The Atelier

"The butterfly effect" by Susan Johannes

Wowsers, this one was so much fun!!  I have been meaning to do a canvas using Beeswax and crayons ever since I saw Marieke Broekman's on 2 Peas some months ago.  Little did I realise that this technique has been in stamping circles for years!!  Thank you Marieke and Jeni O'Connor for inspiring me to use it.

So, I started with a blank canvas.

And of course some Buzz and Bloom chipboard.  I have used the Tubby Junior Alphabet letters for the word butterfly and the large Nautilus Scroll for my actual butterfly.  I stuck the photo down using double-sided tape and then went to town using the Beeswax.

Beeswax can be a tricky thing to work with in that it cools and hardens so quickly so it makes it hard to paint with it.  To overcome this you can either use a heat gun and have that in one hand as you paint or do what I have done with an electric pan.  I basically put some shavings from a big block of Beeswax in a pie tin (disposable)  plus some of my kids old crayons (depending on the colour you want). 

I put a little water in the pan first and then turned it on high so that the water would simmer.  Don't use too much water as you don't want it bubbling into your Beeswax.  I then put the pie tin in the pan and the Beeswax and crayon shavings melted straight away.  I mixed them together with a cotton bud and actually used that to paint with too.  If you use a brush be prepared to then use that brush for only Beeswax in the future as it's too hard to get off the brush after.  Same goes with directly in a pan or saucepan.  So, now came the painting.  I just went to town straight onto the photo.  It didn't take long at all.  I actually did the blue first and then to give a dreamy/cloudy sort of look I then did Beeswax with white crayon.  Here is the result.

It looks so texturised and it smells so yummy.  I just love this technique.  It's not even that messy (or maybe I'm just used to mess)!!  LOL.  I then painted the tubby letters and the flourish with paint and added the dimensional magic to the top when the paint was dry.  I adhered these using craft glue.  The sun is made out of felt and was attached using craft glue.

Here is the end result.  I hope you like it!!

"Tania's Birthday Calendar" by Tania Davey

This is a project I have been meaning to do for about the last year. If you're anything like me, remembering extended family birthdays is hard work! I have 5 kids so remembering those is hard enough. So a Birthday calendar was in order. I started off with a desk calendar base, which can be purchased from newsagents and Office supply stores.

 

I then covered the base with this fibrous paper using Mod Podge. Working my way around the calendar base adding pieces where needed.

 

I then sealed the Calender base using the mod podge as well and set aside to dry.  

I measured up the cardstock size I needed and cut 13 sheets of the patterned paper and 13 sheets of a coordinating cardstock. I used double sided tape to stick a piece of Patterned paper to each piece of cardstock. I used a ¼ inch hole punch to add the holes for the rings to go through. Then added a Journaling spot to each of the pieces.

 

I then used the Buzz and Bloom Love & Kisses Alphabet Stamps to stamp the months on 12 of the cards. I embossed these with a black soot embossing powder. I also ran the edges of the cards along my clear ink pad and used a bronze coloured embossing powder to give it a rustic type look.

 

Then it was onto the gorgeous chipboard to dress up my birthday calendar. For the cover card I used a Buzz and Bloom Small Nautilus Scroll which I covered with pearl and bronze embossing powders. I added some little flowers and tiny gems to finish the cover.

 

Across the top of the calendar base I used a Buzz and Bloom Grand Flourish (Sm) which I simply painted with a bronze metallic paint and added flowers. I then stuck it to the top of the base.

 

Underneath the cards sits another Buzz and Bloom chipboard shape, the Round Corner Flourish, which again is simply painted in bronze metallic paint and flowers added. I adhered this to the base so it was sticking out under the cards.

   

Now I have a completed birthday Calendar ... so now if I forget any birthdays you will know that someone has stolen my birthday calendar J 

"Beautiful Beautiful Brown Eyes" by Keri Brooks-LaClair

Have you ever heard the song? Beautiful Beautiful Brown Eyes? It is on a bluegrass CD that I have, from a very special pair of brothers, The Gibson Brothers. They are my “way back” cousins, and we grew up on farms next door to each other. We love to listen to the CD, and Cody *loves* this song. When he was younger, I started singing along to it in the car, and would sing it right to him. He now thinks that the song is just for him! It hit me one day, that I could definitely do a layout about my husband’s and son’s brown eyes. I come from a family of blue eyes, but they weren’t strong enough to overcome my husbands family of brown eyes!

1. Choose a pile of coordinating patterned papers, and cut into desired pieces for a layout of your choice. Mount your photo on coordinating cardstock or patterned paper. Before you adhere anything down permanently, fray the edges of all of your cardstock pieces with a distressing tool. Then ink the edges slightly with an ink color that matches your patterned paper’s color palette.

2. I really wanted the title of this page to stand out, having built the whole layout around a song title. I went into my printing program, and printed out the word “Beautiful” two times, slightly overlapping the first word with the second. I mounted the piece so that the title would run vertically along the length of my photograph.

3. For part of the title, I used Buzz and Bloom’s Tubby Chipboard Alphas, to spell out the words Brown Eyes. I glued them face down to the back of a piece of patterned paper.

After they were dry, I cut them out with a craft knife, and sanded the edges with a fingernail grinder, to give it a VERY worn out look.

I gave them all a coat of sealer, to make them shine a bit.

4. Finally, I adhered the finished chipboard letters to the edge of the photo, and adhered the layout together firmly. This gave the chipboard letters a lot of dimension! I also took another line from the song, and printed the words out individually on cardstock, and stapled them onto the opposite corner of the layout.

This was a very fun layout to complete.  I plan on doing more song inspired ones in the future.  It is amazing what an old song from decades ago can bring about with a little creativity! 

"You Can Fly" by Kris Hankins

Whenever possible, I like to bring nature into my home, whether it is with a plant or fresh flowers, or other decorative element. Year round, I love to spend time in my screened porch, endlessly observing the outdoors. It is so relaxing for me. I wanted to make a birdhouse for my screened porch. This house didn't end up as just your average birdhouse.  I'd say it was a bit "stylish".  If it were placed outside, I think only the classiest of birds could inhabit it.
 

Step 1 - I first gave my unfinished birdhouse a light sanding and a coat of primer. This was followed by a coat of white acrylic paint over the entire birdhouse.

Next, I added glaze medium to a small dab of beige acrylic paint. I left the paint/glaze partially mixed. I painted the sheer/streaky mixture onto the roof, using vertical paint strokes. This gave the finished roof a dimensional look of wood.

 

Step 2 - After the roof was dry, I stamped a flourish from Buzz and Blooms Pretty Things I stamp set at the top edges of the roof using green chalk ink. Stamping on this glazed surface gave the stamped images a weathered/aged look. I heat set the images with my heat gun.

 

Using an antique gold acrylic paint, I painted the edges of the roof and the birds perch.  I also mixed some antique metallic gold paint with some gel medium, and made subtle strokes on the top and bottom edges of the roof. Again, this added some age and dimension to the roof.  Gives a patina. 

I also glued some narrow “stitched” green ribbon down the front and back edges of the roof.

 

Step 3 - With a fine/thin paint brush, I painted whispy grass blades on all sides of the birdhouse. I used 3 or 4 shades of green/yellow paints to paint the blades of grass.

 

Step 4 – With a small size alphabet, I stamped “you can fly” on the front of the house, using chalk ink. 

Step 5 – To further embellish my birdhouse, I glued a piece of ribbon leaves onto the birdhouse, going from the birdhouse doorway curving it around to the side panel. I made sure that only the vine was glued down and that the leaves were not. 

I punched a dozen sunflower images out of printed paper using a ¾” paper punch. I added diamond glaze to each flower. After they were completely dry (overnight), I “cracked” each of them. I then adhered them randomly to all sides of the birdhouse.
 

Step 6 – To further enhance the look of my stylish birdhouse, I chose to add two Buzz and Bloom Nautilus Scroll chipboard pieces. I used one large and one small size.  I inked them both with green chalk ink. For interest, I stippled them with rust, light green, and gold chalk ink. I attached the large flourish to the front of the house, and the small one to the eave at the pitch of the roof. 

Step 7 – My final step was to paint 4 round wooden balls with white paint, and attached them to the bottom of the birdhouse.  I gave the balls a wash of antique metallic gold paint.

The house is now ready for both humans and birds to enjoy!!!

"Look to the stars!!!" by Charmane Koch

Buzz and Bloom products used:

Buzz and Bloom Chipboard Flower Chip

Buzz and Bloom Grand Flourish (small)

Black cardstock, black paint, sequins, beads,glitter pens, black pen, black thread & needle, glue, paintbrush, paper piercer.

