CKRiga – Gia Aloha

DIY Watercolor Embellishments with The Ink Road Stamps

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Hi guys. Today I am sharing another traveler’s notebook spread using my Clique Kits Riga Traveler’s Notebook and Main kits and a little bit of my process using a new stamp set from The Ink Road to create some watercolored embellishments. I actually did this because I had mixed some watercolors to use on a scrapbooking layout which I shared here and had leftover paint, which of course must never go to waste.

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I started with a blank sheet of hot press watercolor paper. Some people ask what the difference is between cold press and hot press watercolor paper and it has to do with the process of how it is made, and the outcome in terms of the texture or “tooth” of the paper. Cold press watercolor paper is the most commonly used and has a bumpy texture. This paper tolerates lots of water as is needed for doing washes. Hot press, on the other hand, is a nice, plump, thick absorbent paper that is smooth and therefore is very practical for drawing or stamping in combination with watercolor paint, mists, inks, or other wet media. 133755_x

So there you have it-if you enjoy using mixed media on your layouts or in your journals, I highly recommend keeping some hot press watercolor paper in your stash. My favorite is Fluid: an economical brand that is not as expensive as a brand like Arches but for my purpose is high quality enough. It also comes in square as well as rectangular shaped pads! So you can buy 12 x 12 for layout backgrounds, and you can also buy 8×8 which you can turn into traveler’s notebook pages, and even 6×6 pads.

Another important pearl of wisdom for combining stamping with watercoloring is that you have to remember to use permanent, waterproof ink such as Ranger Archival ink. If you use regular water base dye ink your stamped design will certainly smear when you add any water media.

Once I added fun color to my stamped phrases and designs I fussy cut them with a small scissors. I also used a scrap of the painted black stripe paper that I had used in the previous layout, again waste not want not.

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Finally, I wanted to use a couple of houseplant embellishments from my Riga kits because they were gold foiled and added a little pizzaz to an otherwise very simple layout.

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Thanks for stopping by today I hope you will come back soon or better yet follow me.

-xGia

Riga in my Traveler’s Notebook

I sometimes struggle with wanting to make my layouts in my travelers notebook as rich and textured as my regular layouts but don’t want to damage the already “exposed” pages by making them lumpy and bumpy which can indent or even rip the paper over time. Stencils and masks on a background is a great way to create the illusion of layering and depth while keeping it flat.

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The layered floral dies from Altenew are another way to include lots of variety and pops of color from my patterned papers in a small space! The one I used is called Fantasy Floral 3D

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I think die sets are pricey and therefore an “investment” I try not to make impulsively. This die set is one that I know I will be able to use over and over and every flower can be completely unique!

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I hope there was a tip or two in this post that you find useful especially if you are feeling your way forward in the Travelers notebook genre like I am !

-xGia

Clique Kits Cut Files

For this layout I used a Clique Kits cut file called “Keyhole Floral” available in the shop for under a dollar.

There are so many options now to find inexpensive cut files for instant download and the Clique Kits shop has an ever growing collection of them. Free cut files is one of the perks that comes with a subscription, but there are many freebies also. Don’t forget to use my code GIA10 to save 10% anytime in the entire Clique Kits shop.

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I made this layout of me and my man on a lunch date because I wanted to document that feeling of just knowing someone is your rock and it is the best feeling in the world to have a strong, solid, secure shoulder to lean on. That piece of ephemera that says, “Real is rare” took the words right out of my mouth. As a title it is subtle in form but the significance is profound.

-xGia

Pink & Rose Gold: Friends

I love that the Riga kit has such a pretty soft color palette with pink and coral and really soft blue-green shades. I decided to use some rose gold paint to alter a formerly black foam word from an older kit (Pebbles: Girl Squad Thickers) and I loved the way it came out! I watered down the same paint for some rose gold splatters on my background. The photo doesn’t really show off how much sparkle and glisten is really there but if you try some of the rose gold embellishments or media options in the Clique Kits shop you will find out for yourself!

How cute are those little yarn tassels? You get 2 of them in the Main kit and they are also available as an add on if you want more! Thanks so much for stopping by today! ACS_0184

-xGia

May Clique Kits: Breaking a New Kit

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Aloha Friday everyone! Today I am talking about my first layout using a brand new kit that arrived to brighten a very blah week. Why was this week blah? Well, nothing specific- just everyday “adulting” and 3 little letters: I R S. I don’t know anyone who feels excited to be alive on tax day, do you? Even those people getting money back have to face the reality of how much of their hard earned money was sucked up by Uncle Sam over the past year. Anyway, as one of my BFF’s Lacey said the other day, and this quote should really go down in history: “When one is feeling anxious, one should scrapbook I think.” So true Lacey, so true!

Do you have a routine when a new kit first arrives to “break” the kit by creating your first project with it? I always have a hard time with this. Once I go through everything and sniff that new paper smell and drool over all the pretty stuff I have a hard time deciding what to do first. The arrival of the May Clique Kits Riga kit was no different.

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The Riga kit contains a beautiful selection of papers and they are actually from multiple collections each with its own concept. Even though the papers coordinate with each other the details behind the little phrases give away that they each have something a little different to offer. For example, the papers and embellishments from the Pinkfresh Studio Case of the Blah’s collection are all about being real and expressing the vulnerability we all know is there in being authentic and documenting even when we didn’t wake up and “be amazing.” So it was the concept of this collection that spoke to me the most and I decided to do my first layout focusing on how I was really feeling that day. I had a selfie which was the perfect photo for this layout.

My plan was to use a simple mask/stencil stripe pattern (Stampin’ Up) to create a bold black painted foreground to layer over the gorgeous gray wonky grid like patterned paper that I chose as a background.

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Whenever I get something new, I seem to always want to use it right away and this Wild Hibiscus stamp (Altenew) was on my desk. I stamped a bunch of flowers on some watercolor paper and then used my Kuretake paints to add some of the color palette in Riga so they would work with whatever other embellishments I decided to pull out of the kit. I adhered them in layers at different heights for depth and texture.

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The fabric die cuts included in the kit are really nice- I love having texture but not bulk!

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Now that I completed my first layout, I am feeling inspired to go ahead and kill this kit this month! And I hope that by documenting this selfie with these messages someday my girls will see this and remember they are enough and beautiful as they are, no apologies for imperfections and flaws, and no shame in an ordinary life well lived.

-xGia