On the Sculpture trail - Heather McMahon (with a mini tutorial)

Hello there! It's Heather McMahon here today with a step by step process showing how to alter your chippies to make them look like wood, plus I've been playing with the new Colour Blast products that are now being distributed by The Dusty Attic.

Here's my layout:

Yes! I used purple! We received some fabulous Colour Blast products to try and I received some purple spray. More on this later in the post.

I really wanted to make my chippies look like the wood used in the sculptures. You might be able to see here in the close ups how the chippies reflect the same variation in colour that the sculptures do. They are not just all the same brown. (The first photo looks like it has a crackle effect but it's just the light playing tricks.)

Here's how I treated the chippies. Note that this demo piece is a much smaller version of the scroll that I used in my layout.

Step 1

Randomly apply gesso to about three-quarters of the surface of the chippie. Just use your finger - variation in texture is good!

Step 2

Stamp Timber Brown StazOn ink heavily over about half to three-quarters of the chippie.

Step 3

Apply Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the whole surface.

Step 4

Now here's my secret weapon - while the Distress Ink is still wet, coat with Dusty Attic's Clear Gloss Varnish. As you apply the Varnish, the wet ink will bleed and give a beautiful mottled appearance. Leave to dry for at least a couple of hours.

I also used Clear Gloss Varnish to coat my title. I use this product for everything! You can find it here.

To create my background, I used ink through a Dusty Attic script stencil. For some reason, this stencil just seems to work with any type of layout! I then sprayed Colour Blast spray over the areas behind my photos and journalling. This spray is really light - perfect for when you just want a subtle touch of colour.

I spread Colour Blast Colour Paste through the Dusty Attic butterfly stencil. The Colour Paste adds an incredible shimmer! It comes in a gorgeous array of colours too. You can find the Colour Blast products here.

The Dusty Attic products I used are:

Scroll #8 DA0626

Typewriter ABC Set DA0143

Creative Script Stencil DA1494

Stencil Butterflight DA1493

Dusty In Bloom Bridal Veil DA0805

Dusty in Colour Clear Gloss varnish DA 0901

The Colour Blast products I used are:

 Colour Paste in 'Apple of my Eye' 

Colour Spray in 'Lovely Lilac'

 

 

Happy scrappin'!

Heather McMahon

Little Moments - Helena Johansson - Mood Board Inspiration

Hello! Helena here today, sharing my Dusty Attic moodboard layout for February. I really loved this one! I pulled out some of my old Pion Design papers and lots of beautiful Dusty Attic chippies, flowers and stencils, and started to play. I have a little tutorial on how I made the background, in the end of this post. But first, the layout, the moodboard and some close-ups!

I did a lot of layering on this layout, both papers, flowers and chippies. I love layering!!

The amazing frame is called Swirly Frame (DA1468) and I have cut it in two pieces and layered these around the picture. 

I have painted the frame and the scrolls from Scroll set #1 (DA1466) with white gesso and then with Colour Paste from Colour Blast (Just Blue). I added some water to the paste and then used a small brush to paint on both chippies and paper. Amazing colour!! You can find Colour Blasts products at the Dusty Attic website!

The title Little Moments is from Mini Captions #6 (DA1385). I kept this piece raw, just added a bit of gesso on the edges.

I have also added some Stars #3 (DA115), painted white.

Some Dusty in Blooms, Blue Bonnet (DA0807), peeking out!

And here's the background tutorial:

1. I started by tearing my papers a bit (Pion Design papers, from the For Father collection).

2. I then used the Creative Script stencil (DA1494) with clear gesso (makes paint and ink blend together beautifully).

3. Then I used the same stencil with Dusty Attic texture paste:

4. I then sprayed gray and light blue mist on the stenciled parts and let the colour run and blend together.

5. For stability and good looks: a corrugated card in the back (DA0830):

Finished! After I finished layering papers, chippies and flowers, I added the Colour Paste and some script washitape. 

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you've enjoyed my layout and tutorial. Don't forget to add your own entry to this months moodboard!

xoxo

Helena

Journey - Heather McMahon - September Mood Board (mini tutorial)

Hello Dusty friends! IF you are scrapbooking today why not give the Mood Board a go ?

