Box Canvas with Tissue Paper Textured Flowers Inspired by Anneke de Clerck for Paper Artsy

When I saw this Box Canvas by Anneke de Clerck on the Paper Artsy Blog I knew I had to try the technique! Anneke used little pieces of screwed up tissue paper to added texture and dimension to the flower heads from JoFy No 26 which I recently purchased, and a gorgeous colour scheme on a box canvas. I have copied what she did as closely as possibly, limited only by what I had, as I find this the best way to learn new techniques and styles, and I do find I am learning. You can see the dimension in this side view:-

This has been a rushed job as it is a few minutes from the deadline so I will add a little more to the sides and some of the barer areas tomorrow and take some daylight photos but I am pleased with the result and I really enjoyed it. (Mr Less is More has just walked in and told me to leave it alone). I didn't have the set with the square so I doodled it, and I used Joy from JoFy 28 instead of the alphabet which is what has left me with bare areas. I didn't have the same flower and leaves for the base so I used Darcy's lovely new set, 10.

I am entering this into the Paper Artsy challenge if you are not too fed up with me!

Christmas Gift Bags with Stencilling inspired by Lelainia Lloyd

I really liked Lelainia Lloyd's idea of decorating your own Christmas gift bags using a stencil and a vibrant Lynne Perrella image and Portfolio Pastels over on the Paper Artsy blog. I only had very small gift bags and it was difficult to fit in both stencilling and the image so I have tried out one on each side and not stuck the image down yet. I will get some larger bags and experiment some more.

I decided to try Sara Naumann's idea of tinting the grungepaste with reinkers instead of Frescos which I would normally use. I thought Brilliance reinkers would be perfect for Christmas as they are shimmery but it made the mix too wet and, combined with the uneven surface of the bag, caused a bit of seepage. So, not my best bit of stencilling! I sprinkled some copper glitter on whilst the grungepaste was still wet and for a Christmas look I really liked this.

My friend was here whilst I was using the Portfolios which she hadn't seen before and she thought they looked fun! I hadn't had such great results before so I looked at Leandra's tutorial under The Classroom section on the blog and followed the instructions there and got the vibrant result I was looking for. I felt like a kid playing during half term week, having a good scribble with my crayons!

I finished off the bag with some of the Damask patterned tissue from Paper Artsy. I am entering the challenge here.

Amazon Folder Inspired by Julie Ann Lee for Paper Artsy

I've been working on a big project over the last couple of days, the gorgeous inspiration of Julie Ann Lee! I don't need to go into too much detail on what I have done as you can see Julie Ann's instructions over on the Paper Artsy blog here and on her own blog here. I have almost completely copied her, except where I didn't have exactly the same items as I was so impressed with the originality of the idea and the composition and choice of colours. We've had loads of these Amazon folders over the years and I have never thought to recyle them before but they are perfect, as you get a fold out pocket inside to tuck a present, and you can peel off layers to reveal all the wonderful corrugated texture!

Here's a close up view showing some little seed beads I added to the hearts:-

I thought the turquoise ribbon would be perfect but I didn't have enough. I had some in cream so I painted it with Beach Hut. You can hardly tell the difference!

 I will definitely be making more of these. Such a cool recyling idea. I think I am going to make this into a gift as a stationery or notelet set maybe?

I am entering this into the Inspired by Julie Ann Paper Artsy Challenge.

Shrink Plastic Bauble Card Inspired by Wanda Hentges for Paper Artsy

The Paper Artsy blog is proving to be a good motivation for me to make some Christmas cards which is something I struggle with every year. I bought Jo Firth Young's A5 plates 27 and 28, the ones with the baubles, when I saw her demo-ing at the Craft Barn recently, and there has been some terrific inspiration on the blog this month also. Being a deadline person I am up against it to get all the things I fancied from this month made in time, especially as I have been away and tied up with family and health stuff as always. I am enjoying getting stuck into the crafting though and it's good for the morale.

This card was inspired by a delightful lady, Wanda Hentges, who made a gift card containing shrink plastic bauble earrings. What a great idea to wear for Christmas dinner! I used to be an HR Manager and we dared one of my colleagues to wear her Christmas cracker hat all afternoon after the Christmas lunch one year. She was always up for a joke. The only thing was, she had a disciplinary hearing that afternoon, and Yes, she did wear it!

For my card I used the new Jo Fresco colours, Turquoise and Cherry Red, which I love, and made two different sizes of shrink plastic baubles, and drew on the hanging bit with a white gel pen. Jo is great at doing doodling and I have mentioned before that I always forget to try it and I am not very good at it. I thought whilst I had the pen in my hand, the black and Kraft cardstock were a good time to give it a go. Must keep trying!

I am entering this into the Paper Artsy challenge, Inspired by Wanda Hentges. Right, off to finish my Julie Ann inspired folder now!

Reverse Stencil Stamping Bauble Card inspired by Anneke for Paper Artsy

Over on Paper Artsy, Anneke De Clerck made some gorgeous Christmas cards using a wonderful choice of colour combinations using the technique where you paint on the reverse of a stencil and flip it over onto your card and brayer over it to get a negative impression. Well if that doesn't make sense, you can see what she did here! She is fast becoming a favourite designer of mine! I found this technique a little hit or miss but I needed to make some Christmas cards and also I recently bought JoFY's bauble set 27 which I thought would work well. I thought I could use the messed up bits to stamp baubles on and cut them out. I don't have any Tim Holtz stencils and I don't have any Christmas stencils at all so I thought I would use a Paper Artsy one and the circles one seemed to be the most neutral and echoed the shape of the baubles. Please Paper Artsy, would you bring out some Christmas stencils for next year as I do love using your stencils?

I used Lake Wanaka, Cherry Red, Orchid, and Yellow Submarine, and then painted a piece of card with Cherry Red to stamp the bauble on. I know there is no greeting but I didn't want to cover up my background. Heck, people will know it is a Christmas card when they receive it, surely?!

I am entering this into the Paper Artsy challenge, inspired by Anneke.