Hi Friends!
Oh, what a weekend! It wasn’t the oppressive heatwave or the thunderstorms rumbling through the Midwest that I will remember most though. For I was cool and happy, downstairs in my ‘Paper Garden’ studio all weekend, in the company of papercrafters from across the globe. We were participating in the 5th annual Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire, created by the talented PTI design team. It felt truly exhilarating to share creative time with so many amazing papercrafters!
On Friday night, I gathered some favorite Papertrey Ink stamps and dies so I would be ready to create very early on Saturday morning. Inspiration for this event came from a wide variety of Master artists. Every two hours throughout the day, a PTI design team member would share a bit of art history and a card making project based on the work of a Master. It was sure to be a day of learning and growing… and creating way beyond my comfort zone!
“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.” ~ Mark Twain
Let’s go downstairs to the ‘Paper Garden’… to see what blossomed on my craft table and in my heart over the weekend!
(Be sure to click on the links for wonderful videos about each Master artist and the great techniques they inspired.)
Inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s beautiful paintings of the night sky, Amy Sheffer led us through an amazing process with paper and ink. I used seven different ink colors to create my nighttime sky. I was fascinated as I watched my inks blend! I gained new insights as I blended dye and distress inks on the same background. Spritzing the background with water created subtle, distant stars and flicking white, acrylic paint added some brighter stars.
Next I painted a tree-lined horizon with black ink and added a sentiment over a loose nest of white thread. In a bit of pure magic, the song ‘Vincent’ (by Don McClean) began playing on the radio, while I worked! ♫ Starry, starry night… ♬ How did that happen? Serendipity, for sure! Working on the starry, night sky also brought back such wonderful memories of visiting the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam.
Supplies I used:
Ink: SU Night of Navy; Ranger Distress: Evergreen Bough, Salty Ocean, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves; Versa Mark, and black re-inker
Paper: Canson Watercolor, cold press, 110 lb
Dies & Stamps: PTI ‘Counting My Blessings’ die; Sentiment stamp: PTI ‘Counting My Blessings’
Also: Neat & Tangled sequins, SU Smoky Slate embossing powder, heat tool, SU Mini Mister, white acrylic paint, white thread, Tombow Mono Multi, ink blending tools, paintbrush
Feeling: Magical! I will never look at a night sky in quite the same way again!
Inspired by trendy, gold embossed stationery and monograms, Danielle Flanders shared her faux gold gilding technique. It was the perfect way to add a bit of sparkle to the morning! I used metallic, gold acrylic paint to add a bit of shine to several bookmarks, hoping that family and friends will feel the a bit of sparkle when they open their mail! The gold paint dried very quickly, didn’t warp the paper, and is really shiny.
Next I created a monogrammed tag. It was fun to combine the simple look of kraft cardstock with a gilded, scalloped tag shape! I’ve never used acrylic paint on my cards before (even though bottles of acrylic paint sit on a shelf in the ‘Paper Garden’). So, this simple project opened a whole new world of possibilities for me!
Supplies I used:
Paper: Strathmore Bristol Smooth, SU Crumb Cake cardstock, SU Vellum cardstock
Dies & Stamps: PTI ‘Tag Sale: Quilted’ die; Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Circle; Monogram: PTI ‘Wet Paint Alphabet Stamps’
Faux Gold Gilding: Plaid ‘Folk Art’ Metallic (Pure Gold) applied with a foam brush
Also: Pop Dots, Tombow Mono Multi, twine, Recollections blue tags
Feeling: Sparkly! Now I’m hooked on adding gilded gold touches!
Inspired by Monet’s beautiful florals, Melissa Phillips shared her white embossing powder technique to achieve a soft, romantic look. Dreamy thoughts of Monet’s garden made me smile. It was fun to watercolor with layers of dye ink over a heat embossed image.
Supplies I used:
Paper: Canson Watercolor, cold press, 110 lb
Ink: SU Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals
Stamps: Wplus9 ‘Spring Blossoms;’ a vintage French script background stamp, Mason Jar (resized)
Dies: PTI ‘Tiny Tags,’ ‘Embroidered Frames: Dots’ die (cut in half)
Also: Ranger ‘Seafoam White’ embossing powder, heat tool, paintbrush, Stamp-a-ma-Jig
Feeling: Joie de vivre! France is always close to my heart! I dream of visiting Monet’s gardens one day!
