Lets Get Inky - Paper comparisons

Hi Friends,

A few days back, The Craft Studio launched 2 sets of paper: Floral Natura Collection (FNC) and Floral Super White Collection (FSWC). I received a pack of sample papers from Foram Shah & Dinesh Shah of The Craft Studio.

About these papers: 
Both FNC and FSWC are 270 gsm in weight. FSWC is pure white and is more whiter than Iris paper while FNC is one shade pale and has colour same as Iris paper. FNC and FSWC have good water retention ability with FSWC being able to absorb more water as compared to FNC.

Even thought these papers were launched as papers to make flower, with 270 gsm and good water absorbing properties, I decided to try them for my card backgrounds and inking techniques, heat embossing, water colouring etc. and compare it with Iris paper (as I use the same for background techniques regularly).

So, FNC, FSWC and Iris paper were cut to ATC size of 2.5" by 3.5" and put to test for various techniques

Test 1: Distress ink & misting.
Result: My experience in Mumbai city has been that when you use distress ink on Iris paper and let it sit for some time, the distress ink goes a shade lighter. Similar results were seen on FNC & FSWC. So compares with Iris paper exactly

Test 2: Distress Ink Blending

Result: Distress Ink Blending was good on both FNC & FSWC and comparable with Iris paper. FNC overall had slightly better outcome for ink blending as compared to FSWC

Test 3: Distress ink  smooshing with help of acrylic block

Result: Results were good for all 3 papers (The acrylic block I used had a grid and there were grid marks on the outcome. As you notice, grid marks are almost negligible on FSWC, which I assume are because of its high water soaking capacity. So I would choose FSWC for this technique)

Test 4: Distress ink smooshing with water mist from a craft mat

Result: Excellent for all 3 papers

Test 5: Water lifting technique

Result: Even though all 3 papers worked well for water lifting technique, FSWC performed much better than FNC for this technique. I love the outcome for water lifting on Iris and FSWC more than FNC

Test 6: Stamping with distress ink

Result: Similar effect on all 3

Test 7: Watercolour 

Result: With my limited knowledge in water colouring, I tried all 3 papers for water colouring a Peony. All 3 papers worked equally well for this technique. Amongst 3, FSWC with it high water absorbing capacity worked the best for water colouring.

Test 8: Stamping with Archival inks

Results: Fantastic for all 3 papers

Test 9: Heat Embossing & Resist distress inking

Result: Excellent for all 3 papers

Test 10: Pencil colour & blending with odourless thinner

Test 11: Gelatos for background & blending with baby white

Result: Good for all 3

Test 12: Cosmic Shimmer Spray & Itsy Bitsy Splash Spray for background & Scoring

Result: To test the strength of both FNC & FSWC, I scored both the papers & neither paper tore, i.e. they scored well. Also water based spray paints like Cosmic Shimmer Spray & Itsy Bitsy Splash Spray worked well on both papers 

To sum up, both papers were comparable to Iris paper for most techniques and give excellent results. 

Thank you Forum & Dinesh Shah for the free samples. I loved working with both of them. 

PS: I would be converting these into ATCs. So if anyone would like to swap/ trade one of these ATCs with me, please leave a comment. I am open to swapping internationally too. 

Hope you all enjoyed comparison review of FNC & FSWC with Iris paper. Do leave your feedback in comments below. 

Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka

Crafty Flirtations

Letter To Me - Day 2 of 30 Day Art Journal Class

Hi Friends,

As you all know, I have joined the free 30 Day Art Journal Prompt Challenge by Allyson Bright of "Determined To Shine". The day 2 prompt of the Art Journal Class was "Letter To Me" wherein we had to write a letter to our past self either reassuring us about something or some advice. Also, we could either write a complete letter or just focus on a few words or phrases for this ART Journal Page. 

I thought over this prompt for a very long time & I realised that I wouldn't like to give any advice or reassure myself about anything but would rather like to tell my past self what the future holds for me & how I should mould my life. I also decided that this page is going to serve as a boost to what I want to focus on my life from here on in future and incorporated those aspects in this letter too (except my professional life). 

Story Behind The Page:

• I am very lazy. So 1st and foremost I want to focus on stop being lazy & get going & be active. However, I wanted to keep the page positive overall, and hence I have not used the biggest stamp for same
• I want to be able to craft & create more in as many ways as possible
• My lazyness has caused me to ignore my health. I would like to get back into a better health condition, eat well & exercise
• Lastly, I wanted to send myself some love & remind myself that I should always love my family & friends

Here is the page:

• I created the background using Gelatos
• Then using various alphabet stamps from We R Memory Keepers and Concord & 9th and sentiment stamps from Peek-a-boo & and Technique Tuesday, I stamped various words with Archival Inks or Sakura Gel Pens
• I added some highlights with white gel pen to bigger size words
• And then used Inkadinkado Hearts stamp & archival inks roughly stamped in any blank spaces on the page 

Hope you all liked my "Letter To Me"

With Love,

Dr. Neha Sanwalka

Crafty Flirtations 

Baby "P" Scrapbook With Handmade backgrounds

Hi Folks,

     I am here today with a very special post. One of my close friends  Hetal (I have known her for almost 16.5 years now), wanted to learn distress ink techniques for a long time. Initially we had thought we would make cards with the background we create, but her nephew turns "6 months" this month and so we decided to make 5" by 7" scrapbook instead of cards with all the distress ink techniques we do. 

