Dusty Attic May Project - Getting Dimension from Chipboard

Hi All! Today I would like to show you a really quick and easy way to get some real dimension from your chipboard pieces, especially for those of you who like to have your pieces 'pop' off the page!

Now, did you know that chipboard is made up of loads and loads of really thin layers? Yep, which is how this technique is made possible.  Take any DA chipboard piece that you would like to add some shape to, and simply start pulling apart some of these layers by carefully pushing a craft knife in-between them.

 

I have used the Flower Layers #4 to create my bloom. I have only used two of the chipboard flower shapes here, one slightly smaller than another... 

 

After separating each of the petals into three layers, I also cut a piece of one of the Mini Wicker Fences to use as stamen. Just push these up through the centre holes from underneath.

 

When it was all constructed, I painted it using DA Acrylic Paints and added to a tag I made...

 

I hope you'll try out this technique, and pop on over to the ning site here to show us all what you've created :-)

Blog Feature with Ingvild Bolme!!! :-D

I'm just popping in today from my fabulous family holiday to direct you over to www.ingvildbolme.com where I am thrilled and totally honoured to have been featured along with a couple of other amazing artists.
You may have seen them floating around the web before, but these are the two layouts that Ingvild has showcased....

DA Morrocan ATC

Until I started designing for Dusty Attic, ATC's were something I had made very little of. In fact, the only few I had made had been for the DA challenges!

But part of my Design Team requirement is to create one ATC every month, along a particular theme, along with the rest of the team.

Now this theme I thought would be by far the hardest, but it turns out is was actually quite simple, since I was using some very decorative DA chippies, one product being the Morrocan Lamps from the January 2013 release.

So I googled 'Morrocan Theme' for inspiration and ended up creating this...

 

It is sooooo far away from anything I would usually make but I adore the warmth and richness of the colours! I also used new DA ATC Frames #4, and their Acrylic paints.

Dusty Attic Birdhouse

Since spring has finally sprung here in the UK (at least it hasn't snowed for a week!), it seemed fitting that I tried decorating one of these gorgeous Dusty Attic Birdhouses to celebrate the season!

Have you seen the sheet of three chipboard birdhouses from the new April release? All the pieces you need to construct three pretty little homes are all cut from one 12" chipboard sheet!

So here is how I decorated just one of them...although I do plan on making them a set of three and planting them around my home :-)

 To do this, I simply popped all the pieces out from the sheet I needed and decided which ones I wanted to cover in flat paper. I drew around these ones and cut the shapes out.

 

I used PVA glue to stick the papers to the pieces, and after ten minutes drying time, I sanded all the edges, paying particular attention to the assembly notches.

(Notice I have left the two roof pieces bare???)

 

Next I assembled the birdhouse. I slotted all the pieces together, running PVA along all the edges first. I then tied a couple of elastic bands around the whole house to hold it together while the glue dried overnight.

 

The next morning I took the bands off and the Birdhouse was super sturdy! Now time for me to decorate the roof...

I used a decorative punch to make the roof tiles by punching borders and trimming the strips to fit the roof width. I stuck these down in layers, starting at the bottom.

 

Then finally the pretty bits! I added some DA Grass Clusters #2 and painted them with a green DA Acrylic Paint. While it was drying I spritzed the tops of the grasses in yellow to add a bit of interest.

 

Once the grasses were stuck to the house, I added DA Roses, some gems and some fibres to finish.

Now to find somewhere to hide it in my home and see who notices it first :-)

For Neve...

The end of the school term this week was a sad one for both my children. Two of their friends (including Oliver's bestest bestest friend ever) are moving away in the Easter holidays.
So they've had a farewell sleepover but I wanted to do something for the two children from my two before they leave next weekend.

I hose this photo from the girls sleepover, to do a little plaque for Neve. Considering they are all 7 & 8 they look so grown up!

I used a lot of Dusty Attic here, so you can pop over to the gallery here to see more details about the products used.

Look out for the little boys plaque coming soon...the photo of our two rascals is fantastic!

