VIDEO TUTORIAL: Mixed Media Art Journal Cover Using My NEW TCW Stencils and Dusty Attic Chipboard!

So I've made August my "spend time with family month", just wanting to take advantage of the time the kids have off school and make the most of it!  But I have taken a few moments out of our fun time to do a little video tutorial of an art journal cover that I made up as a sample using stencils I recently designed for The Crafter's Workshop!

I created both a positive and negative stencil design for this stencil that I named "Organic Matter". For this project I used the smaller 6x6 inch stencil (for the back) and the 12x12 inch mask style stencil for the front of the book cover. (You can find all my stencils online at The Scrapbook Diaries, I just heard that Janene has all the stencils in house now! and has already begun sending out all the pre-orders!! ....you can also use the TCW store finder for a TCW dealer near you).

Dusty Attic Products used on this project:

~ Dusty Attic Journal

~ Skeleton Clock Frames

~ Geometric Corners

~ Nuts and Bolts

~ Rulers

~ Cogs #2

~ Jumbo Cogs

~ Dusty In Color Paint: Hot Chocolate, Raisin, Sunburnt Orange

~ Dusty Attic Rusting Powder

When I was designing my stencils I have to say that I already had all these wonderful Dusty Attic chipboard designs in mind to use with my stencils.  I just love the industrial look of these chipboard pieces and thought they would work well with my Organic Matter stencils.

As I was creating this cover design I decided to flip on my camera and shoot a video tutorial to show how I used the stencils and also to show how I added the rusty finish to my Dusty Attic chipboard pieces.  So if you have time, give yourself and little break, sit back and enjoy!....

I used a whole lotta mixed media products to make this project, to find the list just click on the youtube link (bottom right corner of the screen above....when it's playing).....you can find the full list in the Youtube description area underneath my youtube video (click the down arrow beside the title to open up the description area).

I always like to keep the back of my art journal book covers free of a lot of 3D elements as the back seems to take a lot of wear and tear.  So I stuck to just adding some texture with my 6x6 'Organic Matter' stencil.  I added some stamping and used the same mixed media colors and sprays I used on the front of the journal cover.

Here is a view of the front and back of the journal cover.  I like that you can open up the spin of the journal cover so that you can remove the front and back to work on them.  Then you can reattach when the painting is done. NOTE: this is more of a notebook journal.....if you are looking to have an art journal where you can paint on the papers you will want to order a art journal that has watercolor or manila papers inside them.

I used Dusty Attic's Rusting Powder on all of my chipboard pieces for this project. I so much love the effect of the rusting powder.  All I did was paint the pieces with some of my Dusty Attic paints and while wet, sprinkled on the rusting powder.  I then sprayed the pieces with a solution of 75% white vinegar and 25% water.  I gave it about 20 mins to a half hour to dry/rust.  I then lightly brushed with some Sunburnt Orange DA paint to add to the corroded look. (see video above for more details)

I used Golden Molding Paste (but really any texture paste will do the trick) with my TCW Organic Matter Mask Stencil (12x12 size) to create the veined look on my background design.  After applying all my background spritzes and inks, I hit the relief areas of the stencil with some Luminarte H20's in Egyptian Gold,  and Pearlex Mica Powders in Aztec Gold and Turquoise (see video for application).

This journal cover was so much fun to create!  I hope I've inspired you all to get out your DA chipboard (you can find a large selection of DA chipboard at The Scrapbook Diaries), TCW stencils and mixed media products and get creating your very own mixed media project!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I always appreciate all the kind comments and feedback and love to hear what you all think of the new products I've designed!

Creating a Scene with Dusty Attic & Websters Pages

Hi all!  Today I had a chance to play with some really sweet papers from Webster's Pages called "Nest". Lately I'm just crazy about bird/nest/nature images in my work and this beautiful collection is just full of them! I wanted to do sort of a view, peeking outside using the fun Dusty Attic chipboard Door Frame on the pretty, shabby-chic looking wood/board paper from the Nest collection (called Begin Anew).  I printed out the photo as a 3x7 to fit behind the piece of chipboard and gave the door a weathered look.

