Stamperama - Stevenage

So I just got home from the Stamperama show in Stevenage. 
Had a great time - much less eventful journey (there at least) than yesterday - getting home was a bit slower...
So whilst my tea cooks, here are the pics... mostly Paperartsy of course!

 I took quite a while to get round to getting my camera out, so the stall was rammed by then

 Raquel was doing make and takes

 you may recognise Jo (bottom left) and Wendy and Miriam (top right)   Lin and I didn't get round to doing it...

 Leandra and Lauren demoing...

 we did wander off to see what else was around... a few purchases were made...

 but as ever we gravitated back to Paperartsy....

 some of the artwork

 Lauren demoing with Elena's stamps and Tim's stamping platform...
She says I need one!

 Leandra demoing infusions directly applied to a stamp

and stencilled with paint

 we helped her with some cutting out...

 and she gave me her sample!

 mid afternoon, bit of breathing space around the stand


Leandra did drop one bombshell though, that apart from Ally Pally, they won't be attending shows any more, but concentrating on their wholesale side of the business.  So my PA fix in future will be online, or with whichever stockists take their stuff to shows! 

She also said it was OK to tell you all! 

Lin catching up with Kirsten...

 first part of my stash...

second part of my stash!



It was a fabulous day as ever, and lovely to catch up with PAtwits and buddies Lin, Jo, Miriam, Wendy, Kirsten and others I know by sight!

WOYWW 453

Morning/afternoon/evening deskers... another Wednesday dawns and it's time for WOYWW again... link as always at Julia's gaff.. 
I'm expecting to see evidence of her ScanNCut endeavours today, given her previous post!  No pressure then, Julia!

As for me, my first parcel arrived on Friday and even though it was delivered to work I had to open it to investigate!
Here it is on my home desk though..

 the paints are gorgeous colours, especially the one called Blue Lagoon.. I have used it. although not sure what on now, so I can't show you!

my floor  "desk" taken from a standing position to cut out shadows...

the journal page is for this week's France Papillon's challenge, have to say I've struggled a bit this week, the theme is "how are you feeling today" and I've been unsure how to put it on paper... however, it's progressing!

you can see I've used the JoFY mini flower stamp already too! 

I was however, really pleased how last week's page ended up (full details in the previous post, but here's the end result)

I might be late home from work today so for the desks I don't get to visit before I leave for work, may be a bit delayed in reaching you

ALAD/ASAW - week 5 - Darkness has it's beauty

Hi, still keeping up with the fabulous daily/weekly challenge for France Papillon's FB prompt.
This week, the prompt was "Darkness has it's beauty" and you could either go darkness as mood, or darkness as colour.

I kind of went the colour route.

 I started over my gesso'd background with Izink pigment ink, (colour is Iris, a beautiful deep rich blue) applied from the pipette across the middle of the page - I dripped it up and down a little, and then dragged the ink with the pipette

 to create slightly longer streaks of colour.
I did this stage last Saturday evening after watching Casualty (a hospital drama in the UK if you don't know) - I think it looks like a heart monitor! 

 next day, layer two,   I added some die cut claw marks - a Tim Holtz die that I hadn't used before (personal 2018 challenge, use stuff - tick!)

and laid them across the inky streaks

 day 3, layer 3.   A bit of an in-joke with my friend Lesley here, as she has lost her sari ribbon and we'd been talking about where it might be.


I dug mine out and rippled it (stapling with Tim Holtz tiny attacher) and glued it to the middle of my page.

the matte medium I used to attach it took a while to dry, and has lightened some of the blue bits of the ribbon.  but I quite like it...

Day 4, layer 4, Stampotique image, stamped on cardstock and coloured with blue and purple Stabilo felt pens

Fixed him with 3d pop dots to sit on the ribbon.

 Day 5, layer 5 - I mixed some Midnight Fresco paint (Paperartsy) with 3d matte gel, and applied it through a stencil (mini tile texture, by the Crafters Workshop)

Day 6 layer 6. 
day 6 was originally going to be text but I decided the pages needed bordering (Cobalt and Black archival inks, and Faded Jeans distress oxide) so I did that first, with a blending tool.


