all the products used along with their links are on my Topflight Blog Post.

Supplies:

• PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint
• "           " Infusions 
  
• PaperArtsy Zinis Stamps- ZN23, ZN32
• "          "    Eclecica3 ETS39 by Tracy Scott
• "           " Stencil PM006 by Emma Godfrey 
• "          "  Stamps by Seth Apter ESA15, ESA 13, EM50, EM37
•  Embossing Powder by Seth Apter on Aegean Sea.

Making a Resin Bumble Bee

Welcome to a quick tip on how to make a resin bumble bee. Usually when I play with resin I almost always have left over. Rather then waste it pouring into an available mold always is the better option. That leaves me with a container of finished resin pieces so when a quick embellishment is needed they are ready for the picking. 

I will have an upcoming post on how to pour resin into molds. Please read the resin directions included in the box. Not all resins are mixed the same way & that will help avoid mistakes.

Simply paint your piece using black gesso. This is better for resin then acrylic paint as it has more tooth & is designed to adhere to your substrate. Let it dry naturally. I don't use a heat gun when working with my cured resin pieces. 

Last step was to color my cutie using a combination of metallic paint & wax. I used Finnabair Art Alchemy products by Prima. Simply paint the bee & when it is dry add some wax to give it extra shimmer. That is it super simple embellishment. 

I adhered him to the edge of a stamped flip card in My Favorite Book to use as a tab. Check back tomorrow to see the full page. You can see the tutorial of the project where he landed here. Thanks for joining me for this quick tutorial & I hope you get the chance to play with left over resin soon!!!

Supplies:

Resin by Resin Obsession

Mold by Plaid

Metallic paint & was by Prima.

Seth Artifacts Collaboration Page 2.

Hello Arty Fans, I am back today with an update in my ArtiFacts book. I was really happy to take a few hours to play in this book. Seth Apter has this year long collaboration over on his blog. He has just posted the latest pages including this one, thanks Seth! You can find the August pages here & July's here.

Whoa Big Painterly Layout

Here is my full spread. It measures almost 21" across!! So many fun things going on! I will have some close ups of the eye candy below. Here is the link for how I made my book.

Playing With New Paints!

I felt as it is a Seth Apter collab & I love his products I will use them this month. I also decided to play with his paint line from PaperArtsy for the first time. I found them to be very unique yet true to their name "chalk acrylics".  They have a brighter finish then traditional chalk paints. One of the things I loved about them is that they have very good coverage on the kraft color paper-bonus. You can see I used them on the tags & with the stencils. 

 Let's Make Some Tags!

What a good way to start. Putting some paint on tags. I have to admit one of the challenges I have had on this project is that my book is so big & I am not used to working on this size. I figured using tags was an easy way to break up the page into a more manageable size. 

Working on the Layout...

As for how I did the layering, it is best that Seth shows you himself. Here is a YouTube video he did that shows the process. 

I have many stashes of random bits & pieces so I dug into my folder & pulled out a few. This made the project so much easier & kind of made me realize I need to have more die cuts at the ready for future use. Having them organized by designer really helps. Here is a pic of me starting to design the page. Taking photos along the way is a great way to remember what your layout was in case you want to go back.

I had printed out my February arting photos & made a journal card using the Project Life app on my phone. By moving the photos around my layout changed quite a bit. I knew I also wanted to add in some stencil work so I needed some gaps between my pics. 

It's All In The Details

Now that I had my layout down & glued it was time to add some details. I have taken a few of Seth's classes (which I highly recommend) so I put some of that teaching to good use. Adding mark making and some stenciling was also very relaxing & fun. You can see here how well the paint shows up on the kraft paper when used with a stencil. The die cut (inside of the pocket watch die) was kraft paper, painted with Smoked Paprika & once dry stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink. 

Here is a die from my stash that I had stenciled with gesso. Love this look! You can see another painted circle die peaking. Lot's of mark making & a subtle touch of stamping. 

Here I used another of those stash dies & stamped in the middle with a perfect fitted stamp. Seth is well known for his products fitting together. I used Distress Oxide Ink which has some chalk property & shows up beautifully on kraft paper also. 

Used Seth's Alpha Drip stencil with Archival Ink for my month. Love how the shadowing makes the letters pop like wow. Yes I am crazy behind but I am giving myself permission to not be stressed about this. This project is about reflecting back on my art & is allowing myself to be creative & a bit crazy with the pages. Just to play & have fun. Embrace the chaos!!! Thanks for joining me on my tour. Let me know what you like about this page in the comments!! Thanks so much for taking the time, I hope I can inspire you to play outside the box.

 Other links:
I am entering this in the most recent Frilly & Funky Challenge Blog. Lots of great inspiration over there!

My original post on how I made my book. 

All stamps, dies, stencils are by Seth Apter (yes I am a fan).

Seth's dies by Spellinders

Seth's stamps 

Seth's Stencils by Stencil Girl

Time to Make the Donuts Art Card!!

Hello fans of inky cards & techniques, today I have a fun Doughnut mini art journal page for you. I seriously love the stamps available on Topflight Stamps there are so many great options & this one is no exception. I have a quick tutorial on how this came about. 