For the door frame (Door #2) I started by first painting the whole thing with some white Gesso.  Then I added streaks of Cashmere, Oceania and Mountain Meadow 'Dusty In Color' paints.  I did some light stamping with a Bo Bunny Text stamp (It is Written) and rubbed a brown chalk ink (Ingvild Bolme's 'Branch Bark'}along all the edges of the frame. There was a really versatile paper in the Nest collection that has a number of cute designs called 'Storyteller Card Sheet II" that has this weathered door design, I cut out the door handle bit from this and glued it onto the door frame.  To add another fun effect I cut out an egg/floral design from the paper called 'The Nest' and added it to the top of the door with some Spanish Moss, to make it look like a bird had made a little nest at the top of the door frame. I also fussy cut lots of the floral images from this paper to tuck around the door frame.

I embellished the top right corner of my page with brand NEW chippies from Dusty Attic.  I just love the new branch designs! Here I used the Branch #4 Small chipboard piece, combining the two pieces to make this branch accent.  I used brown and green chalk inks to add color to the branches (Ingvilde Bolme's 'Branch Bark' and 'Moss Lawn' inks)....then I added some floral buds but fussy cutting some of the blooms from the back of the paper called 'The Nest' and glued them onto the branches.

I added another NEW and gorgeous chipboard piece from Dusty Attic called Ornate Corners #13, you get 2 sets of corners (4 in all)....I used one of the smaller corner accents here.  I simply painted the chippie with some white Gesso, gave the edges a light rubbing with brown chalk ink and added a few adhesive pearl accents.

Here is a close-up of a couple more chipboard designs I added to my page.  Dusty Attic just put out a whole lot of fun new title designs, among these is this 'Serenity' title...while I had my Oceania paint out, I just lightly brushed the bottom part of my title chippie with the aqua paint so that it faded into the top white part.  I gave the title a quick coat of Dusty Attic "Clear Crackle Varnish' to give a pretty effect to the title. (I didn't mention it, but I did the same for the Door frame and for the hinge accent).  One more little chipboard accent I added was the Seagull on the stump. Again, easy to paint, just add a coat of white Gesso, and using some Ingvild Bolme 'Branch Bark' and 'Old Road' chalk inks, I colored up the the piece.

In the bottom right corner I hung a cute little knot-hole image from the 'Special Places' paper, from a Dusty Attic chipboard Hinge. I added a fussy cut butterfly from the 'My Style' paper (also cut some of the Rose designs for around the door from this paper as well).

Here is a close-up of the floral cluster in the corner of the door.  You can see some of the fussy cut blooms from the 'My Style' paper as well as some Maiden Hair Ferns, a NEW chipboard design .  These I again used the brown and green chalk inks on them and then used a bit of 'Dusty Pink' paint and 'Navajo White' paint to the top few tips of the fern strands to give the appearance of a floral strand.  And finally I added some beautiful pink/coral color fabric blooms that were sent to me from Lucy Ohanyan, owner of Tresors de Luxe.

Dusty Attic Chipboard used on this project:

~ Door #2

~ Branch #4 small

~ Ornate Corners #13

~ Word Pack #5

~ Hinges

~ Maiden hair Fern

~ Seagulls

~ Dusty In Color: Dusty Pink, Navajo White, Oceania, Mountain Meadow

~ Dusty Attic Clear Crackle Varnish

You can purchase both Dusty Attic chipboard and Websters Pages papers directly from their websites or at a local scrapbook store near you (if they don't carry these products, it's always good to ask your local store owner if they will bring them in!).  There are also some awesome online stores in North America that have a great variety of Dusty Attic chipboard in their shops.... Moments of Tranquility (has a huge selection), and The Scrapbook Diaries. I recently found out a local store here in Ontario (Canada) called The Scrapping Bug has ordered in a variety of Dusty Attic chipboard as well!  Natasha over at Moments of Tranquility is also willing to order in DA specific Dusty Attic Chipboard pieces if she does not have them in her shop....just follow the instructions at her site HERE. And for those of you who would like to give a gift of Dusty Attic chipboard to a scrapping friend, Dusty Attic now has Gift Certificates as well! You can find them at the top of the Website just under the spot where it says 'Go To Checkout".

