Paperartsy at Ally Pally

I was thrilled (and not a little nervous) to be given the chance to take a spot on the Paperartsy demo desk at this month's newly renamed "Crafting at Ally Pally" show in London (formerly The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show). in a couple of weeks time .I've never done anything like this before so be kind to me if you are there!  It's getting close now!

I will be demoing Hot Picks and Darcy's new Christmas stamps (ooh new stamps ?- yes!!)  - here are a few sneaks of what I will be doing/stamps I'll be using..  I'm up at the end of the day from 3.30 till closing time (and hot-footing it to the bar afterwards for what is becoming the regular "after show" drink/chat/tweetup) I think I'll need it more than usual this year...

a mashup of one of Darcy's new stamps and JoFY's from July
over a stencilled background

pure Darcy on this, some fabulous Christmas stamps.

and this!

 Hotpicks from July on this tag - some of my favourite tissue brayering/background stamping here

more Hotpicks from July
















Paperartsy are very generously giving away some free door passes for the show, and have kindly donated a pair of one day tickets for me to give away here too - so if you fancy coming along (it's a cracking day out, can't promise for my part in it...) then mention in your comment that you'd like to be included in the draw.  The draw closes at midnight UK time on Friday 9th September and I'll pick a random winner out of a hat next Saturday 10th September - to give me time to post the tickets to you.  Please make sure your comment allows me to contact you.
The show takes place on the weekend of 19th and 20th September.

cheep cheep....

Been playing in my new soft covered journal with this and that... and the new JoFY paints and Darcy stamps...

 my first page is my two gelatos, in  a sky blue and brightish green, over stencilled grunge paste.

 I stamped one of Dina's scribbly birds at the bottom,in forget-me-not archival ink (Wendy Vecchi's) and whilst the ink was still wet, I blended the edges a little with a damp brush.

Had a die cut leaf from the Tim Holtz die which I painted green and edged with a green Portfolio pencil, stamped words from the Scribbly Birds set.

and at the bottom, used some glass bead structure gel . (had this ages, never used it before!)

 the right page I started after the new Limited Edition JoFY paints and the Darcy EDY10 set arrived yesterday...
painted the page turquoise, stamped the flowers, painted the centre of the hearts with Chalk Fresco so I could the translucent Cherry Red over the top, and the stems I painted in Sage

 some not too careful painting caused me to re-outline the hearts with a black micro pen, added the birds and text from the same stamp set.

Darcy Journal - month 8 - The Tree of Knowledge

When I was away last weekend, Darcy posted her final page in her monthly journalling series with Paperartsy. The Tree of Knowledge - which involved a recap of some of the techniques we'd learnt over the last 7 months - and drawing... eek!!

However, I wasn't going to be undone by drawing a tree to join in the final challenge.  Here is my entry.

 I used a mixture of Fibralos (I have the 15 chunky set, so quite limited with colours) and water colour pencils (Inktense and WH Smith) for my background

loved re-visiting the torn paper as a mask border and the mini wall stamp is lovely.

 my tree - I sketched it roughly on paper first as recommended by Darcy, then on the journal but rather than fill in the lines, I kind of used it as a guide, and painted the branches.

 I then had a panic about the leaves, as I didn't have the Urban Snapshot set Darcy used, but a twitter convo resulted in Darcy suggesting Sara Naumann's set 12- one of the new ones - for Paperartsy, as there is a splotchy stamp that was perfect!  3 colours of Fresco - Holly, Tinned Peas and Sage - give a lovely soft full in leaf tree look - thanks Darcy, thank goodness you were on twitter at the right time!

then on to the technique leaves - die cut as Darcy showed, (only had to staple one together, lol! ) and chose my techniques to fit on such a small space.. I chose - (left page) stencilling on tissue, crackle, blending opaques, torn stamped tissue; (right page ) masterboard (I had some of the one I used for Darcy's previous month where we did this, so die cut a leaf from it) blending Treasure Gold, stencilling resist with portfolios,  stamping into gesso.

and to show that the apples really do keep the leaves in place!

and of course the apples themselves! cool idea Darcy, they were fun to do (once I got a red I liked mixed)

thanks for months of fun with this Darcy and all your hard work getting these pages ready for us to try!
It's been great to play along.

