That's Crafty Art Journals....

That's Crafty have just launched some new art journals and acrylic pieces which they showcased on Hochanda.
There is a journal set which comes with whiteboard pages and jump rings supplied. I loved the fact that the pages were made of board as it means you can throw product after product on them and they don't warp or buckle..Also, the A4 size gives you loads of room to paint, stencil, stamp to your heart's content.
In this first one I followed a vaguely floral theme using some of That's Crafty new Motivational and Inspirational stamps as well as their Girls collections:

The little 'Enchanted" label on this layout uses one of the acrylic shapes sprayed with Pentart Mirror Mist - fantastic stuff. I've got an article coming up in Craft Stamper showing various techniques with this product.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

PaperArtsy Launch: Lynne Perrella and Infusions...

I was so excited when I heard there were going to be some new Lynne Perrella stamps as you know how much I love them! I practically knocked Leandra's door down trying to get my hands on them! She very kindly sent me some to have a play.
I love the really detailed design with lots of elements to pick out, how you can use them with so many different media, the layers and depth you can create. In other words, I had a ball.
What added to my delight was that I got some of the new Infusion colours - yes, new Infusions! - to play with as well!
I decided to really go for it and use the Infusions for everything: stamping, stencilling, colouring, spritzing etc. I was really pleased with how much of the detail came out in the stamping.
If you go on over to the PaperArtsy Blog, you can see other lovely pieces of art made by Alison Bomber.
To start with, here are a couple of samples using the different sets:

'Heart to Heart' using LPC037 

The costume he's wearing is just fantastic.

and here's another:

'House to House' using LPC036 

and finally, here's a step by step project for you:

 Profile Tag using LPC035 

Step One: I inked the stamp with VersaMark (use a very old pad as it will get dirty) and then sprinkled on the Infusions - I tend to work in blocks of colour but you can mix them up if you like:

Step Two: Rub the dry powder over the stamp and into the versamark ink

Step Three: Spritz the stamp lightly and stamp it out onto white Smoothy card. The first image will often be very wet, just carry on stamping, spritzing every second or third impression.

To make this background, I stamped the smaller face from LPC35 repeatedly in Sleight Blue (a new Infusions colour that will be available in February). The more times you spritz, the more the walnut crystals show up.

Step Four: I then added a border in Violetta (another new Infusions colour) using the same rub and spritz technique along the lower edge of the larger stamp and letting it run into the Slate background

Step Five: Now for some fairly controlled stencilling with the Infusions. Rub dry Golden Sands powder through PaperArtsy stencil PS011 (a JoFY stencil)...

...and then activate with a wet baby wipe.

Step Six: For the focal image, I followed the same technique of rub, spritz with Golden Sands (hat) and Violetta (rest of stamp), spritz, stamp. You can see the result below left. Then added touches of grey Watering Can Archival Ink (my only use of an inkpad!) to the edges just to define the outline of the image. Stamped the image again for definition.

Step Seven: Finished off with a bit of braid and some clear Stickles

Here's a close up

Thanks for looking!

Helen

New stamps....

and other products from PaperArtsy launching all this week, so get on over to the PaperArtsy Blog to have a look.
There'll be samples up here on Friday!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Flowers galore....

This was something I made for the Craft Barn blog:

The theme was 3D flowers so I made some with old book pages: 

Thanks for looking!

Helen

New Year, New Post, New Club....

This year sees the start of the Kit and Kaboodle Club at The Craft Barn. It'll be held on the fourth Saturday of the month and the first kit is for a marquee sign, something like this:

This is done in muted tones, but I've also created a bright version with a different arrangement of lights:

You'll be able to choose what word you put in the middle - you could put someone's name there - and the colours that you like. There is also an option of larger 4" letters, although space on the front will limit the words you can create, ie. 'JANE ' would fit, but you'd struggle with 'ESMERELDA'!

So, if you fancy trying out something different or adding a little light to your life, come and join me on the link above!

Thanks for looking!
Helen