Hope you enjoyed todays project, I appreciate all your kind comments & feedback! xo

Scrapping Girl Style {Dusty Attic & Maja Design}

Hi all, Gabrielle here with you today to share my latest layout I made of one of my adorable little great-nieces.  I felt like doing a more feminine shabby-chic style page today so I used some papers from the newest Maja Design collection called 'A Gift For You' mixed in with bits and pieces of some of the other Maja Design collections.  And of course I accented with lots of my favorite Dusty Attic chippies!

One of my favourite scroll/flourish chippies is the Corner Flourish #1, which I used in the corner of the page design.  A way I often like to treat my chipboard pieces is to give it a coat or two of gesso, stamp some random script words on the piece, rub the edges with a bit of brown chalk ink (here I used Ingvild Bolme's 'Branch Bark' ink) and gave the whole thing a coat of crackle varnish.

I made the flowers on this page using a patterned paper in the Maja collection called 'A Gift For You'....I went with the scripty paper called 'Hope to See You Soon', it used both sides of this paper using a EK Success floral punch 'Retro Flower' in 2 medium and large size.  I partially inked the edges of the petals with a pink ink (Colorbox Dusty Rose) leaving some areas natural.  I then gave them all a light spritz of water and wrinkled the petals.  I added some stamen centers to complete the floral design.  As an extra accent around the photo I added one of the Dusty Attic Corset chippies and a piece of the Wrought Iron Fence chippies treated with a 3D bronze paint and a dab of Dusty Attic Oceana paint to give it a tarnished look.  I also added a small accent in the mini Lock & Keys (under the floral cluster).

Another favourite chipboard piece for me is the Zippers set, here I used it on the inside edge of the banner piece that I cut from a piece of  dotted paper from the Maja Design Vintage Spring collection.  I used a title chipboard piece from the Dusty Attic Word Packet #4, giving it a similar treatment that I gave the corner flourish.  The little butterflies were cut from 'Butterflies are Free' from Maja's 'Coffee In the Arbour' collection.

Maja Design Papers used in this Project:

~ A Gift For You (Handwritten Postcards-bs, My Dear Friend-bs, Hope to See You Soon, Hope to See You Soon-bs, Wrapped In Old Newspaper-bs)

~ Vintage Spring Basics (7th of May)

~ Coffee In the Arbour (Buttterflies Are Free, Raspberry Jam Cookies-bs)

~ Vintage Autumn Basics (XVI)

Dusty Attic Products used in this Project:

~ Zippers

~ Corner Flourish #1

~ Wrought Iron Fence Border

~ Mini Keys & Locks

~ Fancy Labels

~ Lacing Tash (corset lacing)

~ Word Packet # 4

~ Dusty In Color - Oceania

~ Dusty In Color Clear Crackle Varnish

I hope you enjoyed checking out my project for today.  I know many of you are asking where to get Maja Design Paper and Dusty Attic Chipboard.   You can find this newest collection (Plus many other Maja Design papers) at The Scrapbook Diaries HERE (Janene ships USA and International as well).  Dusty Attic chipboard can also be found at The Scrapbook Diaries HERE.  Another site that carries a large variety of Dusty Attic Chipboard is Moments of Tranquility HERE.  I also just found out that The Scrapping Bug (Canada) has Dusty Attic chipboard in their online store as well HERE.  And NEW news is that Dusty Attic now also sells their chipboard directly from their own website AUS (you no longer have to be a retailer to order) HERE.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, your kind words and feedback just make my day! xo xo

NEW! Page Kit & Video Tutorial for The Scrapbook Diaries {With Maja Design Papers} PLUS A NEW Stamp Set Designed by ME!!!

