Hello!This is my first Design Team blog post for 2 Crafty and let me start by telling you all how excited I am to be part of this great team!
I first started Scrapbooking when I had my first daughter who is now 8 years old (how time flies huh!), though I have always been "crafty" and pursued a number of different crafts in my time, from cardmaking to the padded lacey photo frames ... remember those? When I started scrapping though it all fell in to place for me - I had found something I could really take any direction I wanted to. Since then I have very much become passionate about mixed media art and whilst I still do scrapbook there is no more enjoyment for me then getting my hands messy with paint, gesso, inks and various mediums. I love to work with chipboard as a starting point for much of my work which is one of the reasons I jumped at the opportunity to work with 2 Crafty. It is my hope that during my time with this wonderful little company I will inspire you to get creative too, get your hands messy and perhaps learn a few techniques to transform your plain chipboard pieces into something really special.
I first started Scrapbooking when I had my first daughter who is now 8 years old (how time flies huh!), though I have always been "crafty" and pursued a number of different crafts in my time, from cardmaking to the padded lacey photo frames ... remember those? When I started scrapping though it all fell in to place for me - I had found something I could really take any direction I wanted to. Since then I have very much become passionate about mixed media art and whilst I still do scrapbook there is no more enjoyment for me then getting my hands messy with paint, gesso, inks and various mediums. I love to work with chipboard as a starting point for much of my work which is one of the reasons I jumped at the opportunity to work with 2 Crafty. It is my hope that during my time with this wonderful little company I will inspire you to get creative too, get your hands messy and perhaps learn a few techniques to transform your plain chipboard pieces into something really special.
So a few weeks ago Vanessa sent me a pack of all sorts of 2 Crafty goodness and I sort of didn't know where to start. I have now ended up with a number of projects on the go, but the first to be finished is this layout using a number of products released just a week or so ago.
That's my daughter Alyssa - now 8 years old and just started Year 3. This photo was taken when she was about 4 and I just can't understand what happened to the last 4 years. Hence the title for my page "Where Has the Time Gone" which was inspired by 2 Crafty's new Vintage Clock Hands (aren't they gorgeous?).
I don't like to just give the chipboard a solid coat of paint and leave it at that. There is SO much more that can be done with it. To give my clock hands some texture I have stippled Gesso (you'll soon realise how much I use this stuff) all over and heated with a heat gun straight away. The heat causes the gesso to bubble slightly, so it stays raised in some areas creating an uneven surface. Because the gesso is white and I wanted a slightly more aged appearance, I simply went straight over the top with my Antique Linen Distress Stain. These are such a great product for very quickly colouring chipboard - though the Antique Linen doesn't look so good if it is applied just straight to the raw chipboard.
The piece pictured above with the word "time" on it is also a new product - Sybil's Name Plates. You get two in a pack in two different sizes. I started by giving this piece a solid coat of cream paint, applying it a bit thicker on the flourish parts using a stippling brush. Drying this with a heat gun will create a subtle texture in the thicker areas of paint. I then put a little dark brown paint (such as Raw Umber) on my finger and lightly dab it around the very out edge of the flourish parts, giving it a sort of shadow look. Once dry I also went over the whole thing with my Antique Linen Distress Stain. The letters forming the word "time" are actually by Tim Holtz and come already black. I just lightly dabbed a little gesso over them with my finger to give them a little depth. You could do this just as easily with chipboard alphas, first painting them a dark colour and then lightly dabbing over the top with a second colour.
That's it for my first project! I hope you like it and are feeling inspired to grab yourself some yummy new 2 Crafty goodies and get those paints out!
Here's a sneak peak of an almost-finished project I have to share with you in my next post.
Here's a sneak peak of an almost-finished project I have to share with you in my next post.
More about that one next time. Till then, happy creating!
Natalie xx
