Hello from some new characters!

Hello everyone, gosh it has been so long since I have been in here. I feel that I need to dust off some cobwebs. I hope I am forgiven but life it just crazy busy, whoever said being a student is easy? The hours are long and the workload is heavy. I am happy to have finish for this year and i now just await my scores, then just 1 more year left to do. 

In between assignments and research I have been drawing away, creating more little characters for you. they have such fun personalities, I hope you will fall in love with them. 

if you pop on over to the PaperArtsy blog you will see a few samples that I have put together. There are 2 stamp plates and 2 stencils, and there area  gazillion words! 

Yes words! lots and lots for you to play with an create greetings, phrases, poems, stories, whatever you like. these characters feel like they have sprung up out of storybooks so I would love to read what fun stories you can create to go with them. 

First up we have Cedric an Lola, I just love how she scoots along with her tiny wings, and not forgetting Cat in his snazzy waistcoat. 

There are 2 small phrases in there amongst the single words, that you might fin useful to keep as phrases.. the 'for you' and 'just be' were designed to stay together, but they don't have to you can cut them up. there is an extra 'for' so you can leave the 'for you' together. 

Top tip. Before you cut all the words apart and make them fiddly to handle, stamp them lots of times as a block onto card, then you will have lots of words ready and can just snip them as you need them. 

(I also advise getting a small tin for the words stamps to keep them safe. Mine are in an old mints tin from M&S , all the words from both sets will fit into the tin)

There is also a little arrow frame for your words and a super bendy tree that you can position any which way that you want!

Next we have Chester and Poppie, ( I think they might have a crush on each other.. jus' sayin') Lots more words to play with and a huge mushroom tree. You can keep this as a tree or use it to make smaller mushrooms. 

One small sample to whet your appetite, now off you go to the PaperArtsy blog to see the full launch. 

Have fun with them, I really want to see what you make so tag me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. The best place to show off your work would be in the brand new PaperArtsy facebook group, it is full of inspiration, so do check it out. 

PaperArtsy People Facebook Group

Bye for now, keep an eye on the PA blog as there are a lot of exciting new products coming!

Darcy xxx

Launch Night #2. Lin Brown

Tonight we have another fantastic collection being launched, this time it is the turn of Lin Brown.  quite a departure from her usual style, these new stamps are fresh and funky and some are inspired by tropical isles.

To complement the new stamps, Lin has also designed some new stencils... These are really cleverly designed so that you can layer them directly underneath the stamped images.

Pop over to the PaperArtsy blog to see some truly stunning samples from Lin herself and also from her guests this evening.

Here is another video for you to digest, full of inspirational samples made with Lin's stamps..

 

All new products are available now from your favourite PaperArtsy retailer. 

Darcy x

Bum Bag

Here is the 4th of my launch night samples. As I was off camping for the weekend I knew I would need something small but secure , big enough for my purse, phone and camera..

What else but a bum bag...

First off I had to find a pattern, that in itself was harder than I thought, for some reason there just aren't a lot of free bum bag/hip bag patterns around.. who knew?

Eventually I found one, but again I came up against a wall. The pattern was in German. After much translating and copying and pasting, and working out which bits of the pattern were relevant....I could finally begin. 

I cut some heavy weight white cotton, just a little larger than the pattern pieces. 

Next I mixed some Concrete Fresco paint with fabric medium and gave each piece a good even coat. 

My next layer involved a text stencil, this time I used Stone, Elephant and fabric medium

Layer 3. Slightly darker again, using  Elephant and a tiny bit of black Fresco and the fabric medium and the circle stamp from ESN 09. 

I also added the  scratchy lines from ESN10

I then added more black to my mix and stamped the circles from ESN10 This completed the background. 

Next I mixed Turquoise and Slate from JoFYs new limited edition colours, added some fabric medium and then stamped the feather from EDY09

and also the birds from EDY10

Next I used Red Geranium Archival ink to stamp the heart flower from EDY10.

I began to fill in the hearts, using  Blood Orange as the darker shade in the centre. 

Then I added Cherry from the JoFY range. 

I finished off by outlining the hearts with a permanent black pen. 

Now all the pieces were decorated, I let them dry thoroughly and also ironed them on the reverse. Then I was able to trim them to the correct size. 

