Tutorial Day for My Creative Scrapbook

It is my turn today to share with you a few tips on how I created certain elements of my projects with My Creative Scrapbook kits.

On one of my layouts, the double-page 24/7, I played around with paints, stains and gesso on plain white cardstock to create a bold and bright background.

 I started with just brushing some paint on my white cardstock.  My Adirondack paint dabbers are fairly dried up so I had to use a brush and the thickness of the paint accentuated the more textured and uneven look that I wanted.

I then dabbed one shade of Distress Stain, making sure to leave a few white spots here and there.

I then went with a darker shade of Distress Stain.

Next, I added thick brushstrokes of white gesso.

With a foam, I lightly dabbed at the paint mixture.

Then I topped it all off with spritz of Glimmer Mist.

To be honest, I had no idea what I would come up with when I first started applying the different mediums to the cardstock, but the key to scrapbooking is to keep at it and not give up until you're happy with what you've created. Once the papers and embellishments were added, I really was happy with the end result and the look of my background.

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Although I am by no means an expert at creating my own flowers and embellishments, I love to try :)

When I got inspiration for my 'Enjoy the Everyday' layout created with the Album kit, I thought that these old book papers that I had received in a prize a few months back would look great with the colors and designs of the Simple Stories patterned paper.

 I started by punching out strips out of the book paper using a border punch.

 

I punched out 3 strips, each border being about 6 1/2 inches long.

The book paper being very thin, it was easy to scrunch each strip, accordion-style.

 I then lined up the 3 strips one after the other on the back of my layout, using scotchtape to keep it in place and making sure to keep it ruffled in spots.

And here is how the border looks on the finished layout.

 

Second, I decided to make flowers out of my book paper.

To create 1 flower, I punched out 3 medium-sized flowers out of the paper and 2 smaller ones.

 

I distressed each flower with Old Paper Distress Ink.

Using glue dots, I stuck each flower on top of the other, the 3 larger ones at the bottom followed by the small ones.  With a piece of styrofoam underneath, I used the rounded tip of a paintbrush to push the flower layers down, making the petals curl upwards.  Since the book paper is so thin, one has to be careful when doing this to not rip the paper.

A generous drop of Liquid Pearl in the middle...  

and voilà!

I liked it so much, I ended up making 3 for my layout.

I hope you've enjoyed my creations with this month's kits!