All Smiles

One final page from Green Buttons' Fun Night at UKScrappers last week. This was a technique challenge, involving stencilling with gesso to create texture on a page. Not having any gesso, I was able to look on and learn from other team members' experiences. They discovered that modelling paste was more effective than gesso, so I invested in some on Friday and had a play.

I have often coloured my own backgrounds with chalks in the past but it can be hard to build up enough colour. I discovered that a thin layer of modelling paste will provide enough 'roughness' for the chalk to 'grip', though the paper tends to warp when damp.

I practised with a stencil on a scrapbook insert at first, and I was pleased with the effect of a blue chalked pattern on the white background, but when I transferred this to my actual scrapbook page, a lot of the contrast was lost. On my first attempt I chalked these circles in green; they were almost invisible against the background, and I messed up the paper trying to add some silver ink. For my second attempt, I used four colours of chalk around my circle:

Here's a close-up of the modelling paste dots:

Supplies
Paper - docrafts Spring Chic, Dovecraft Princess Fairytale 6x6 Pack
Modelling Paste - Farrel & Gold
Chalks - Readicut Crafts
Letters - Glitz Design
Border Sticker - Doodlebug
Ink - Papermania

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circle Template
The Crafters Workshop Scallop Swirls Template