Scrapbook Layout Idea : Adding a Water Effect Panel

Bring your Scrapbooking layout to life with water!

Do you want to add some dimension to your page, maybe bring a water themed page to life?

I learnt this in a class thought it was one of the simplest and easiest ways to make any zoo or water page take on life. I was surprised to find when talking to other scrapers that they also hadn't seen or heard of this effect before. I thought I was the only one that didn't know about this.

Materials Needed

What is so good about this effect is that it does not require anything special. The materials needed will most likely by around the home already.

	Resealable bag any size for your needs. I have used a 9 x 8cm
	Hair gel or gel based body wash (pick a colour to suit)
	Card stock, this is to make a window border
	Paper (off cut) to make your cut-out template

 

Making a Sizing Template

To ensure that you water panel and layout all fit together and are properly sized, you need a template to work with and check against.

What ever size bag your using make the template smaller so as be able to enclose the bag in the window.

With my bag 9 x 8 cm I've used 7½ x 6½ cm hole for the window.

 

Creating the Water Effect

Use a teaspoon to add the gel to your bag, but don't add too much. About 2 teaspoons should be enough

You only need enough to make a small layer of gel when pressed out. If you add too much the window will be too thick for your layout and also you will lose the detail of the layout behind the panel.

 

Determining the Effect

When sealing the bag try to take out excess air without taking out the bubbles from the gel. If the gel or body wash your using doesn't have a lot of bubbles in it, you can rub the bag between your hands gently until you have the level of effect you want.

 

Checking Against Template

Before cutting the hole for the window in your layout, check the size of the bag with gel in it against your template. When the bag has the gel in it, it will be slightly smaller, but thicker. You want to ensure that you can seal the bag and it has enough overlap on the card stock to hold it in place.

 

Placing in Layout

If you're making a window like the one I've used, cut through both pieces of card stock at once so they line up when you put the bag in to glue it together. You can make a frame to go on the outside of the window to cover edge or just to finish with something that will draw your eye to the feature.

 

Preparing to Use the Effect

This is your under page that the window will give life to. The page itself is finished and only goes to the edge of the end of the window. Which is seen in the next picture.

 

Final Result

The result is a very different look, one that you can play with to make any water picture come alive. I've even thought water falls would be good you would have to play with it but I'm sure the effect would be awesome!

View large layout image

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