PAPER ARTS CLUB
Holiday Meeting!
November 30, 2016
 
Our holiday meeting has 3 unique components:

Swap:  Make 15 Gift Card Holders
We talked about whether to make tags or something else and we decided to make Gift Card Holders instead!

Bring a handcrafted gift bag:   Fill the bag (store bought or made from scratch.  It doesn't have to be a bag!  It could be a tin, a cool box, something re-puposed, etc.)  Place a minimum $5 worth of paper crafting supplies inside that you yourself would like to own!  Split up packages of new items, cut up cool papers, ribbon, new/gently used stamps, etc.  Show us how creative you are!!!!

Bring a food munchy or dessert.  This is optional and we always have a generous turnout of food!  The Library just asks that we don't bring any hot food in crock pots, etc.

No Everson and No SOTM  

PAPER ARTS CLUB
Cicero Library
September 28, 2016
5:30-7:30pm
$10 Fee

Please bring a Basic Kit as detailed on the right sidebar

Swap:  October Themes - leaves, autumn colors, pumpkins, bare trees, Halloween

Everson:  Halloween

SOTM:  Watercolor Strips
At our last Club meeting, we created an awesome watercolor card that began with a 2-1/2 x 5 inch strip of watercolor paper, 4 Distress ink cubes, an Andy Skinner tree stamp, and the Misti.  I've put the tutorial on my blog, so just click HERE for the link.

PAPER ARTS CLUB
​August 24, 2016

Swap:  September Harvest, Apples, Sunflowers
Everson:  Sunflowers, Apples Any Theme
SOTM:  Stamp Kissing
We had so much fun creating a screen texture on the thank you card below that we'll make it our SOTM Challenge!  Look for a tutorial on this technique August 7th!

PAPER ARTS CLUB
July 27, 2016

Swap:  Dog Days of Summer (Any themed animal card!)

Everson:  Hot, Hot, Hot Colors (Any theme)
​
SOTM:  Stamp with Paint

PAPER ARTS CLUB

May 25, 2016
Cicero Library
5:30-7:30pm
​Fee:  $10

Swap:  Masculine (Any Theme)

Everson:  Father's Day

SOTM:  Backgrounds!

For the Stamper of the Month (SOTM) challenge, we are creating a background using Distress inks, watercolor paints, Tombow markers or any other medium you desire.  Once you've created a background, then build your card!  

Here's a sample of Jane's background:

​By now, I think you can see how certain background techniques are created.  Above is an example of watercolors blended loosely together without them bleeding too much into each other.

​Below is an example of Tombow markers scribbled onto an acrylic bloc and misted prior to pressing the paper over the block.  Here I used Tim Holtz watercolor paper, but try this technique with whatever you have on hand.  Click on the card for the tutorial by Heidi Blankenship (JustRite Papercraft).  She also shows this technique using Distress inkpads!

Though our April meeting is the third Wednesday (it's usually the fourth Wednesday), there are four Wednesdays from our March 23rd meeting, so it all works out!

Here's our little 'assignments' for April's meeting:

Swap:  Feminine (Any Theme)
Everson:  Mother's Day
SOTM:  Decorate an Envelope

​Jane has come up with a fun challenge to decorate an envelope!  Here are some samples to get your creative juices flowing:

She also decorated some of the envie fronts!

So have fun with this!  Go on Pinterest for more ideas.

As far as card projects, I'll continue to bring you techniques using watercolor.  Rosalie shared an amazing DIY stamping tool using a CD case.  Find the link HERE.  I love the ingenuity of crafters!!!  Somewhere I have a bunch of CD cases that I purchased for the CD calendar class a few years ago.  I would love to bring this stamping tool project to club in April!  We're also going to be taking a walk down yesteryear bringing back some wonderful stamping techniques.  More to come...

xoxo,

LYN

Coffee cards are so on trend right now!  (Don't worry tea drinkers, we'll have a highlight for you later!)  I'm using up the last of my Prima flowers that I swear I had about 1,000 of!!!  This card is so much fun.  A little doodled border will add the final touches!!!

If you weren't at our last meeting in November, can you please shoot me a quick email that you are attending the March meeting?  It helps me tremendously in making kits.

xoxo,

LYN

Yesterday's Paper Arts Club meeting focused on Stampendous products and boy was it ever fun to just play with all these wonderful images!  Here's a small sampling of what we made at Club along with my swap card.

I absolutely love this Rain Dance cling image!  It says so much and works with several themes.  The card front is colored with Gelatos and then the very top was scribbled with the darkest Gelato (Blueberry), spritzed with water and allowed to drip.  Once dry, the panel was cut down to 5 x 4.  I used Stampendous Mixed Media paper for the Gelato colors.  The card base and dotted strip are A Muse.  Ribbon (May Arts).

Here's a photo of the Gelatos I used:

The next card turned out really watercolor-y with the Gelatos!

To achieve the soft watercolor background, I used 3 Gelatos (Mango, Red Cherry, Lemon) scribbled directly onto the Blossom Bunch rubber cling, spritzed with water and then stamped.  The process was repeated as necessarily and omitting the stems from being stamped.  While the impressions were still wet, color was pulled from the flower centers with a paint brush.  The ATC size sentiment panel was edged with Gelato and color blended toward the center with a dry make up wedge sponge.  The same was done to the outer card front edges.  Even the tiny flowers (A Muse) were lightly spritzed onto a craft sheet and with the paint brush applied directly to the Gelato, color was 'painted' onto the flowers and allowed to dry.  The wonderful Flower Path sentiment was stamped with Archival Black.  Tiny pearls (A Muse) were added to the flower centers.

Here's the Gelatos I used, but keep in mind any color combination works!

The last card was my swap card that incorporated a Dreamweaver Big Dots Stencil.  Dreamweaver's Graduated Dot Stencil would work just as well also.

For this card, the mixed media paper was prepped with gesso, which really changes how Gelatos blend.  I prefer working with gessoed paper but don't always have the patience to stop and prep.  I did invest in Gesso Spray (Krylon), which is really fast and works great.  I try to do batches of papers outside, as the fumes are bad.

The Gelatos (Mix & Match Blues) were scribbled using 3 different colors in 3 rows.  They were blended with my finger.  I laid the Dreamweaver Big Dots over the colored panel and wiped color away from the holes with a baby wipe.  My baby wipe was really juicy and the moisture seeped under the stencil but I rather liked the less crisp result.  The stencil still had Gelato color on it so I pressed it into another wipe piece of prepped paper to get the negative.  That is the panel you see behind the butterfly panel.

Once everything was dry, I stamped the Butterfly Pattern with Versafine Onyx Black.  In hindsight, I would choose to use Staz-On or Archival Black as the Versafine had to be heat set and then I sprayed a Workable Fixative (Krylon) over it as it still was smudging.  Banner Birthday Assortment sentiment to the rescue to cover up a smudge!  Ribbon (Hug Snug), card base and banner papers (A Muse).

Here's the Gelatos I used for this card:

Hope this post inspires you to dig out your Stampendous stamps, stencils and Gelatos!

Lyn