Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Little Notebook .....

I am having so much fun being part of this fantastic team of amazingly creative people working with 2 Crafty chipboard goodness!

For this post I decided to show you how to use the chipboard to embellish a little notebook. You might have an old notebook or diary hanging around that is somewhat boring or average looking. Perhaps even an address book or something similar .... I hope this post inspires you to unleash your creativity and turn it into something really special!






I have taken a very ordinary looking plain hard cover spiral notebook for this project and some inspiring bits of 2 Crafty chipboard. First I simply adhered torn pieces of embossed paper, old book paper and old music paper and collaged them on to the front and back cover of the notebook using Mod Podge. I had decorative paper that was already embossed with a lovely floral design - but you could just as easily use any plain or patterned paper and emboss it in a machine such as the Cuttlebug with your favourite embossing folder.

The next step was to adhere the 2 Crafty Frame "Celia's Flourish". I actually cut the right hand flourish and part of the frame off, so it looks like it is coming off the cover. I have glued down the unpainted, raw chipboard piece to the cover.

Now comes the fun bit - time to get your hands dirty! I simply took my first colour of acrylic paint (I prefer to use Golden Fluid Acrylics) mixed with some glazing medium to form a nice translucent paint. I painted this all over the cover, over the chipboard frame too - leaving the area of music paper inside the frame somewhat untouched. Once this layer was dry I added a second layer of glaze with another colour, sticking to warm earthy tones. I then added some Turquois Pthalo acrylic paint with my finger, dabbing lightly in areas I wanted more colour, interchanging with two or three colours until I was happy with the result.

The 2 Crafty cogs are simply painted separately with a nice thick layer of acrylic paint, which if heated with a heat gun while still wet will bubble and create awesome texture. The finished cogs and other embellishments are then adhered as a cluster to the front of the painted notebook.

One of my favourite new 2 Crafty items is the mini chipboard tages so for this project I decorated them with bits of torn patterned paper, paint and fabric and hung them off the spiral spine in conjunction with charms and ribbons. The more "junk" the merrier I say! Try hanging bits of your broken jewellery too, or buttons, tickets stubs - anything goes!

Don't forget to "like" the 2 Crafty page on facebook too - there are giveaways from time to time, as well as more information about what's new from 2 Crafty.

Off you go and get messy,
Natalie W xx