For the Boys

For the Boys

Hi Everyone!

Wouldn't be great if

making gifts for the

boys was just a question

of changing the colour

scheme? ........... 

Actually, I think we

would miss out on a lot

of the fun if we did that

although I did read 

somewhere that the male

brain is wired differently

for colour.  Really?

I'm not sure  .........

Louise Thomson has

an interesting question  .......

"Why do women get all 

the notebooks?! Sure, I love a tiny 

notebook probably as much as most 

crafters but that's not to say that 

there can't be masculine ones too. 

My Dad always keeps a notebook

 in the car to record his petrol 

and mileage. 

My brother has one that he records

 places he's cycled, and yet

 if you look in the shops, most 

notebooks are floral and feminine, 

or at best plain. 

Time to address the situation!

I started with an alterable Kraft notebook, 

fresco paint in Antarctic and some 

Seth Apter stamps. 

I gave the notebook a couple of coats

 of paint and left it to dry.

 I stamped one of the Seth Apter ESA05 set

 in cobalt archival ink onto some tissue paper

and glued to the spine.

 I used aquamarine archival ink 

for the main image

I partially re inked the stamp and stamped 

over the top in the darker blue. 

Using a fine liner I highlighted a few 

of the details. 

I also added some inking around 

the edge of the notebook.

To finish I added metal corners 'tarnished' 

with a little permanent black ink, 

coiled wire and a wooden kaisercraft key 

gilded in silver alchemy wax and attached

 with a little piece of wire."

Materials;

Notebook

Fresco paint

Archival ink

Tissue paper

Fine liner

Metal corners

Seth Apter Stamps

Wire

Kaisercraft wooden key

Alchemy wax

Thank you Louise.  I think

you have provided a good

solution to the dilemma of

why are little notebooks

often so pretty pretty

I try to keep a stock of

these little notebooks to

hand as I find they do

make nice little presents

and are quite fun to

decorate to suit the

recipient

"Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

One for the Boys

One for the Boys

Hallo Everyone!

Today we have Claire Jackson

with another Seth Apter inspired 

project for you.  Oooh, I can't wait

to see what she has made for us ....

"Settle down with a cuppa as this 

is quite a long post! 

I’ve gone into a fair bit of detail so that

 you can see how the layers build up, 

but really it is a very simple mono printing 

technique that I have used.

 I started with the Tando Kate Crane 7 Piece Planner 

made from really robust board. 

I covered alternate pages with black or white gesso, 

not worrying about mixing the colours or picking up

 blobs of paint on the way.

With the black gesso left on the craft mat 

I pressed a white page onto it to lift some of the paint. 

I lifted as much black paint as possible onto 

the white pages before a little spritz with water. 

You can see the difference in the patterns 

when the paint was wetter.

I repeated the process with the black pages; 

painting white gesso directly onto the craft mat 

and pressing the pages onto it.

I used PaperArtsy’s limited edition of Seth Apter paints,

 with addition of mermaid and snowflake.

I continued to build up layers by brushing paint 

directly onto the craft mat and then pressing the 

pages onto the paint strokes.

The covers and inside pages 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 

and 12 were layered with green patina, 

mermaid and mudsplat...

...while the remaining pages 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 

10 were layered with smoked paprika and key lime. 

I didn't worry if some of the other colours were 

picked up too from the dried paint on the mat.

Steps 6 and 7 were repeated until 

I was happy with the layers and the craft mat 

looked like this...!

I used Seth Apter stamps from 

PaperArtsy and Impression Obsession.

The white pages were stamped with 

black archival ink and the black pages 

were stamped in white snowflake paint

The green patina pages were also given a

 spatter with key lime and smoked paprika.

The ‘now’ wording was stamped on tissue paper

 and painted with white snowflake on the reverse. 

I added it to page 2 with gel medium so that 

it can be seen through the aperture in the front cover.

The ‘create’ wording was also stamped on tissue. 

First I painted over the letters on the reverse 

in white, then daubed some key lime and 

smoked paprika behind the circles, 

before painting over the circles with white again. 

I took care to leave the edges unpainted so 

they became transparent when adhered 

with gel medium."

Materials used:

Tando Creative: Kate Crane 7 piece planner kit
White gesso:
Black gesso:
PaperArtsy fresco finish chalk paint: Seth Apter set 2, snowflake, mermaid
 Impression Obsession Seth Apter stamps

PaperArtsy Seth Apter stamps

Super project Claire thank you.

I really like the idea of alternate

pages of black and white gesso

I had been wondering what I would do

with my Kate Crane Planner Kit........

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

One for the Boys

One for the Boys

Hi!  How's it going?

Ready for Father's Day;

Summer Solstice; 

Barbecue's on the Beach?

