The Gift of Reading for PaperArtsy!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven! Tonight I'm happy to be back over at the PaperArtsy blog with a recycling project using Jofy and Lin Brown's new Frescos, Lin Brown stencils and lovely stamps by Sara Nauman and Darcy Wilkinson! This blog post is just to give anyone who would like it, a little more detail on how I created a gift folder from corrugated packaging courtesy of a famous internet supplier of books!

Anyone who stops by Magpieheaven regularly will know how much I love books! Next to craft materials, I just can't resist them and I love to give books as gifts to my friends and family, carefully selecting stories I hope they will enjoy. 

I usually like to buy my books from independent book shops or charity shops; so my friend Dominique in Belgium has been collecting corrugated wallets for me! Here is the first stage of my project. The cardboard is gessoed ready to add some of these beautiful new PaperArtsy colours. As you can see, some of the top layer of the card peeled off with the postage labels. This was great, as it really creates texture!

Here is a close-up of my background. I began by painting the whole wallet with Chalk Fresco. I then brayered with Slate, Marlin, Plum and Turquoise, drying with a heat-tool after each layer. I stamped the script from Sara Nauman's plate in Hint of Mint and stencilled Lin Brown's flowers in Chalk with Turquoise shifted over to the side a little to create just a hint of 'bumping'. I created the circles by dipping a fabric conditioner lid into little puddles of paint: Chalk, Turquoise and Inky Pool. Finally I gave everything a wash of Cherry Red. I also stamped another Sara Nauman design in Turquoise. I loved this because it really echoed the corrugated card patterns. Treasure Gold in Rose Quartz and Sapphire plus a little White Fire really accented the texture.

For interest on the cover of my package I stamped Sara's hearts on card and on tea bag paper, coloured with Inktense pencils.

I stuck the tea-bag paper over the card and then cut out the hearts, accenting them with Sapphire Treasure Gold and Aged Copper Frantage.The leaf was stamped in Turquoise paint and sprinkled with Clear UTEE then tipped with Aged Copper EP and it's another one of Darcy's from EDY08. The wooden word is from Prima.

 Sara's Charles Dickens sentiment seemed the perfect words to go with the gift of a book. I stamped it onto painted card using Wendi Vecchi  Red Geranium Archival and sealed with several coats of PaperArtsy Satin Glaze.

I edged the folder with my own Washi tape  created from masking tape painted with Turquoise, stamped with Darcy's leaf and stencilled  with Lin Brown's poppy heads in Slate and Chalk. I slightly varied the design on the Washi tape inside the folder, using Darcy's lovely little birds in flight. As you can see, I also stamped Sara's corners out with Versamark and  embossed them with Aged Copper: I really liked the effect of this.

The little tag is attached with a white eyelet and a greeting can be written on the back. 

I created the circles by dipping the fabric conditioner lid in Versamark,  pressing into the tag and then sprinkling with Aged Copper Embossing Enamel.

Here you can see the book under the flaps. I used some PaperArtsy tissue with script on it to line this part of the folder.

It was not easy to photograph the inside of the folder, but I hope this gives some idea of how everything fits in! I lined under the flaps with some of the lovely tissue available from PaperArtsy, stuck down with Satin Glaze. When it was all ready to have the book popped in, I fixed it in place with a little low-tack sticky pad. Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today and looking at my book gift folder. It would be lovely if you could have a go yourself at using some of these techniques and linking them up with PaperArtsy this month! There's the chance to win a voucher to spend on beautiful PaperArtsy products! Have a lovely day and a really creative month.