Shiny New PaperArtsy Eclectica Stamps!

Hello everyone!  Well, I promised you more PaperArtsy treats after the New Paints release on Sunday (glad you liked my glass bottles!).  I hope you've been enjoying all the releases over at the PaperArtsy blog this week.  We've already seen new stamps from Lin Brown and from JOFY, and it's time for an Eclectica trio tonight.

You'll find new Eclectica releases from Sara Naumann, Elizabeth Borer and the fabulous Darcy over at PaperArtsy this evening, along with lots of projects created to show them off.  And remember... all new PaperArtsy products are available now from your favourite PaperArtsy stockist.

I'm on Team Darcy and I'm here to share the samples I created using just some of those fab new Eclectica EDY plates.  You might like to check out Leandra's video sharing Darcy's whole release.



I won't show you the stamp images, you can see all those over at PaperArtsy, but I was playing with EDY11 and EDY14 as well as minis EM11 and EM14 too.  Here's a quick look at all my samples, and there are a few close-ups and how-to details down below.  

I got into a whole glossy vs rough kraft vibe... and of course there are my omnipresent book pages involved too.

There's a large plaque layering glossy colour over "naked" kraft... 














A jumbo tag with a trio of ATC-sized cash envelopes...













I couldn't resist a touch of the old candle-jar magic....

There's this perky little fella sitting proudly on his very own ATC...

















And a final jumbo tag working the glossy colour vs naked stamping look.










Obviously, the techniques are pretty similar across the board.

Darcy suggested a colour palette for the team, and while I was delighted to see these much-loved favourites in the list...









... these others caused a slightly wary intake of breath!

But in the end, I really loved taking that step outside my comfort zone, and creating something a bit different for me.  It's nice to find new pleasures!












I started by cutting up lots of the partial book pages left over from my candle book last month and applying them in strips to various krafty substrates - old packaging, the cash envelopes (last used on last year's Darcy samples - must be some kind of link in my head!).  Some I covered partially and some completely.









For the large plaque, I "watercoloured" my central panel, using washes of the blues and greens, and created the jagged bookpage borders for the background panels.













Since I (slightly strangely) don't have a stamp positioner, I had to do lots of very careful stamping and re-stamping of these flowers from EDY11 on the two panels.

I wanted to create the illusion that the images were spilling over the edges, draining of colour as they went.








I was so thrilled with how well I'd managed to line everything up successfully (on four edges, no less), and then I managed to glue it down a millimetre out of place.

I was very cross with myself, but it was too late.  Not an easy moment to embrace imperfection!!











I edged the panels with black and did some penwork around the book pages for more definition.











I just love this sentiment from EDY11...













And to finish off I gave the coloured panel a good dose of Gloss Glaze.

This will not only protect it on its travels (I hope you'll see some of these up on walls at shows and trade fairs over the coming months), but completes the contrast I was after between the shiny colourful areas and the rough natural look.










The little owl (mini EM14) is stamped on book paper and painted.  He then got a coat of Gloss Glaze too, and I fussy cut him and backed him onto stronger card before mounting him on his ATC base.











I love the glow of the translucent colours, and I clear-embossed the sentiment over the black ink.  This gives dimension and a hint of shine to match the gleam of the owl in the sunlight.










For the candle jar, I sponged the paint directly onto the glass, having blended each colour first wit some Satin Glaze to help it adhere.

I stamped over the top using Staz-On in Forest Green, and "coloured in" the images with my paints.  I think over the paint I would've been fine using one of my usual Archival inks, but I didn't have time for a re-do, so I thought I'd go for the safer multi-surface option.










Not all the stamping was perfect, but I quite like the added quirkiness to some of these flowers!










And, as usual, there are two very different looks - opaque in the sunlight...

... or with the glow coming from within.












I love the spiky, jagged alien look of the flowers from EDY14 used on this jumbo tag.












And then you get these cute little "Easter eggs" too.  Or maybe they're going to hatch little aliens and take over the planet... you never know with Darcy!

You'll have seen these little fellas used as tiny trees in one of Darcy's sneak peeks.  For me they're doing duty as leaves on one of my long elegant stems.












Again, all the flowers got a Gloss Glaze finish to really make them glow.













And the sentiment is stamped in black and clear-embossed (unlike the kraft alien eggs, which got left completely "naked").









Finally, my cash envelopes.  You can get these at a pound store - hundreds in a packet - and they're almost exactly ATC sized, making them a nicely quirky option as a substrate.  

And yes, it's probably that word quirky that makes them spring to mind when I'm working with Darcy's stamps!!








I was a bit naughty and left the pinks out on a couple of these creations, so this one makes up for that a bit, with them playing a far more prominent part.

I used book pages on the envelope flaps as well as to create the ground for my flowers (a combination of EDY11, EDY14 and mini EM11 images).











And I layered the trio over a blue-green washed book page background, with a nice sharp black border to finish it off, and tie it in with the rest of the samples.







Do hop over to PaperArtsy where you can see all of the new Eclectica Darcy stamps, and more samples created by members of the PA Crew, as well as by Darcy herself.  And, as I said, it's not only Darcy this evening.  Watch out for new releases from two more designers too... are we spoiling you, or what?!  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be back in a couple of days with more treats, and I'll hope to see you then.

We keep moving forwards, opening new doors, and trying new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney