There are such a variety of accents that can be used in any type of scrapbooking project. One of my favourite accents is acrylic paint. Acrylic paint is wonderful, because it is acid-free, dries very quickly, it's water-based, and when used undiluted, has a great opacity so you don't need much to cover things up with (even mistakes). You really can use most water-based brands, but I love the kind that Making Memories offers. The colors are just wonderful! This type of paint can be used with dry brushes, foam stamps or foam brushes and sponges, and as a base or for decoration. There are so many possibilities and here I will describe a few for you:
• Don't know just how to accent your photo in a subtle manner? Frame it with acrylic paint in the color of your choice. Adhere the photo on the layout where it's going to remain (so make sure that is where you want it), then take a medium sized dry brush (approx. 2 cm in width), dab a little paint onto the tip of the brush and paint along the edges of the photo (yes, on the photo) and onto the cardstock itself with just one or two strokes along each side to give it a vintage or rummage look. It makes a very special and romantic type of frame with pastels and very pop art using bright colors.
• Instead of using ink for stamping, take a foam brush, dab into your favourite color of paint and brush a thin layer onto the stamp you want to use, press onto your layout lightly. If you press too hard it might smudge. You have to figure out how to use just the right amount of pressure. Practice on a scrap sheet a few times, before you go for the real thing.
• You don't like the color of your brads, tags or buttons? Paint them over with acrylic paint and then cover with gloss. You've just created your very own special embellishment! How cool is that?!
• Do you have any cardstock you never use, because you don't like the color or you can't find anything to match it with? What you can do is paint a base coat of white gesso for priming. That will neutralize the original color of the cardstock, so you can just paint over it for a new color of cardstock. You can also use the acrylic paint with a sponge or a stamp to make patterned cardstock from plain cardstock.
• Acrylic paint also works well on transparencies and has a great 3-D effect, especially if you're using a stamp with the paint. You first can stamp the paint directly onto the layout and when it's dried adhere a piece of transparency on top of the first stamped image and stamp a new coat of paint slightly off to one side of the original stamp to give it a popping out effect. It looks fabulous!
• To create special titles for your layout, you can use paint with stencils, but make sure you temporarily adhere the stencil to the page before you start to prevent it from moving around.
• If you're using a scrapbooking frame for your layout, paint or stamp it to match the layout. You would be surprised what a difference it makes!
So, you can see how many ways there are to use acrylic paint for scrapbooking projects, although these are only a few techniques. There are so many more. Be creative, be daring and don't be afraid to "dabble" here or "dabble" there. A little word play… Go for it! You will love it, I promise!
Jacqueline M. Schimmel is a Professional Scrapbook Designer who designs custom and premade scrapbooks, cards, frames and teaches scrapbooking courses in Germany. Her portfolio consists of over 500 designed layouts and she was hired to design an album that was given to his Holiness the Pope in 2005 on his visit to Cologne, Germany. The name of her business is Memories Artwork™, http://memoriesartwork.typepad.com.
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