Darcy Month 7 - Live Love Laugh

I've been meaning to make a start on my entry for Darcy's Month 7 journal page since she first posted it, but here I am with just a few days to go...
I have used largely the same colours and several of the same stamps as Darcy, but have changed the arrangement as my journal is smaller.

 my Antarctic spray doesn't show up, don't think I put enough paint in the water.

 strips of embossed metal drying

 

 had to use a different image for my recess, as the page is too small for the face Darcy used, I used the butterfly from HP1203

 all the elements in place - the hand I used isn't mine as that was too big to use lifesize - this is a Judikins stamp, bit small, but I did cut it out and use the space as a stencil so you get the idea!

I didn't have room for the rays that Darcy used so opted for this instead, using Claret as my background and a white marker to doodle.

 my recessed butterfly

 and the lovely hearts

and finally doodled round the punched circles, I used thin card so they're not as dimensional as Darcy's, and my Pewter paint looks a bit pink, it tends to separate rather and I didn't mix it up very well!

finished page.
This month we have learnt: to use a recess, mixing up spray paints, using punch outs, embossing metal, adding doodling.


Entering this to Darcy's Paperartsy journalling challenge here

Dragons Dream - H and brown

This fortnight at Dragons Dream, it's the choice of May and she has set the letter H, and to use brown...

I've used my JoFY beach hut to represent "home" which as we all know, is where the heart is...

 took a size 10 tag and painted it first with Mud Splat and then French Roast Fresco's, applied a layer  of crackle glaze (wet here, as you can see!)

 Stone as my top coat - fabulous crackles

 took my JoFY beach hut and stamped it on Heavyweight Smoothy Paperartsy paper, coloured it with Frescos and pencils (Mud Splat then Toffee lightly for the wood, and brown pencil for the roof.)

Cut the doors (painted with Beach Hut) and then stamped the heart (Darcy's for Paperartsy) behind where the open doors would be, stuck the door down.

Stamped my other hearts and the text - the alphabet is one of the Inkadinkadoo sets I got at Newbury.

Added some brown check ribbon to finish.

We look forward to seeing your H's at TIO. Don't be shy, don't forget your one real stamp on your tag.

WOYWW 266 - 9.7.14

Morning all.  Hope you are all well and geared up for another desk-fest! Chief cheer-leader Julia has the info here   It was her birthday on Monday, make sure you wish her well!

As promised, I have new stash to share with you from Newbury on Saturday, when I had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow deskers Janet and Mary-Anne again.

 I wrote about the show here but am showing the pics again here!

I was at home on Tuesday afternoon waiting for a repair man to fix my hot water  and had time to finish my Darcy journal page (here) but you'll see some of my goodies back on the "desk" waiting somewhere to put them away to!

Have a good Wednesday, and happy desking! I really hope the card's arrived by now, Julia!

Monthly Journalling with Darcy - month 5

Well, I am running late with this again, it's been some time since Darcy published the latest month in her journal year... catch it here.
We are playing with JoFY stencils this time, and once again trying lots of techniques.. time will tell, if I have a go at the paper casting...

As urged by Darcy, ("you can do it while you watch the football") I did just that, and stamped onto tissue for step 2.

 The next night, I went back to the beginning and scraped Frescos onto the page with an old credit card.  I've used slightly different colours to Darcy - Tinned Peas, Rusty Rose, Sherbert, and the Mocha Mousse and Guacamole that Darcy used.

Tore the tissue stamping and applied with matte medium and a finger... dried matte medium takes ages to pick off....

Following Darcy's step by step I added Chalk Fresco lightly with a palette knife and started stencilling

 love the effect the blue border has, using torn scrap paper as a border stencil.

 next steps in progress - flowers, the window and the wheelbarrow.

 Assembly time!

I didn't do the paper casting like Darcy did so successfully, but used die cuts from old painty baby wipes instead - the wheel, butterflies and flower

i had to use the Tim Holtz arch for the window and cut some strips of card for the bars.

 Because my journal is smaller than Darcy's, my wheelbarrow is lots smaller too, so holds a tiny size 2 tag and my seed packet.

 I crackled the background for my tag and stencilled some tinted (Hey Pesto) grunge paste through the Lin Brown leaf stencil.

my finished page.

Once again, Darcy, it was a pleasure doing this page!! Entering Darcy's journal challenge here