Welcome to today's Exchange Day !

Hello, it's Sue here and today is the first of the ATP Exchange Days. On these days one of the team will share their explorations with a product, a technique or a step by step. I'm kicking these days off with a mixture of everything ! I have been fascinated by all the different kinds of books that you can make and was deteremined to have a go ! The book I'm sharing with you today is created from a 12 x 12 piece of card.

I started with a piece of cream card 12 x 12 card, folded it in half and then folded in half again. I then cut along the creases up to the last square alternating which end I started from.

I then spritzed the card using Colour Bloom sprays, I've listed all the materials used at the end of this post. These sprays are gorgeous !

I then did some stamping using some of the new Ellen Vargo stamps with Watering Can and Fern Green Archival inks.

I then turned my attention to the covers, which are made from mount board, I painted them with Toffee Fresco Finish paint and when it was dry I used the Amercana Decor Crackle Medium.

I used cut 'n' dry with Vanilla Fresco Finish paint over the top. Love the crackle ! I found that using the cut'n; dry foam gave a more randon crackle effect.

I spritzed the covers with Worn Leather Colour Bloom spray and rubbed Onyxite Treasure Gold around the edge. 

I then cut some flowers using the Jumbo Tattered Floral die and sprayed them with Sunshine Colour Bloom spray and scrunched the flowers. I also spritzed them with some Worn leather too. 

To shape the flowers I draped them over different size bottles and the ones that I wanted really tight I tied them with some twine. 

I've used twine to fasten the book and before glueing the flower in place I sprayed it with Gilded Colour Bloom.

This is what the book looks like opened out.

I stamped lots of quotes inside the book and used the Dylusions Fancy Florals stamps and I've painted them with Luminarte paints. These paints blend beautifully and as they are designed to stay 'open' for longer you have plenty of time to work with them and can go back over the colours with just a damp brush to blend even further.

I also added some script stamping using a stamp from the PaperArtsy HotPicks HP1303EZ.

It was a little difficult to get a shot of the whole thing as it's so wide !

This was great fun to make and I hope you've enjoyed it too !

Sue
x

Materials used
Colour Bloom Sprays 
Worn Leather
Sunshine
Lime Wedge
Pressed Petal
Gilded

Luminarte Paints
Ginger Peach
Spicy Tomato
Spiced Pumpkin
Love Struck

Dylusions - Fancy Florals
Archival inks - Watering Can, Fern Green, black

Tim Holtz stamps
Going Somewhere
Good Thoughts
Stuff to Say
Merchantile

Tim Holtz - Jumbo Tattered Foral die

Ellen Vargo - EEV09
Fresco Finish paint - Vanilla; Toffee
PaperArtsy HotPicks HP1303EZ.

Treasure Gold - Onyxite

Americana Decor Crackle Medium

Altered Triptych on a hot day !

Hello, it's Sue here and after a few technical hiccups (thanks Windows 8!) I'm here to share the Altered Triptych class that I took on Saturday. It was a very hot day here in the UK but the  6 lovely ladies, and helper !, soldiered on regardless !

The ladies soon got down to business and lots of Fresco Finish paints were swapping hands on the table.

 Then it was time to do some stencilling !

 You can just see Elaine's fabulous project coming together on the above photo.

Once all the stencilling and stamping was done it was time to put together the embellishments including a metal rose.

 Things are really starting to come together now !

Unfortunately, time did beat us but Ruth managed to add all of her embellishments and I grabbed a quick snap ! The colours everyone used were gorgeous !

A really fun day despite being a little on the warm side ! A big thank you to Jamie for keeping us watered throughout the day.

Sue
x

When the Heart Speaks part 2 !

Hello, it's Sue here sharing with you the beautiful projects made by the 5 lovely ladies who came to my When the Heart Speaks canvas class on Saturday. This was a second sitting, if you like, as the first class sold out.

This is how neat the table was before we got started !

Then it was eyes down and lots of concentrating !

Getting really serious now the paints are out !

Here is Mel's beautiful creation, can you believe she'd never done anything like this before !

Cheryl really took to the Fresco Finish paints and loved blending them to create this stunning piece.

Carolyn fell in love with stencilling and we had a hard time finding a sentiment that wouldn't cover it up !

Eileen wanted to use vibrant colours and I think the blues look absolutely beautiful !

Last but not least is Di who used these beautiful shades of green, love the pop of blue too !

