Fodder Folders

Hello all!  It's all go round here at the moment, and it's high time I filled you in on some of this month's Fodder School 3 creativity.  We've had a great month of classes from Tiffany Sharpe, and several bonuses - including one from me - and here's some of what I've been getting up to with the mixed media folders and watercolour elements she shared with us.

I actually created two batches of the folders, as I was in a different colour mood when I painted my watercolour elements, so then they didn't really go with the first folder batch... so I needed to make some more!  Here's the first batch... don't get me wrong, I love them.  

The colours were what I wanted that particular day - and in fact, all these colours come from my Fodder School/PaperArtsy curated paint sets.  Mostly from the Background Blues set, but a couple thrown in from Botanical Basics and even one from the Berrylicious Brights.  (All those paint sets can be seen here, and are available from PaperArtsy stockists worldwide.)

I love the texture created by Tiffany's method, and it's great to be making good use of leftover packaging and junkmail... a really inspiring class for the first half of the month.

But then, as I say, when I did the second part of November's sessions, I was in a completely different colour frame of mind, and here are the watercolour elements I created...

I also felt that the blue green folders were done - I didn't really want to add anything extra to them - so now I needed to make some new folders to complement those watercolour botanicals.

I went with neutral tones, mostly greys, and again mostly PaperArtsy Fresco paints.  Because the colours were all much closer to each other in tone, I got a very different look to my folders.

But they were the perfect setting for my watercolour botanicals... and I provided a bonus class sharing how I created those twine closures (they're a little different from Tiffany's closures) as well as that 3D collaging.  

If you'd like to know more about how all of this was made, you can sign up to join in the Fodder School 3 journey at any time.  All the details are here, and I'm pretty sure you won't regret it!  

It works out as less than $20 a month for lifetime access.  You get several hours of mixed media teaching each month from the main teacher as well as surprise bonuses from the other Fodder teachers for the year - not to mention lots of additional inspiration, support and advice on various platforms.  

I hope you're all doing well.  Watch out early next week for some EXCITING LAUNCH news coming your way... I can't wait to share with you what I've been up to behind the scenes for PaperArtsy!  Have a great weekend once it gets here...  Happy crafting, all!

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.  To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. Share the botanical bliss of gardeners through the ages, who have cultivated philosophies to apply to their own - and our own - lives: Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.

Alfred Austin

Watercolour Playtime in my Fodder Journal

Hello all!  Given it's already November, it's about time I filled you in on the second part of October's Fodder School 3 classes... 

Having shared with us how to make the Coptic-bound watercolour journal in the Make Fodder classes of the month, Di Venter shared some ideas for watercolour spreads to go inside as her Use Fodder section.

I'm no stranger to painting the odd watercolour page or two, so I used her inspiration to nudge me into action in a few new directions, and I pushed the boat out colour-wise a bit!

I was inspired by some of Di's fruity pages, by the repetition she often uses in her spreads, by some of her colour playtime, and by her colour block page with doodles inside - though I went my own way with what I doodled!

Take a look and see what I got up to:

And here are just a few close-up details so you can see the gorgeous texture of the handmade Khadi papers I used in my journal.  They took a little bit of getting used to as they are really very rough, but I soon found how that texture could actually help with the watercolour effects (the plum page was the first break-through for that).

I'm already fully immersed in November's classes with Tiffany Sharpe, so I'll try to be back before December to share some of that creativity with you.  

Don't forget, you can of course still sign up at any time for Fodder School 3... all the details and registration are here.

I hope you're all doing well - I've been very busy getting the garden ready for winter... just as well as our first hard frost hit last night.  Off to get the gardening gloves on again now to cut back the roses for over-wintering!  Have a great weekend once it gets here... we've got some snow forecast (but not much).  A good excuse to stay in the craft room!! 

Because watercolour actually moves on the paper, it is the most active of all mediums, almost a performance art.

Nita Engle

Water colours are wet colours in water.

David Hockney

Coptic Fodder!

Hello all!  Today's the day... Fodder School 3 started today!  Yes, the first lesson has "dropped", and we're on the way with this year-long mixed media adventure.  I've just completed my first project, and I'm completely thrilled with the results... not only with the handmade book I've created, but also that I'm already using and exploring products in my stash in new ways.

I've been meaning to try Coptic binding for (literally) years, so I was delighted to follow Di Venter's brilliantly detailed instruction video.  And I was really inspired by the fabric painted covers too... but of course I went my own way design-wise!

