Ten Years and PaperArtsy Bird Stamps Accordion Book Tutorial

 

Hi friends!  I know it's been far too long.  I have taken a sabbatical for the past year to both care for my mom and recharge my creative batteries.  

My calendar popped up a reminder for June 3 that it was my blogaversary and I looked and saw that it had been ten years since I started SewPaperPaint!  WOW!  

I wanted to share a fun tutorial with you based on inspiration by Karen Stamper and Traci Bautista from this year's Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest.  What fun!  

My friend had spent the weekend with me for some creative fun and we decided to work in our accordion books following Karen Stamper's process of adhering various paper elements and masking/washi tapes to a long accordion paper, then adding inks or watercolor, spraying and letting the drips run free.  Oh my this was fun!  We both made two panels and I could have made ten.  Ha ha!

I really wanted to turn mine into a completed work.  Karen uses her pieces as a base for future architectural drawings, but that wasn't traveling - I've become such a homebody!  

Meanwhile, I was so inspired by Traci's use of a dagger brush and the way she held it upwards to produce beautiful, fluent leaves.  We had used a bottle of liquid watercolor in black by Blick and had a lot left in our little jars days later.  I thought it would be beautiful to add some of the leaves and happily reactivated the dried color with my wet brush.  It worked beautifully, though the black does turn quite blue when very wet.  

I fussy cut my practice pieces I had done on book pages and adhered them for a variety.  

I wanted to add some other imagery, so I picked out a set of Sara Naumann bird stamps by PaperArtsy, ESN66.  I stamped them in Versafine Clair Morning Mist (deep grey).  

This awesome quote is from a Dina Wakely Typed Ledger Sentiment Stack.  

I decided to make covers for my accordion.  I cut chipboard to size and adhered more book pages & even a die cut castoff with Liquitex matte medium.  I braywered white gesso lightly onto each panel.  

Then I mixed a bit of white gesso with modeling paste and spread through two Scrapcosy stencils by PaperArtsy, PS108 and PS319 randomly for added texture.  

I used my very old Fiber Scraps e-z Walnut Ink Tintz (shown at the top of this post) and more of the liquid watercolor in black by Blick to add more drips.  

I cut out another leaf practice piece and stamped another bird to finish my cover.  

I painted the edges of the chipboard with my white gesso, then glued the accordion panel in place and left heavy books on it overnight.  I adhered the Sari ribbon I get from Felt Better on Etsy between the layers.  I am so pleased with the finished result.  I am very thankful to the entire team at Sketchbook Revival, especially Karen Abend for this wonderful journey.  I hope you enjoyed seeing this grungy little art book.  xx, Autumn

Kate Crane for PaperArtsy Colorful Bird Celebration Cards

 

Hi friends!  I'm delighted to be participating in the Topflight Stamps 8th Birthday Blog Hop today.  I’ve teamed up with some great designers to showcase celebratory projects using the unique products available at Topflight Stamps.  Please hop along with us and see all the beautiful talent from this group of amazing designers!  There is a master list of Hop stops on the Topflight Stamps Blog.  We are also Hopping on Instagram! You can start at the Topflight Stamps account @topflightstamps.

Did we mention there will be prizes?

I had a blast getting inky again and thought I'd share some simple steps for you to create your own colorful creation using the new Kate Crane stamps & stencils by PaperArtsy, available at TopflightStamps.com.  

I started by cutting a pair of 5.5" square panels from Bristol card.  Next, starting from lightest to darkest, I tapped my Distress Ink on my kraft mat, gave it a spritz of water and dipped lightly.  I used Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, then Peacock Feathers.  I dried the panels thoroughly between each color.  

Next I took the darling rainbow PaperArtsy Mini Stencil (PM035) and sponged it with Saltwater Taffy and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks using my Blender Brushes.  I tried to overlap the rainbow, sponging it twice with the two colors to create one harmonious rainbow design.  

Next I started stamping, first adding one of my focal images, Kate's Mini Floral Stamp 012 (KCM012), in Versafine Onyx Black.  I stamped an extra pair of flower heads to fussy cut & color.  Then I did some partial stamping onto the panels with Kate's Mini Dots Stamp 016 (KCM016) using Peacock Feathers.  

I stamped Kate's Leafy Mini Stamp 013 (KCM013) around the panels in black and used my brush markers to watercolor within the leaves and on the second flowerheads.  I stamped Kate's lovely Heart Bird Mini Stamp 009 (KCM009) in black as well and colored them, but cut the hearts away when fussy cutting.  I wanted to add a little dimension, so I punched a couple of 2" circles and dipped them in Squeezed Lemonade to create little sunshines.  

Finally, I added stamped sentiments using the Darkroom Door Enjoy Today Quote Stamp.  I hope you've enjoyed these whimsical creations and are inspired to get inky today!  

GIVEAWAY DETAILS
Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without prizes! Topflight Stamps is giving four lucky winners $50 Gift Certificates to the store. Two winners will be chosen from commenters on the blog hop and two will be chosen from commenters on the IG hop. For a chance to win, make sure to visit the stops on the hop and leave a comment by April 1st. Winners will be announced on the Topflight Stamps blog on Thursday, April 3rd. U.S.A winners only due to shipping issues. Good luck everyone!