2018 Topic #7 Kraft card: Collaged elements with VID {by Nikki Acton}

2018 Topic 7: Kraft Card

Nikki has opted for a kraft-white-brown ink colour scheme here. This has allowed her to play with all the elements and textures until she was happy with the arrangement. Sometimes it is a really good idea to strip back the colour and force yourself to work with a more limited palette than you otherwise might. Can you meet the challenge and have a go? Go on! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, Nikki from Addicted to Art with you today, and I'd like to share my designs using Kraft card, white and collaged elements.

I love the impact of white on Kraft and so decided to keep my colours minimal just adding brown ink to the mix. Having selected my Vintage Ink and the Dog stamp set to work with I knew I was going to chop them all up and create some collaged pieces! When I get a new stamp set I often stamp each one several times on scrap paper and play around with them - whole or in part to find compositions that work. 

I took the stamp set - ID08 and stamped each element in brown archival as well as another set with versamark and white embossing powder. I then began mixing and cutting and seeing what I could come up with! 

I love the eyes and the 'Take another Look' phrase but had to separate them all. Similarly with the numbers - I cut them all up to make smaller elements to add to the collage.

On the base of the card and tag I added paint with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - in Chalk through a stencil  - PS036  and then randomly stamped the script stamp from the above set.

When it comes to arranging elements I try to follow basic rules of composition - although there is a time to break them and sometimes it works! On the card above I tried to create a triangle of three dominant areas of different sizes - this helps to guide the eye naturally around the piece.

Framing is also a great way make things stand out. When matt and layering cards I try to add matts of different framing distance from the next - but a great way to achieve this is to use ink or paint. You can see here how I have added a layer of Fresco paint to create a border for the Kraft card.

I had lots of fun playing with this stamp set! If it isn't something you already do I encourage you to play around with stamped images - cut them up, layer them, mix them. Even if it doesn't always work it might generate new ideas. 

Nikki

Blog: Addicted to Art
Instagram: @A2Acardscraft
Pinterest: nikacton

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