imaginarium post

2 Layouts and a Mini Journal 

by  Sue Smyth 

Well we are off for another year of fun and creativity at 

Imaginarium designs

And of course I do a clean out of my studio at the beginning of 

each year,and I found an old unfinished layout.

It had playing cards on it and a few photos of 

my son adhered to the back of cards.

I liked the photos, so I decided to use them on a fresh

layout( I peeled them of the other one )

I came up with a layout that proves you can use

hearts and flowers on a boy page!

Here the Imaginarium chip heart is painted first with white gesso

then red paint, then apply dimensional magic and

sprinkle liberally with fine red glitter for a smooth

glitter paper look.

I have added 3mm gold pearls to frame the shape and 

a small funky heart that has been simply sprayed 

with matt black spray paint.

The Photo frame is embossed with aged gold embossing powder

but only once so the aged effect can show up at its best.

The same powder has been used for the corner,

but this time I have embossed twice, you can see

the difference here.

The rest of the chipboard is sprayed with 

matt black spray paint, to highlight the edges

simply sponge or paint with 

a little metallic gold paint.

The playing cards have been adhered directly to the cardstock, 

then it is painted with gesso and sprayed, but I avoided 

covering the images completely, I wanted some of

it to show through.

I left some of the Ace showing as well.

This is how the base of the page looked, before I rubbed 

gold paint over the raised areas and added black accents.

Next is a mermaid/ sea layout, I was playing with Dylusions and 

a fan brush and just loved the sinuous movement of the ink.

It begged to be made into a sea page.

Here I have altered a flower to look like an anemone

with lots of ink and spray, I have painted gold paint onto 

the edges for a gilded look. 

Here is my happy mermaid, but she was not very large

so I made her appear bigger by adding wings with 

ID chipboard butterfly, altered and coloured to match

My Happy Days chip is simply painted with 

White gesso and then I have dabbed 

dylusions over to with a fan brush. Each time

I have dipped the brush in water, so I have a 

variety of tones on the surface.

Then I have dry brushed gold paint over top 

for a metallic sheen.

I have added some stamped images and die cut 

starfish to complement the theme.

Lots of lovely layering.

Next is an artists journal, this is only a small A5 book so 

does not have a lot of room to decorate.

and I wanted it to be useful so have gone for a simpler look.

After I have altered the surface I glued the chipboard frame 

directly to the front along with the letters ART.

And even the pearls are adhered down at this stage

to form a base of texture rather than shine.

Then I have painted the entire book with black gesso, 

then a coat of teal dylusions paint.

To finish add spots of colour with Inka Gold 

paints, using the colours of your choice.

Finish with a layer of gold metallic paint or inka gold

to highlight all of the texture.

This will accent the frame and the letters 

as if they are almost embossed

without the fuss of embossing.

Then just decorate with Imaginarium trinkets and in this 

case a resin frame.

Happy Crafting 

From Sue Smyth