I last had tags, pockets & flaps as an art journaling theme quite some time ago (a decade!), so I decided it was time to circle back and use it for another layout. This month’s session used a pre-printed pocket and tag as colour inspiration, and we used several techniques to build the background. I did attempt to film the make, but I’m a bit out of practice, and we’re left with just stills for the tutorial – apologies…
Choosing your palette
Though you can’t see the tag in the image above, there were several colour tones that I wanted to carry across the page. For the background, I chose Distress Paints and checked that tonally they worked well together. I needed to pop a dab on a scrap piece of paper and wait for it to dry to ensure I had the right tones. It was then fairly easy to choose similar colours from archival inks, distress inks and scrapbook papers for the remaining elements of the layout.
The background
Start by putting a few drops of Distress paint on your mat. Spritz with water, swirl it a bit and then smoosh an acrylic plate on the top. Transfer the paint across to the page and smoosh it randomly across the layout. Repeat with more colours.
- Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Iced Spruce / Bundled Sage / Weathered Wood / Pumice Stone / Stormy Sky / Old Paper
Whilst the smooshed paint is still wet, spritz with clean water – you want the wet paint to swim about, but not so much it runs off the page. This creates a bit of bleed between the colours. Feel free to tilt the page, or dab off excess water/paint with a dry paper towel or a baby wipe.
Dry the page with a heat tool to set the paint in place.
Repeat the process until you are happy with the background. I made sure there was no white from the page showing through.
Add a bit more grunge… Dilute some of your paints with water and dip a toothbrush or splatter brush into it. Flick onto the page randomly (and inevitably onto the surrounding area). Dry with the heat tool.
Using stamps that complement your design, and archival inks from your colour palettes, stamp more elements onto the background. Try ghost printing some images too for a subtler repeat.
- Ranger Archival Inks: Speckled Egg / Acron / Peat Moss / Pebble Beach / Graphite
- Stampers Anonymous cling rubber stamps: Classics #1 [SCF001] / Classics #17 [SCF017]
- IndigoBlu rubber stamps: Nature 1
- Stampendous rubber stamps: Cling Dream Text [CRR105]
- Carabelle Studio Un regard sur mon histoire [SED0003]
You’ll get to something like this and decide that your background is complete.
Tags, pockets & flaps
Prep your die-cut tag and pocket (with any paper ephemera) by blending some complementary colours of distress inks around the edges. It’s also helpful to fold any tabs for the pocket and run the ink along the fold lines to cover the exposed core of the card.
- FabScraps: The Rustic Collection
- Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Ground Espresso / Weathered Wood / Iced Spruce
Use double-sided tape to stick down your pocket and ephemera. Check your tag slides into the pocket unimpeded by stray tape.
Treat your scrapbook paper flap in the same way. Add more stamped images as appropriate/desired. Start adding some washi tape pieces for interest, and use some to hinge your flaps.
- BasicGrey Periphery Collection Pack – Vineyard
- Washi tape (various) + Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Tape: Elementary / Butterfly
Finishing touches
I popped some more washi tape on, did a bit more stamping and blended some more distress ink over and around the edge of the closed flap to create the ‘highlight’ frame around the hidden sentiment. And finally, for a bit of bling, I stuck down a couple of strips of doublesided tape and rubbed a complementary colour of glitter into them.
- Cosmic Shimmer Polished Silk Glitter: Sea Green
Next month…
For April’s session (Easter Monday, 6th April, 7:30pm), we’ll be experimenting with a new-to-me technique using mini lint rollers. If you would like to join in, contact me to reserve your space.