Yellow and Black in the trees...

I decided to make a page with a grid pattern, and then use a mix of photos and embellishments in the little squares - which Tando chipboard is great for. 

 I used a couple of flowers from the flowers grab bag and painted them in 2 different shades of yellow  acrylic paint, then added a little white too, as well as a touch of black gel pen once it was dry to add a little more definition.  I used the same 3 colours of paint on the butterfly and square button - with the butterfly I then added some silver stickles to highlight the wings and I drew a bark pattern on the large square chipboard button too.

Stencils - You are my Sunshine

I love this stencil by Andy Skinner and it fitted perfectly with the title of my page - "You are my Sunshine" - as it is called Sunburst.  

I started my page, working out where all my elements were going, and there is quite a bit of reflections going on there - like the title and the photo blocks, so I did the same with the mask, just reflected it on a diagonal line.  I used some white gesso and a palette knife with the mask, though any white acrylic would work, I also tried to create quite a thick layer of paint so it adds some texture to the page.  You'll need to leave a little drying time as the 2 circles overlap but I love the effect the mask gives to the page, drawing your eye into the photos.

This photo shows how impatient I am with my drying time!!! The first circle is really crisp - I forgot to wash the mask in-between the 2 circles - hence this one is not so crisp....so patience and washing is a virtue :))

Free for All - Printers Tray

I love Tandos printers trays - they make a lovely gift and also you can layer up loads of paints and inks on the chipboard.  This tray has a little cover that you lift up to reveal all the filled boxes.  

I started by covering all the chipboard in a layer of white gesso to help show off the mists and stop them sinking in to the chipboard. The painting and layering is made really easy as these frames come in layers that you can build up.  After the painting, I then went on to inking and used brown and blue cosmic shimmer mists, drying in-between layers and it gives you a beautiful covering of colour with that lovely mica shimmer.  Whilst that was drying I then covered the back board with some paper, then once everything was dry assembled the tray and went to work filling the little windows with lace, embellishments, papers - all sorts of little treasures.

Star Gazing

Hello everyone, this weeks theme is the 'Great Outdoors' so I went for a slightly different slant, and rather than the Great Outdoors by day, I went with it at night.  The Tando stars were perfect, and I covered them in gold and yellow gelatos, then I added a layer of glossy accents and sprinkled some golden glitter in.  I also used some of the cogs from the grab bags, using the same effect but just with some silver gelato and then silver glitter - they made the perfect embellishment for my astronomy theme!

Katherine

All Dotty

With this weeks theme on dots I went straight to my sequin waste mark - I rubbed some chalk inks through it in pink and blue and used them as little bits of paper within my circles - as I handout all those circles I added some doodling to distract from the fact that they are not perfect..and doodled around the polka dots too!

I also added a little Tando chipboard camera as it went perfectly with the photo, as I don't have a grey pro marker I just coloured it in with pencil (as the cameras on the paper are outlined in grey) which adds a really soft effect to the chipboard.

Your Smile Brightens My Day

With this weeks theme of children, I went for a favourite smiley photo!  I love that you can colour and alter Tando chipboard so that it fits exactly with the colour scheme of your page and co-ordinates with everything else on it.  One of my favourite goto Tando grab bags are the stars, and I used them as little accents on my page, I covered there gold gelatos, but the gold wasn't quite right, so I then added some white paint and it all mixed together with the gold, then some more yellow gelato over the top once it had dried and I could get the exact colour I wanted.

Hopefully this smile will brighten your day too :)

Katherine

Cards for the Ladies

With the theme of ladies I dug through my papers and went for flowers and the Tando flower chipboard pieces went perfectly as my centre pieces on the cards (you get a really nice mix of different flowers in the grab bag).

With the flowers one side of the chipboard is white, so I used this as the base for my misting (no need to paint it).  I then chose some colours that went with my papers, a purple and red which I angled at the petals and I used green for the stem, then dried the mist with my heat gun.  It is so quick and easy to do, but I love the mix of colours and how they run in to each other.

Having made one card, I then used the same ingredients a little differently.

Red and Black...

….and a little bit of blue for the sky!  I decided to use part of the Tando Layered Arch for the base for this little plaque, I covered it in gesso , dried it and then used blue spray ink over the top.  I dried the blue spray ink with a heat gun so you get the drips of colour, the final layer was some stamping with black ink and flicks of black spray ink across the background.  The cloud and balloon are both from Tando grab bags.  I covered the cloud in white paint and then the balloon in washi tape, I drew on the panels in a permanent black pen, and went around the edges of the chipboard in black too.  I then covered it in a thin layer of gesso and added some flicks of red paint.  I used some Tim Holtz stamps for the phrase and also the little flock of birds in the corner.