So I've been getting quite a few emails and private messages sent to me lately asking if I would create a masculine style page for The Scrapbook Diaries Kit Pages.  So I've finally gotten down to it and got one done!  

Of course I had to reach for some of my favorite Maja Design Papers to make up this page kit!  I love to include Maja papers in the kit pages where I can because I know how hard it is for some of you to get hold of these lovely collections.  This way you can have all my favorite things to work with included in one fun filled kit!

Janene (owner of The Scrapbook Diaries) sent me lots of wonderful masculine elements to use on a masculine style page including lots of amazing chipboard designs, trinkets, sprays/paints, and embellishments.  I think you guys are really going to enjoy playing with the fun goodies in this kit!

Here is a close-up of some of the lovely chipboard pieces included in this kit!  ...Also included in this kit is a very cool product I just LOVE from Shimmerz Paints called Inklingz, it's a super shimmery paint that gives a beautiful metalic look to the chipboard pieces.

Another close-up of the page and of the yummy embellishments that are included in this kit.  I love doing these kits because I'm able to give a quick and easy answer when you lovely ladies write to me asking where to find the products I use.  You can find it all in one place, in one easy to order kit....The Scrapbook Diaries!

Yes,....I did include some blooms on the page, BUT I stuck to blooms with more masculine textures and colors.  I also included elements like keys, clocks, gears & cogs to help you scrap those 'guy' photos you have been meaning to work with.

If you are looking to create a lovely 'masculine' style page for the man (or boys) in your life, this just might be the one you've been waiting for!  And if you just want the kit for an everyday page, this would work wonderfully as well!  You will get  all the papers, embellishments, sprays/paints, chipboard that I used in making this page as well as a full step by step VIDEO TUTORIAL made by me (exclusive only to The Scrapbook Diaries) with the purchase of the kit.  So grab one while you can, Janene says these kits fly off the shelf, so don't miss out on getting one for yourself!  You can order your kit HERE.

Before I finish up todays post I want to share some exciting news I have to share!  I've design my own set of stamps!!  Lately I've gotten more into the mixed media side of scrapping and you know how sometimes you just want a quick way to add some interesting background designs?  Well, I did a little hand drawing to create some cool, unique stamps.  My friend Janene at The Scrapbook Diaries took these sketches and converted them into stamp designs.....

Above is the hand drawn water droplets I sketched out for Janene, she then took this drawing and converted it into a stamp design......  

Here is the design she converted it to (above), we also added a few separate droplets so that stray droplets may be added to your project.  I will do a project soon that will show you fun ways to use this stamp as a background design.

I also added some brick wall designs to this stamp set.  I often hand sketch some brick wall designs in my scrap pages and thought it would be fun make little stamps to mimic the design.  I love the look of brick breaking through cracked walls, so I made a stamp design to achieve that look.  I had a little more space on my stamp set so I also added a leaf stamp.  I find that leaves always add a nice finishing touch to a floral cluster and I often just cut a leaf shape from some cardstock to do this, but I thought it would be cool to have a little leaf stamp  to add the vein design as well.

Another design you've all probably seen used on my pages is the corset lacing.  This is something I've done on my pages for years....but I thought it would be fun to have a stamp that you can use at the top of a page or card to add a design element, quick and easy.  I will also show fun ways to use this stamp on upcoming projects.  

I have not got my hands on these stamps yet (waiting on Canadian mail system LOL) but you can put your order in already (and may even end up with my stamp sets before I do! LOL), Janene has them up for sale at her store right now.  So if you'd like to check them out you can find them here  BACKGROUND DROPLET/BRICK STAMPS and CORSET TOPPER STAMP.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today and for all the lovely comments and feedback!  Your comments always put the 'happy' in my day! xo xo

Scrapping Sweet Babies {Maja Design}

I'm so happy to share with you today a layout I made for my beautiful friend and our design team leader Jenny Grotherus. She had a beautiful baby boy this past year and was kind enough to share some sweet sweet photos of her baby with me. He is so adorable, it was hard to pick just one photo to scrap....so you just might see some more baby pages coming from me.



