Allow your Soul to Grow by Elisa Ablett

Hi everyone,

Elisa here from the Scrap Matrix design team with my layout created for the Watercolour and Words challenge. I thought i would share the close ups of the finer details of the layout and a handy step by step tutorial on how i put the layout together.

The main focus of my layout was using the Ayeeda Water Inks from 13 Arts and the versatile 13 Arts - Strength in Numbers Chipboard Sheet.

Here is my finished layout, I love the boho look of the watercolours and flowers so I decided to continue that on with some hand drawn flowers and vines.

Lets have a look at how I used my focus products to create my layout:

Step 1 - I drew a very faint line halfway down the page and then sprayed water onto the bottom half of page tilting the page to let the water run down. Then drip the pink and scarlet Ayeeda ink onto the water letting it pool in the water that you have sprayed on.

Step 2 - Add a couple more colours to your page, you can use a pipette to have more control where your colours end up.

Step 3 - While your page is still wet add 13 Arts Splash Glitter Ink - Pink using the dropper provided.

Step 4- Ink your chosen chipboard Kinder Kreations Zen Leaf Chipboard with a black ink pad and let dry, once dry thread the wire ends of your Green Crystal Stems through the chipboard leaves.

Step 5- to start your flowers ready for fussy cutting - Spray your craft mat liberally with water and then add drops of ink onto the water, grab a piece of white mixed media cardstock and turn it upside down and smooth over the ink. You will end up with a sheet of coloured paper ready for you to stamp on. I did two of these sheets and made one with darker colours and one with more violet and green. Put it them aside to dry. You can also flick water onto the page to create a distressed look like the photo below.

Step 6 - Once your background has dried, grab a black marker and hand draw (or zentangle) (or if you aren't confident in drawing download a free template, or trace a design in)
                                                                                                                                                     

Step 7 - I found an old transparency from Kaisercraft and cut it up to use as a feature piece on my layout then layered German Scrap - renaissance-petite-black trim and German Scrap - ornate-garland-2-black and black /molossi-crystal-lines

Step 8 - Glue down your chipboard pieces and crystal gem and Scrap Matrix metal- leaf-pretty-silver as pictured above, add some stamping and extra crystals.

Step 9 - Now onto the stamping, I used an awesome set of stamps (Paper Artsy -e-tracy-scott-11-a5-set) that are available in the Scrap Matrix store today. I stamped on both sheets of paper that I made with the coloured backgrounds. I then fussy cut all the pieces out.

Step 10 - Glue your photo down along with the green fussy cut border like the photo below.

Step 11 - Layer all your pieces by using 3D foam mounting dots and glue

Step 12 - Using the pink glitter ink from 13 Arts and the dropper provided add small drops to the butterfly as an added feature.

Step 13 - Pick your desired Chipboard and stickers - I used 13 arts 'Small saying's stickers and 13 Arts chipboard. Colour your chipboard with your green watercolour 13 Arts ink and let dry, once dry glue it to your layout. Also add your sticker to your page, i added mine to the side of my photo.

Here are some close ups of the finished layout!

Well that's it from me! 

I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and seeing how my layout came together.

Don't forget to leave some love and make sure you visit the store either in person or online to say Hi! and check out all the wonderful and unique products.

Hugs

Elisa xx

Dream Big - By Elisa Ablett

Hi Everyone, 

My turn up on the Shop and Crop blog today with something a little different for me - BACK TO BLACK!

I don't normally do a black cardstock background but with the Distress Oxide Inks, an awesome stamp set and a cool technique or two and the I just wanted to try one.

Here is a step by step tutorial on how I made the gorgeous flowers with the distress oxide ink pads.

Step 1 - using a nice smooth black cardstock, ink the middle of your stamp with the 'wilted violet' oxide ink pad and the the outsides of the stamp with the 'picked raspberry'. Then using the smaller of the stamps use 'cracked pistachio' ink pad. 

Step 2 - Stamp all over your black cardstock, as you can see the Oxide Ink pads stamp beautifully over the black and come out in almost chalky neon colours.

Step 3 - Smudge your ink pads onto your craft mat and spritz with water liberally. Then using a paint brush splat and drip the liquid onto your cardstock over the top of your stamped images.

Step 4 - Add a bit more colour to the page by turning the cardstock upside down and dipping the flowers into the liquid on your mat and smoothing the back of the page with your hand. A close up below.

Step 5 - I also used the paint brush to add shading and colour to the inside of the flowers. 

Then lastly once they have dried, I fussy cut the flowers out and then using a white gel pen added white dots to the middle of the flowers as you can see from the close ups!

Here are the close ups for the finer details!

Here are the products used to create my layout from the Shop.

september-2017-mixed-media-mania-kit-one-off-purchase

Prima Bloom Floral stamps only available in the one off mixed media mania kit.

tim-holtz-distress-oxide-ink-pad-bundle-1

Distress Oxide Ink Bundle Deal 2

cocoa-vanilla-studio-bohemian-dream-collection-bundle

Thanks for stopping by the blog today 😀

Elisa xx

'Love' By Elisa Ablett for D-lish Scraps

Hi everyone, 

Im up on the Dlish blog today with my latest layout and blog post.

 The idea for this layout started with the most gorgeous watercolour flowers from the store - Little-Birdie---Watercolour-Heather---Blue and distress stains. I wanted a lovely soft and feminine background that ties in with the colours in my photo and I wanted to use watercolours to achieve that soft look. I grabbed my trusty distress stains in Broken China and Abandoned Coral which matched my photo perfectly and they happened to match the flowers as well, winning!!

I used the stains to hand colour my tag and white leaves, they are from a past Just Add Paper kit.

I also used the stains in my background by applying water to the page directly and then adding splats of the stains. Once dry I used a D-lish Scraps 5 x 5 Stencil along with a white gel pen to trace flowers in white over the top of my background in a wreath design.

Here are some close ups of the embellishment clusters !

In the above cluster I used Little-Birdie-Flowers in Heather, flowers, glitter heart, leaves, resin flowers, pearls, journal spots and tag from recent Just-Add-Paper-Kits. Plus a lovely pink  suede tassel and a lovely butterfly flair button.

In the top cluster you can see the messy circle creative cut frame, pink mini bow, pink suede tassel, pink/white twine and an awesome die cut tag from a  past Just-Add-Paper-Kits.

On the right side of the layout you can see the White leaves which i hand coloured with the distress stains, also you can see the tiny pink pearls  and journal pieces which came with a sweet past Just Add paper kit which matched perfectly, i placed around the circle to create a frame!

Well that's it from me today, make sure you head to the store to check out all the products and bargains!

Hugs

Elisa xx

'Summer Loving' by Elisa Ablett

Hi everyone,

Elisa here from the design team for Shop and Crop Scrapbooking back with a simple tutorial using the new Tim Holtz Distress Ink Oxides to make a mixed media layout using the leftovers from the August Crop Kit and a few things from my stash.

The Crop kit is chock full of amazing papers and embellishments and so far I have made 4 layouts out of it with leftovers !

If you are after Oxide inkpads or a Crop Kit order through
Kylie at the shop and use the code EA5 to receive a discount on me 😀😀

Kylie and I have come up with a special bundle deal for customers - Buy all 12 colours in series 1 and series 2 colour releases for a special price and receive an even further discount if you use the code EA5 just message Shop and Crop Scrapbooking for the details!!!

Here is my layout, a mixed media beach inspired layout.

Let's Get on with the tutorial!

I picked these lovely four beachy colours and grabbed my trusty water spray bottle to begin.

If you are unsure what the Oxide inkpads are and what makes them so crazy special, this is a description coming from Ranger and Tim Holtz -

"Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pads are water-reactive dye & pigment ink fusion that creates an oxidized effect when sprayed with water. Use with stamps, stencils, and direct to surface. Blend using Ink Blending Tools and Foam. Re-ink using Distress Oxide Reinkers"

Because they have pigment ink blended in with them they will stamp with a fine image, they are opaque so will show up perfectly on a dark surface, you can also layer the colours on top of each other and they still retain the colours and do not turn into brown smoosh. And the best thing is they still react with water like the Distress Ink pads.

I will be showing you a quick and simple tutorial on how to use these wonderful inkpads and how to apply them to a mixed media layout...

Step 1 - Grab your ink pad and smoosh it or wipe it onto your mat (special crafters mat that can be wiped over) spray the colour with water liberally to create large droplets

Step 2 - Turn a piece of mixed media cardstock over the colour on your sheet and place it on the colour. Now to get the droplets you can just pull the sheet back up without rubbing the back of the sheet with your hand or you can rub the back of the sheet to get a different look. Pull the sheet off the colour and dry with a heat gun.

Step 3 - While you are drying with your heatgun, grab a water spray bottle - the distress spray bottle is the best for this job as it releases rather large drops and spray onto your sheet over the colour and you will get this lovely oxidised droplet effect. 

Step 4 - After your first layer of colour, you can now add layer after layer using the same technique!! you will get a multi colour effect with lovely droplets and crazy oxide effect.

Step 5 - At the end you can also add another technique using a fan brush. Smoosh your colour onto your mat, add the water and then using the brush instead, dip it into the colour and tap generous droplets of colour onto your page and dry with a heatgun.

Below is a few examples of the end result of these techniques! perfect to use on a beach inspired layout ....right ??

Here is a few photos on how I incorporated these techniques on my layout.

Adding background colour to my page using the smooshing on the mat technique.

Adding some droplets of Antique Linen Oxide Ink pad to my page.

Use the inkpads to cover wood veneer or chipboard and use embellishments like DIY hearts from Charms Creations to mop up the colour on your mat and they will match your layout!!

I also used the technique on a couple of die cut square frames, which is a different and unique way of colouring and adding them to your page.

Add some stamping over your frames...

And here are some close ups of the finer details 

Well that's it from me today, i hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and insight into how you can incorporate simple yet effective techniques into your layouts.

Hugs 

Elisa xx