It's the 1st of April, time for a new CAS Mix Up challenge .......

Happy Thursday .........

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month ......... welcome to April!

A new month means new Blog Challenges and, this month it's my turn to host over at the CAS Mix Up Challenge.  

It's a Mixed Media month, and I've chosen the theme ........ Paper Piecing

I do love a bit of paper piecing.  If you're not really a fan of spending time colouring in all your stamped images then this is a great way, it's quick too, of adding that colour.  

Just think of all those bits of patterned papers that we all hoard, just in case we need them, this is a great way to use up all those.  Or, what about the backgrounds we've made using various ink and paint techniques that didn't quite turn out as we planned, well don't throw them away ....... these are perfect for paper piecing.

Flowers work really well with this technique ..... small or large, but you can paper piece anything, butterflies, birds, pieces of clothing, you name it!  My only tip would be, look for images that are easy to cut out, and don't worry about all the little surrounding details like stems, or antennae,  you don't need to fussy cut those!

If you're not familiar with paper piecing, then check out the links on the CAS Blog post to some really useful videos showing ways of using this technique.

These cute little daisies are just perfect for paper piecing .....

I stamped the image onto a piece of white card stock, and then splattered the background with Distress inks using colours that matched the paper I used for the actual flower heads

I coloured in the stems and added my sentiment ......

I then used an old gelli plate print for the flowers ....... simply stamped the daisy heads and heat embossed with a clear powder, and then fussy cut them

I  attached the flower heads with some glue onto my stamped image ...... voila!  all coloured, with some nice shading going on there too!  

You could also use foam pads to layer your flowers and add a touch of dimension as I've done in the example below ........

Using a black ink, I stamped the whole image onto the front of my card.  I then stamped just the centre of it, twice onto a gelli print and heat embossed those with a gold powder

I fussy cut the flowers, attaching the first layer onto the stamped image with glue, and then used foam pads to attached the large flower in the centre to add some depth

I think the pop of colour looks really cool in the centre of the black and white, and I love the texture and the pattern from the gelli print, which as a whole print wasn't very interesting at all!

I finished off with a sentiment made up of plain stamping and some more gold heat embossing to bring everything together.

You'll find more paper piecing inspiration from the rest of Design Team over on the CAS Mix Up Blog.  We also have a fabulous Guest Designer ...... the lovely Bonnie (Papercrafter at large) is joining in the fun so please pop by and say hello.

I hope you have fun with this month's challenge, I'm really looking forward to seeing all your paper pieced designs in the gallery.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely Easter.

Cheerio until next time ...... 

Products used:

Card one .....

Stamps: Sweet Daisy (Julie Hickey Designs)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade (to do the splatter)

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Marker - green; gelli plate print from my stash

Card two .....

Stamps: Hello Lovely (Concord & 9th)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Versamark; 

Other: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); gelli plate print from my stash