PaperArtsy

ATC's in Series with Seth Apter stamps {by Floss Nicholls}

2026-04-15T18:00:00.005+00:00

Hello everyone, Floss here with you today...

Would you believe, of all the years that I have been creating mixed media...or art in general even, that I have never made a batch of ATC's?! Today I changed that and made some in a series using Seth Apter rubber stamps.

The first thing I did was mark out my paper and added washi tape to give me a grid which left me with a clean white 3mm border all round the ATC card. I used a standard playing card size. I then used a palette knife to add PaperArtsy Seaglass acrylic to areas of the grid.

Closely followed by gesso onto some areas over and clear of the Seagrass and let that dry before sprinkling infusions onto newly wetted areas...

I worked it with a large watercolour brush to spread the colour...and leave puddles.

I used one of the stamps from the Seth Apter set ESA49 to stamp text to cover more than one ATC card so that only parts of the stamp were visible on a few of the cards.

I did the same kind of positioning with the circles stamp from the Seth Apter set ESA50, but instead of using ink, I painted the stamp with PaperArtsy's Blood Orange Acrylic to bring some contrast colour in.

And again using the feather leaf shape stamp using ESA49 and Pine Grove Fresco Finish Acrylic.

The long thin shape worked beautifully across two cards as well as the length of one card...it really did not matter that it went over the taped borders as I would be peeling them off at the end.

I used opaque vanilla WOW embossing powder for extra details. I used parts of the rubber stamp cross as well as whole crosses from the Seth Apter set ESA49 on the cards. I heat set the powder making sure all the powder had melted.

I felt like some of the embossed words needed something more...

and so I decided to use my palette knife to smear PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Squid Ink Acrylic over them...

I thought this made the words 'pop' a little more.

Once all the embossing and stamping was completed I was able to remove the washi tape...some of which I would keep for another project as it had some great textures on it!

I really liked how using the tape separated and spaced the design elements leaving a crisp edge which is very unlike me. I usually favour ripped or overspill edges!

Rather than using a guillotine or paper strimmer I decided to rip the borders against a metal rule. I tested which way to rip first so that I had the 'cleaner rip edge' I found that pulling the card image part worked best for my preferred outcome.

After I had separated the cards, I rounded the corners, edged finished them and finally added some of the 'squiggly lines' from stamp set ESA49 and embossed them using Opaque vanilla Wow embossing powder.

Well that's it for now...

Much love,

Floss x x x

If you are in the UK somewhere near East Sussex then you'll find me in my workshop as I have a few mixed media classes coming up.

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Mixed Media classes with Floss in East Sussex UK

Embroidered tea towels with Minis {by Riikka Kovasin}

2026-04-13T18:00:00.010+00:00

Hello everyone, Riikka here with you today for a project that combines stamping, fabric paints and embroidery! You can include all three or any combo of them in your take.

I'm working with Minis in this project and combined several ones to make a bigger design. My focal point is a portrait of a lady (MN10), which I chose because of the nearing Mother's Day. I used two flower stamps to create a wreath around her, the more delicate bloom, with tiny flowers (MN67) and a strawflower (MN68). Inspired by the upcoming holiday I also added a crown (MN40) to finish the circular design.

When choosing colors for my piece, I drew inspiration from my grandmother's embroidery work. I recall her having a lavishly decorated cloth covering the towels in use. It was embroidered only using blue thread in the shade of cobalt or lapis. I went for a more muted tone in my choice and picked up Fresco Finish Baltic Blue (FF07). To compliment the blue, I also chose to use a touch of green, Fresco Finish Beanstalk (FF182). If you study the materials photo closely, you see how I turned these acrylics into fabric paint, but let me guide you through my make!

This time I started my process with an intricate cutting task. While this is the actual first step I did, I also wanted to include it here as a reminder. Putting it bluntly: stamps are tools. Most of the times you can mask areas or use other methods to hide parts of the design, if you wish to stamp a specific area. However, sometimes it's also handy to grab a pair of scissors and cut the design into smaller pieces. Like in the case of this Mini (MN128) with a plethora of little designs. While in this case the cutting of the bigger plate is kind of obvious, just remember that it can be applied to bigger stamps as well.

In this project the first layers are also the focal points as well as quite monotone! I chose to use a black ink for the design and add color through painting and embroidering. However, you can use different ink colors during this stage already, especially if you are not thinking of adding anything extra to your project. A multicolored stamped design can be highly effective decoration on a tea towel!

