A Peek into MY Scrapping Process: What Happens After I Map Everything Out...

Alright, so we have all seen my over extensive planning process. I seriously hope I didn't turn anyone off of paper crafting. This is literally the way I plan stuff out. It is not the way 99% of people scrap. Most people just do it. I just like to plan it all out and it's really quite easy. The planning bit takes me like 15 minutes top. Just seems like a lot because I took so many pictures and typed out a bunch of details.

Anyways onto the fun stuff...

First I started off with my plain chipboard. Once again I am using a heavyweight chipboard, cut to 6X9 inches. I've covered my surface with an old tea towel so that any over spray will be absorbed and my overall mess easier to clean.

Start spraying. Spray light at first because it won't look like it's covering your chipboard but it is. Trust me! You can always go back and fill in any missed spots. My advice wait until it dries unless it's really obvious you missed a spot because it dries blotchy like when you paint walls. 

I tend to be impatient and will use a heat tool to help dry my ink, paint, etc. Be forewarned paper/chipboard will warp as it is drying, but it will dry flat so do not panic. If it is not flat it is not dry and if it is slightly warped just bend it back gently. Also a good point to note, you do not want to leave the heat tool on one spot for too long, just keep moving it all over your surface as it gets HOT!

Now that my covers are dry I can flip them over and spray the edges with mist. I am only spraying the edges because I will cover most of the surface with decorative card stock. This is just personal preference. I find it gives the book a nicer finished look.

My next step is the crackle paint. This is a product designed by Tim Holtz. If you want more information on this or any of his lines, check out his website. He has some really cool videos explaining/showing how to use all of it.

When I apply the crackle paint, I like to start in the corners. I do this because I like my corners and edges to be thicker which equals bigger cracks. This also allows me to pull paint into the middle of the cover.

I just keep adding paint where I like it until the page is covered how I want it to be. Again, I start out with more paint in the corners and edges and I pull it to the middle. The brush makes a scratching sound. There is almost no paint on the brush when I do the middle of the cover. This gives me smaller cracks.

 Here's a close up of the cracks...not sure how well you will be able to see it.

Next I determine which one I want to be my cover. I use the same mapping method as before, except now I know how I want my cover to look. 

 And I think I am going to use my right piece as my cover and the left piece as the back of my book (photographed below).

For this next step I need the crackle paint to be completely dry because I want all the cracks to be present and I also want the crackly paint to be able to resist the ink I use with the mask. I'm going to use  walnut stain also by Tim Holtz. It's a dark brown, a little darker then the brown glimmer mist. 

I positioned the mask where I wanted it, I placed my temporary clock piece over top of the mask where I want it and I began to ink over top of the mask.

This is what it looked like after I removed the mask. 

I added a few more numbers in the spots that were bare using the same technique as mentioned before.  

Now, remember how I said the crackle paint resists ink? You can see in the picture above and below where the ink covered the crackle paint and made it darker and splotchy. Well if you take a damp cloth (I use baby wipes) and gently wipe overtop of the crackle paint (that's the lightest brown color that you see) you will notice that it wipes away. That is the paint resisting the distress ink. Tim Holtz has some cool videos on his website showing and explaining exactly how it works.

 This is what the cover looks like after the ink has been removed from the crackle paint. You cannot really tell from the photo, but in each of the cracks where the paint was absent the darker brown stayed behind giving the cover a really vintage look.

The dark brown spots will blend into the cover once I add the clock piece and the name plate, keyhole, etc. You won't be able to tell where the glimmer mist begins and the walnut stain ends. It will look completely blended. 

Unfortunately this is all I can do to the cover until I bind the book together. If I add all the embellishments now binding the signatures to the cover will be even more difficult. So my next tutorial will be binding the book and then my last tutorial will be adding the embellishments. All in all, this took me about 30 minutes. The longest part was waiting for the glimmer mist to dry.

The book is slowly starting to take shape. Until next time...