I'm sure you won't be surprised to see my PaperArtsy botanicals in action here, but that wasn't my original plan.  I had wanted to do some freehand sketches to paint, but none of the pens I tested wanted to play nicely on the old sheet I was repurposing for my book covers.  I didn't want to risk unexpected ink bleeds, so in the end I decided to stamp with Archival ink instead.

The acorns are old favourites here from EAB25 Acorn Edition, one of the first botanical sets, and the hawthorn berries are from one of the newest - my special Fodder Berry Edition.  

All the colours of PaperArtsy Fresco paint that I've used here come from my specially curated sets Botanical Basics, Berrylicious Brights, and Background Blues.  (You can read more about the special PaperArtsy/Fodder School collaboration products here if you've missed all that.)

Obviously, I can't reveal a lot about how I made this - that would be giving too much away - but I was really happy to find a way to get the Fresco paints to work beautifully on the fabric without buying expensive fabric medium.  (Just google search for alternatives - that's what I did!)

And I'm so happy to have a beautiful home for some long-hoarded sheets of Khadi paper... they give the signatures inside a wonderful texture. 

All in all, I couldn't be happier with my first piece of Fodder-making... I'm looking forward to the mid-month class where Di shares how she "uses" this Fodder. I already pretty much know what I want to do with it!

I hope you all have a brilliant October.  The trees are just starting to turn here, so those autumn colours are definitely creeping in to my artwork now.  Expect to see more...  Happy crafting all!

You can of course still sign up at any time for Fodder School 3... all the details and registration are here.

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.

Wendell Berry (he even has the right name!)

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only a week to go...

The countdown is definitely on now.  Fodder School 3 begins in one week, on 1st October.  I'm so excited about what the year has in store.  My teaching month is not until August 2024, but I'm really looking forward to joining in with all the classes along the way, even though it's going to be hard patiently waiting to share all the details of how to create my berry Fodder and tiny houses...

The Fodder Challenge was very full-on - over 18,000 people worldwide played along.  Here's just a little reminder of a few things I made inspired by the other teachers’ classes… it was a real boost to my creative practice.  Just imagine what a whole year of this kind of input could do for your creativity.

It was extraordinarily inspiring... not just the sessions themselves, from my fabulous fellow Fodder Teachers, but seeing what everyone made after watching those mixed media classes.  And that was only a taster - now we get to dive in properly with each of the twelve teachers.  Take a look at the trailer for added temptation...

(In case it's not working in your browser, you can click this link to view the trailer on my YouTube channel.)

You can still sign up for this amazing year of Fodder creativity - all the details are here: Sign up for Fodder School 3.  I think it's going to be an incredible adventure. I've just remembered that I created a little personal trailer for my Berry Houses, so why not take a look at that too while you're here?!

 

(Again, if it's not working here on the blog, take a look over on my YouTube channel via this link.) I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Sunday, and I'll be back soon to share some more of what's been going on in my craft room over the summer (not quite as much as usual, but still plenty!). Happy crafting, all!

The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before. 
Neil Gaiman

A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.
Elizabeth Gilbert

Brand new Summer Botanical stamps at PaperArtsy

Hello all!  I'm so thrilled to be sharing my newest stamp sets by PaperArtsy over on their blog this evening, and also live with you on Facebook in the PaperArtsy People Group at 8.30pm Europe, 7.30pm UK, 2.30pm Eastern, 11.30am Pacific - but you can always catch up later too!  I couldn't be happier to introduce the three new sets: EAB33 Strawberry Edition, EAB34 Cornflower Edition and EAB35 Currants Edition.

The three new sets of Botanicals are full of summer's beauty and bounty, just as the fruit starts to ripen - maybe even starting to look towards autumn.  They complete the seasonal year of these herbal, theatrical, historical, botanical collections, and I couldn't be more proud of all of them.  

I'm so grateful to everyone at PaperArtsy for their hard work and their support... it really is a joyful collaboration.

I hope you'll hop over to the PaperArtsy blog to enjoy the (many) pictures of the (many) samples I've been creating!  Watch the Live Launch here - and apologies for the squished formatting.  It was perfect for the first couple of seconds and then Facebook wrecked it.  (I'll share the link here afterwards, as always).

And I hope you didn't miss yesterday's blogpost about the amazing BONUS stamp set and curated paint collections I've created as part of a wonderful PaperArtsy/Fodder School collaboration... It's been all go around here lately, hasn't it?  I'm now looking forward to a slightly quieter August!

Have a wonderful week, everybody, and happy Summer!

I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies.
Toni Morrison

If it could only be like this always—always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe.
Evelyn Waugh

Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by someone I do not know. I admire lolling on a lawn by a water-lilied pond to eat white currants and see goldfish: and go to the fair in the evening if I'm good.
John Keats