 This is Heather McMahon here with you today to share the layout I made using the gorgeous September mood board as my inspiration.

Don't forget, the winner of this month's challenge receives a $100 Dusty voucher! Woohoo! Are you going to give it a go? Also, any online orders above $75 receive free shipping. You can't ask for more than that!

Here's what I made this month:

I took my inspiration from the gorgeous pastel pinks and blues in the mood board. I took this photo on Santorini. I'm not a motor bike person but seriously, this is sooo adorable!

I painted all my chippies with Navajo White Dusty in Colour paint to start with. I then used Dusty Pink paint to highlight some sections. The flourish behind the bike looks like a cartoon puff of smoke from the exhaust pipe!

 I used a length of ribbon to hang the Journey Word Tag inside the Decorative Frame #1.

I thought I'd share a trick showing how I used up some of my chippie scraps to make new chippies. 

Step 1

Push out the circles from the centres of the two pieces in the Decorative frame #1 pack. Paint them white then stamp them with watermark versamark ink.

Step 2

Add Tinby Designs Metallic Melts and heat to set. You now have a completely new chippie to add to your project! How simple is that?

Here's what mine came out like:

And this one:

These are the Dusty Attic products I used:

Decorative Frame #1 DA0207

Foliage DA0506

Word Tags #1 DA1075

Teeny Tiny ABC Set DA0983

Dusty in Colour Paints in Navajo White and Dusty Pink

and - once again......

Dusty in Colour Clear Gloss Varnish DA0901

I also used a triangle chippie and stencil that were made for the e2c retreat.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather McMahon

Love my Life - Heather McMahon (with some tips about "Glue")

Hello and welcome back to the Dusty Attic blog!

It's Heather McMahon here with you today and I want to talk about something that isn't dreadfully exciting but is actually really important to all our work. It's glue. Yep, glue. But this is no ordinary glue - it's Dusty Attic's Clear Gloss Varnish!

Firstly, I'll show you my layout then I can explain why Clear Gloss Varnish is sooo amazing!

Now here's the first interesting thing about Clear Gloss Varnish. Although it's a varnish, it's actually far more useful as a glue. I always use it to glue my chippies. It's fantastic for any item that needs a good strong glue to hold it in place. On this layout I've used it on every chippie, which actually is everything on my page. The only thing I don't use it for is to attach the photo. It depends on what quality your photo paper is but it can sometimes faintly show through. I stick to double-sided tape for the photos.

As you can see here, I've layered chippies on top of chippies on top of chippies. Some of those red flowers are only attached by a very small part of a petal or two, yet Clear Gloss Varnish is still strong enough to hold them.

I used Magicals, a couple of stamps and a bit of stencilling on the background but everything else on the layout is Dusty Attic chippies.

Now the second amazing thing about Clear Gloss Varnish is that it makes a fabulous glossy varnish - no surprises there! I use it on top of my chippies to add a gorgeous glossy finish. A hint: do this when your layout is otherwise finished. Apply the varnish direct from the bottle onto your chippies or other suitable embellishments. Then put it aside to dry overnight. Keep it out of the way of kids, animals or your own elbows while it dries!

Here are what my flowers looked like before I applied the varnish:

Here they are after the varnish, while the varnish was still wet.

And here they are the next day when the varnish has dried. Unfortunately, this isn't really showing the gloss as I took this photo on an overcast day.

And the third amazing reason for always using Clear Gloss Varnish? It doesn't dry up in the nozzle! Other similar products seem to be prone to doing this, meaning we forever have to unblock them with a pin, but not this one! Of course, if you leave it with the lid off for a period of time, any glue will dry out and block the nozzle.

So there you have it - Heather's hot tip for an easy, reliable, fuss-free glue - and varnish!

Here are the Dusty Attic products I used:

Branch #3 DA1094

Spring Blooms #2 DA1285

Elegant Swirls #9 DA1129

Hashtag Saying DA1076

Flutterbies #3 DA0766

Page Pebbles #7 DA1112

and of course......

Dusty in Colour Clear Gloss Varnish DA0901

Happy scrappin'!


Heather McMahon