Sarah's first ever post for 2Crafty - and a blog hop reminder!

I am beyond excited to be on the design team for 2Crafty. Here is my very first post and I have 3 projects to share with you. 

   Here is my first page. My little son Benji is such a cheeky little monkey and right now he loves to play 'hide and seek'. When he is found he pulls this super cute 'surprised' face. I wanted to scrap these three photos together as they really tell the story well. 

I used a grungy paper for the background and inked and sprayed using a variety of masks and stencils. Then I began to layer my papers and embellishments underneath my photos. The 2 crafty frame 'Star with Stars' was the perfect centre piece for my photo cluster. I primed the chipboard with gesso then painted it with distress paint. When the paint was dry I coated the frame with dimensional magic. Now, being too impatient to let it dry naturally I discovered a cool new effect. I was heat drying the dimensional magic with a hairdryer on 'hot'. The dimensional magic began to bubble and melt as the heat setting was too high. Just as I was about to panic I noticed the it looked really cool - just like melting ice. Here is a close- up so you can get a better idea of the effect.

Which goes to confirm the truth behind the quote 'There are no mistakes, only creative opportunities'. 

I really love the 2Crafty thought bubbles and the 'hey you' sentiment was perfect for my photo of Benji hiding. I painted it with distress paint and when dry I outlined the border  using a marker pen. 

Finally I added a 2Crafty star tab to the upper border of my page to balance it out. I gave this the same treatment for this as I had for my star frame then added a strip of washi tape to give it a pop of colour and help it blend into the rest of the page. 

For my second project I used one of my very favourite photos from this summer. Benji loves it when his daddy throws him up into the air in the pool and I managed to catch him in mid-air. 

I had a lot of fun creating this background. first I used a starburst mask to spray the basic shape onto my card-stock  Then I cut strips of cloud vellum and random torn up pieces of paper to put along the 'rays', emphasising the shape with strips of washi tape. When I had the look I wanted I coated the whole page with white gesso and let it dry thoroughly before splattering navy blue and black ink randomly over the project. With the background completed I began to build up the layers under my photo. The 2Crafty 'bingo' card was a great addition to the look that I wanted to achieve. I painted the card with white distress paint and inked the edges with black ink. I used a black marker pen to highlight the word 'bingo' and the numbers. When I had finished I dry brushed a light layer of white gesso over the whole card to hide any imperfections in my inking and penwork. 

The 2crafty 'Squiggle border'  is one of my favourite pieces. I love the way it 'finishes off' a cluseter beautifully. Here I painted it with black distress paint and sprinkled clear glitter over the whole piece while the paint was still wet. When it was dry I gave the border two coats of dimensional magic to seal in the glitter and add a gloss finish. 

The last step of my creative process is my favourite - adding all the little finishing touches to the page. These 2Crafty chipboard buttons are a great 'finishing touch' They can be painted to co-ordinate with any design. Here I painted the with black distress paint, inked the edges with white ink and finished them off with string ties.

The last project that I would like to share today is one that I did recently as a DT project for Kraft it Up

The theme was 'vintage style' which is about as far out of my comfort zone as it gets :) Anyway these gorgeous chipboard pieces from 2Crafty made the job a lot easier. I used up some older 'Prima' and 'Glitz Design' papers on this page. I used gesso, texture paint and stamps to build up my background. 

The old picket fence and the gorgeous flourish (Fifi's Flourish) are both 2Crafty products. I primed the both with white gesso then with Tim Hiltz distress paint in 'Picket Fence' for the fence and 'Walnut' for the flourish. To add some sparkle to the flourish I sprinkled glitter over the wet distress paint and when it had dried thoroughly added a coat of dimensional magic as a sealant. 

Here is a detail shot of the flourish:

And here is the fence:

Thank you so much for stopping by to look at my creations today. If you would like to see more of my work using 2Crafty products I would love for you to visit my blog.

Oh and please remember to join us on our first ever BLOG HOP from June 1-3. There will be lots of inspiration and great prizes to be picked up along the way :)

xx Sarah