I have been obsessed with BEADS, SEQUINS and BLING for a while now, so I thought I would LOVE to create something special using them with the gorgeous Buzz and Bloom Chipboard.

I really love the look of a black background and using bright colours so I started with black cardstock and a photo my partner took of me (experimenting on me with his photography skills!!) I loved the photo and thought it was perfect to use for this project. I decided to create the page with the size of 8 x 10 inches as I had plans to attach it to a canvas I have here at home to put on the wall.

This is the original photo that was taken...

I attached the photo to the cardstock approximately half a centimetre from the top of the page (photo size 6x8inches) This would give enough room for me to place the gorgeous Buzz and Bloom Grand Flourish to the bottom of the photo.

The next step to prepare my photo was to add my sequins and glitter glue. I painted the whole photo except my image in black paint and then waited for it to dry. (From experience, if you don't add the paint and have a glossy photo - the glitter when dry flakes off - so this is a little tip, if you attempt this!!!)

The next process is slow and steady - and you truly have to have patience (don't know how I did it!!!) After the paint is dry, I lightly sketched a freehand circle/oval shape around the image of me in pencil. This gave me a guide to carefully glue each pink sequin into place. I then dabbed dots of glitter pen colour around the edge of the sequin circle - green, blue and gold. I have then glued the next circle (semi-circle actually) of sequins, this time in purple. The problem with this process is it is very tricky not to touch the wet glitter, so you really need to create each section bit by bit. This means waiting for the glitter to dry and also the glue to dry so that the sequins are firmly in place.

Once a few rows had dried I decided to attach beads to the centres of the sequins. With a paper piercer and craft mat I pierced holes through the centre of each sequin hole. With two strands of thread approximately 40cm long I attached one bead to each hole. This is yet another slow process - but I think the outcome is worth it!

Close ups of the glitter glue, sequins and beads....

First image is of the glue when wet - very easy to bump!!!

The second image shows the glitter dry and the finished product closeup of the beads and sequins.

I thought by using the Buzz and Bloom Chipboard Flower Chip as the "star" it would bring focus and meaning to my actual layout. At this point in my life - Personal and Scrapbooking wise I am really looking to the stars - I am feeling truly blessed with the opportunities that I have been given and grateful for what I have.

To embellish my Buzz and Bloom Chipboard Flower Chip I firstly covered it in some gorgeous Starlite Black Ink which gives a starry shiny look. I then decided to dab dots in the inner part with pink glitter glue and also added a bit of purple glitter.

To make it blend with the rest of the page, I also glued pink sequins.

Finishing it off, I used black pen to highlight the engraved parts of the Buzz and Bloom Flower Chip.

To embellish the Buzz and Bloom Grand Flourish, I firstly painted it with black paint. Once dry I then turned to my glitter pens again. I used the same colour in each opposite part of the flourish (if you cut it in half both sides would have the same colour on each side, does that make sense?)

I used a matte sealer, but think would have been better to use a gloss, although I still like the outcome.

I really enjoyed creating this layout, and I do plan to attach it to the 8 x 10 canvas I have.

Can you believe, even though it

took quite a long time to create this page - I am STILL addicted to sequins and beads!!!!

I know I haven't any title on the actual layout, but I have called it "Look to the Stars".

"WooHoo" by Philippa Barr

A very special friend of ours is having his 40th birthday celebrations tomorrow night and I wanted to do something unique for him. He is a single male, who still likes to party and I couldn't think of anything to buy him and I knew I couldn't scrap something for him, I didn't have time to ring his mum to get some photos. Besides, last time I called her to get his phone number, he played a joke on his mum and told her never to do that again as I was a stalker, rofl!! Okay, all jokes aside, I finally had a brainwave last night. I've always loved this quote and I think it suits Dru.

Step 1 - Print the quote and then photocopy it. You must use a photocopy or the ink will bleed when you ink and seal. I did a couple of copies just in case I made a mistake.

Step 2 - Gather all of your materials, grab lots of embellishments, you may not use them all but it's great to have them in front of you.

Step 3 - Tear the patterned paper into horizontal strips and sponge with brown ink. Coat the canvas with gel medium and lay each strip onto the canvas, overlapping as you go, and coating with more gel medium. Now it gets messy with your hands! Cover the sides and back with gel medium and use your fingers to fold the paper around the sides and back, coating the top with gel medium also. Sit on top of a jar to dry.

