New Eclectica Seth Apter stamps at PaperArtsy

Hi everyone, well over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight it's my turn to share what I've been making with the fabulous new Seth Apter stamp release. I made a mini envelope journal and a card.

There are 2 new plates ESA05 and ESA06 and I absolutely love them. Hop across to see all the details,  process shots of how I made the journal are below.

These are money envelopes and I brayered them before assembling. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has a great tutorial on how to make them so here's the link

Once assembled I added touches of metallic fresco.

Grunge paste and paint through stencils before decorating. Here are the 5 pages

First pages

2nd spread

Pages 5 & 6

7 & 8

The final pages....

...and a monochromatic card

I've enjoyed working with Seth's previous releases, exploring his style and using his paint techniques; in the process my own style is evolving . I'd never have imagined creating something like this a year ago but love where these stamps have taken me.

Follow your bliss! R x

Teal blue...

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to share some more cards that I made which have a teal blue theme.....I think teal goes wonderfully with shades of brown so we have teal and copper, teal with Kraft and teal with chocolate. I have also been using up bits again, snippets that sit in my little gather pots on the work space. This post is short on information but hopefully rich in eye candy... to make up for my less frequent posts of late!

A mark making background and of course stitchery.

The copper flowers are left overs from a craft stamper post I did last year when I made far too many.

I have had this 'plastic' card stock'  for years, sometimes you just have to wait for the right project to come along.

The Hambly paper is even older (it's been in my for stroking only stash). The new favourite Tammy Tutterow blossom die has had a good airing and of course I've used the iconic Chloe stem die.

Using snippets is creatively very satisfying as I find there are usually a few things that will go together and it's easier to make something with less than when I look around all my stash and think 'Where do I start?'

3 more cards that are variations on the blossoms theme.

with border

or without. Distress inks in Vintage Photo and Broken China matched perfectly.

I'll be back soon with more cards...that aren't in teal! Happy crafting whatever you are doing. R x

Words with Meaning at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, we have a new challenge over at Stamps and Stencils and it's all about using words, here's what Sue the host of this months theme has to say about it. Words with Meaning - I may be an old romantic but I love to see quotes and meaningful sayings on pieces of art. These can be quotes that are particularly meaningful to you or family sayings ! So, for this challenge I want to see your words taking centre stage, big and bold ! Remember, as always, you need to include some stamping or stencilling or both !

I love incorporating words, especially on my journal pages and have a whole board of favourite quotes on my pinterest account. I've used a current favourite on these pages.

I found these pages where I'd scraped spare paint onto my journal and thought this would be a good place to start. I loved the fresh and zingy look to these and wanted to try and keep the white space.

I added stamping and stencilling, keeping the purple and green separate  with only a little overlap of colours. I wanted to add some more white and after looking through my stencils decided I would use a piece of card I had die cut flowers from, it just seemed perfect for the pages.

I've used Lin Brown and Seth Apter stamps with archival ink and fresco paint.

A little texture was needed....I added crackle paste and sprinkled it with silver leaf, and rock candy distress glitter and added some pearl glaze as well as I wanted the white blossoms to sparkle and shine when they caught the light in keeping with the quote.

A few close ups of the words where I've added splashes of silver ink.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to hop across and see what the rest of the talented team have created to inspire you this month.