Here are all the pieces I used

Katherine

The men in our life.

I do quite a few male scrapbook pages, and Tando has a whole host of great products to include.  I started this page with the Andy Skinner 'burning rubber' mask - I love the chevrons and they matched one of the pieces of paper that I have layered up behind my photo.  I moved the mask around so it covered the middle section of my page, it was easy to line up and then I used a mixture of mists.

I also used some of the Tando chipboard cogs and a key for my corner embellishment.  As the cogs come covered in white on one side I just added some layers of gelatos and then distress ink onto them, using my fingers.  For the mini key, I just covered it in dark brown ink so it stood out even more against the cogs.

Free for All - Wall art

A little while I go I made a noticeboard (you can see it here) and I didn't use the chipboard squares with the days of the week on….so I decided to make some wall art out of them.

I started by layering them with, then some papers and added ink drips and spritzed with mist, as well as some stamping.  Then a little more gesso and inking, the chipboard can take lots of layers, finally embellishing them with words, punched shapes, buttons and gauze.  I also used a few more tango pieces - including a key which I embossed with silver and a house that I covered in gesso, then ink and then just sprinkled a little bit of embossing powder over the top giving it a patchy effect.

For my last one I used gesso and then gelatos - using them like pastels and spritzing them with water to activate them too, it gives a slightly different and smoother effect to the spray inks, however I couldn't resist a few drops of spray ink!

A couple of cards

I love the extra bit of detail that Tandos little chipboard pieces add to cards.  For my first card, I inked and then covered the tree in glossy accents and fine glitter to get a real sparkle.  This topped off the layers of stamping, washi tape, paper and lace.

I decided to go for a wintry scene for my second card and punched a moon, and then made a rolling landscape complete with a fe pine trees.  I added one of the beautiful reindeer from the grab bags, covering it in ink and glossy accents too.

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas.

Katherine

Icy pages - My Monster

I started my icy page with the burned rubber mask down the middle of my page using some texture paste.  I then added lots of strips of paper which I covered in gesso and then ink and then stamping.  

To draw some more focus to my photo I circled it in twine and then hung some Tando chipboard snowflakes around the edge of the circle mixing them with punched snowflakes and sequins.  I embossed the chipboard snowflakes with silver embossing powder and then went around the edge with some blue ink.

Katherine

Anything Goes - Noticeboard

I love that you can add layer upon layer of ink and paint onto Tando chipboard and it was really fun playing with this on a larger scale.  My To Do list was made using this kit:

I have saved the days of the week and chipboard squares for another project.

 I started by covering my backing sheet of chipboard in dictionary paper, and then gesso, then lots of different mist, a mixture of some reds, greens, blues and a little black in there too.  I painted the frame in  white gesso, and then used embossing powder and a grid stamp, randomly around the edge to add some texture.  I then added some layers of my favourite colour cosmic shimmer mists - rubbing some of the misting away from the embossing so you get a white stamp pattern.  I also added some stamping in brown distress ink around the piece too.  I used some Tando cogs, not part of the kit, which I embossed in silver, and created little clusters of cogs and flowers at the corners of the board and added some mist to them so they blended in with my colour scheme.  I then went to work using similar techniques on the title and I wrapped some wire and bakers twine around the edge. I punched holes for the string on each side of the board before sticking the frame to the back - I used bulldog clips to hold it together.  The last steps were some pegs and little butterflies.

Katherine

Tags...

This week on the blog tags is the theme, so I dug out a cream tag and covered it in gesso.  I was in a fairly altered art kind of mood so there are papers, spray inks, stamps and gauze all layered up on my tag.  I used some of the Tando chipboard flowers and wanted to pick out some of the bright colours in the papers so I started by covering them in some white gesso and once that was dry used pro-markers to get that really strong colour.  I then went over the top with just a little more gesso, rubbing it in with my fingers, and then walnut gold cosmic shimmer mist which made the colours look a little more like water colour.  

I hope that inspires you to dig out some paint, paper and chipboard.

Katherine

Things that fly

A little break from bats in exchange for butterflies.  I love the grab bag of chipboard butterflies you get lots in it and they come in 3 slightly different designs.

  I covered mine in UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder) using a melt pot, and just dunking them in. I used pearlescent white and blue embossing powder, then I tried stamping into it with a rubber stamp, but I wasn't happy with the way it looked.  So I melted the stamped ridges on my butterflies away with my heat gun and then sprinkled a little bit of the pearlescent UTEE onto the butterflies, this gave a really nice spotty effect, and as I kept my heat gun pointing at the centre of the butterfly it meant that the embossing powder spread out along the wings of the butterfly.

Katherine