Step 4 - Coat the Buzz & Bloom Tubby Alphabet letters with Versamark and then emboss. I have used both sizes of the letters and I have embossed with a sepia embossing powder. To get 4 of the o's, I cut down a 'g', an 'a', and a 'd'.

Step 5 - To create a real masculine feel to the canvas, I have used lots of bits and pieces of hardware that I had in my stash. I've used clips, big, bold eyelets, photo hinges and turns, photos corners. Place them on the letters and either glue on or in the case of the eyelets, set them with a hammer. I used a drill to make the hole in the chipboard before setting the eyelets.

Step 6 - Tear the photocopied quote into strips and ink. I have used two different coloured inks.

Step 7 - Position all elements onto the canvas and begin sticking! I have stuck the quote on with more gel medium, again coating over the top for a finished seal. The letters and extra photo hinge have been stuck down with dimensional magic. The "what a ride" has been stuck on to some extra chipboard for added strength and pop dotted for more dimension.

Allow to dry and enjoy!

"Coffee Lover" by Alli Paterson

I need to be inspired visually before I can begin to create. I love looking at photos and finding ones that bring back memories of an event....a moment in our life...big or small....

We were helping out a friend on the weekend and Michael brought along his Presso coffee machine and I took a great photo of him making coffee. My husband Michael loves coffee, he roasts his own here at home in the garage, he is a self confessed coffee snob. I wanted to capture him doing something he loves but also showed through the impish personality he has, I think this photo says it all.

This photo inspired me to create a canvas to capture his love of a good coffee. I chose a canvas because they come in all sizes and have a nice dimension to them. This will hang in our office.

First stage: preparing the canvas

1.  Using a primed canvas (this is a canvas that has already been painted with gesso*, if you use raw canvas it is a good idea to seal the canvas with a coat of gesso* before starting)

2.  Apply a coat of combined 1 part water and one part liquitex gloss medium to the canvas and then layer toilet paper over the entire canvas, with your hands or a large foam brush dab or pat more of the liquitex/water mixture over the toilet paper then apply another layer again coating it with the liquitex/water mixture.

3.  Using your fingers squish down the toilet paper removing any air pockets that may have formed. Ideally you need to leave this to dry for 24 hours.

When it dries the toilet paper and liquitex mixture create a textured finish that when painted and colour washed several times will resemble leather. When selecting toilet paper for this project buy the thinnest cheapest type you can find that is single ply.

Stage two: applying the colour

1. to give depth and richness of colour I am using three colours for my canvas, I have selected English mustard as the base, dark brown and raw umber as the highlight colours.
2. The colours are applied one at a time in a wash form, so one part water and one part paint, once the canvas is covered excess paint is blotted off with paper towel or a sponge. The accent colours are not applied all over the canvas but wiped over and then off again with a dry cloth.
3. To finish metallic rub ons can be applied to edges and indiscriminately for effect.
4. As there is a large expanse of brown on my canvas I chose to paint the sides a bright vibrant colour that matches the colour of some other elements on the top of my canvas.

Decorating!

This is the fun part; I printed my photo A4 size using no border printing so it went right to the edges. I mounted it on a think piece of card and sanded the edges. Using the Buzz and Bloom Billy the Kid Alphabet stamps I stamped the word {LOVER} directly onto the canvas.

I have used the large Buzz and Bloom Chipboard Tubby Alphabet for my title, I have painted the edges to match the sides of the canvas and then I glued them in reverse onto the back of a photo of coffee beans and then cut them out and lightly sanded then to add definition.

Sticking them down you will need to place something under your canvas, liberally apply craft glue, liquitex, modge podge or something similar that has a strong hold once dry. Lay a clean sheet of paper over them and weight them with books.

I’ve added some papers with a little colour under my photo; it tones down the brown and also makes the painted and stamped Buzz and Bloom Round Corner Flourish stand out.

To finish I've added some rub ons directly to the photograph, some ribbon and charms and buttons. As the photo is my focal point I have only added a small amount of embellishment

* A prepared paste used as a ground for painting on wood or canvas, often made out of plaster of Paris or gypsum. The gesso tightens the canvas and prevents the oil paints from seeping through.

"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.

"Monochromatic Altered Book Layout" by Angela Sargeant

Many people don’t know this about me but I’m really a hippy at heart. I have a great collection of crystals in all different sizes and shapes and I love to look at and hold them regularly. Because of my passion for crystals, a while ago I started an Altered Book just for crystals – each layout in the book is dedicated to a different type of crystal and I thoroughly enjoy exploring ways to create these pages using my crystals as inspiration. For those of you that are horrified that I have defiled a book, please be assured that I am in fact a bibliophile and that I only ripped into this book as it was a promotional cookbook that I received free and I do have another copy of it.