Following the pattern I started to make the bag. Because the fabric is painted it is a little difficult to manipulate, but not impossible. You can see the bottom section is gathered, this was a challenge because of the stiffer fabric, but again it all worked out ok. 

Finally I added the straps and the buckle. This is the back of the bag. 

and the front..

As you can see it has 3 pockets, all with zips. Making this a really handy little bag. I had so much stuff crammed in here. Camera, phone, purse, toilet tissues, lip balm, mints, band aids. 

The wide top of the bag wraps around the hips perfectly. it was really comfy to carry around. 

I am so pleased with the way it turned out, and of course there is only one like it... It took 2 days to make, 1 to paint the fabric and the 2nd day to stitch it all together. 

If you would like to see the pattern then go to THIS WEBSITE , here you will find the 5 pages of instructions. There are lots of variations within the pattern so you can choose exactly what kind of pockets you need. It was originally a sew-along. The lovely owner of the blog has some great patterns, so go and check them out. 

Darcy x

Miss.Veronica

Here are the step outs for Miss.Veronica. She is a bubblegum pink girlie, enjoying the summer in her shades and sun visor....apparently not bothered by the flowers in her hair. 

I started by roughing out the face and hair, and then placing cut outs of the flowers in the hair. these are just on scrap paper and they are a great way to get an idea of placement. 

I started painting the face, using Nougat,Blush,Irish Cream and Snowflake, all Fresco  Paints. 

I then painted the sunglasses using Pewter, eventually I did cover this, but they started with this colour. 

Next I blocked in the sun visor, using Mermaid,Bora Bora and South Pacific. I also outlined the hair using Candy Floss. 

I decided that some elements would be stamped directly into the hair, while others would be stamped onto prepainted tissue paper. I love this method as it allows you to create interesting backgrounds within the stamped image that you just couldn't achieve if you tried to paint them in after stamping. 

EDY09

This is a mix of Haystack, Yellow Submarine and Autumn Fire. 

This is a mix of Irish Cream, Brown shed and Bora Bora

EDY10

 The hearts flowers are done with Chalk, Bora Bora, Beach hut and Cherry

The leaves are done on Guacamole, Hey Pesto, Limelight and Green Olives. I love how the slanted text really pops against the green. 

and here some more of the spikey flower, done over a stencilled background. It gives such a nice varied colour to the stamped image. 

I started to stamp, colour in, add tissue images and fill in with Candy floss. Note how I have painted over part of the flowers/leaves, this will help make them look like they are sitting in the hair and not just floating on the outside. 

Next I started to shade the hair, using Orchid, very Berry and Chalk. Don't forget you can always use 'just a part' of stamps.. Here I only use the top of the birdhouse, I masked off and used half the lily leaves hanging down from her hair. .. and only used half the bubble flower on each side. 

The stripes on her sun visor are done with the stalks from the grasses on EDY09.

I painted the background  and then I cut a rough mask from tracing paper, the easiest way to create a close match.. lay the tracing paper over the painting, trace the outline and cut out..i was then able to stamp the feather all over the background, using the mask to shield the face and hair. 

This is how it looks now..

It needed a border, so I painted a mix of colours that matched with colours already used.. onto some tissue paper. then i stamped up the stone wall.. lots of times. As the background is varied, the stones all end up slightly different. 

I cut them all out and glued them around the edge. 

and now to fill in with more flowers...I also added the fuchsia type buds as earrings. 

More flowers and a few chalk highlights in the hair. 

Almost there.. but the sunglasses simply weren't reflective enough. So i took some metal card, and very lightly sponged on some South Pacific and chalk. once this was dry I cut out the shape of the glasses and stamped the flock of birds.. hopefully this now looks like the clouds and birds are reflected. The outer edge was done with a black permanent marker. 

I love how these look now, especially when the piece is tilted, they really catch the light. 

Finally I added Neville, the bedraggled birdie.. he perches nicely just on the top bar of the glasses. 

A couple of close ups to finish.. here you can see different shades in the stones.. 

and the subtle feather stamping in the background. 

Hope you like Miss. Veronica.. and Neville. I will be back soon with the last of my launch night samples.. the 80's throw back, The Bum Bag!

Darcy x