Creating a Mixed Media Texture Background {The Crafter's Workshop}

Hi all! I'm happy to share with you today a layout I made of one of my nephew's (and his wife's) engagement photos. I wanted to go with a simple background to which I added some inking, texture and stamping.

 

I used two stencils that I designed for The Crafter's Workshop to help create the background design, using texture paste and inks as well as some fun mixed media products.

I began by doing some light inking on the background of the area around my photo with a soft rose/brown ink.  I then used the houndstooth design found in one of the hearts on the Complicated Hearts stencil and inked with a rich brown chalk ink (Ingvild Bolme's Branch Bark Chalk Ink). After that I added a whole bunch of random stamping around my photo area.

Next I added the heart design to the left side of the photo area using the 3 heart designs found on the Complicated Hearts stencil using some home-made white texture paste (recipe below).  This is an easy to make text texture paste that works very well with all my TCW stencils....and I love that dries quickly!   After I added my texture paste design, I outlined the hearts with a black pen so that they would stand out more from the page.

 

Homemade Smooth Texture Paste

1/4 cup Talcum Powder (I used Johnson's Baby Powder, Make it smell good too!!)

1 tablespoon White All purpose School Glue

1 tablespoon White Craft Paint

Some Water

Instructions:  Combine talcum powder, glue, white paint with disposable chopsticks (or plastic spoon) in an airtight container, adding water to get it to the consistency you are looking for.  You want a nice thick texture much like toothpaste.  The mixture will keep perfectly for many months.

For my title I mixed some bronze Pearlex mica powder into some Matte Gel Medium (Golden's) and used it on the 'Love' title from the Complicated Hearts stencil.

I used the same mixture on the inky butterfly design in the top left corner of the page.  The butterfly design is from the Winged Exploration stencil.  While the gel medium was still wet, I sprinkled on some tiny bronze micro beads (Prima).

After that, I simply added my photo and a few floral and chipboard embellishments (Prima flowers and Scrapeniec wood chippies)....and my layout was done!

I hope you enjoyed my project today and hope that you are inspired to play with your favorite TCW stencils while you have a little crafting 'me' time over the holidays! xo

Breathe {Maja Design and Dusty Attic}

Hi everyone!  I'm happy to share with you today a layout I made using the cheerful sunny, Maja Design "Walking in the Forest" collection, as well as some clock images cut from the Vintage Autumn Basics paper collection.
 

I used the following papers:  Walking in the Forest (Autumn Poem, Flannel Shirt-bs, Cozy Scarf-bs), Vintage Autumn Basics (XVI)....love this paper for it's lovely clock accents!

 

I used the Autumn Poem paper as my background matting paper and then cut the backside of the 'Flannel Shirt' paper to leave about an inch around the outside of the paper.  I inked the background with some Tim Holtz 'Antique Linen' Distress ink around the photo area using a sponge applicator.  I then did a little stamping with a couple of stamps I designed for The Scrapbook Diaries (brick stamp from my textures set and some script from my Labels stamp set).

 

The title is from a Dusty Attic word pack #10.  I gave all my chipboard a coat of white Gesso (I like to do this so that when I ink them, the colors show up brighter).  I then inked the chipboard with a Denim Distress Ink.
 

I used the Dusty Attic 'Leafy Scroll' chipboard design for my corner accent.  Again I painted it white with Gesso and then just randomly inked the leaves with Ingvild Bolme 'Rock Moss' chalk ink and edging with some Ingvild Bolme 'Branch Bark' chalk ink.

 

I cut banner strips from the backside of the Cozy Scarf paper and layered a few under the corner vine as well as under the photo area. Do you ever have a page where you thoroughly enjoy working on it?This is one of those layouts for me....the colors make me happy and every piece just seemed to work.

You can find Maja Design Papers and Dusty Attic Chipboard and my Stamp Designs at The Scrapbook Diaries.  (For those of you in Australia/New Zealand you can find my stamps at Embellish It!) ....And some good news for those of you in the UK!  There is a shop called The Mad Scrapper owned by Janine O'Roarke who is arranging to carry my stamps in her store, I will let you all know when she has them in stock! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, I so enjoy reading your sweet comments and feedback! xo

VIDEO TUTORIAL: Creating Drama (the good kind) with Shimmerz Paints and Dusty Attic Chipboard

So I printed off this dramatic gorgeous gown photo over a year ago (an image I got off of Pinterest) and had meant to do a page with rich colors and textures for quite some time now.  Finally got around to doing it (as I still had so much family pics to scrap!).  Sometimes it's fun to do a page 'just because', know what I mean?

