Painty Papers (Introduction)

 I'm sure this will be one of many Painty Paper blogs. If there were one thing that truly speaks to my soul, its using scrap, junk, crap paper and turning them into works of art with simple everyday items and some cheap (and I mean CHEAP) paints. Its the most inexpensive way to create something beautiful and wonderful with color, texture, and style. Not to mention, colored and patterned paper that is commercially made costs a fortune and I'm sure the production of it is bad for the environment and repurposing papers and household items instead of throwing them away gives you a GREEN advantage to this whole art business.

I'm sure that someday in the future, I will get into details about all of the things that I use in my mixed media painty papers but for now, let's go through a rundown of what these are and what you can use them for. 

**And even if you are a "painty paper" veteran and think you can skip all of this, please don't! I can't tell you the amount of videos I've watched and things I've read about topics I thought I knew about (Painty papers being one of those topics), but come to find out, I was far from an expert! Inspiration and new ideas come from all over, so keep reading before you close out!**

I apologize for so many blue pages - when I grabbed a stack of base coat pages, the majority of them were blue (and maybe I was in a bit of a blue mood anyway). But this brings us back to colored paper. I create my own blue, green, red, orange, yellow, grey, etc. pages and stock pile them. Then, I make holiday pages (Christmas, Falloween, Spring, etc.) and I stock pile them. They work amazing in just about all of the journals, ephemera, ATCs, happy mail I've ever used them for!

So, what is my process?

Let me start by saying its different for everyone - but I will tell you what works for me.

I work in steps. 

Step 1 - the base coat. It is where I scrape, brush, gel print, sponge paint on the paper. These go very fast. Unless I'm painting specific shapes (i.e. squares/rectangles were a big one at one point in my base coats - pictured below)

And these ones here with this gorgeous stencil are among my favorites, so I hoard these ones (and turned them into digis instead).

Below I used some mesh as a stencil.

Step 2 - is really artists choice. Sometimes, I stencil, other times I stamp and alternate between the two depending on the paper and base coat. 

Once in a blue moon, there is nothing after the base coat. Sometimes, they come out so perfectly that nothing else needs to be done. This type of painty paper is called "the unicorns" (just kidding- but they seriously are like unicorns).

Step 3 - same as step 2...using the alternating tool -  stamp or stencil.

Step 4 - doodle, mark making, pastels, crayons, paint pens, pencils, markers... Whatever you can think of... Mark up however you see fit!

What are some things to do with painty papers?

Painty papers are such a versatile tool to have in your arsenal. After a few uses of these babies in your projects, more and more ideas start flooding in until you are a crazy painty person like me who uses these in place of fancy colored scrapbook papers and such.

They work in place of any papers. 

-Backgrounds are especially awesome. It really helps focal images POP when used in collages or on ATCs, mixed media, scrapbook layouts, art journaling, etc.

-Journal pages. I often use book page FOLIOS ( when each pair of pages is pulled from the center of the signature(s) in each book). Then I have a double-wide set of pages which work best for sewing signatures of a junk journal. I'm a real weirdo about proper orientation of the pages in my journals (random upside down oooopsies not included).

-Die Cutting/shape cutting. I always die cut my painty papers and they come out amazing. Sometimes, even the ugliest painty papers looks amazing in smaller chunks. So, don't throw out your ugly painty papers (and if you are hoarding them rather than trash them, trust me, try smaller pieces of the ugly page). Shape cutting is the same as die cutting except you are cutting by hand/punch.

-Greeting Cards. Either torn up and glued onto the card or covering the entire thing, painty papers give greeting cards a real unique, authentic flair. I like to tear corners off and only cover half of my cover diagonally. Or, leave a thin border of the original card and cover the rest of the card with painty paper (I know there's a word for this, but it eludes me at the moment).

-Big Projects. Book marks. Journal covers, focal point of a mixed media piece. You know the projects I'm talking about - the ones that make the pages SHINE. For instance, my favorite pages up there - I have made a few of those into digital images and I print them and use them as covers on some things.

