Friends in the Garden

PaperArtsy Challenge Blog Topic 4 : Whimsical.

I like the definitions of whimsical, a couple of the dictionary definitions popped out : "playful" and "odd" as well as optimism, hope and innocence. All good words that put you in a happy place.

For this challenge I used a mixture of Jofy and Kay Carley stamps on the same panel which I mounted on a card.

I started with a painted background (Captain Peacock) and stencilled circles in Teresa Green. 

Then stamped Kay's flowers and grasses and added some coloured details using white and dark pink Graphik paint pens. The faces are coloured with Promarks, cut out and added to the flowers. I finished it off with a few small flowers and a butterfly.

Ingredients :

PaperArtsy Eclectica EKC02 by Kay Carley

PaperArtsy Jofy 42

Fresco Paints from FFPA1 Limited Edition : Captain Peacock, Teresa Green and Granny Smith.

I have been having a think about what to do for this challenge all week and the finished result above is miles away from my original idea. Maybe I'll do another one.

I hope you like my little friends in the garden.

Happy Weekend everyone. x

New PaperArtsy Stamps

For those who watched the launch videos of the new PaperArtsy stamps and stencils last week, weren't they great. I have the lovely set EKC02 by Kay Carley so today I decided to play with it.
If you missed the blog post for the new stamps by Kay, here it is:
http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2016/02/new-pa-products-feb-2016-kay-carley.html

I think I have been influenced a little by the colours used for the samples but they are not the same as I don't have the new Fresco paints (of course I want them, especially that lovely mint green).

I used Fresco paints for the backgrounds, applied with a brayer and added some random stamping from PaperArtsy sets. The big circles for the Allium were applied through a stencil.

Paint used :

Vintage Lace, Eggplant, Pansy, Rose and Snowflake.

Background images stamped using Ranger archival ink- Blue Violet and snowflake paint.

Allium, butterflies and flowers stamped in black archival ink.

Stitching around the edge added with black pen.

I added some white pen to the portrait format card but decided to leave the other panel alone, I quite like the sketchy look of it without any colour added.

I love this set of stamps, I think I may be using elements of it a lot.

If you want to see close ups of Kay's beautiful work go check out her blog :

http://kaycarley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/allium-step-out.html

Distress Markers meet Alcohol Pens

The sun is shining, Spring is here and it is still light after 8pm. I do love this time of year.
This weekend I have been having a go at the technique I learned from Kay Carley last weekend.
Have a look at Kay's beautiful work on her blog:
http://kaycarley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/may-class-at-glitter-pot.html

I cannot claim the colour schemes used on the flowers as my own as they are the same as Kay used on the example I saw in the demo but I shall play with this again using different colour schemes.
My first card uses the new Penny Black Demure stamp and for the second I used a Lin Brown flower for one of my PaperArtsy sets. The sentiments and sprigs are from Hobby Art sets.

The flowers are coloured using Copics and the background stamping and watercolour effect is achieved with distress markers. 

Enjoy what is left of the weekend,

Julia x

P.S. Note to self ..... I must do blog updates more than once a month!