Paperpenandplan – Basement Studio

Negative Space

Last week I gave you a little insight into how I use my mini stencils for Paper Pen and Plan. This week I’d like to show you how I use masks like the one’s made for this month’s Sweet Treat boxes.

Masks are just as versatile as stencils. My favourite way to use them is printing on a gelli plate. I actually love the ghost print left behind best because of its grunge factor, but you can get some great results however you use them.

Or how about taking a rubbing with crayons? I’ve used Scribble Stix here for their vibrancy. It’s quite satisfying watching the shape appear, like being seven again!

Of course there’s the obvious way to use them by drawing around them, but if you run out of ideas you could always paint them gold and add them to a collage. I added some black gesso to mine before painting to help the paint stick on the plastic surface but it also helped the gold to pop out more. Here they’re added to a little collage of book paper, teabag and fabric and put onto a gel printed background.

I’m off now for a weekend away in a cabin in the forest. Have a great weekend yourselves and I’ll see you back here next week.

Jaine x

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USING MY MINI STENCILS

Lavander stencils for Paper Pen and Plan

One of my favourite things to do in the studio is the designing and cutting of stencils, especially the mini stencils which Clare from Paper Pen and Plan asks me to cut to go in her monthly subscription boxes. These are 10 x 7cm so are quite small, but even so based on a brief from Clare I try to pack as much on there as possible. This month’s stencil is a lavander trio and as a bonus I also included the mask part too.

This afternoon I had a chance to play with this new stencil myself and I thought I’d share a few handy tips along the way. The first thing I like to do is extend the edges by adding some painters tape. I’ll also mask off parts of the stencil I don’t want to include with a bit of washi. The second way I like to use these small stencils is by using a finger dauber with ink. You can get a much better finish with one of these and, it makes the whole job so much easier and by pouncing rather than swirling it stops ink from spreading underneath.

This particular stencil is great for layering with several different colours to create more depth. I also used texture paste on a piece of card and dry brushed over some gold acrylic once it was dry. The texture paste picks up the paint beautifully.

I don’t think this card needs much more to be honest. A few inky splatters and a delicate butterfly are enough.

Impasto paint is very thick and works like texture paste using a knife. I decided to just add a small collage to the front with a splash of colour from some fabric.

I love how the texture paste and gold worked out on the tag.

If you want to know more about the subscription boxes from Paper Pen and Plan go here to the Etsy shop. If you’re interested in having stencils designed and made by me then you can contact me here jaine@basementstudio.lu and I’ll give you a quote.

Next week I’ll show you how I used the other part of this stencil, the masks. That’s a whole other world of possibilities.

For now, have a lovely weekend

Jaine xx

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normal is boring

Normal can be a blessing after a period of upset and stress, however just doing one little thing out of the ordinary every now and then peps life up and keeps things from becoming stale. Well that’s my excuse for straying a bit away from the norm sometimes.

I’m back in the studio after a period away and very keen to get the paints and pens out again. I find comfort in these things and just having my supplies around me brings me joy. I also think that starting in a small way is easier than trying to complete a big project right from the get-go! This is why I was pleased to see a couple of tags in this month’s Sweet Treat Box from Paper Pen and Plan and a challenge to create a tag book with them.

Without a clear plan of what I would end up doing, I decided to start with a little abstract watercolour on the tags using a lovely gold watercolour paint I bought recently and hadn’t yet tried out.

A Prima text stamp added a bit of contrast and extra texture. The lines just happened naturally which I was surprised about to be honest as I usually go for circles, anyway it was quite appropriate that the text should also be placed that way on too.

Using the tag as a template I cut several more from odd bits of paper, brown paper, bags, book pages and gel prints.

I’ve seen this binding method in several places recently and it seemed like the most simple way to bind the pages together. Handily the box also came with the washi tape so of course it was obvious I’d use it here. I taped the pages together in pairs.

Then glued the pairs together back to back. A strip of fabric covered the spine and added a pretty bright splash of colour to the front too.

It just took a stitch stamp and a couple of stickers (also in the same box) to finish the front. I added a thin smear of gesso to the pages so I could add paint to them and tested out the first page with a few watersoluble crayons and more stickers. Anything but boring I think.

I hope you have a lovely weekend and I’d love to know what you’re up to as well.

Jaine xx

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a simple mini album Pt1

It’s been a while since I actually wrote a tutorial as such so I thought it was about time I made one! The inspiration for this little book came to me as I unpacked my monthly subscription box of goodies from Paper Pen and Plan (on Etsy and Facebook). The contents begged to become a mini book and as they sat there on my table on top of the box they arrived in, I could see the box itself becoming the cover. After taking the box apart I trimmed it to the size I wanted with the side of the box becoming the spine of the book. I ended up with two of these from my Sweet Treat Box so I can use the other one another time.

I sometimes use brown parcel paper to cover books. It comes on a roll so is wider than most papers, it’s sturdy enough and I rather like the kraft colour.

With the cover done, I could then move on to decorating the outside and inside with my patterned papers.

To attach my pages I made a very simple accordion hinge from a piece of patterned card. Slightly shorter than the book itself, I created three folded hinges with a half cm gap in between. So starting with a score at 2cm then 3.5, 5, 5.5, 7, 8.5, 9, 10.5, and 12.

I glued the three mountain folds together to form the hinges for the book,

then glued this to the spine of the book. I scored each side where the book would fold and left it to dry.

For my pages I took black card. I like using black card as it really shows off any paper you put on top of it. I measured how big I wanted the page to be and doubled it across the width to be able to fold it in half and added double sided tape on the ends and sides. I only needed to tape one half in actual fact. Laying the taped page under the first hinge I could press the hinge down onto the card. I then folded the page in half and pressed the other taped end down onto the hinge. First page done!

I did the same for the remaining two pages.

I think it’s cute. Now to decorate… For that one you’ll have to come back next week to see how it turned out.

Have a great weekend

Jaine xx

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