The picture above is of some ATC and inchie bases that I made with some of the uglier papers I had. Smaller pieces make ugly papers look much better most of the time!

I'm sorry for the novel but I'm passionate about everything Painty Papers are and everything you can use them for! I even started selling mine in my colorful collage packs (available in my ko-fi store). So, grab some cheap paints, stencils, stamps, markers and pastels and start turning your junk mail into art!

~M

The Truth About Junk Journal Binding (Cinch Edition)

 

The Truth About Binding (Cinch Edition)

Repeat after me... Handmade means "imperfect." I think that out of all of the art concepts, "perfection" bothers me the most. I am constantly worrying about how nice something is or how perfect it is or how strong it is. I try and build books that will withstand a hurricane, when in actuality all they need to do is withstand some pens, glue, and possibly paints. How hard is that to remember? 

Don't ever let a bookmaker tell you that binding is easy! Out of all of the steps of bookmaking, the binding is probably the worst part. Whether I am sewing or cinching the book, each form of binding has their challenges - and I usually run into all of those challenges.

The truth of the Cinch binding is that I need a lot of tools - a hole punch to "fix" holes that were missing or don't line up right, scissors to trim the pages, and the coffee cup to keep me sane! And regardless of the project, I always have a huge mess on the desk.

The Cinch is actually a lot of fun to use when everything is going well. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it. But if I don't use it regularly, I forget all of the little tricks to get a perfect punch, perfectly lined up every time. 

*NOTE* Don't be afraid to write the tips directly on the machine. I wrote "tape page edges before binding" on my machine today. I find that doing this is very helpful on things like my Big Shot (allen wrench size written on side), my laptop has post-its reminding me how to do certain things, and all of my cutters are labeled based on items I frequently cut with them.**

 My very first round, I forgot about the little peg to line you up to punch things larger than the allotted space/pegs and this happened. Luckily, this isn't a hard fix -I trimmed that off and punched again and trimmed the back cover to match and voila! Problem solved.

What about the pages, you ask? Well, I don't usually make journals with uniform pages. I like the variety of textures, thickness, and size. So, I might have had to fold a few flaps in a bit to fit within the covers a little better...so what?

Paper tip when binding (I suggest this whether you own a machine to bind or if you sew with thread), reinforce your thinner/more brittle papers where you are going to bind them.

This is an example of the masking tape I use. I purchased a set on Amazon of all different colors 

Here

I am an Amazon affiliate and that link is my affiliate link for the tape I bought. If you use my links, I receive a small commission for each purchase made using them.

I was actually pretty impressed with these tapes. I didn't have very high hopes for them, but after trying them out on the covers of these (I covered the edges of the covers since they are made from game boards so the thick chipboard edges had cut marks/slight imperfections and the tape covers that up and leaves a nice, clean edge.) These tapes are super nice to use on brittle paper edges so when you bind them, they are less likely to tear. These books have antique ledger pages and vintage magazine pages that are pretty thin and brittle so I feel much better having reinforced the more delicate papers. (Yes, I tried to make the pages so strong that they'd withstand a hurricane - that's one of those things that's both a blessing and a curse whenever I create anything.)

Here are a few more examples of being human. One is the classic "upside down page" that most junk journalers face (more than once!) and the second picture is the back cover of one that I punched wrong. I plan on lacing some fibers or laces through them to create a pretty edge. Maybe a closure? I'll have to play around with it.

I try so hard not to create a ton of scraps. I have enough projects that create scraps - ephemera, fussy cutting, misc paper projects - so I try to use as much of the paper as I can. So, you'll always find lots of folded edges - bottoms and sides mostly - that you can then turn into a tuck/pocket or a secret journaling space. So, here is an example from a vintage encyclopedia page. Why would I want to cut up this cool page about science?!

When all is said and done, though, I'm still pretty passionate about paper. I love all paper. And I love taking books apart and turning them into new books, using fun things like game boards and game pieces, and trying to mix and match as many fun papers as I can.

What are some of your binding tips? Maybe we can make this a little easier on everyone together!

~M

Spring Packs - An In-Depth Look

Spring Packs Have Arrived!