I primarily used the Vintage Spring Basics Collection for this page, layering a variety of the pretty stripe, polka dot and floral patterns behind the photo.

Maja Design has so many lovely shades of blue to choose from, so for this layout I wanted to use the cooler shades of blue with hints of brown/taupe and butter yellow. I used the 'Princess Margareta's Garden-bs' paper as the matting for the main background paper which is a paper from the Vintage Spring Basics collection called '1st of April' (I just thought the sweet little blue & yellow birdie in the corner was a perfect accent for a baby page!). I also fussy cut some of the little dogwood blossom branches from the paper called '6th of April' and used them to dangle from the 'V' tears in the background paper.

I used a mini version of 'Decorative Frame #1' from Dusty Attic to create a corner accent on this page. As most of you know by now, one of my favorite Maja papers is the clock paper from the Vintage Autumn Basics collection (XVI) ...here I cut out one of the clocks and placed it inside the little frame, then coated it with a crackle varnish (Dusty Attic Crackle Varnish) to give it a nice aged look. I also did a bit of stamping (with Bo Bunny 'It is Written Stamp') and inking with Ingvild Bolme's chalk inks (Worn Jeans, Dusty Tote) and went over the designs with some stencils (Crafters Workshop 'Art Is' and 'Mini Well Rounded') and home-made texture paste.

 

I always love to add fabric accents to a baby page, for this one I matted the sweet photo with a scrap of burlap and a snippit of lace from Tresor's de Luxe. I added a strand of pearls to the top of the lace strip.

The main circle frame I used for the photo is from Dusty Attic called 'Decorative Frame #2', which I painted white, chalked with brown ink, stamped with a script stamp and then finished with a crackle medium. I wanted to keep my blooms light and airy so I used some blooms from Prima (Charlotte), Recollections and Dusty Attic (small roses) in light soft shades. The little butterflies are from Petalloo (Darjeeling).

I miss having babies around and so am so happy to have photo's of my friend's babies to scrap. I hope she will enjoy this page as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Maja Design Products: Vintage Spring Basics (1st of April, 6th of April, 5th of April, 4th of April, 4th of April-bs, 7th of April), Sofiero (Princess Margareta's Garden-bs).

Speaking of Love {Dusty Attic Designs}

 

I decided this weekend I would dig through some of my older stash in creating this page....so some of the pieces are new, but I dug through some older papers (like Basic Grey, Capella papers and stickers), some old MME (My Minds Eye) with a dash of Maja and 7 Dots (The Background paper is from the Dreamer collection, a paper called Sleepless). 

 

I rarely use sketches when I make up a layout because I'm usually trying to feature certain products so I let the products be my inspiraton.  But in this case was inspired by a sketch I saw on Pinterest by Tinci Designs....it was actually a sketch made for digital kits, but I really liked the design and thought it would work well with the Dusty Attic large Film Strip chippie I've been wanting to use.  Here is a picture of Tinci's Digital kit sketches...

 

I used the sketch in the top right corner.  If you are interested in digital kits you can find her link HERE.

I used the film strip as the bridge tothe two design clusters and kind of a title space as well. I painted all my chipboard pieces with white gesso (two coats) and did a little random stamping on them with word and script stamps. I also edged with some soft brown chalk in as well.

 

I used one of my favorite little scroll chippies in the bottom right corner of the page as well.  I love the light airy filligree look the fine cut chipboard gives to a page.  The cute little natural/lavender floral cluster is from Tresors de Luxe.

 

I've had this Dusty Attic Bracket Frame set for years in my stash and only this weekend got to using it!   I used one of the smaller frames in the set to frame my photo. 

