NEW {2015} Paper Artsy Products: Eclectica - Lin Brown

Hello to all our readers …

We do hope you enjoyed feasting your eyes on the new paint colours released yesterday over at Paper Artsy. Angus has been busy loading them all up on the web and they will be available later this week for ordering !

Today sees the second day of the series of new product releases for 2015 from Paper Artsy and today it's Lin Brown's new range of Eclectic stamps which have been inspired by her travels to Tobago. These stamps are so quirky and cute and lend themselves to all sorts of projects from cards and art journaling through to 12 x 12 lay outs, pocket scrapbooking, canvas and anything else you might want to do in your studios and craft rooms.

The fabulous limited edition paint set colours designed by Lin and released yesterday,  work so well with her new stamp collection. Can't wait to try it all !

Here's the link to the PaperArtsy blog today where you can read all about it. Their blog post has some fabulous examples using the stamps and the paint colours to create some awesome inspirational pieces to get us going ! First supplies of the stamps are arriving here at Crafters Cupboard from tomorrow and will be up on the website later today for ordering. 

First in, first served, but don't panic - more are on their way. Remember you can email us at customer service@crafterscupboard.com.au with pre orders to ensure you don't have to wait long for your supplies of new stamps and paint.

Keep watching this space for tomorrow's next exciting release, and in the meantime, here's a bit of colour from Lin Brown to brighten your day

Have a good one !

Jennifer

NEW {2015} Paper Artsy Products

Hello to all our blog readers

Exciting news today - it's the release date for the new Paper Artsy range for 2015 - a fabulous collection of over 70 new products including some fab new stencils, paint colours and paint sets as well as additions to the popular ranges of stamps from the Paper Artsy designers including Jo Firth Young, Darcy Wilkinson, Lin Brown, Liz Borer, Sara Nauman and new designer Emma Godfrey. Can't wait to start using all the wonderful new plates and minis that are going to be released over the coming week.

There's something for everyone in the new stamp release, whether you are a card maker, scrap booker, art journaler or into mixed media/altered art projects. For art journalers and scrap bookers there are some great stamps to support your projects and pages, with some great new ideas coming through.

If you follow the Paper Artsy blog, you will have already seen some sneak peeks of the new stamps being used in various projects by the various designers but …. there is so much more to come.

Each morning this week, there will be a new product / designer release via the PaperArtsy blog, so check it out each day to catch up on what's new. I'll be posting a link each morning during the release period to speed up the process for you ! Here is this mornings link for the first release which is …… Paint !! Lots of fabulous new colours, discontinuation of some of the existing basic 72 (let us know if you want to stock up before they go for good - some may already be all gone) and 2 awesome new limited edition paint sets……….

How can you not get excited about fabulous paint colours like these …

and these ……...

The new paint sets are bright and vibrant. There are also 8 new colours in the blues and purples - the PaperArtsy blog has all the detail

Worth noting: Chalk and Slate have previously only been available in sets but are now going to be part of the basic 72 colour range which is great news - they are both very popular colours.

We are expecting our first shipment of product in this week, with another already on order, so please be patient with us if you go onto our web site and find the new products are showing as 'out of stock'. You are most welcome to email us at customer service@crafterscupboard.com.au to place a pre order or to make enquiries regarding stock availability. Rest assured, we will be working to get our stock ready for despatch as quickly as possible, but it is on a 'first come first served' basis, so pre orders are welcome. 

Valentines Mixed Media Card Tutorial - Brianna Fitzgerald

Hello everyone, Bri here ... this month I have a mixed media valentines day card for you using fresco chalk paint and some scrap papers. I really enjoyed making this card, using some of the techniques I've learnt at Crafters Cupboard workshops. 

First steps:
Taking a piece of white card stock I put it through my Sizzix using a flourish embossing folder. Considering my paper was quite thin I put a light layer of Liquitex White Gesso (a) followed by a dry brush of (b) Fresco Finish Paint - Lilac.

(a)

(b)                    

                  

Cutting a small amount of hessian, I lightly coated it with some spray adhesive to stop from fraying. I then ripped up a couple of pieces of scrap paper and adhered them with Liquitex Matte Medium to the card base. Using Fresco Finish Chalk (white) paint I smudged a little onto the designer paper to knock back the patterns.

Next steps:
I then took three Fresco Finish Chalk Paints (Moon Light, Pansy and Pewter) and made each into a mini mister using 1 part paint to 3 part water. Using the sprays I alternated them, spraying the card giving a good layer of paint, drying in-between each colour using the heat gun. Some areas depending on how far I sprayed the paint became quite concentrated so I used a water mister and let the paint run around the card again while using the heat gun to dry the page. The last layer of paint sprayed / flicked on was the Fresco Finish Chalk.

Once the page was completely dry I scrunched the paper up in my hands ripping and curling the edges.

