Embroidered Flowers Notebook by Jenny

Hi everyone and welcome. It's Jenny here, back to share more ideas for using your PaperArtsy Infusions and the beautiful stamp designs of Kay Carley. Today's project is a fabric covered notebook with embroidered flowers on it. Here's the finished hand bound notebook (front and back);

Here's a short tutorial showing how this came together;

I started by cutting a piece of plain cotton fabric slightly larger than my Eileen Hull Designs Notebook cover. After spraying it with water on both sides I sprinkled a mix of Raspberry, Rusty Car and Golden Sands PaperArtsy Infusions over it, allowing them to react with the water. After leaving them for a little while I rinsed the fabric under cold water to remove any excess ink and then left it to air dry. The longer you leave your ink to react with the fabric initially the darker the final colours will be.

After ironing flat the dry fabric I stamped over it with chalk paints using designs from the wonderful Seth Apter ESA02 stamp set. It is important to clean your stamps immediately after using them with chalk paints to keep them clean for future use.

Some of the smaller flower stems and leaves from Kay Carley's EKC06 and EKC07 stamp sets were stamped onto the fabric using Archival ink and scraps of pink crocheted lace were also glued onto it using Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte.

I then used embroidery thread and different sizes of beads to stitch over the stamped flowers and leaves. Torn strips of tissue coloured with the Golden Sands Infusions Powders were stuck over the top of the lace, again with the Distress Collage Medium Matte before small yellow buttons were stitched in place.

Once the stitching was complete I used dry adhesive tape to stick the fabric onto the notebook cover. To finish the book I stamped a phrase from Alison Bomber's EAB01 stamp set with Archival black ink onto the top corner, twisted a matching tassel for the side and bound some aged paper signatures inside.

Here are some close ups of the finished notebook starting with the front cover;

And now the back cover;

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's projects and feel inspired to try using Infusions with your fabrics. The Kay Carley stamp sets, Seth Apter stamp set and Infusions are available in the Marte store along with lots more PaperArtsy goodies so make sure to check them out.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons)

Floral Tag with PaperArtsy Infusions by Jenny Marples

Hi everyone and welcome. It's Jenny here, back to share more ideas for using your PaperArtsy Infusions and the beautiful stamp and stencil designs of Kay Carley. Today's project is a tag that plays with a number of ways of using the Infusions powders.

Let's see how this tag came together.

The main panel was stamped onto a strip of Dina Wakley Media Cotton Watercolor Paper (which is very absorbent) and I used images from Kay Carley's stamp set EKC06, available in the Marte store. To achieve the watercolour effect with Infusions and your stamp place it onto a stamping block or platform and then rub a little of the dry powder onto the surface of the stamp. I used a couple of colours together to get a colourful effect.

Mist the stamp all over with a little water to activate the dye colour and Walnut crystals in the Infusions powders.

Stamp onto the watercolour paper to reveal the image. You may get blots of ink and water which can be fixed later if you are not happy with them but remember, this is supposed to be more of a watercolour finish rather than crisp stamping.

After adding another stem use the smaller flower stem and apply dry Infusions powder in the same way as before. Mist with water and stamp onto the watercolour paper strip.

Once the leaf stems and flowers are stamped use some of the excess watery ink by splattering a little over the tag with a small paintbrush. Allow the inks to dry completely.

Here's where you get to sort out any blotchy patches you are not happy with; use white and black ink pens (I used Gel Pens) to add in little details like lines and dots, and to go over parts where there is too much ink. The aim is to enhance your stamped images with your own flourishes.

Now stamp two different sizes of dragonflies using the same method and powders as before. When dry tear along the edges to give them a feathered look. I added a few dots of Liquid Pearls to the bodies and hand stitched some lines onto mine at this stage.

Take a single ply piece of tissue and soak it in a little Infusions powder diluted with water. You need very little of the ink to colour the tissue and you can remove any excess with a cloth before drying with a heat tool.

Stamp and emboss across a whole strip of paper with the JOFY JM50 stamp and white embossing powder.

Mist the embossed paper with a little water before sprinkling Infusions powders onto the surface. Apply more water to allow the ink to spread over the whole surface - you'll see the embossed areas resist the ink. Heat set being careful not to remove any of the embossing ink and dab away any excess Infusions.

Here's what your paper will look like when the ink is dry - you'll see how the different colours in the die give a beautiful mottled effect across the surface.

Now for the main tag - I used a Small Tim Holtz Etcetera Tag - cover in blue paper/paint etc (I used a gel printed piece of tissue that had PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints on it). Use collage glue to apply the dyed tissue over the centre of the tag before applying paste/gel through Kay Carley's PS059 stencil.

To complete the tag layer the water coloured strip over scraps of coordinating papers before adding on top of your embossed paper. Layer that onto the tag using a piece of thick card to add some dimension. Add your dragonflies and other embellishments of your choice.

Here are some close ups of the finished tag to show you the details more clearly;

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's project and can see the beauty in Kay Carley's stamp set. The stamps and Infusions are all available in the Marte store along with lots more PaperArtsy sets so make sure to check them out.

Thanks for visiting
Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons)

Under Summer Skies

Hi everyone and welcome. It's Jenny here, back to share more ideas for using Kay Carley's wonderful designs for PaperArtsy and the little bottles of magic that are Infusions. To start I have a tutorial to share showing how to create a home decor panel.