 

 

I used a really intricate and beautiful border chip from Dusty Attic called 'Sweet Pea Border' for the left side of the page design. (it is not pictured in the supplies photo below because a photo was not available online, but you can get it at the website).  I added a few adhesive pearls to finish the look.

 

I also did a bit of inking on the page with some colors that I picked out from the background paper (7 Dots Studios Dreamer/Sleepless) ....I wanted to feature the teal blues with the soft pinky/lavender.  So I did a little inking with Donna Salazer Distress Inkpad (Denim), Versa Magic Chalk Ink (Spring Pansy) and did a little spritzing with Lindys Starburst Spray (Steampunk Sepia).  And I added some texture with my home-made texture paste and a Crafters Workshop Stencil called 'Art Is'.

 

Dusty Attic Supplies used in this project:

~ Bracket Frame Set

~ Sweet Pea Border

~ Small Scrolls

~ Dusty Roses - Eggplant

~ Film Strip

 

I hope you enjoyed my Dusty Attic project today and hope that you feel inspired to create a project using beautiful Dusty Attic products!  As always I just want you all to know you can find retailers for Dusty Attic in the right side column of my blog (under the Dusty Attic DT photo of me), and I can let you know as well that I was recently at Natasha's Shop 'Moments of Tranquility' and she has a nice big selection of DA products available for online shopping there.  xo

 

Going Soft and Smokey for Spring! {Maja Design}

 

I don't know how winter has been everyone else out there, but here in Canada it has been extremely cold and snowy this year! I for one am soooo ready for Spring to make an appearance! So to warm myself up a little I thought I'd work on a summery photo. This is a photo I took a few years back of my oldest daughter when we were taking a summer vacation near Sable Falls in (Northern) Ontario. I've recently been putting together a color inspiration board for myself on Pinterest and I find one of my favourite color combinations is purples with greens, but I'm particularly fond of the these colors in soft smokey tones. So for this page I reached for some of the soft smokey plums in the Maja Design, 'Ska vi ta en Fika' collection and mixed it with some taupey grey and soft green from the Vintage Summer basics colleciton.

I wanted to add some 'lush' greenery to the page so I matted behind the photo with some green paper from the Life In the Country paper collection (Sowing Seeds-bs), and added a new vine chipboard design from Dusty Attic called 'Ivy Corners' adding a few Dusty Attic purple roses in as well.

I just love to add vintage style embellishments to my Maja Design layouts because the beautiful papers lend themselves so well to these types of embellishments, like vintage lace (from Tresors de Luxe), Natural floral accents (also from Tresors de luxe), chipboard designs (Skelleton clock and flourishes, from Dusty Attic Designs) and the Flowers are from a tin of blooms from Recollections.

Clocks are one of those design elements that I feel work with almost any page. So again on this page I've added in some of my favourite clock designs from the Vintage Autumn Basics collection (XVI).

 

When I get my Maja Design collections, I love to fan out the papers and enjoy how the different patterns and designs look against each other. I always want to share these pretty designs in a unique and fun way, ....here I was able to do this using a new chipboard by Dusty Attic called 'Geometric' border. I glued a small sampling of a few of the patterned papers behind the small square designs. And nope, that is not my handwriting you see above (I wish!), it's a little bit of rub-on I have from some old Daisy D's rub-ons I still have in my stash ....yep, still trying to add a bit of my older stash on each page :)

Maja Design Papers used in this project: Ska vi ta en Fika (Söders höjder - bs, En Kopp te-bs, Chaite-bs, Favoriter-bs), Life In the Country (Sowing Seeds), Vintage Summer Basics (1932-bs), Vintage Autumn Basics (XVI).

Note:  I often get email from my blog readers looking for good sources for Maja Design products and Dusty Attic chipboard.  I list links to retailers in the right side column of my blog but for a quick link you can check out these great resources.... http://www.thescrapbookdiaries.com/product-tag/maja/,  http://moments-of-tranquility-shop.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/vickyalberto

I hope you enjoyed my little project today using Maja Design products and hope that it brought you a little Spring warmth as well! xo