Keep it Whole or Take it Apart w/Erin Blegen

Hi everyone! Erin Blegen here with you today with some projects showing how you can keep your chipboards "as is" or piece them apart in order to best compliment your work. We all like to make the most of our products and it can sure be fun to see how far you can stretch something. While at other times, we want to use something in its entirety to really make a statement!

Let's see how I did both :)

"Pause to Live"

 This piece is an 8"x10" canvas. Normally, when I create something, I don't necessarily start with the chipboard. But that wasn't the case here. I knew I wanted to use the gorgeous Ornate Heart piece- and I definitely knew I didn't want to take this one apart. It's such a gorgeous design and I really wanted to make something special with it.

Here are the steps I took in coloring this piece:

1. Prime chipboard with gesso; dry.

2. Stamp chipboard with a favorite stamp and clear embossing ink.

3. Sprinkle on some white embossing powder and set with heat gun.

4. Randomly apply some watercolors. The embossed stamping will resist.

5. Apply clear embossing powder to some areas of the wet watercolors. Set with heat gun.

Products Used:

Ornate Heart

"Pretty Creative Girl This Afternoon"

This project is a bit of an interesting one as my background is made of sandpaper. I actually have a full step-by-step tutorial on how I went about creating this HERE on my blog if interested.

For this project, I chose to piece apart my chipboard. I've done so with two different pieces, the Quatrefoil Garden Panel and one of the Ironwork Accents. I've kept them raw for the most part, save for a few beads on the panel bits.

I've added a couple of the punched out bits that come with these panels.

Products Used:

Quatrefoil Garden Panel

Ironwork Accents

"Key to My Heart" Tag

My final project today is a tag. I've created a collage-style piece using the bird/flourish cut from the Village Sign Post, and a heart from the Heart Set pack.

I actually ended up using the backside of the heart piece. I'd done some stamping and coloring and just didn't like it- but when I turned it over and discovered the random gesso look that it had, I decided I wanted to keep it that way :). I backed it with a transparency before cutting off a piece from the Village Sign Post, applying some sandy colored chalk ink, and then topping off the heart with it.

Products Used:

Heart Set

Village Sign Post

Thank-you for hanging in there with me today! I hope you enjoyed my projects :)

See you soon- and don't forget about the July Sketch Challenge!