Dusty attic Goes Grungy

Today I would like to show you all how I turned a pretty lace Dusty Attic chipboard piece into a grungy embellishment for a boys layout...

'Carefree'

To create this I took one of the DA Lacey Corners and covered it in black Acrylic Paint.

 

When this is dry, sand the edges of the piece to distress and roughen it up.

 

Adhere metal cogs to the pieces and add dots of liquid pearls. Sprinkle dry embossing powder in silver over the wet dots.

 

When this had all dried, I added it to my page with some monochrome embellishments and hints of blues for a perfectly masculine layout!

 

Ways with Dusty Attic Paint...

Today I would like to share with you a couple of layouts and show you how I have created my backgrounds using Dusty Attic Paints.

My first layout is this one that I created on a sheet of Chipboard...

Firstly, I 'dolloped' some blobs of paint in the region that I wanted my background colour.

Then I laid a small plastic bag (I used a peddle bin liner) over the paint while it is still wet.

Use your fingers to spread the paint around under the bag.

*HINT*

If you can find a clear bag to use, you can see where you are spreading the paint.

Lift up the plastic and voila! You can lay the paint covered plastic back down in a different position to spread the paint further.

After doing this and allowing it to dry, you can repeat with other colours as I did with the yellow paint...

And on to my second technique. Here is a layout that recently appeared in the Dusty Attic Gallery

When I first used Dusty Attic Paint, I was thrilled by how thick it was, perfect for covering that chipboard with. However, sometimes I want to be able to allow my paint to run and splat, which is where I need it to be a little thinner.

To do this, I mixed a little water to the paint...

When it was thoroughly mixed, I used a plastic dropper to drip the colour down my page.

Before doing this I had glued some glass microbeads to my page to act as a mesh that slowed the paint down and allowed it to spread rather than simply run straight down the page.

Once I had dripped and dried my first, lighter colour, I then added a darker shade to the remaining watered down paint and mixed it well again.

I then repeated the dripping again as before.

...and there is my coloured background, ready to embellish!

 You can view and order DA paints from the website here

Other Dusty Attic products used on these pages...

Butterflies #2 DA0842

Floral Corners DA0848

Moroccan Accents DA0837

Vintage Keys DA0392

Papermaze Feb Kit...

This month Vanessa at Papermaze has put together a wonderful kit for you all, and it is now available to buy online!

Here is a page I have created using this kit....

 

 

The kit consists of:

5 patterned papers from BoBunny, Crate Paper, October Afternoon and Basic Grey.

Basic Grey Alpha Stickers Sheet

2 sheets of Bazzil Cardstock

May Arts Teal Net Ribbon

2 paper Doilies

Maya Road Wooden Ruler

3 Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tickets

2 Dusty Attic chipboard keys

5 Dark Red Buttons

Tando Creative Chipboard Bunting

1 Resin heart

Small clear crystals

 

 

In addition to this, you can also buy a cardstock kit of 4 coordinating colours to match...

We would love to see what you create with yours :-)

Say Cheese...

 The thing I have always loved about chipboard is not only the intricate designs that it is available in, but also the way it looks raw. It is so perfect for masculine, grungy layouts.
This is why I left this Dusty Attic Clock Skeleton chipboard raw on a layout with our boys.

 

 

See, I have no problem using flowers on a boys layout, so long as the colours are kept masculine :-)

Thanks for looking x

Docrafts Design Team!

Just recently, Docrafts announced their new Creativity Club Design Team and I am thrilled to be part of this team for then next six months :-D

I love Docrafts products, and it is an honour to be working with them as they were the first products I ever used when I first started crafting! A huge congratulations to these other ladies too...

Kitty Frampton

                                                 

Becky James

 

Doreen O’Brien

 Debbi Powell

   Katie Skilton

Louise Collins

   Victoria Norris

  Geraldine Carruthers

   Nikki Smith

  Emma Playford

Beckie Dreyer

 

Also, I have a Demo for Docrafts arranged for the 16th March At Capture The Magic in Ely, Cambs. It will be my first for them, so if you are local to the area, do pop in and say hi :-)

Blog opportunity...