Spring Packs HERE

Beautiful napkins, floral and colorful premium papers, stickers, ephemera, and handmade goodies are just a few things that make up these awesome packs! Over 60 pieces of paper greatness to use in all of your spring paper craft projects. There's decoupage, collage, art jouraling, scrapbooking, junk journaling, and overall mixed media goodies for all. This is sure to keep you busy during these spring months and a lot of the stuff can even be used in the summer months.

I had some paper pads of Tim Holtz papers (double sided) and all of the packs have a handful of those. And would you check out those adorable gnomes on that napkin in this pic?! I had a lot of fun putting these together and picking things out.

Due to my love of gluing scraps and bits, I also included some of my die cut tags made from masterboards over the years. They are collaged in a way that you can add a focal image to them in order to make them your own

Another thing I found was a scrapbook paper pad with monthly themes, so I took the ephemera pages and cut them down so I could include the little journaling cards and embellishment bits in these packs, too. A couple of these packs even have small calendar squares for April and May.

I have a handful of cutesy books and quote books that I pull from here and there so I included pages from some of those books, too. There really is something for every project you might be working on that you want to add a little color or floral flair to. There are collage sheets (pictured here) that come from a pack that are made to look like vintage/antique book pages. They are pretty believable in appearance.

I hope you give my Spring packs a chance! I have gotten good feedback so far on these and other packs I make. Are there any packs you might be looking for or things you think others might want? Lord knows I have enough paper goods to make all kinds of stuff! Let me know!

Get Yours NOW!

~M

Terms For Purchasing From Me Through Youtube

Email your information (email, address, YT name, any other info you think I should know) to THECHADWICKROSE@GMAIL.COM

I give 7 days from day of invoice to pay your bill. I will no longer send reminder emails and will just delete your invoice. You may not purchase after that. Please be sure your email is working properly and you are receiving my emails. I send invoices within 10 days from the sale. After sales, I typically create a video with my leftovers and I'll bill everyone at once when I receive those orders. “I didn’t get your email” is not an acceptable excuse not to pay your bill.

I will invoice in whatever way you are most comfortable. I can do it through Etsy as a custom order, PayPal, cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, or Facebook pay. A detailed list of what you ordered and the price will be listed in the description of the order. If you don't specify a preferred order method, I will bill through PayPal. I will not respond to messages asking me what you ordered. You can always refer to the video or to your invoice. If you have burned me in the past, you will not be allowed to order. I will not hold items for any longer than the 7 day payment period. I ship multiple times per week so your item will go out within a few days of payment. I will always try to find the cheapest method of shipping available based on what you order unless you have a preference. If you request a certain type of shipment and your shipment doesn’t make it to you in time, I WILL NOT refund shipping. My Etsy is set up to offer free shipping on orders over $35. This does not apply to YouTube sales. I am already selling the items at a lower price than I would in my Etsy store so if your order comes to be more than $35, I will include the shipping price in the invoice. I am aware that emergencies happen and things come up in which case you have to cancel your order. However, you must be mindful that it takes a lot of time to put together these sales and to invoice and weigh for shipping prices. If you cancel an order, you will not be allowed to purchase again unless you can be vouched for by one of the other sellers or one of the trusted customers. (If you regularly order from me this does not apply). These terms are subject to change at any time. If you are good to me, I will be good to you. However, if you are just impulse buying and you change your mind after the sale, you are just taking away from the customers who are loyal and worth my time. Please be mindful before ordering and be sure it is what you want. I will answer any questions regarding an item and/or show it again during a live sale if you need to see more.

INTERNATIONAL: I am no longer taking orders from other countries. The shipping is very costly and it wastes my time and yours for me to write up an invoice only to realize that the shipping costs much more than the items you are purchasing.

**Occasionally I will have small single-stamp envelopes that I will be willing to ship internationally. I will specify this when I am describing the item**

[Fall 2022 Issue 1] Life Insurance Folders

 These life insurance folders are definitely unicorns in my hunting world! After many years of antiquing and thrifting and flea marketing, I've never seen these! They are really beautiful folders that are built to last. After researching them, a lot of them were meant to hold bonds and life insurance documents. However, some of them have spaces for general banking and other financial necessities.