A great day and great company, lots of laughing and some very messy hands at the end which is always a good sign in my book !

Sue

The Magic Sketchbook Workshop with Sue Carrington

I have just had the the most Super Sunny Saturday, thanks to Sue and 6 wonderful ladies that have kept me entertained all day.

Sue was teaching the class here at Artist Trading Post, and was joined by Sheila, Ruth, Diana, Rose, Lynda and Jill.

All though I wasn't teaching the class or taking part, I enjoyed the banter, the shared knowledge and of course the good company.

The workshop was to create a journal cover, using mainly Paper Artsy Stamps and paints, with stencilling and individually designed metal work.

The Pink Pig book was larger than most ladies thought it was going to be, so there is plenty of scope for journalling, doodling or turning into a scrapbook album, the sky's the limit.

This is Sue's Sample on a large Pink Pig Landscape book, showing how she builds up the background  layers using Paper Artsy paint, stencilling and stamping with Archival Ink. Then adding metal embossed with 10 Second Studio Tools and other embellishments.

Here's Sheila, Ruth and Diana working hard.

Sue happy in her work and doing a wonderful job.

Jill, Lynda and Rose also busy.

Rose's book cover using various Lynne Perrella stamps, Paper Artsy paints and lots of Crafter's Workshop stencils in the background.

Diana's Cover  using some of the Limited Edition Paper Artsy Paints (which we should have in stock next week)

Lynda chose to go purple.

Sheila went a bit different using the New JOFY stamps, which are really super.

Here's Jill's the colours are really vibrant, sorry about the picture being a little blurred.

Last but not least, Ruth's stunning cover, you can see the Treasure gold highlighting the grunge paste which has been applied through the stencil's.

Well done ladies and thanks again to Sue for teaching all the lovely techniques.

Sorry for making you stand out in the cold.

Look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Sharon

Catch up and a Happy New Year

Hello everybody and Happy New Year to you all.

Now that Christmas is over I am trying to get back into the swing of things, and I am sure it's the same for most of you.

Because I have not blogged since November I am going to try and do a short recap, we have had some fantastic workshops and also special guests Sue Carrington and Finnabair to show us how to create some super projects.

Here is the box we made with Sue;

This is Ruth's box the colours were very rich brown's and greens, my photo does not bring out the colours.

This is the sample made by Sue.

Here is Sue and you can just see Pam and Marilyn busy at work.

Sheila and Ruth.

The inside of the box, lined and stamped. Sue did a brilliant job of cutting and scoring the liners for the box's before the workshop and they all fit really well.

Here is my box, I really enjoyed being able to take part in the workshop, thank you again Sue and I am looking forward to the next one...

After that came the biggest workshop we have ever organised but not the last, this year we hope to host a few big ones so keep checking our website for more news.

Anna trying to say goodbye to Jack, but he wanted to play more football.

The start of the weekend was made even more exciting with Leandra from Paper Artsy kindly demonstrating at our shop, here is Ann and Helena watching the process of building up layers with chalk acrylics, stamps and stencils.

Onto the Finnabair workshops and this is the start of my picture before any gesso, paint or sprays. you may wonder why my picture is of Finnabair, well my pictures did not turn out so Anna came to the rescue and let me have one of her photo's, Thank you Anna.

Here's Anna going round the class showing her sample of how it should start to progress.

Here is the start of mine, we had to decide what colours we wanted to use and I choose the same colours as Penny because our base colours were very similar. But the end result was completely different. We used Luminarte Primary Element Pigments and the effect it creates will always be different. 

Here are my completed pictures.

Then we had a Paper Artsy workshop, using as much PA products as possible. So there was 

Electica Chipboard Shapes ES06

Lynne Perrella Stamps no 22

Lin Brown Stamps no 1 and 3

Paper Artsy Paints and Treasure Gold

we also used 

Sizzix Vintage Valise and Sized Arches to make the inner frame.

Route 52 Half Tree Trunks to make the outer Frame along with Kraft Cardboard (greybeard)

The Crafters Workshop Stencils 

TCW280 Blazonry and TCW363 Diamonds.

And here is Jamie enjoying his trifle at Chatsworth House where we had our works christmas meal.

New workshops are being added to the section now, with Sue Carrington coming up first on Saturday 22nd February with a wonderful altered Pink Pig Landscape Sketchbook class called Sketchbook Magic

Thanks all for your patience and hope to see you soon x