Fun With PaperArtsy (JOFY) Stamps

Hi Lynn with you today - I have been having fun with my JOFY PaperArtsy Stamps. There are plenty of these in the Papermaze shop. I had all my beads and jewellery making materials in a huge under-bed storage box and it always took time to find what I wanted. I had a sort out and once I had organised the content and thrown out the rubbish I was able to fit what was left into an IKEA - MOPPE mini chest of drawers. Mine was old and in need of attention but they are still available - just follow the link.

Here is my finished box - I will show you the main stages to create something like it.

Front

Right end

Left End

Top

The box needed cleaning out - it had had other craft materials and some ink had spilled and some drawers were a little glittery, so a light rub down and vacuum out. 

Then I primed the whole box with a white chalk furniture paint left over from another project. When this was dry, I mixed acrylic paint (Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Paints) so that I could work in an Ombré effect working from green for the grass through to blue for the sky - I didn't want a defining line between the two.  This has to be done quickly as the paints dry fast. I sponged in a little white to suggest clouds. Using PaperArtsy JOFY stencils I added some wild grasses with the white paint.

Once this was dry I stamped the images I wanted onto the box -  this was tricky over the draws but I didn't worry too much as I was planning to cover the images with paper ones. I wanted to stamp the images on so I had the tiny details that are almost impossible to cut from paper, such as thin stems, insect legs and antenna. 

As I used each stamp I re-inked it and stamped it onto a good quality cartridge paper, nothing too thick as I needed it to be easy to cut, and flexible when sticking to the box. 

Next I coloured my images using Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Markers. I applied the ink to the messy mat and used a water mister to mix and a paint brush to colour the images. Once dry the images were cut out and pasted over the same image on the box. Where necessary I cut them where they overlapped the edges of the box or over two drawers. (Note to self: - not a great idea to stamp the very detailed fence over two drawers and a support - this was very tricky to cut out let alone paste into position!). 

I used Regular Gel (Matte) Medium, this is an clear medium which glues the paper in place and can be painted over the images to give a translucent water resistant finish. I extended this to the whole box when finished to make it more durable.

For finishing touches I added some dots with Liquid Pearls for flower centres and to create the tiny flowers in the grass. I glazed the wings and other bits with Stickles for a little shimmer.

Thanks for looking
Lynn