These are the Shimmerz Paints products I used for this project....as you will see in the video tutorial, each of these products has it's own unique quality whether it be the smooth thick texture of the Dazzlerz, the deep rich tones in the Coloringz and Vibez or the incredible shimmer of the Inklingz.

NOTE:  You can purchase your Shimmerz Paints HERE.  Be sure to mention my name "Gabrielle" in the Instructions to Merchant part of your order to get your FREE/Bonus Shimmerz paint product in the color of your choice with your next Shimmerz Paints order!

As always, a project is not complete for me unless I have a nice selection of Dusty Attic Chipboard in them.  Above are the Dusty Attic Chipboard pieces I used for my project:  Ornamental Trim Set (brand new product), Word Pack #14, Lacey Heart Frame Set.....and I used a NEW Dusty Attic Stencil design called Fans....if you haven't seen all the gorgeous new stencils from Dusty Attic, be sure to check them out, they are amazing, you can view them HERE!! You can find Dusty Attic Chipboard at The Scrapbook Diaries.

I also used 3 stamp sets I designed for The Scrapbook Diaries, the two stamp sets on the left and right (above) are a couple of the newest stamps I've designed for them.  You can purchase my stamps at this link at The Scrapbook Diaries.  And good news for those 'down under'....Joanne Flannery at Embellish It! in New Zealand is now carrying my stamps (and stencils!) you can find her store HERE.

So it's time to give yourself a little break, grab your favourite beverage and hope you enjoy watching my little video tutorial on how to make this page....Enjoy!

Hope you had fun watching my tutorial. Here are a few close-ups you can view at your leisure....

I should note that after I filmed my tutorial, I felt my design needed a little more color in the bottom right section so I added a couple more spritzes of paint and some swirls of fibre threads (from a package I got from my local dollar store).

I've had these Prima jewelled leaves sitting in my stash forever! When I was choosing my embellishing products I totally had to use these as I thought they were a good match for the colors I was using in the layout!

I'm just loving those new Ornamental trims from Dusty Attic, ....kinda sad I've used the whole pack up....thinking I need to get me some more :)  ....Really loving the new stencil designs as well, in the top right corner you can see some of the texture and design I got onto the page using the Fan stencil from Dusty Attic with my Homemade Texture Paste and some Shimmerz Paints.

The pink and black butterflies were cut from one of my favorite Bo Bunny collections called Primrose (I used the paper called Bliss).  I also used a fun BoBunny Stamp on this page called 'Butterflies'.   TIP:  Many of you ask what to do when your paper buckles from wetting or spritzing your paper with paints and water.  One of my favorite things to do is use my hair flattening iron on the paper, its a quick and easy fix!

So I hope you enjoyed todays post and hope I've given you some inspiration to get out your scrapping/mixed media products and play!  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today and leaving such sweet comments and feedback, they really make my day! xo xo

Home Decor ~ Wall Hanger {Maja Design, Dusty Attic and Shimmerz Paints}

Hi everyone!  Today I have a really fun home decor project to share with you all using a Dusty Attic wood Door Hanger and some lovely papers from the Maja Design paper collection called Enjoying the Outdoors.

I began by tracing the shape of the chipboard sign on the Enjoying the Outdoors 'Autumn Picnic paper.  I glued this to the chipboard with a brush and a mixture of 50% white glue with 50% water.   I then used a decorative edge scissor to cut out a complimentary colored patterned paper from the Enjoying the Outdoors collection called "Colorful".

I used a TCW stencil called 'Art Is' with homemade texture paste to add some texture to the darker of the two papers. I chose some Prima white roses and gave them a pinkish/mauve center by dabbing some Shimmerz Precious Posey Inklingz and Berry Hot Creameez.  As a final touch to my centerpiece design I cut out a couple of the little butterflies from the Enjoying the Outdoors 'Garden Creatures' paper.