Can't help with the last

two but here's Jane Castle

with an idea that can be

adapted for the the first....

"Having looked at a couple of Seth Apter 

videos of late I really like his handmade 

embellishments where he winds

different wires, yarns and threads around 

an object. so I decided to make one for the 

centre piece on my tag for this project.

After cutting my tag and reinforcement rings 

I gathered various bits and pieces together 

that I thought might be handy.

The tag was cut from some Mixed Media card 

and the rings were cut from some leftover 

thin leather. 

I attached some scrim tape to the tag and then 

started to add paint with a brayer and a brush.

The scrim tape is easy to shape 

once it's off the reel and 

it has a sticky backing. 

To begin with I used Mud Splat, 

Chutney and Seaweed as my base colours. 

Next I used some Tikka and Vanilla 

before colouring some Grunge Paste with 

a little Seaweed and Mud Splat. 

This was then added through a TCW stencil.

I then random stamped the large grid stamp 

from I.O. Seth Apter Pattern Play in Archival Sepia.

Now for a small injection of colour---- 

2 small frayed pieces of hessian were then 

coloured with a mix of Stone and Space Cadet paint.

2 Inches were painted with Vanilla and 

then stamped with a stamp from the same set 

in Archival Watering Can.

A small heart and cog were given 

3 coats of copper embossing powder 

before stamping with the lined stamp 

whilst still hot. 

The stamp was well inked with black Archival 

before inserting into the hot embossing enamel.

A thin piece of the wood venier was then 

bound with various layers of cotton thread, wire, 

fancy knitting yarn and bakers twine.

 Part of a broken earring was then attached to the top.

The leather rings were then glued in place and

some old hairy string tied to the top.

This is a very 'touchy, feely' tag and I'm pleased 

I've given this type of embellishment a go-----

I am now thinking that a dried poppy seed pod

 would also look good bound on the stem in this way!!"

Item List
Mixed Media Card
Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints
Grunge Paste
Inches
I.O. Seth Apter - Pattern Play
TCW Mini Raven Mosaic Stencil
Tando Mini Heart
Cosmic Shimmers Ancient Copper Metallic Embossing Powder
Scraps of Leather and Hessian
Scrim Tape
Crafting Wire
Archival Inks

Thank you Jane - the possibilities

go on an on....

This design could be used on

a greeting card - think Father's Day

or even on a canvas or some

other wall hanging

Hmmm.........will go away and

think about that one.....

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

Quirky Birds

Quirky Birds

Hi There!

I'm here today with 

Claire Jackson

and no Month Challenge

in sight. haha!

Today Claire is going

to show us how to

get some uninterrupted

crafting time:

"Take a door hanger

and paint it with two layers of 

PaperArtsy snowflake paint, 

drying in between

Build up the background with 

opaque colours first.

 I used blue oyster and china and 

then lightened it with more snowflake

Add translucent colours over the top 

so that your base layer still shows through. 

I went with limelight and southern skies 

and blended with a little snowflake in the centre

Sponge snowflake paint through the 

arrows stencil and dry thoroughly

Replace the stencil so that it does 

not quite match up with the white arrows

 and sponge translucent colours over the top. 

This will give the effect of shadows and depth. 

Add some stamping in paint and when dry 

highlight some areas with a white pen

Add stamping in black and ensure it’s 

completely dry by heat setting it. 

Add more white highlights

Stamp the bird image several times on 

tissue paper and heat set. 

The great thing about tissue paper is that 

you can turn it over and reverse the images 

so that the bird is going in the 

opposite direction. 

Paint the back of the images in white.

Colour the images. 

I used a combination of permanent markers 

for vibrancy and pencil for shading.

 Tear around the images

Cover the hanger in a layer of gel medium 

a section at a time and add the tissue images. 

Cover the tissue with more gel medium and 

gently massage it into the tissue so that it 

becomes transparent

Print out the words, cut out, decorate the edges 

and adhere to the hanger. 

Add shading to the edge of the hanger. 

I used blueberry Gelato and blended 

it with a babywipe

Now there's no excuse for anyone getting 

covered in sparkle unexpectedly when 

they interrupt me in the craft room!"

Materials used:

Wooden door hanger
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint: 

snowflake, blue oyster, china, limelight, southern skies
Tim Holtz layered stencil: arrows
PaperArtsy stamps: Seth Apter 01
Versafine: onyx black
Tissue Paper
Collage Medium: matte
Faber-Castell Gelatos: blueberry
Gesso

From Stash:

Sharpie marker and white paint pen
Coloured pencils
Black and white gel pen

Love those quirky birds they're

such fun and thank you Claire

for showing us your really fun

door hanger



'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx