Tutorial: How to use acrylic elements on your layouts
Janell Nugent here…Recently I have fallen in love AGAIN with acrylic elements (some designers call it clear epoxy) I call it fabulous! Acrylic elements already look amazing when placed on your digital layout, but when you experiment with them you can open a whole new world!
I will show you four different ways to use acrylic elements on your digital scrapbooking layouts and I will be working with Mary Ann Wise’s “Beach Glass Acrylic Accents”
The four different techniques use:
- Blending modes
- Paint Brushes
- Adding other elements
- Journaling under the acrylic embellishment
Using Blending Modes:
In Photoshop Elements 7.0 your blending modes are located on the right-hand side column in the layers section (as indicated by the red arrow below). There are several different types of blending modes and I picked 3 different ones to show you how each mode can create a unique look.
Here is an up close look at the different blends.
Using the paint brush tool:
You can open a new layer and drag it under the layer containing your acrylic element. Then make sure you have that new empty layer selected and choose the paint brush tool, select your brush type, color, and paint directly in that layer–it should appear under the acrylic embellishment. If you do not like the look sinply undo or use the eraser tool in the layer you created for painting.
In my example below I painted with yellow and orange using a faux finish brush with an opacity set to 50% . You can get several different looks by just changing the type of brush you are using and the color of paint. It’s fun to experiment and see the various results.
Adding other elements:
This one is my current favorite because it’s really fun and It feels like clustering with a twist! I simply took some glitter and a few of Mary Wise”s seashell embellishments and placed them under the acrylic word, then I used the eraser to erase everything that isn’t directly underneath an acrylic letter. ANY embellishment will work. You can try flowers, ribbons, etc.
Journaling under the acrylic:
This is subtle, but I love the impact. Look at my example below. I added one of Deena Rutter’s Kind Word’s and then wrote “enjoy the summertime” below. I love the added depth and added interest, this technique is wonderful for titles too.
I hope this article has inspired you to think outside the box the next time you add an acrylic element on your layout. If you get inspired tell us about it and upload your work to our gallery, we love to see what you create!
Here’s a finished layout using a few of the techniques I just demonstrated. Happy Scrapping!
Credits: Deen Rutter’s A Kind Word: what a month and vol. 1 and Audrey Neal Orange Crush mini kit, MaryAnn Wise’s Grungy Solids freebie. Bella Gypsy acrylic brackets.