When thinking about the position of the decoration, I went with the traditional placement. I was first thinking of adding the decoration to the top of the towel for practical reasons as one might dry hands more often to the hem. On the other hand, if stamped to the top, the embellishment would be partially hidden when hanging from a hook as the fabric drapes. So, I decided to follow tradition and decorate the end of the towel.

So, my first layers were done using a black ink meant for fabric. I started by stamping the focal image - the lady (MN10) on my tea towel. Next, I then stamped the crown (MN40) hovering above her head, kind of in British royal cyphers.

When I stamped the blooms, I tried to manipulate the stamp to be more curved. I pressed the bloom bit first delicately to the towel while holding the rest still up. I then warped the stamp to form a curve when pressing the stem down bit by bit. With the delicate flower (MN67) it worked fine, but with the strawflower (MN68), as the design is bulkier, it was harder.

To finish the design and hide the straight edges in the lady (MN10), I finished my towel embellishment design with the tiny stamps cut loose (MN128). I used the two text stamps to stamp over the lady so that the script kind of frays the edge.

Now that I had my design stamped, it was time to add some color and texture to it.

This technique is really easy as it is just mixing. But while the technique itself is effortless, the impact may be a huge one!

So, maybe you have a great Fresco Finish color and would like to use it for a T-shirt or to another item of clothing? Of course acrylic paint will stick to almost anything, but especially in a surface that bends and moves, it's handy to add some elasticity to the paint. This way it will handle the washing and using better. How to do it? In comes a fabric or a textile medium! To simplify things, it's a transparent fabric paint, which you can add to your acrylics (or even watercolors) to turn them into fabric paints. Vey handy, don't you think? The possibilities of your Fresco Finish paints just got bigger!

Following the instructions on your medium, mix the medium with your choice of paint. Mine had 1:1 ratio and as I didn't need much, I just added two drops to a piece of waxed paper and mixed them together using a palette knife. I wanted a limited color palette, so I picked up just a blue (FF07) and a green (FF182), but you can use as many colors as you like!

I then used a delicate brush to add hints of color to my stamped design. I added the blue to the flowers - both the delicate ones and strawflowers and green to the leaves. I also put some dots of color to the crowns.

I then let the paints to dry and went rummaging for some embroidery thread for a next step...

Before threading my needle, I ironed the towels. Both the ink and fabric paint need to be heat set in order to be washable. As I wanted to make sure the design is properly set, I chose to do this step before adding any embroidery. I feared that the ironing might flatten the stitches too much as I didn't dare to risk to be too delicate. Remember to choose a temperature fitting to your material and iron according to your mediums instructions. I ironed my towels for several minutes.

Note that the picture is taken after I've already ironed the image from top and bottom. When doing the first pass from the top, I used a baking paper on top of the motif.

Like I said in the beginning, in your make you can decide if you want just the stamping, stamping and fabric paint, or all three: stamping, painting, and embroidery. To me the latter brings an extra finishing touch to the project and adds texture.

For the embroidered details I used two colors of embroidery floss - blue and green matching to the Fresco Finish paints I had used. I also used a thin golden thread. I concentrated my embroidered details to the flowers and even avoided adding any stitches to the leaves. I chose this because I wanted to really highlight the blooms.

You don't have to be an embroidery wizard to add some interest to the design. I used back stitch, French knot and (poor) satin stitch in my towels. Remember, embroidery is kind of your handwriting on a piece. Even a little bit can make a great impact, shout your handprint in a finished piece. The project is hand made and whimsical stitches tell a personal story.

While I concentrated the embellishments to the flowers, I felt the crowns needed some highlighting. I had painted the pearls of the other crown green and then used satin stitch to cover them. However, I had painted the pearls of the other crown blue and wanted to add a touch of green to that towel as well. After stitching a couple of back stitch lines there, my gaze fell upon a spool of golden sewing thread. It added just enough "something" to the crown! I also used the same thread to give the lady an earring using a couple of French knot stitches.

After finishing the embroidered details I then ironed the towels again to get the wrinkles out that the embroidery caused. This time I used a more delicate touch as I didn't want to smush the puffy embroidery.

Here the two finished towels are! This project is quite a straight forward one, but I hope the substrate and mixing of paints will inspire you to try something new. Even if you don't want to create a tea towel or another fabric item, try adding hand stamped pieces of fabric to your mixed media work or use a stamped and embroidered focal point in your next card.

I'm happy how these towels turned out as they capture the air of my grandmother's towel but with a modern twist. Maybe it's the limited color palette, the flowers or the ladies, but I feel that I accomplished what I set out to do!