Art Journal Page in my Eileen Hull Hummingbird Passport Book

 Mini Art Journal Page

I decided to do a page in my stamps mini art journal. I will show the book at the end of this post. I really love how this turned out because it went through a case of the uglies big time! I just kept adding & tweaking &  voila! If you have never been to Duck Donuts I highly recommend them, they are currently my favorite. You custom order your doughnut & they are given to you fresh made & warm!

 Here is the stamp set I used: 

 

Delicious Donuts

This Delicious Donuts set was so much fun to use. I love that it can be made cutsie or grungy & of course I went with the latter. The building block stamps are perfect to build this nummy breakfast treat.

Stamping with Acrylic Paint

To start my background I simply swiped the purple on with a baby wipe, let it dry & then swiped on the orange. I dipped the stripe doughnut piece in turquoise paint and used it without an acrylic block to just add some random lines on the background. The O was dipped in magenta paint and stamped but it didn't show up so I redid it using gesso. 

 I stamped the "icing swirl" using Archival to make my border- fun! 

Time to make the donuts!!

I stamped the donuts on telephone paper using archival ink & cut them out.

Next step was to use watered down paint to color in the icing portion. The diluted paint let the stamped image show through so I could color the sprinkles in. You can see on the finished card I did just that with gel pens & ink. I added some ink marks too.

My big doughnut was stamped on card stock in archival ink. 

The icing was painted with watered down paint, then sprinkles stamped with paint & finally chocolate icing swirl with archival ink. I let the doughnut dry in between each step. I think the next time I would heat emboss the chocolate swirl to give it some dimension. I then cut it ti make it look nibbled on. 

Then it was a simple matter of assembly. The boy doll holding the doughnut was the perfect addition to finish my card off. I did add some sprinkle stamping in the background too. It was stamped with archival ink just to add some subtle interest. Also some random doodle around the small donuts. 

 

This page is going in my Hummingbird Stamp Book which you can find a full tutorial for it here. Thanks for stopping by today to check out my project. I hope you enjoyed it! 

Topflight Stamps Design Team Debut!!!

I am so excited to be here with my 1st Topflight Design Team post. For those of you who are familiar with my work I love stamps & use them in almost everything I do. I thought I would begin with a project that I can add more stamping to as time goes on. What better way than Eileen Hull's Passport Book Die!! This is one of my favorite dies and will be a great way to showcase some stamps in an art journal way.   

Here is my Passport Book!! 

As this book is a WIP (work in progress) I am leaving binding the book until the end. For now using rubber bands to keep the signatures in is a great way to easily pull my pages in & out while working on the inside. The best part is you can play along with me & make a book too!!! 

 

Starting with corrugated cardboard was a happy recycle way to go. Simply cut out 2 covers & a spine. Next pull up some of the cover making sure to peel the layer that covers the rounded part of the board. You can easily see this by looking at the side of the board. Cover with gesso or whatever color of paint you want. I wanted a white surface so my stamping would show up. Use an old gift card or spatula & scrape the paint on leaving some of the card showing through.

Once the paint is dry stamp your focal image on the cover for placement. I knew I wanted a hummingbird- one of my favorite birds on the cover, conveniently Darkroom doors has a great set! I also knew I wanted to cover the entire cover in UTEE to protect it & create a cool slick surface. That meant whatever I used to stamp in, had to be permanent. I decided to go with Dylusions Paint as I also wanted bright colors. 

I put a bit of paint with a spatula on my craft mat and spread it kind of flat. Then dabbed my stamp into it to get good coverage. Use different colors & randomly stamp over project, drying paint in between colors. Use leftover paint with a baby wipe & paint some of the inside pages so not to waste paint. This gives some of your blank pages a bit of color to start. I am adding in different types of paper from card stock, watercolor, index cards etc.

The white background was too stark for me so I used a trick to cover the pages with UTEE. Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel is basically a thick clear embossing powder & perfect for this technique. When covering large areas I like to use a color spray for easy coverage, so much faster than an ink pad! Spritz covers with Squeezed Lemon Distress Spray & cover with UTEE. Shake off excess and heat set. 

The result is a water looking shine that helps protect the cover. Using a light color like yellow allows the painted images to show loud & clear. My hummingbird was heat embossed and cut out then adhered with a strong glue. 

The spine was painted with the Dylusions Paint and on the outside was stamped in copper paint. Once dry I added the UTEE the same way as the cover leaving the edges bare. This is where the Super Tape goes.  The spine can be adhered on the outside to look like a regular book or the inside which is what I did. That gives me more space on my cover to work with. 

Inside my spine was heat embossed with stamped images. Cover the inside of your book with paper before you adhere the spine. To finish my cover I added a jewelry latch & chain to help keep my book closed. 

I slipped the few pages I have from my leftover paint as above in. My book is ready to add more pages as I go! Thanks so much to Topflight for choosing me to be apart of their design team. Hop on over there & subscribe to the newsletter (left hand side of home page) to keep up to date on all the great sales & new releases.

Supplies:

Topflight Stamps:

-Darkroom Door: Hummingbirds, Grunge Marks

-katzelkraft: Background Clouds, Fireworks

Other Supplies:

Eileen Hull Passport Die by Sizzix

Emerald Creek Emboss- Oil Rubbed Bronze, Charred Gold, Hammered Metal.

Ranger- Dylusions Paint, UTEE, Distress Spray, Embossing Dabber

Thermo*O*Web- Super Tape