Acrylic Paint Beginner's
Basics 101!
Added: 2007/Feb10
Acrylic paint is a favorite scrapbook supply for many reasons: They're usually acid free, inexpensive, easy to store, and come in a myriad of colors. They can be add a unique touch to paper arts projects. Here are a few basic examples of the way acrylic paints are used in scrapbooking, cardmaking, and other paper arts:
Example 1:
Coating -
Raw chipboard and sheer or clear products are raw canvases for anything your heart desires. Coating them with paint is a fast, easy, inexpensive way to finish chipboard.
Supplies -
Fancy Pants Chi Chi Patterned Paper, Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Hearts, Prima Chipboard Letter, Prima Summer Flower, Heidi Swapp Acrylic Paint Betty, Ranger Acrylic Paint
Example 2:
Stamping -
Make your own patterns or stamp a title. There are tons of inexpensive foam stamps available for play. Example two shows a stamped background of hearts with a separately stamped and cut-out heart for definition.
Supplies -
Pink cardstock, Making Memories Cranberry paint, Heidi Swapp Betty Paint, Making Memories Foam Stamp.
Example 3:
Masking -
Masks are the opposite of stencils. They're awesome for negative image (white on dark background) effects. Here, I placed a Heidi Swapp Small Bouquet mask on white cardstock, painted over it with a mixture of orange paint and Heidi Swapp Betty paint, then cut out the heart. Heidi Swapp masks are unique and well-loved because they have repositionable adhesive coated on one side of these durable, plastic masks. The adhesive kind of seals the mask to the paper, making paint less likely to seep under the edges, resulting in a cleaner image.
Supplies -
Heidi Swapp Floral Bouquet Small Mask, Heidi Swapp Icee Acrylic Paint, White Cardstock.
Example 4:
Altering -
You can fill in the debossed part of metal charms (dab the paint in, wipe off the surface) or change the color of items, such as the Prima Hydrangeas here.
Supplies -
MME Kaleidoscope Birthday Dots paper, Red Cardstock, Making Memories Metal Words and Eyelets, Prima Hydrangea Peach, Technique Tuesday Domestic Bliss stamps, Staz-On Ink.
Example 5:
Glazing -
Lighten up your paint with some water. You'll create a simple translucent glaze. The blue patterned paper in the Example 5 card is actually text paper, ripped out of a book, then painted over with a glaze made of Ranger Pool Paint and Water.
Supplies -
Text Paper, Ranger Paint Dabber Pool, Water, Dove of the East Secret Door Patterned Paper, Prism Avana Cardstock, Bazzill Raven Cardstock, 7gypsies 97% Complete Stickers Quotes, 7gypsies Sticker Book, Prima Black Velvet Ribbon (from Crown Jewels Collection), Autumn Leaves Flourish and Gypsy Stamps, Technique Tuesday French Quarter Uppercase Stamps, Sharpie black and Sharpie Paint Pen, Stampington Teresa Stamp, Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils.
Example 6:
Stenciling -
There are many, many stencils available at local craft and home improvement stores, or you can make your own. For the heart in this card, I set up the word "love" in Printmaster, printed it out, sketched a heart around the words, cut out the heart, and created my own stencil.
Supplies -
Fancy Pants Chi Chi Paper, Die Cut, Printmaster for word art, Sharpie, Staz-On, Ranger Watermelon Paint Dabber, Ranger Pool Paint Dabber.
Example 7:
(See picture above)
Direct to Paper -
I thought the strip of words at the top of the card wasn't quite big enough, but didn't want to add another piece of cardstock. I ran a Ranger Pool Paint Dabber across for a soft blue stripe to back the strip of paper.
Supplies -
Fancy Pants Chi Chi Paper, Die Cut, Printmaster for word art, Sharpie, Staz-On, Ranger Watermelon Paint Dabber, Ranger Pool Paint Dabber.
Example 8:
Edging -
Try edging photos and papers with paint instead of ink. The vibrant color you get from paint (as opposed to dye ink) can work to your advantage with dark papers.
Supplies -
My Mind's Eye & Sandylion Patterned Papers, Delta Pink & Copper Paint, Heidi Swapp Cream Paint, Heidi Swapp Drama Foam Stamp.
Example 9:
Blending -
Blending is beautiful and really makes you feel artsy fartsy. Here, I dabbed on different paints, sprayed with a Ranger Mister filled with water (any sort of spray bottle filled with water will work – I like that the Ranger Misters spray a very fine, even mist as opposed to emptied hairspray bottles), and blended them into the paper with a wadded-up paper towel. I stamped over it one more time with copper paint and paisley foam stamps. Lots of fun.
Supplies -
Cardstock, White paper, Doodlebug Sew Easy Rub-Ons, Prima Caribbean Flower, Concho, Making Memories Foam Stamps.
Tips:
- For clean, separated colors when working with different colors of
paints, it's easier and neater to allow each separate color time to
dry between applications.
- Do not expose paints to extreme temperatures – freezing and
high temperatures can cause the solvent to separate from the pigment
and compromise the quality of your paints.
- Acrylic paints made for paper arts are formulated to dry quickly.
Keep this in mind when blending paints on paper. When applying to non-porous
materials such as acrylic and metal, it sometimes helps to sand the
materials first. The paint will take a little longer to dry on non-porous
surfaces.
- Our sources for acrylic paints – Heidi Swapp and Ranger –
supply paints in coordinating color groups to make matching supplies
easier. For example, Heidi Swapp Icee paint has Heidi Swapp Icee chipboard,
ghost, and jewel art accessories. Some of the Ranger Paint Dabbers have
coordinating alcohol and inkpad partners, and also come in coordinating
color groups for easy selection.