Must have been a very old piece of foam on the blending tool as it disintegrated on me, and had to be replaced!

 day 7, layer 7
my text, my page title.

a quote from Alison Bomber set EAB02 for Paperartsy

stamped and layered on black card and cut into individual lines

 and placed on the page

it reads
I wish I could show you
when you are lonely
or in darkness
the astonishing light
of your own being

fabulous quote!

I really love this page and hope you do too!

looking forward to the next prompt tomorrow

WOYWW 452

Another week has flown by and it is time to report for desk duty again - WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday)  with Julia.

Still managing to keep up with the Facebook group challenge with France Papillon... this week's theme is "Darkness has its own beauty"
My page has suddenly developed a mind of it's own I think... injecting some quirky fun in the form of a Stampotique figure..

 there are a few days left to add layers yet...

my desk also sees a gift I was sent by my friend Lesley - a pack of wooden tulips from The Works, (I bought a few of these as gifts when several of us went on a workshop, but forgot to get a set for myself, and they happened to have them when Lesley was in her branch last week)

they were accompanied by a gorgeous tag and some fabulous die cut hearts which I can't wait to use on a project or several soon! 

My Paperartsy new releases haven't arrived yet (although the first package will probably arrive today, it has been despatched...) so will have to be patient a bit longer!

Journal page for a challenge prompt...

this week, the small group I am in challenging ourselves,  were set "people/photos"

I have no step by step photos this week as I got carried away in my A4 journal
I had leftover paint (I think the pink was Spanish Mulberry and Bora Bora) that I had wiped in the journal, very light patches to clean off the cut and dry foam.

However, I decided to make stripes so added more of both, and then knocked them back with gesso.

 I used two of the figures from a Dina Wakley set starting from the middle and working out so they look like they're kind of dancing..


Managed to get a photo in daylight so the colour is a bit more realistic here...

the quote is a Kaisercraft stamp, I just cut it into pieces.   then I stamped a second time and cut individual words

scribbled round them with a micron pen.

finally I edged the page with Picked Raspberry and I think a little swipe of Salty Ocean,  distress oxide


quick and simple, took maybe 15 minutes

France Papillon - ALAD/ASAW - week 4, Emotions in Shapes

Facebook group challenge - France Papillon and Creative Butterflies group - ALAD/ASAW (a layer a day/a spread a week) -Emotions in Shapes...

Found this a hard prompt to get started with.. but everyone loves circles so I used circles again..
Took lots of daily pictures of each stage, but all by artificial light or flash, so bear with me!

 my page was pre-gesso'd, and I added distress oxides in Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean... the Fossilized Amber didn't show up as much as I wanted, so added some Wild Honey over the top. smooshed and blended them with water a bit...
When it was dry, I carefully (with a silicone brush) added clear gesso to seal it. That is the extra texture you can see in the colours)

Day 2, the first circles - a fantastic stencil by Stencil Girl (well part of a stencil (I wish they'd put the names on the packets, I don't know what this is called)  anyway, I used Deco Art crackle paste and let it do it's thing


(another never used before stencil!)





GORGEOUS crackles!

 Day 3 was more stamping - using the same colour distress oxides and a Dina Wakley stamp (I love this stamp)

if you click on the picture you will see some of the Honey/Citron stamping

Day 4 was some doodling - I could see faces in the crackle shapes so I decided to emphasise them (especially the one top left) 

Day 5, more circles, another stencil.  This is a That's Crafty Dinky stencil.  First, I used Paperartsy Fresco paint in Bora Bora ( a gorgeous blue/green) and when that dried, "bumped" the stencil - moved it just a fraction off centre to the original position and stencilled Snowflake Fresco.

 you get a great shadow.

it's ages since I used this technique

Day 6, more stamping, a Paperartsy JoFY Mini stamp - little circles and a criss-cross hatch design that mimics the shapes in the crackle and the other circles.





Doodled over them with a couple of Stabilo felt pens

close up of the doodles








Final layer - day 7, today
I had to decide on a title, and I needed words on my page..

Much searching of stamps in my (large) collection... until I used one that was staring me in the face from a Dina Wakley set.


Art Is Life,
Stop Thinking, Just Create. 

Edged the page in Black Soot distress oxide
Looking forward to the next prompt tomorrow..