July 7, 2008
Paper Crafts, Techniques and Mediums
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Materials to have on hand…
• Chalks (Oil-based pastels do not work)
• Shallow Tray
• Water
• Toothpick, skewer, or pencil
• Craft knife or blade
• Cardstock
• Spray sealer or fixative
Step by Step
1. Fill shallow tray with tap water. You need about 1″ of water for best results.
2. Scrap some chalk dust over the water so that the dust floats in the water. You don’t want chunks of chalk, you want fine powder. Use at least 2 or 3 different colors for the best effect.
3. With a pencil, skewer, or toothpick make swirls or patterns in the chalk on top of the water. Do this gently. Over agitating the chalks will blend the colors together too much and the result will look more like mud than distinct colors
4. Place a piece of white cardstock on top of the water. And then pick back up. You don’t have to let it sit or set. Carefully lift the paper straight up and set aside to dry.
5. Once dry you can spray with a sealer to set the chalks.
Tips
• These papers make beautiful backgrounds for rubberstamped images.
• Try matting photos or journaling with your hand-marbled papers.
• Marbled papers have been used for generations for book making.
July 7, 2008
Scrapbooking, Techniques and Mediums
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You have several styles of albums available to you. The album can be as simple as a three-ring binder or as elaborate as a leather-bound spiral.
Three-ring binders are versatile and easy to use. Choose a binder that is oversize to accommodate sheet or page protectors. Many scrapbookers recommend D-Ring style binder to keep pages flat, but the O-ring style will make page turning easier.
Advantages:
• Album can be expanded.
• Pages lie flat when opened
• Pages can be removed and moved around very easily
• Highly available in different cover styles
Spiral binders are wonderful albums for single themes. Be aware that not all spirals are acid free, so choose carefully. Consider using the larger spirals since they can expand to accommodate the bulk of additional photos and memorabilia.
Advantages
• You can often use your own creativity to decorate the cover.
• It is a self-contained album, including both binder and pages.
• Pages lie flat when opened.
• There are page protectors designed to slide onto a spiral bound page.
Flex-hinge binders have a plastic strap binding that allows your albums to expand and your pages to lie flat and side-by-side. Look for pages that are heavyweight, acid-free and lignin-free.
Advantages
• Album can be expanded
• Pages lie flat when opened
• Page protectors are available
• Pages can be removed or moved
A Word about Page Protectors…
Page or sheet protectors are not required or used by all albums. However, they do ensure the safety and protection of precious photos. Protectors serve two purposes. The first is to hold the scrapbook page within an album, and the second is to protect your pages from oily fingerprints, dust, dirt, accidental spills, or contaminants.
Not all page protectors are created equal. Openings can be top or side. You can chose non-glare or clear, but choose only those that do not contain PVCs. You might consider the slight additional cost of heavyweight protectors for your scrapbooks you open frequently—the extra support reduces bending on pages and photos.