I mentioned the different stitches earlier. In this picture you can see several different ones. There on the top, on the pearls of the crown is the satin stitch. As you can see, it's quite haphazard, but I still like it. It adds a personal touch to the crown and highlights the design. The French knot stitches were an fitting solution to the delicate flowers. These stitches are easy to do and add a great texture. They even turn the flower design a bit lavender-like, don't you think? The strawflowers got some stitches to mimic the petals. I didn't want to use satin stitch here as I wanted part of the stamped design to show.

Remember I wrote about hiding the edge of the focal lady with stamping? Underneath you can see how I did it in the other towel. As I was using just one color, I stamped the little designs partly on top of the lady so that the added visual texture hid the straight line of the stamp design. As the lady stamp (MN10) already included a bit of text, this worked nicely.

Minis can be mighty. Even though the individual stamps may be small in size, by combining them you can create bigger designs. This also allows you a lot of creative play and freedom - each take can be a bit different, an individual representation of your inspiration.

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely day!

xoxo Riikka

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3 Things - Fussy Cut Fish {by Zoe Hillman}

2026-04-12T18:00:00.010+00:00

Hi everyone, it's Zoe Hillman with you today for a 'With 3 Things' challenge post.

This feature on the PaperArtsy Blog is where 3 identical items are sent to 3 members of the PaperArtsy Blogging team. Typically we will receive a stamp, a stencil and a colour product.

We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send, the whole idea of this challenge is to do something crafty in our personal style with these 3 items.

We can incorporate other PA products into the mix if we feel it is necessary.

So let's take a look at what I received from PA HQ ...

PaperArtsy HQ sent me some fantastically fun Kate Crane products which included 3 mini stamps, KCM006, KCM008 and KCM021. A stencil, which was a special limited release for Simon Says Stamps STAMPtember event PSSSS25 and a bottle of A Bit Jaded Infusions.

Kate Crane's designs always inspire me to "play" and I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to make when I started, but I knew I was going to have fun. I wanted to create lots of elements using the gorgeous products I had been sent and decide how to assemble later.

I used the A Bit Jaded Infusions to create backgrounds which I later cut down for finished pieces. I love infusions, you need such a tiny sprinkle and a spritz of water to create these incredible inky backgrounds and you never get 2 backgrounds the same, which I personally love.

I love using my gel plate to pull backgrounds, especially with paints. I used the stencil PaperArtsy sent me and some of their Fresco Finish Paints in Coastal and Pumice. I brayered the pumice Fresco Finish paint onto my gel plate, allowed that to dry and laid the stencil over the top and brayered the coastal Fresco Finish paint through the stencil. To lift the background I used another thin layer of the pumice Fresco Finish paint.

I cut down the gel plate background I lifted, stamped and fussy cut some stamped images from mini stamp KCM008 and coloured with a gold pen, before assembling.

As well as using the stencil to pull backgrounds off my gel plate, I blended Distress ink through the it and, holding the stencil in place, lightly spritzed with water to create a mottled effect.

Using a stamp from the new Hot Picks HP2601 stamp set from PaperArtsy, I stamped through the stencil with Archival ink. I don't use a stamping block for this as I find it's easier to push the stamp through the stencil with my fingers.

I used part of the background I created with the infusions, cut down and stamped with hearts from mini stamp KCM021. Mounted onto the stenciled background and finished off with a Stabilo Aquarellable pencil to add some shadow detail. Kate Crane introduced me to this pencil in her class that I took and it's something I use a lot now.

I stamped fish from mini stamp KCM008 and watercoloured, then fussy cut, carefully, very carefully! I know fussy cutting isn't everyone's jam, but I find it really relaxing and very much enjoyed the challenge of fussy cutting around the intricate hanging hearts.

I used the A Bit Jaded Infusions to add some colour to a background and stamped on top with mini stamp KCM006 ready to create some sentiments for my finished cards.

You can probably tell how much I was enjoying stamping and fussy cutting the hanging hearts from mini stamp KCM008. I stamped lots and fussy cut ready to add to a background I created with the A Bit Jaded Infusions and cut down.

Here are my assembled pieces using a variety of the backgrounds I created and the stamped images I fussy cut and watercoloured. These are ready to send to friends.

Here are some close ups of my fin-ished cards.

And of course, I had to make some mini moos as, to me, these are a Kate Crane signature piece and I was lucky enough to take a class with her a couple of years ago where she introduced me to this cool tiny creative format and I've become obsessed with them.

I have loved this challenge and as I suspected when I began, I had a lot of fun creating with these cool products from PaperArtsy and Kate Crane. I hope you've enjoyed my post and it inspires you to create something.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe

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