Chalk to the Rescue! (part 1)

What do you do when your supply stash is lacking a particular item that you *need*?  You could go shopping...that's always fun.  :)  But if you are trying to go easy on Mother Earth and not buy so many products, there are ways to stretch the supplies you already have.  One great way to extend your supplies is to re-color items.  Spray inks and distressing media are very popular for re-coloring at the moment, but my personal favorite is chalk.  Simple, lovely chalk.

Recoloring items can help you in several ways.  Depending on how you use a re-coloring agent, you can correct mistakes, create unity, or make a big statement.  Wow--that is quite the list of things that a simple change in color can accomplish.  It's too much to talk about in one blog post, so I'm going to create a series of posts on this topic.  This first post is going to be about using recoloring to correcting mistakes.  Stay tuned, because over the next couple weeks I'll be posting about how to create unity and make a big statement.  The chalk techniques I'll be discussing can be adapted for spray-ink, distress media, or any other re-coloring agent you prefer.

Journaling: "This is how my dorm room looked when I was a *wise old* senior in  Centennial Hall"

The above layout is one that I created for the latest Color Room Palette.  I succeeded in using all the colors in the palette, but when I was done creating I thought the layout looked washed out.  I considered taking the whole layout apart and rebuilding it on a darker sheet of cardstock.  But then I got the idea to try chalking my background instead (below).

 

Supplies: cardstock (white--Pulp, tan and blue--The Paper Company), patterned paper (owls & flowers--Kaiser Craft, pastel--Bo-Bunny Press), chalk (Stampin' Up), embroidery floss (DMC), die-cutting apparatus for making tags (Ellison), heart punch (All Night Media), pen (Zig), clear photo corners (3M).

What do you think?  I like the way that the chalk not only changed the color of the background, but also added a bit of soft, swirling texture.  You can get a similar look with spray ink or distress media, but you can't use those items easily on an already-created layout.  This time, chalk wins.  :)

Next time you need to "fix" a scrapbook page, consider turning to chalk.