To create the sentiment, I masked off the birds and heart from the Jofy Love Birds Mini 20 and stamped the word "Lovebirds" onto black card stock using Versamark Ink and embossing with Zing White Embossing Powder. Cutting the sentiment using a banner die I then used some 3d tape to stick onto the card base.

Final Steps:
To finish I stuck this card mat onto a slightly larger black card mat with a piece small ripped piece of white floss using Liquitex Matt Medium. This card base was then stuck on a white 5.5 inch x 4 inch card blank and finished off with a couple of purple enamel dots and the wooden birds.

I hope this inspires you to create some mixed media valentines cards this year.

Bri

Introducing Our Second New Design Team Member - Bri Fitzgerald

Hello Everyone

Jennifer here with our next new design team introduction. Today I'm delighted to introduce you to Bri Fitzgerald. Bri has a passion for card making and incorporating Mixed Media techniques to achieve unique, different and special cards. We are delighted to have Bri on our team and look forward to sharing with you some of her projects.

Here's Bri's introduction …..

Hello, I am Bri from Melbourne, Australia. I am married to Jason and we have one teenager.

As a hobby street photographer I was looking for a way to showcase my work when I stumbled onto Project Life, which led me into the paper craft world. While I will give anything a go, I love to create cards and mixed media art & bible journaling. In the last 12 months I've been a keen participant in a wide variety of classes and workshops at Crafters Cupboard and I've learnt an incredible amount from Jennifer and the team. I am very excited to now be part of the new design team for Crafters Cupboard and look forward to sharing my projects with you.

Bri 

Introducing Crafters Cupboard's newest design team member & teacher - Geraldine Pasinati

Hello Everyone

We've had some changes evolving at Crafters Cupboard over the summer holiday season. Lots of VERY exciting things coming up in 2015, so do keep your eye out on this space.

Staff Changes: As many of you already know, Olivia is due to have her second baby in the next few weeks. She has gone on Maternity Leave already, so the 'Customer Service' phone calls and enquiries are managed by Angus. Please call him on mobile 0478 159 608 with any queries you may have.

It's also time for a design team rotation. A big thank you to the existing team for your input over the last few months and best of luck with your new ventures. I'm sure your projects have been well appreciated by our blog readers.

So - on to the new Design Team members who we will introduce over the next week or two, in amongst all the other news that we have to share with you.

First up: Geraldine Pasinati ........

Hello! My name is Geraldine Pasinati and I’m from Melbourne. Australia.

I’ve always been a creative and artistic person. All through my years of schooling I was always focused on art & design and studied many years in order to become an art teacher. I first discovered the world of scrapbooking soon after the birth of my first child and just loved the creative freedom that it offered. I was hooked! 

Now 12 years later I’m a Scrapbook and mixed media artist, teaching my passion and have created for several companies UmWowStudio, Scrapmatts, Kaisercraft, Manor House Creations, Dusty Attic, The Color Room, Pion Design, Antrescrap and Scrapbook Creations Magazine and several more.

I consider myself as an all-rounder, ever evolving, love to try new techniques, getting messy and mostly create layouts, journals, canvases and OTP.

I’m thrilled to become a new Team member here at Crafters Cupboard!

Happy New Year Crafters

Hi crafters it's Naomi here, I hope you all had a great Christmas and are ready for a year full of crafty/arty goodness.

Today I have a quick little fridge calendar project to kick off the new year.

I started with a piece of grey/white board cut to 3 1/2" x 8" and a small tear off calendar.

Next I sponged some Guacamole, Turquoise and Mermaid fresco chalk paint over the surface to give the appearance of grass and sky.

Once the paint was dry I used stamps from the JOFY 10 set. I stamped the criss cross stamp along the bottom where the green is using Sap Green archival ink and the flowers using Jet Black archival ink. I  placed a post it note just below where I wanted to put the calendar to mask off the area so the stems wouldn't poke out underneath.

I then used a yellow and orange inktense block with an aqua brush to colour the flowers.

Next I stamped out the saying on to white card stock with black archival ink and cut it up into smaller sections before gluing it and the calendar in place.

The final step is to put some magnetic tape onto the back and pop it on the fridge :)

I hope you like this little project and have a go at making one yourself.

Cheers Naomi x

Last Minute Christmas Tags

Here is a quick way to make some last minute Christmas tags. I really love the Lynne Perrella stamp sets and here I have used stamps from the sets below. You could use any of Lynne Perrella's sets as they can be deconstructed and reconstructed to suit your tag size.

First I stamped a variety of images on Ivory cardstock using Archival Ink olive and plum, for a traditional Christmas feel.

Then I cut the stamped images apart and fussy cut around them.

I cut my tags out of Ivory cardstock and using gold acrylic paint and a stencil brush, I stencilled through TCW stencil North Star

Now for the fun part! Reconstructing all the lovely images to create my own combination an each tag. I could have made many variations....

....I settled on eight designs....

..the collages were glued with gel medium.  I added some fine gold washi tape and  a few doodles with a gold gel pen.

I was very pleased with the finished result.

Until next time...Lynne