Step X Step - Message Pad

Hello and welcome to today's Step X Step ! It's Sue here and today the project I'm sharing with you is a little message pad to keep by the phone or to have on hand for all of those shopping lists (I've always got a shopping list on the go!) There's lots of photo's so grab a cuppa and get comfy !

I started with 2 chipboard coasters, a block note pad and 2 hinges cut from Grunge Paper.

 

Then I used a piece of brown tissue paper that was part of some packaging and stamped it with lots of Artistic Outpost stamps using black Archival ink.

I then tore up pieces of the tissue paper and glued it to the coasters along with some torn pieces from an old book using Multi-medium. I brushed some more Multi-medium over the top of the paper to protect it as I'm going to add lots of paint !

I then used the Wendy Vecchi stencil and embossing paste and stencilled the numbers onto the coaster.

Once the paste was dry I then gave it a wash of watered down acrylic paint. I dried this off with my heat heat gun and then started to add more acrylic paint using a baby wipe.

I continued to build up layers of paint using my favourite Autumnal colours.

I then started to stencil first of all using a numbers stencil and then I used the chicken wire stencil.

I used Sepia Archival ink and added some stamping using the gorgeous little flourish from the Artistic Outpost Serenity set and a script stamp.

I brushed some metallic wax around the edges and rubbed it over the raised areas. Then I added the embellishments, the text is from the Artistic Outpost Think and Wonder set. The Grunge Paper hinges were painted with acrylic paint and I cut a filigree metal piece in half and glued it to the top.

I used the same technique for the bottom coaster except I didn't add any embellishments as I needed a reasonably flat surface. I also didn't use a stencil with the embossing paste, I just dragged my spatula through it to create the ridges.

As the inside of the covers would be seen I decided to line them. I drew around the coasters and cut them out from white card. I used lots of Distress Inks and then stamped the card using a Wendy Vecchi background stamp with Olive Archival ink.

This is what it looks like now it's lined. I stained a piece of seam binding with Shabby Shutters Distress Stains and I was originally going to stick it in between the coaster and the lining, but I forgot ! So, plan B! I rolled the end of the ribbon and then pierced a hole and added a brad, then stuck it to the lining.

I also used some seam binding and the same technique with the brad to create a little band to hold the paper block in place.

One final photograph to show the detail. I really enjoyed making this project, I hope you've enjoyed it too!