Pilot Life

This particular folder is really beautiful. It is embossed with a gorgeous border and has the insurance company information on the front. The snap closure, which is either brass or copper, has oxizied so a quick brushing would definitely bring it back.

It includes a few life insurance folders. It also has a fire insurance envelope, automobile, accident, burglary, and health insurance envelope, miscellaneous envelope, valuable papers envelope, and a last will and testament envelope. It is actually bound with shoestring and the envelopes have eyeleted holes. This thing was built to last.

The front page of the folder. This thing definitely has very few miles on it.

An example of one of the folders.

The black folder has lived a harder life. It still snaps but it takes some pulling. The usage and folds and bends in it really give it character. Oh, and this one came with free ephemera goodies! It is from Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company.

The inside cover with the extra goodies. It still has the business card of the original insurer!

You can see to the left the wear of that particular envelope. This folder was very well loved.

The third one which is also from Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company. This one was hardly used, also. And it has a zipper. The zipper works well but might need a little oiling. I believe it is brass. It is very rugged.

I have not decided if I am going to sell these yet or how much I'd as for them. As of right now, I am just hoarding and petting them. If you might be interested in one or more of these puppies, leave a comment below or get a hold of me thechadwickrose@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by and reading all my ramblings!

[Fall 2022 Issue 1] Out in the Wild

 

I found some really cool napkins that are in the shape of a scrub top! I love when I find creative napkin shapes! Even round ones! Or when Dollar Tree was selling the summer napkins in the shape of an icecream in a cone or a slice of fruit.

The cookie cutter is just that - a cookie cutter. However....yes, there is a HOWEVER....I bought a package of five or six more of these cookie cutters AFTER I found this one! So, I think it might be time for a windchime! What can I use for the assembly, though? Maybe the old aluminum collander trick? Keep the whole thing in a metal finish  - all silver...? All ideas are very much appreciated!

The last little silly thing in this picture is a stand for a wooden egg. Where is the egg, you might ask? Well, the egg is missing in my childrens toy box somewhere. However, the stand might make for a good junk collage piece. I might find the egg and decoupage something fantastical on it an include it in a shadow box.

Street Finds!

Ok, I lied. They aren't all street finds. The circular things were found in the mess of my childrens bedroom. Those Pokemon things are Happy Meal toys and the itty bitty pot of gold came from a St. Patricks Day event at the elementary school. Those paper goodies will go in my Junktilda composition book (yes, I named her after many minutes of deliberation and since I like to add "tilda" to the end of many things, why not a Junktilda?) So, those little dudes might become charms to hang out the spine or page edge or they might be glued in. Who knows? I follow what the spirit tells me.

The bottle caps are delicious. I even have my kids looking whenever we walk through a parking lot. You have no idea how many bottle caps are in a thrift store parking lot! I found 3 of those there! 

The earring was just a win situation! I found it at Walmart. It has little tassles on the end...talk about an amazing charm piece! Calm down all you people thinking its worth a million dollars...the metal is so thin, you can bend it just by holding it. Whoever lost this earring only lost any sentimentality attached to it,...they didn't lose anything of value.

See that shaker top thingy? Pet store parking. Yup. And its metal! I don't know what I'll do with it yet, but whatever it is, it'll be super fun and wonderful! I love the tinky noise it makes when you bang it against something. Maybe that will make a fun charm, too! Orrrrr....add it to the windchime!

You know you are a true junk artist when you've dedicated a pocket in your purse specifically for the junk you find while out and about. Especially when you have your family searching in their travels, also.

Let me know what you think of my recent goodies! I do have a bunch more things I can post but these were some of the funnest and who doesn't enjoy seeing what someone finds out in the wild! At least these things are a lot more appropriate than the earring my daughter found this summer in a parking lot that I thought looked like a flip flop but was actually an inappropriate female body part. Oooooops! I guess that means my head isn't always in the gutter!