     Her nephew's name starts from "P" and is a Leo. So we have incorporated a lot of these elements in the scrapbook. Also the little boy loves multi-colours and as he is a small kid, we decided to use different colours through the scrapbook and not just the usual shades of blues & purples that are conventionally used for boys scrapbook. Along with distress ink techniques, we also used artistry inks (Indian brand), stencil techniques, stamping, spray paints & gelatos for some of the pages in the scrapbook. Hetal picked up distress ink techniques very quickly and I am so proud of her 1st time efforts distressing & making this album. So here is presenting the scrapbook that the 2 of us built together. I have mentioned various techniques & main supplies we have used for each of pages below the images along with those used for the cover page. 270 gsm Iris Paper was used to create all Backgrounds. There is also a small video at the end to show you all the interactive elements that we had incorporated in the album. 

'

Distress Inks For Background: Bundled Sage, Peacock Feather, Cracker Pistachio, Seedless Preserve

P Stencil is from Pie Lane & Stenciled With Ranger Texture paste mixed with Pixie Glitter from Pie Lane & Lavender Acscents Spray Paint from Hampton Art. The same texture paint was applied on edges with spatula

Stamps Used: Penny Black Jumbo Love & Bo Bunny It is Written 

Distress Inks For Background: Peacock Feather, Cracker Pistachio, Seedless Preserve

Inks for background: Picked Raspberry Distress Ink & Blaze Artistry Ink

Geltaos: Pistachio & Spearmint

Distress Inks For Background: Fried Brick, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge

Stamps: Stampendous Peony 

Technique: Water Lifting

Inks For Background: Lime Kiss Artistry

Stencil: Pie Lane Leo Stencil stenciled with Blaze Artistry Ink

Stamp: Prima Checkered Stamp

Gelatos on left background: Blueberry, Boysenberry, Cotton Candy, Grape Grape

Gelatos on right background: Pistachio, Green Tea, Lime Lime, Spearmint

Technique: Drip technique

Inks Used For Background: Artistry Blaze & Distress Peacock Feather 

Stamp Used: Scrapberry Kids Fun Happy Birthday

Ink for background: Distress Seedless Preserves & Artsitry Lavedner 

Whimsy Holly

Ink For Background: Artistry Blaze

Technique on background: Stamping with pearlised water 

Gelatos on left: Blueberry, Boysenberry, Cotton Candy, Grape Grape

Stamp Used: Scrapberry Mother's Treasure First Smile

Distress Inks on Left Page: Cracked Pistachio, Seedless Preserve, Peacock Feather, Pine needles

Stamp used: Itsy Bitsy Fazzy Blutterly 

Technique Used: Resist technique using Clear embossing powder

Distress ink on Left: Seedless preserve & Faded Jeans

Stamp Used: Lawn Fawn Whale You Be Mine 

Inks for background: Distress Dried Marigold, Distress Stormy Sky, Artistry Moon Crate,  Artistry Lime Kiss

Stamp: Lawn Fawn Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

Artistry Inks Used For Background: Blaze, Orange Popsicle & Lime Kiss

Technique: Resist technique using white embossing power

 Artistry Inks Used For Background: Blaze, Orange Popsicle & Lime Kiss

Technique: Resist technique using Versamark Ink

Background w as done using distress ink smoosh technqiue

Stamp: We R Memory Keepers P alphabet and stamped using gelatos

Also used Bo Bunny It is Written Stamp

Inks for background: Lime Kiss Artistry, Artistry Dark Garnet & Peeled Paint Distress Ink

Techniques: Applied Artistry Dark Garnet & Peeled Paint Distress Ink on bubble wrap paper and stamped on Iris Paper. We then Spritzed it with pearlized water and allowed artistry & distress colours to bleed and blend. Then we applied Lime Kiss artistry colour on top to blend and bring it all together.

Stamp used: Kaiser craft wood grain & Scrapberry kids fun happy birthday stamp

Stamp used: Kaiser craft wood grain & Scrapberry kids fun happy birthday stamp

Here is a small interactive video:

Hope You All Liked The Beautiful Scrapbook We Both Made

Love,
Dr. Neha Sanwalka
Crafty Flirtations