Inspired by the Pointillism technique of painting by applying tiny, individual dots of color, Heather Nichols shared ways of adding dots of color to stamped images. I heat embossed my floral image to help me stay within the lines. This was a very relaxing way of stamping that gave the stamped image a whole, new look!
Supplies I used:
Paper: Strathmore Bristol Smooth, SU Crumb Cake cardstock, Teresa Collins ‘Fabrications – Canvas’ patterned paper
Ink: SU Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight
Dies: PTI ‘Embroidered Frames: Dots’ die
Stamps: Hero Arts flower, PTI sentiment ‘Choose Joy,’ PTI tiny dots ‘Petite Places: A Walk in the Park’
Also: Ranger ‘Seafoam White’ embossing powder, heat tool
Feeling: So relaxed! Stamping tiny dots in the Pointillism style felt like a meditation!
Inspired by the watercolor Masters, Kay Miller shared her lovely, watercolor techniques. She is a natural and helped me discover exciting ways to use older stamps in fresh, new ways. Such wonderful inspiration for me!! I will be using Kay’s techniques from now on! I created two cards, using different color palettes.
Supplies I used:
Paper: Canson Watercolor, cold press, 110 lb, Recollections heavyweight cardstock
Ink: SU Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, VersaFine Onyx Black
Stamps: SU ‘Too Kind’ (flower petals), Wplus9 ‘Spring Blooms’ (foliage). PTI ‘Sentiment Splits’
Dies: PTI ‘Sentiment Splits: Curved’
Also: Scotch Foam Mounting Tape, MISTI, paintbrush
Feeling: Thrilled! I just love discovering a new way to use an old, favorite stamp set!
Inspired by the graphic designs of Andy Warhol, Lexi Daly shared her technique for using bold, repetitive images to create a graphic design. Since it was well-past midnight, I decided to try this challenge on Sunday afternoon. It was so hard to choose an image. Suddenly, it dawned on me that Color Blocking reminds me of a quilt! Right away, I found the perfect little image to stamp. I chose my deep, rich colors from our Amish quilt hanging upstairs. (Now I know that our Amish quilt is pieced with Not Quite Navy, Raspberry Ripple, Always Artichoke, and Elegant Eggplant!) 🙂
This was my most difficult challenge of all! In fact, it felt like a Math test, as I measured, masked, and mumbled to myself for several hours.
A simple, color-blocked card with a whole lot of heart…
and the perfect sentiment!
Supplies I used:
Paper: SU Whisper White cardstock, Crumb Cake cardstock
Ink: Versa Mark, SU Not Quite Navy, Raspberry Ripple, Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake, VersaFine Onyx Black
Stamps: PTI ‘Quilted Sampler Additions,’ Sentiment: PTI ‘Quilted Summer’
Dies: MFT ‘Wonky Stitch Square STAX Die-namics’
Also: ZING! Clear embossing powder, Tombow Mono Multi, MISTI, Dove Blender Pen, T-ruler, Post-its (and lots of patience!)
Feeling: Relieved! Simple designs can often take the most time!
I still have one more Challenge, inspired by Jackson Pollock‘s drips and splatters of paint, to complete. Lizzie Jones shared great techniques for creating different kinds of spatters and drips. I can’t wait to try this messy technique outside in the garden, on a sunny day. It’s sure to be a fun one!
What an incredible weekend of learning and growing! I’m so grateful for the talents of the entire Papertrey Ink design team. It was so exciting to blossom using their wonderful seeds of inspiration during Stamp-a-Faire 2016… and I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!
Inky fingers can make hearts feel happy ~
the hearts of both the cardmakers and those who receive our handmade kindness!
“It is good to love many things,
for therein lies the true strength,
and whosoever loves much performs much,
and can accomplish much,
and what is done in love,
is done well.”
~ Vincent van Gogh
Paper hugs,
♡Dawn
P.S. Thanks so much for stopping to visit today! What creative things have you been working lately?
Added later…
P.P.S. Welcome Papertrey Ink Blog Hoppers!! I wrote this post to document a wonderful Stamp-a-Faire weekend. After posting, I learned that today was a PTI Blog Hop. More serendipity!! So happy to meet so many Papertrey Ink friends hopping along… ♡
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