I added delicate scroll to the bottom of the hanger (Dusty Attic's Ornamental Trim set), painted it white and stamped it with a crackle stamp I designed for The Scrapbook Diaries.  Final touch was to add some adhesive pearls that complimented the colors in the gorgeous Maja papers.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!  Just want to let you all know that you can find Maja Design papers, Dusty Attic chipboard and my stamp sets over at The Scrapbook Diaries.  Also have some great news for those of you living Down Under! (Australia, New Zealand) ....Joanne Flannery has a wonderful store (and online shop!) called Embellish It! that now carries all my stamp sets as well as all of the stencils that I designed for The Crafters Workshop!  You can find her shop HERE.

Mixed Media Canvas - Video Tutorial {Maja Design, Shimmerz Paints & Dusty Attic}

Hi everyone, I'm back today to share with you all a fun little canvas I made up yesterday.  I had this cute soft green rose ribbon in my stash (a gift from my sweet friend Kimberly!) which made me think of those pretty couture gowns I sometimes see on Pinterest.  So I gathered some of my favorite Maja Design papers some Dusty Attic chipboard pieces and some Shimmerz Paints and got started.

The majority of papers I used on this  project came from the Vintage Spring Basics collection with a couple of papers from Crea Diem, Vintage Summer Basics and Sofiero collection.  I used the following papers for this project:  Vintage Spring Basics (1st of April, 6th of May), Crea Diem (Den oersättliga tiden), Vintage Summer Basics (1903), Sofiero (Princess Margareta's Garden).

For me a canvas isn't a canvas without a liberal sprinkle of Dusty Attic chipboard on it, these are the Dusty Attic pieces I used for this project:  Baroque (Square) Frames, Word Pack #20, Lacey Hearts Frames, Flourish #8.  You can find Dusty Attic Chipboard and Maja Design papers at The Scrapbook Diaries. (Psst! Janene even has the newest winter collection from Maja Design in already!!)

I always like to use a little color/mixed media element to my pages.  For this project I used Shimmerz Paints 'Ride the Tide' and 'Sage It Isn't So' Creameez to add that subtle hint of shabby-chic color. Creameez are a soft water based paints that are activated with water. NOTE:  Get a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz Paints product in the color of your choice with your next order of Shimmerz Paints by simply mentioning my name 'Gabrielle' in the Instructions to Merchant part of your order. You can order Shimmerz Paints HERE.

I thought it would be fun to create a video tutorial to share with you all to show step by step how this little canvas was created....so grab your favorite beverage, take a little break and enjoy!....

 

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! I thought I would share some of the close-ups below so you can view them at you leisure...



I like to save all my title strips from my Maja Design papers for my projects and one of my favorite uses for them is to use as borders on my canvas's.  They are a perfect fit width-wise and for a 4x6" canvas, they fit perfectly  all around as well. Here I used the paper strips from the Sofiero 'Princess Margareta's Garden' paper for this (although you can use any border that suits your fancy for this.

 

I found the perfect little frame for this in the Dusty Attic Baroque (Square) Frames ....using the smaller of the two frames in the set I just gave it a little snip here and there to make it fit my 6"x 4" canvas.  Prima's Shabby Chic treasures had just the right size corset in it to suit my project.  And then I found a lovely little heart frame in the Dusty Attic Lacey Heart Frames.

 

I chose my mixed media paint colors from the Kaisercraft rose ribbon a friend had sent me a little while back. I picked Shimmerz Paint's 'Ride the Tide' and 'Sage It Isn't So' Creameez to add a soft hint of color to the background of my design.  I added a little texture with some texture paste and TCW's ''Mini Brocade" 6 inch stencil.  And finally I added a scripty title by using the chipboard word 'Beauty' from Dusty Attic's Wordpack #20.

I hope you enjoyed today's project and hope you feel inspired to create your own shabby-chic wall art.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, I'm always delighted by the lovely comments and feedback I get from all of you! xo xo

Video Tutorial: Winged Exploration Tag {The Crafter's Workshop}

Hello friends!  I have a fun little video tutorial to share with you all today!  I made this little tag using one of the 6" x 6" tags I designed for The Crafter's Workshop called 'Winged Explorations' (TCW566), some Tim Holtz Distress inks and my water droplet stamp (found at The Scrapbook Diaries).