For this layout I wanted to use a Rose Quartz crystal and love (a major quality of the rose quartz) as my theme and decided that a monochromatic layout would be appropriate. The definition of monochromatic is having one colour in a range of tones – in this case I’ve used various tints and shades of pink. If you’ve never done an Altered Book (or collage) and you’d like to start then using a monochromatic colour scheme is an excellent way to start. Why? Because using a monochromatic colour scheme means you can collage as much as you’d like without the overall effect being messy, random and confusing to the eye. Making your altered book layout or collage monochromatic will help your pages to look more cohesive and pleasing.

When I started this layout I knew I wanted to make a niche in which to place a Rose Quartz crystal in as a feature. To do this I placed a cutting mat 40 pages (20 sheets) under the page I was going to alter and then using a very sharp craft knife I cut out a rectangle through all the pages in the size of the plastic memory box I wanted to insert. If you’re going to do this then make sure you sketch out the size of the box you will be inserting before you cut so that you don’t end up with a niche that’s too big. To make a pretty background for the clear memory box I was using, I simply glued down a square of printed rice paper on the page behind the cut niche. On this layout I wanted to leave the typing of the book showing through so instead of covering it completely with paint as I normally would, I painted both pages on my layout with a light wash of pink Twinkling H20s just to tint the page. I wanted a feminine and light background so after the H20s dried I stamped the lace stamp from Pretty Things III stamp sheet over the whole of the two pages using a pink chalk inkpad. This gave me a pretty background on which to start my altering. Next I took some chalk and loosely wrote the words “love”, “heart” and “healing” over the pages (these words are connected to Rose Quartz crystals). I then grabbed some crimson calligraphy ink and dripped spots all over the layout, lifted up the book and let the ink drip down to signify a bleeding heart. I finished off the background by dragging some crimson calligraphy ink over the perimeter of the pages and after the ink dried I softened the look a bit by rubbing some chalk over it. To make the pages sturdy to work on I made holes down the left and right hand pages going through 4 pages on either side and attached them together using pink eyelets then “sewed” the pages together with some shimmering pink Mizuki cord. I still had some loose pages on the right hand side (remember I cut through 20 sheets) so they were all glued down together then left to dry overnight. Now for the part that I was waiting for! From the beginning I knew that I wanted to entitle the layout “rose quartz” using the fabulous Tubby Chipboard Letters and finally my background was dry so I could get to playing with the chipboard. I wanted a dreamy and sort of translucent look for my title so to start I inked up the letters with a white inkpad and when they were dry I painted them with pink Twinkling H2Os. The reason I inked them in white first was so that I could get a paler and truer pink than I would have if I hadn’t ‘primed’ the chipboard first. Using the Twinkling H2Os also meant that I could get a variegated colour on my letters to give me that dreamy look I wanted. When the letters were dry I then covered them with some dimensional glue to give a glazed look. Before the glue had dried I also sprinkled some clear seed beads over the letters, some of which I had crushed first with a hammer so that they would look like pieces of broken glass.  Once all the chipboard pieces were finished and dried I glued them down onto the altered book.

 

Again, the beauty of using a monochromatic colour scheme is that you can keep adding things without your collage looking overwhelmed, so I cut out a heart shape from some very soft tulle and glued that down on the page under the word “rose”. On top of that heart I added another two smaller hearts, one cut out from pink mulberry paper and another from the same rice paper used for the background of the memory box. After all this was dried I drew some swirls around the large heart using a pink gel pen then went around the whole thing with some pink chalk to soften. I still wanted to highlight the “love” theme so using some dark pink chalk ink I stamped the word “Love” from the Romance stamp sheet in various places over my layout. You’ll also notice that I added a little tag to the right hand side of the layout. I found a price tag which I altered by mixing a little water with the crimson calligraphy ink and then I painting over it and the cord. Once the tag was dried I stamped the word “Love” from the Romance stamp sheet to it and then tied tag to the Mizuki cord. Lastly I placed a rose quartz pendant in the memory box then carefully pushed the memory box into the niche from behind. The memory box already had adhesive panel on the back so that was stuck to the page behind with the rice paper. To finish off I went around the niche with a hot pink marker to define it.