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For the Girls...

Just a quick post today...a certain new puppy is taking all my attention today!

This is a layout I created for a friend as a commission recently, to document her sister who is now on her own with her precious new Daughter.

 

Thanks for looking, I promise a bit more chat next time ;-)

Getting Messy with Dusty Attic...

Oh how I love the new releases from Dusty Attic, and this Flower Buds piece is probably my favourite of all!

 

I used an awful amount of paint and ink on this layout, but it was so much fun!

 

I have discovered that when I want to use a lot of wet medium on my pages, it is best to use a piece of raw chipboard as my base, rather than cardstock This way there is no warping, and this is what I used for this layout.

 

I covered the base in white acrylic, firstly with a brush, and then when this was dry, I stippled another coat on with a sponge. I love the texture that I got.

 

When dry again, I spritzed blue mists in one section and allowed them to drip down, then when dry, I did the same above with a yellow mist. This way there was minimal colour mixing :-)

 

I also added a bit of masked white paint under the photo, and some small flicked dots of ink.

 

This page is really quite simple, but I think it needs to be to focus on the beautiful Dusty Attic Chipboard piece. I just dabbed some white paint on this, leaving the edges raw so as to make it stand out on the page.

 

You can find loads more inspiration using DA products HERE on their site.

Dusty Attic Acrylic Paints & Crackle Varnish...

We all know that Dusty Attic is well known for its beautifully designed chipboard pieces, but did you know that you can also buy Dusty Attic Paints, Glosses and Blooms too?

I had so much fun playing with the wet mediums on this layout, so I decided to do you all a little tutorial on how I used DA products to create this weathered, distressed background.

Firstly, I began by marking where my main layers would be covering the background up. By doing this you avoid using your precious paints in places where they will not be seen...such a waste!

 I chose to not cover my whole background, but just have the centre of my page distressed, so I thickly painted on some Dusty Attic Acrylic in Alabaster with a brush.

The next step was to paint on some of the DA Clear crackle varnish over the top of your dried White acrylic. This should be really thick for good big crackles, or thinner for smaller crackles.  

The next step is the most important for this technique. You must WAIT!!

If you can stand it, preferably overnight, but otherwise at least a couple of hours. Once you start to see crackles appearing you can use a heat gun to finish the crackling process but NOT BEFORE!

When it is finished it will look something like this...

Now to add some colour, tone down the shine and emphasise the texture.

I have watered down two different coloured Dusty Attic Acrylic Paints, Hot Chocolate and Denim.

To do this a squirted a little in a small cup (an egg cup is ideal) and mixed in the same amount of water.

To emphasise the crackles, I used a sponge applicator to gently rub some of the Denim watered down paint into the crackles. Some of the clear varnish may flake off, but don't worry. This just adds to the distressed effect!

I then used a small paint brush to flick and splatter some of the Hot Chocolate watered down paint around the page. Some of this will also settle into the crackles.

After allowing it all to dry and stitching a zigzag border, I constructed the rest of my page on top of my weathered background.

I also used my Hot Chocolate Acrylic Paint to edge my corrugated cardboard sections, and with a sponge over a mask for the wood grain affects on the edge of my page.

Dusty Attic Products used:

Acrylic Paints:
On Butterflies - Denim DA0914, Faded Denim DA0913, Alabaster DA0902.

On Floral Piece - Bisque DA0921, Pesto DA0918, Crushed Olive DA0917, Forrest DA0919, Faded Denim DA0913,

On Background - Hot Chocolate DA0923, Denim DA0914, Alabaster DA0902.

Clear Crackle Varnish DA0900

Dusty in Bloom - Cornsilk DA0806, Blue Bonnet DA0807

Chipboard - Flutterbiies DA0389, Floral Corner piece & Small Butterfly *COMING SOON*

Corrugated Cardboard DA0830