‘She Is’ by Anguree Jansen van Rensburg

Ed’s note: You may recognise this layout–it was originally published in issue 102 of our mag as part of the Design Diva finalist gallery. We couldn’t fit all the materials in the mag, so while I wanted to share the full list, I also thought that we could get Anguree to tell us how she made her wonderfully intricate layout.

She Is

A layout by Anguree Jansen Van Rensburg

Materials

Cardstock: Tim Holtz & Ranger Core’dinations, Creative Pearlised; Paper: Tim Holtz, white copy paper; Other: Scrap Matrix chipboard, Scrap Matrix trinkets, Prima trinkets, Finnabair trinkets, Kaszazz trinkets, Genuine Heritage Craft Products clock hands, Finnabair ribbon, Scrap Matrix ribbon, Tim Holtz ribbon, Kaszazz brads, Prima marketing brads, Passion 4 Paper flowers, Prima flowers, Kaisercraft pearls, KCK Craft alphabet letters, wire, gesso (white and black), Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, Ranger glossy accents, transparency, Tim Holtz Alterations (Rays & Retro, Circle Set Texture embossing folders), Sizzix (Clock Set embossing folder), Courture Creations (Time Piece embossing folder), Sizzix Big Shot, Tim Holtz washi tape, Ranger archival ink, Ranger distress ink, Ranger distress stain, Rock Candy distress crackle, Ranger Adirondack alcohol inks, Lindy’s Stamp Gang starburst spray, Tattered Angels spray, Amaco Rubb ‘n Buff, Patina Vintaj inks, Martha Stewart border punches, Prima stamps, Kaisercraft stamps, Kaszazz stamps, Graphic 45 stamps

Design Tip

Use the “gaps” in your chipboard pieces for journalling boxes. That way you can play and decorate without having to worry about leaving space for telling the story behind your layout.

How To

1. Choose one sheet of heavy patterned paper and a matching sheet of cardstock. (I used Tim Holtz: Tattered Time and Core’dinations cardstock.)
2. Distress the edges of the patterned piece of paper and ink the edges with a darker colour. (I used Ranger Distress Ink in Black Suit and Iced Spruce.)
3. Use your punches to snip some bits and pieces from your plain cardstock. You may decide to slightly trim the edges and make it smaller than 12×12 inches, depending on the depth of your punches. If you are using the deep edge punches you may want to stick to the 12×12 size as it will become smaller, as you punch away the edges of cardstock. (I trimmed my plain cardstock slightly to reveal more of the patterned paper background.)
4. Carefully distress the edges of the plain cardstock using a small piece of sandpaper – this technique works well if you have fragile punched sides. (Do not stress if some of them tear, it’s all part of distressing.)
5. Ink the edges of the distressed plain cardstock to match the patterned paper.
6. Stick the plain cardstock to the patterned paper by putting double sided tape or adhesive on the back. Be careful do not stick it too close to the edges.
7. Use pieces of washi tape, leftover lace, trims to cut and stick in between the patterned paper and plain cardstock to fill the gaps created by the punches. If the colours of the cardstock and patterned paper do not match, you may want to use some Distress Stain to colour them prior tucking them behind your plain cardstock.
8. Gather your photo, pieces of chipboard and decide on the layout and composition. (Don’t be afraid to cut the chipboard or photo to suit the layout).
9. Once satisfied with the look, you may want to add a few embellishments to get a feel of what you’d like to achieve. (Do not stick it as yet – take a photo once you are happy.)
10. Mark the placement of the photo slightly with a pencil and put the photo, chipboard pieces and embellishments aside.
11. Choose some background stamps to fill the white space and randomly stamp onto the plain cardstock. (Again, do not worry too much if it’s not “perfect”, it will be covered with more layers.)
12. Emboss two pieces of acetate with the embossing folders of your choice. (I used Sizzix–Rays & Retro, Circle Set Texture folders–and Couture Creations’ Clock Set Time Piece.)
13. Colour the embossed acetate with alcohol inks and leave till its dry. You can change the intensity by adding blending solution and add more colour as you require. Overlap these acetate pieces with the preferred stamped areas of your layout.
14. Cut the acetate to size and stick over the stamped images by using glue that dries transparently. You can also use double sided tape in some parts, but be sure to use your photo to hide these inner edges by sticking it down after the acetate.
15. Cover some parts of your photo with Distress Crackle: Rock Candy and leave to dry. (Always use a good quality photo, printed in a photo lab, rather than a home printer. If something goes wrong, it can easily be fixed with a damp cotton bud or cloth. In my case I simply flicked off the excess of crackle with my finger nails.)
16. Get your chipboard pieces together and paint with the mediums of your choice and leave to dry. (I covered some pieces in gesso and dried it with a heat gun prior to colouring it using rub a buff and ink sprays. This technique really adds texture as the gesso starts bubbling from the heat. See the clock numbers on the right.)
17.  Assemble the layout as per your initial photo, layering chipboard and embellishments to your liking. (Take care to add the journaling to your chipboard pieces, prior to sticking everything down.)
18. Randomly bend pieces of wire to add the finishing touches.