Happy Australia Day and woohoo, Stencils are back!

Hi, Deb here on the blog today. 

Well, what better way to celebrate Australia Day than with a trip up the river, camping, fishing and if the weather is suitable, some toasted marshmallows! We're lucky, we don't have to go far to the mighty Murray River so we try to do it as much as possible. 

My share today is from a little while ago and marginally cooler weather. After a day of gathering wood, fishing, cooking, eating and more fishing, some yummy, gooey, toasted marshmallows are the go. The title Happy Campers really says it all. 

I have used one of A2Z Scraplets stencils which have been released on the website. These are made of a strong plastic and can be used over and over and over ....... and over again. It has simply been misted to give some visual texture to the page. Also symbolizes the condition of some of the marshmallows - burnt! 

Here's a close up of the title. Colored red using chalk ink and then outlined with black permanent marker. 

And a little extra bit of chipboard embellishment with the @camping word. 

Materials used:

A2Z Scraplets

Bella papers

Chalkboard Mist

Chalk Ink

Permanent Marker

Flair

My next share is a page that all parents will relate to. Back to school! Not long to go and all our little treasures will be back in those classrooms, noses down, working their little butts off .......... after they have caught up with all their friends of course. 

I love how this frame came up. I coloured it with a black permanent marker leaving the engraved areas for colouring with gel pens. 

If you enjoy the latest craze - colouring - then give it a go on your chipboard. We are introducing a white range for this very reason. (this frame was regular raw chipboard)

Some photos of the details

A close up showing the pen colouring. 

Materials used:

A2Z Scraplets Frame

Kaisercraft card and papers

Washi tape

Flair

Thread 

Gel Pen

Until next time

Happy Scrapping 

Deb 

Beach Bums ..............

Hi, Deb here with you today. Wow, it's been a bit warm and I'd love to be near some water right now! 

Today I'm sharing a page of some of my family at the beach last year. 

I have used the title word Beachbums GR and misted it with a blue chalkboard spray. Once dried, dimensional paint was 'dribbled' across the bottom for a watery effect. 

Materials used:

A2Z Scraplets Chipboard

Kaisercraft Kraft card

Kaisercraft papers

Resin embellishments

Die cut felt

Gauze

Metal charms

Until Next Time

Happy Scrapping

Deb

Fun with Gesso! ~step by step tutorial~

Have you ever wanted to play with Gesso but never quite knew how? 

Well, grab your supplies and let's go!

Materials (for this layout): 

* Canvas or adhesive canvas stuck on THICK card. You can use anything, but I recommend using something quite thick, as it will bow and mess up standard cardstock.

* Gesso - for this layout I used Mont Marte, but I have since bought the Heavy Gesso by Prima as I believe it will not need as many coats.
* Broad and thick paintbrush
* Spatula, credit card, or something similar to spread with.

* Charms, resins, chippies, doilies. Just lots and lots of embellies... I know you have just as many laying around stored neatly as I do lol! I love the Flourish  chippy by A2Z Scraplets, it's large enough to run up the entire side of the layout and super fun to decorate on and around!
* Mask/stencil/template - I used the Honeycomb template by Kaisercraft.

* Texture Paste - I used Jo Sonja's, it's fine for what we're doing.

* Glue - you're going to want a good strong wet glue. I use Kaisercraft Tacky Glue, it's my personal favourite.

* Mist of some kind - I used Tattered Angels Cotton Candy Chalkboard Mist. Love it.

* Black or grey gel pen

* Tattered Angels Pewter Glimmer Glaze

* I added a Green Tara glass bead thingy at the end too :)

How to:
Step 1. Adhere canvas to thick card and spread 2 smooth layers of Gesso over the blank canvas with your broad paintbrush (you'll need at least an hour drying time between each coat). 

Step 2. Place your template/mask on top of your canvas (I put a little d/s tape in each corner to hold it still) and use your spatula or credit card to scrape the Texture Paste over the mask. This will dry quite quickly, I think mine only took an hour or so.

Step 3. Placement. I laid the chipboard Flourish down first and then placed all of the embellies around it. I messed with them until it suited what I wanted and then glued each one down individually. You can, of course, glue as you go if your brain won't scream at you while doing so hahahaha

*** I left all of this to dry overnight as I wanted it super stuck before I started coating it all in Gesso.

*** Cut to next morning :)

Step 4. Using your broad paintbrush, coat the entire surface in Gesso. You will need to smoosh your brush sometimes to get into the edges and around all of your embellies. Once this is FULLY dry, go over it again. I say fully dry because if you're using metal or plastic embellisments, the Gesso won't stick until it's completely dry and you'll just smear it. Depending on your preferences, you may want 3 or 4 coats - I used 3.
** for the extra embellies added over the top of the photo, cover them in Gesso individually and keep aside.

Step 5. Once your top coat of Gesso is dry, take your layout and extra embellies outside with your Chalkboard mist and give them a spritz (or 5 depending how much colour you want!). You can also leave it all white - it looks gorgeous!
Step 6. Once your spritzing is all dry you can add your photo and extra embellies. My photo was mounted with foam tape.
Step 7. Using the small brush that comes with your Glimmer Glaze, gently brush the edges of some of your embellies. 
Step 8. Outline photo, title and edge of canvas with your black or grey gel pen.

There you have it, Gesso is FUN and oh so easy to work with! 

I hope I've been able to inspire you to have a go, I bet you'll love the outcome! 

Until next time, keep calm and craft on :) 

Karyn