My Winged Exploration stencil designed for The Crafter's Workshop.....you can find this stencil at The Scrapbook Diaries or at a TCW dealer near you (TCW Store Finder).

I also used a stamp I designed for The Scrapbook Diaries, my water droplet/brick wall stamp.  Janene recently got more of my sold out stamps back into the store along with a few new designs as well. You can find the stamps HERE.

As always, I like to show you step by step how this tag was made in this brief little video tutorial....so grab a cuppa and give yourself a little break ....enjoy! ....

I hope you enjoyed watching my little video tutorial! I used Tim Holtz Distress inks for my background coloring (Scattered Straw, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Dusty Concord, Black Soot).

I had a little fun mixing Golden's Matte Gel paste with some Pearlex mica powders for the texture paste I used with the 'Winged Exploration' stencil.

I hope you all have a fun crafty week, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, your kind comments and feedback are always so appreciated! xo xo

NEW Scrapbook Diaries Autumn Page Kit & NEW Stamps Designed by Me!

You know how you come across a design element that you really love and want to use it over and over again?  Lately for me it's been mushrooms!  I love the earthy, whimsical effect they give a page design! That's why as soon as I saw this paper collection by Blue Fern Studio's, I sent Janene from The Scrapbook Diaries a note saying we had to use this collection in a kit! 

There is a little fussy cutting in this page design, but nothing tricky and it's done quickly without a lot of fuss, but I think the effect is the difference between and nice page and a page that packs a punch!

As always there are lovely floral accents as well as mixed media products (an awesome new Shimmerz Paints product called Black Cherry Soda Creameez) that are incorporated into the kit products.  And with the purchase of the kit you also get unlimited access to a private VIDEO TUTORIAL that I created on how to use the kit ingredients to make up this page design for yourself!

I should mention I used a mixture of a molding paste and some gesso to for the texture element on this page but I really feel that I would have been better off using my home-made texture paste recipe for this, I found that the mixture of Gesso and molding paste was too thin, and ran under the stencil. You can find the texture paste recipe HERE.

Also included in this kit are these lovely intricate European wood embellishments, I just love the fine detailing in them.....they can be a little delicate but once attached to the page (I use Tombow Liquid Adhesive) they are good and solid.

If you would like to give this kit a try, be sure to grab yours today, the kits go pretty quick! I should also mention that these kits always come with a free/bonus kit page designed by Janene Meyerowitz (the talented owner of The Scrapbook Diaries), and let me say, her bonus page is spectacular! You can find the details for this kit HERE. Note: This kit is offered in a Basic Kit, Complete Kit or 'Plus' Kit....I used the awesome 'North Star' stencil in a kit a while back so some of the regular kit purchasers may already have this stencil, so Janene offers a kit minus the stencil to save money for those buyers. xo

 

Before I close my post for today I thought I'd share some exciting news!  I have 3 NEW Stamp collections available at The Scrapbook Diaries.....and Janene has restocked some of my Sold Out

stamp collections as well!

I don't know if any of you remember a project I did a little while back, a kind of Shabby chic wall art design.  I hand sketched this couture figure for it.  Many of you wrote to me saying you do not find it easy to sketch out this sort of figure design, so I was asked if I would create a stamp design like it. You asked for it, so I made it!  I also included the quote I used as part of the stamp design....with a few little extra's added in.  I will be doing some sample card designs up using this Haute Couture stamp soon!

Another new stamp design I came out with was this Borders & Textures Stamp set.  I do this hand-doodled border design on some of my scrapbook pages. Takes a few minutes to do, but thought, a quicker way to get this design onto a page is turning it into a stamp! I also added some fun elements that I love using for background stamping on my pages, dots, wood grain and burlap!  Again I will be showing how I'd use these stamps in some future projects.

And continuing my fascination for textural elements, I made up this Loose Threads stamp set which has cheesecloth snippets, a loose-weave burlap and circle-thread designs.....all fun for creating unique background designs for your cards and scrapbook projects.

All these stamps and some of my sold out previous stamp collections are now available at The Scrapbook Diaries!  You can pick up your sets HERE.

I always love to see the work that you all create using some of the stamps and stencils I've designed so please be sure to tag me in on Facebook and Instagram (my instagram name is Gabrielleshutterbug) when you post your work! xo

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I always appreciate all the kind comments and feedback, your words make my day! xo