Adding Details To Your Layout - by CathyS

We've been scrapping all month with the lovely moodboard theme of TRIBE. Have you been inspired to scrap your tribe yet?

Well I followed that theme with photos of my brother and family for my layout. I used four photos that tell the story of trying to get just one decent pic of everyone smiling... not so easy when you have an uncooperative little girl... we eventually got a fairly decent pic!

Here is how my layout came together:

The strip with the croc at the bottom of my layout was just the perfect sentiment for my page... it's been in my stash for YEARS!!! It's from a very old Crate Paper range. I let the colours in this strip (and my photos) lead me for the rest of the page.

Then there are lots of the little techniques that I used... all of these add to the detail and interest to the page:

1. Stamped circles
 I made my own stamp using foam - just cut three little circles and adhered them to an acrylic block. I stamped with Versafine Clair ink in Pinecone (Brown). After playing around with things I decided the brown was a bit toooooo dark so overstamped with Versafine Clair in Glamorous (Red) and Blue Belle (Blue). This definitely made a huge difference to my layout.

2. Tissue Paper
I added little strips of tissue paper at random points on the page... these are added by using a glue stick and putting the glue on the page and then laying the tissue paper over the glue.

3. Inking
Once the tissue paper was stuck, I used Brilliance Lightning Black to randomly stamped some text over the area. Then I used  Versafine Clair Morning Mist (grey) to stencil some tiny squares over the tissue paper. Lastly I splattered some Black All Purpose Ink over the same area. All these different ink applications work well together and just add some interest to the page.

4. Die cut Stars
I cut a bunch of different size stars with my nesting dies and once I was happy with them all I felt the layout needed just a few more. As I don't have a tiny star punch I turned to my dies again and found my doily die that has stars in the pattern. Well I just used leftover bits of paper and diecut a few tiny stars which then got scattered around the page.

5. Straws
I have a little jar on my table in which I keep a variety of paper straws. Adding three to my layout tied together just added a base on which everything rests.

The final few bits on my layout are a strip of red dot paper which looks like it runs behind the photos but is in fact just two pieces on either side. I layered a project life card on the right side which again picked up all the colours and sentiment of my layout. Lastly is the strip of film washi tape under the straws.

So there you have it... a layout with lots of little bits and pieces that make one cohesive end result. Hope these tips inspire you to scrap.

Till next time,

Altering chipboard with Tania

Hi there!

Tania joining you today and I thought I would share a few quick and simple ideas with you all on how I like to alter my chipboard with different mediums :) this is just a few, there is so many ways!

You can use so many different products to alter your chipboard and here's just a few that I have tried out.........

First up a nice and easy one your good old Sprays or Mists!  I have to say you don't always get great coverage when just spraying directly onto your chipboard, the type of spray varies your coverage, I have actually found that applying gesso first helps a great deal as it gives the sprays something to bond too!

This is another easy one, applying paint directly to your chipboard simple and fast way to alter it and give you the colour you want.

  

Next up using alcohol inks!  With this one I added one colour over the entire piece of chipboard with the alcohol applicator and then used one of the metallic inks and randomly applied it with the applicator, love the affect of this one.

  

Time for a bit of shimmer, another easy one too, cover your chipboard piece with Glossy Accents and while still wet apply your glitter over the entire piece!  You can used any type of glitter I used some chunky glitter on this piece.  SO pretty don't you think?

  

Using your good old embossing powder is another great way to add a little texture and effect to your chipboard too.  Sometimes I will colour my chipboard first with a medium and then add some clear embossing powder, but most of the time I just add a coloured embossing powder!

  

The last one to share that is a favourite is to colour my chipboard first with a medium and then stamp over top!  I just love the effect that it gives! 

Well that's all from me, I hope this has inspired you a little to play around and have fun altering your chipboard!  As I said so simple and easy but gives your some great effects...........

Until next time Tania xx

Scrapbook layout + process video by Louise - Feather technique for the May moodboard challenge

Hi Scrap Friends

Louise with you today.
I'm sharing a layout + process video to show you a feather technique for this months moodboard.

"Today"

The challenge this month is to create from the inspiration board and include feathers on your page.

I decided to use this collage photo and include the colour turquoise from the moodboard.

In my process video you'll find a little technique to make these arrow feathers.

With thanks to Michelle Grant who provided this technique during a class.

Thanks for watching.

Can't wait to see you play along.

Distress Glitter and Chipboard - The Perfect Match

Hello there, Sanna here with another post on how I try to use my stash up. Now some of you probably also have these grey chipboard pieces stored in your stash. I have them too :). So far I found it quite hard to use them, but not after I discovered Distress Glitter. I love to play with grey chipboard pieces and cover them with Distress Glitter!!

Here are a few cards I created:

The chipboard pieces look now much better in my opinion :). And I am starting to notice a slight difference in my stash already!!!

Happy crafting,
Sanna

Using Copper

Hi everyone! 

Today I'm sharing a technique that I've used on a couple of projects (though I can't show pictures of the projects just yet ;) ). 

I have some pieces of copper here that have been "printed" on and thought, "how can I incorporate these on a layout?". I've put together some photo collages to show you a super easy way of making them layout-ready.

1 & 2: So, you can see in pic 1 above, what the copper sheet looked like originally, and in pic 2 you can see that it is kind of raised in places, almost like it's embossed. 

3: I made my 'sandwich' to run it through my Big Shot to flatten it out.

4:Through we go! You'll see I've used a piece of cardboard in my 'sandwich' (which I think they call a shiv - when you use something extra in the 'sandwich'). This just makes the whole thing a bit thicker as it's going through and gives a little more padding to squash down when you're using thin materials.

1: You can see the copper is now completely flat.

2: I cut off the amount I needed, and...

3: ...placed it in a die to cut out some butterfly shapes.

4:Through it goes again, this time without the extra padding. 

1: So, the cuts and embossed patterns can now be seen in the copper. I used scissors to cut a split near the outline of a butterfly, and was then able to pull the shape carefully out. 

2: Here are the butterflies once they've been cut out. Very effective.

3: Next, I used the off-cut from the original piece I flattened, put it in an embossing folder, and ran it through the Big Shot.

4: The copper is now embossed!

Voilà! All done, and ready to use on my next project! 

I hope this has inspired you to try something a little different with things you might have lying around the house. 

Thanks for looking :) 

Catie xx