The main idea for this tutorial is to show how you can take a simple pot of white gesso and make magic with PaperArtsy Infusions. In case you've not used them before, Infusions are water soluble particles of dye colour pigment mixed with Walnut Crystals. They can be used to add colour directly onto card/paper and fabric and they can be mixed with other mediums to add a huge range of bright to vintage hues.

For this framed panel I started by mixing a little 'In the Navy' Infusions with the white gesso and a drop of water, mixing thoroughly before painting it all over the panel and frame. They don't need prepping of course because you are using gesso already so that's a real time saver! I've found the less water you use in the mix the brighter the colour you get as the Walnut Crystals are not activated so much. If you want a more muted, vintage look add a little more water - the range of shades is endless!

To add a little highlighting I dry brushed the frame with white paint for that shabby chic look so popular for home decor pieces.

I used the same 'In the Navy' Infusions diluted with water to stain a small piece of tissue. If the colour is too strong blot it before drying. You may be able to see below that the powders are not just blue - there's a little fuchsia in their too.

I used a little collage medium to stick the dyed tissue into the middle of the panel. You can also use matte clear gesso to seal the whole panel at this stage.

To add a dimensional tree to the panel I mixed a combination of 'Slime' and 'Olive Tree' Infusions into some texture paste and spread it through Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stencil PS061. Use both sides of the stencil to get the trees and branches to go in different directions.

I used a mix of the same colour Infusions with more of the white gesso to make a matching paint that could be used to stamp curly fronds from Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stamp Set EKC06 below the tree image.

You'll see below how I mixed more Infusions and white gesso to create more coloured paints for the house shapes (a simple rectangle and triangle) with the 'Raspberry' and 'Violetta' shades chosen this time.

To add some fun detail and a border to the 'house' I used the little PaperArtsy JOFY JM05 Stamp with white embossing powder, adding a little to the edges too.

To finish the panel you'll see from the close up photos below that I've included some white lace below the 'house', some gold Liquid Pearls detailing to the house itself, the words stamped onto a strip painted with more of that 'In the Navy'/white gesso mix and some dragonflies from Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stamp Set EKC06 on vellum.

Now the idea of mixing Infusions powders with white gesso to create a rainbow of colours got me thinking about maybe starting to tackle a much larger project, and I thought it would be good to share that with you (even though it's incomplete for now) as it may give you some ideas for projects of your own.

Having cut a long strip of paper about 18cm tall I painted the background in the same way as the panel above with a mix of 'In the Navy' Infusions and white gesso. With that dry I used the tree stencil and a mix of 'Olive Tree' Infusions with white gesso to stencil all the way along the paper strip.

I used the same mix to stamp some of those curly grasses and seed heads onto the base of the paper strip.

This whole process was repeated, this time with a mix of 'Slime' Infusions and white gesso. Flip the stencil over to make the second layer of trees point in the opposite direction.

Having cut more of those house shapes (again, simple rectangles and triangles) I played with more white gesso/Infusions combinations. You can see from the photo below the colours achieved. Remember, the more water you add the more muted the shades. Once done I added the white embossed stamping and edging seen in the panel.

With the addition of more vellum dragonflies you can see how the border panel is coming together below. I'm thinking of adding hand stitching, maybe some sequins and sparkle to finish. What would you add?

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's projects and feel inspired to give that technique of mixing Infusions with white gesso a go yourselves. The stamps, stencil, Infusions and white gesso are all available in the Marte store along with lots more PaperArtsy sets so make sure to check them out.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons)

PaperArtsy Dragonfly Tag by Jenny

Hi everyone and welcome. I'm so excited to have been invited to join you all here at MarteLAB alongside so many amazing designers. Today I've got a mixed media tag to share with you that features the wonderful designs of Kay Carley. Here's the tag;

And here's how it came together using the PaperArtsy stamp set EKC06 and stencil PS059;

After stamping the large flower stem on a piece of tea stained copier paper with permanent black ink I added the words from the set around the border. A little water was mixed to Insfusions 'In The Navy' and 'Violetta' so I could paint the flowers, first with the Violetta, then with the In the Navy over the top.

After repeating this process on extra layers of paper I cut around them and layered them onto the original to give the flowers more delicacy and depth. The stem was painted with Infusions 'Slime' mixed with water. To finish dots of white gel pen were added to the centre of each individual flower.

I covered a large thick board tag in layers of blue, purple and cream paint and then stamped more of the flowers and stems from the stamp set onto it with permanent black ink. Over the top I stencilled more flower heads with texture paste, painting it after with lime green paint to match the stem in the large panel.

To finish I added the stamped flower panel to the tag with lace trim underneath. The dragonflies were stamped onto painted paper stuck onto acetate so it could be moulded with some heat. To give the dragonflies a shimmery look try using PaperArtsy Metallic Finish Glaze. Finally I tied a large bow onto the top of the tag and glued some iridescent gems next to the stem.

Here are some close ups of the finished tag;

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's project and can see the beauty in Kay Carley's stamp set. The stamps, stencil and Infusions are all available in the Marte store along with lots more PaperArtsy sets so make sure to check them out.

Thanks for visiting
Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons)