The Atelier

"My Fairy Tale" by Aida Haron

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In each person's life there are always highs and lows and how we react to these moment have so much to do with the influences of family and social environment when we were young. My tale is about growth, about how much I have learnt through relationships with family, friends and co-workers.

I used Buzz and Bloom's Unmounted Stamps Pretty Things III which are both elegant and perfect for this project. For an added twist, instead of pigment ink, I used thick acrylic paint in dauber bottles and stamped the designs on transparencies. This gave the images a chalky, old style look I wanted to use for the album.

Be sure to wash the stamps throughly using a soft small brush making sure the acrylic does not dry in the grooves.

For the cover, cut out a window to fit the design on the tranparency and attach.

Continue stamping other transparencies, adding a folded strip of patterned paper on one end. I have decorated the transparency with a a cardstock tree on one page and a sentiment on another for more interest.

In between each transparency page I added a cardstock page for the journaling as well as to provide strength to the album.

Complete the album by binding the pages either by sewing or simply punch holes in the sides of the pages, then using jump rings which may be decorated with ribbons.

"Wall Hanging" by Aida Haron

We are seeing many chipboard book products in interesting shapes and sizes which are so much fun to alter. I decided to turn a chipboard book into a wall hanging, inspired by a brilliant scrapper I know.

The chipboard book came ready with the punched holes. You can have more or fewer pages but I decided that four was sufficient for this project. Paint the back of each chipboard page, this being a purely for cosmetic reasons, not really necessary but it does give the project a finished look. Arrange contact sized photos on the pages to have a rough idea of the fit and to see if you need to use them all or subtract the number.

On the front of the chipboard page, glue on your patterned paper, then sandpaper and ink the edges.

Make separate tags, one for each page. I chose the Buzz and Bloom Tubby Jr Chipboard Alphabets forming the word ART. The alphabets were painted with an acrylic paint to match the aqua colour of the paper, then glued on to a small piece of patterned paper, then on to a small circle chipboard

Complete one tag for each page, making sure a running theme is maintained. In this case, I used paper flowers and flower shapes in similar colours. When using several tags for journaling spots, a running theme based on the similar colours, textures or style keeps the whole look consistant.

The general rule for scrapbooking is that only the focal photo is matted, However there are exceptions and for this project all the photos are matted. The reason being that the colored contact sized photos are small, and if clustered together (without matting) will be confusing to the eye. Connect each page with narrow ribbons and a loop of thicker ribbon at the top to hang the project. Arrange the tags on the left side, tying them to the main chipboard body with narrow ribbons. You may glue the tags down if you prefer. Add the photos.

Journaling is on strips which were printed on cardstock by the computer, cut into strips with a craft blade, then glued on to the pages.

I really enjoyed this project, and hope you too will make a wall hanging !

 

 

"True" by Aida Haron

I love mini-books because they are easy to fill, limited only by your imagination and they make ideal, personalized gifts. The small size is perfect for a journal phobic like me as there is less pressure to add lengthy stories and instead I can use short observations. Mini books are also a wonderful way of mixing the new with left over supplies as it requires very little paper with the photos and journaling taking up most of the space.

First begin with a size you are comfortable with. This book is 4.5 inches square to fit the metal frame with a slight extension. The style inspiration came from the frame which had a classic, vintage feel, and with the brown, I coordinated varying shades of red and cream with the fonts in black. I cut and stuck together the cardstock to make an accordion book with five pages – one for the cover and the other four for the pages. Each page was 4.5 inches which means you will need to multiply 4.5 inches by 5 to get the accordion pages. You can have more pages if you like. This would be the backbone for the book

I then cut out four pieces of cardstock of 4.5 inches square for the pages. You can scrap directly on the accordian pages, but I prefer to work on separate pieces and then glue them into the book. This way if a page does not feel right, the whole book would not be ruined. After finishing the pages, before gluing them into the book, line them up to check for consistency in content, colour and style and make adjustments if needed.

For the title “True” I used Buzz and Bloom’s Tubby Junior Chipboard alphabets. These were textured with putty, when dry they were painted a bright red and glazed. The word was arranged under the photos, the metal frame was glued over the whole piece. The tight composition was deliberate to draw the eye to the photos and title.

Rub-on alphabets are ideal for books as they add interest without bulk, making the book easier to shut. Still, nothing beats using a chipboard for effect and on the second page I used the Buzz and Bloom Rustic Chipboard Alphabet which had been altered with a black and white patterned paper.

One of the appeals of altered books is the way embellishments extend beyond the book size adding an element of surprise. This idea initially started out as book-tabs but has since morphed to using any number of accents. In this book, the tabs are a red ribbon, a chipboard flower tag, scalloped paper, a stamp, a butterfly and a Buzz and Bloom Large Nautilus Scroll. When the book is shut, the embellishments all line up together making the book a tempting curiosity !

Don’t be afraid of using a variety of mediums as these will add texture. In the last page I painted the word

"ART", then used a black pen to doodle the dots and lines on the word. A stamped accent was added in the corner.

Lastly, don’t forget the back of the book !

The whole book was coated twice with a decoupage medium to help it last the many hands that will go through it.