Scrapbooking Chalk

Scrapbooking Chalk can add some interesting, subtle and artistic effects to your scrapbook pages. Here are a few of the layouts where I have used chalks to do that.

These Egyptian Scrapbook Layouts are very special to me. The pyramids at night were lite up with neon or strobe lights. I put the photos, with no mattes, directly on the black background and used my neon chalks to highlight the streaming light effects onto the background paper.

To do this I used a Scrapbooking Chalk "Masking" Technique.

1. I placed a small piece of paper (Post it Note, in this case) on the surface of the paper at the same angle that I wanted the "light" to continue off the photo and onto the page.

2. I then rubbed my little finger tip in the chalk and dragged my finger to apply the chalk from the masking paper off onto the background paper. This took several applications to get the light chalk to show on the black background.

3. When the masking paper was removed, the area where the paper was provided the straight line and the rest was "feathered" out from there.

This title page for the Norfolk Botanical Gardens used a combination of Scrapbooking Chalk techniques.

1. The Title was first "stenciled" using chalks of purples, teals and blues applied with a small cotton ball on the end of an tweezer-like applicator.

2. Then, I placed a piece of scratch paper that was 8 x 8 inches over the title. That was the "mask".

3. Then I used the chalks again in what is called "direct to paper" in 3 colors, and dragged the chalks themselves across the mask paper onto the background paper and blended with my fingers.

4. Once the mask was removed it revealed a frame, of sorts, in the shape of the mask.

For these Germany Scrapbook Layouts I tried to convey the image of the height of the mountain and the early morning fog and gray sky so my background papers were just plain gray.

For all the chalking, I used a "Direct to Paper" Technique.

I found the mountain top die cuts at my local scrapbook store years ago in a gray that was several shades darker than my background paper. I used those for the bottom border of the pages but used white and light blue chalk on the peaks to depict the snow.

I also found a castle die cut and chalked some of the structural lines a darker blue and then used a white chalk to emphasize the background lighting behind the castle. The chalking accents are subtle, but make a big statement.

For this Scrapbooking Chalk accent, I used another castle die cut accented with rust colored chalk. The Castle die cut was difficult to see the many lines in the die cut, but the chalk applied with a tiny round cotton ball brought out the nice accents of the die cut and gave it a little more dimension.

Here on the left is a sheet of background paper that I received from the January Personal Shopper Kit from Paper Wishes. While I love this paper, I wanted to use this for a Birthday Page with some other embellishments that were Aqua. The paper had a little more Blue than I wanted and I also wanted to enhance the numbers on the clock face to make sure they could be seen once I put the photos on.

So I used some Scrapbooking Chalk called Metallic Cream Chalks in a mix of Blue and Green, and the little alligator clip tool and cotton bud to enhance the numbers on the clock face.

Scrapbook Advice Tip: The nice thing about using the Chalk instead of ink - the Chalk can actually be erased if you get a little too much on or if you find you don't like it at all.

Here are those finished pages with some photos and embellishments added. The one that is enhanced with the chalk is now on the left and really shows up so much more than the one that is not enhanced.

Everything on these layouts was from the Personal Shopper Kit for January 2011 - the paper, the lettering, the aqua nail heads added to the border image and the layered clock embellishments from a sheet called Rustic Clocks 3-D Papier Tole Die Cuts. I must say they are awesome and fun to put together with pop dots.

The letters that look like scrabble tiles, were on a printed sheet. I cut them out with scissors, a put a coat of Clear Ranger Glossy Accents and attached them to the layout after they dried for several hours.

These two Scrapbooking Chalk layouts have used a Brown Metallic Cream Chalk (shown below) and a Dazzles strip to accent the orange border. The Dazzles was laid down on the paper and the Chalk was applied to the paper using the Dazzles strip like a stencil. Since the Dazzle was only 6 inches long, it was then removed and placed down again to continue with chalking the border. After that, the actual Dazzle was used on the bottom of the journaling card.

Most items from these layouts were from the Personal Shopper Kit for January 2011 - the paper, the lettering, the Black Dazzles, the Tags and the strip of layered clock embellishments from their Rustic Clocks 3-D Papier Tole Die Cuts that a very interesting dimension to the border.

The Ivory Card Stock for Journaling blocks and brown and orange ribbon on the tags was from my stash.

Above are close ups of the Chalk with Dazzles as stencils and a short piece of the Dazzles strip.

This was my first purchase of Scrapbooking Chalks by Decorating Chalk. These are available to purchase on Page 1 of the Scrapbooking Chalk Store at the bottom of the page.

This set has 24 of the basic colors of White, yellow, yellow/orange, orange, red/orange, red, flesh, pink, magenta, orchid, violet, dark blue, royal blue, light blue, turquoise, dark green, green, lime green, burnt sienna, tan, light brown, dark brown, grey and black.

This Set #2 on the left, has 9 colors and also comes with 2 applicators. The colors are Coral, Rose, Cranberry, Eggplant, Plum, Burgundy, Lavender, Moss, and Sage.

This Set #3 on the right, has 9 more colors. They are Pale Yellow, Light Mauve, Wedgewood, Blue-Green, Brick, Butterscotch, Forest Green, Brown, and Charcoal.

This is the 9 pc Glimmer Chalk Set - which will provide sparkle or glimmer, depending on the color, type of paper and reflective lighting.

Colors include Gold, White Sparkle, Blush, Rosie Gold, Lilac, Emerald, Sparkle Green, Blue Sparkle and Golden Copper. This set also comes with 2 little sponge applicators and runs about $6.00.

The Pearlesent Chalks are pastel colors are very soft and add an nice sheen to anyplace you apply them to.

The Metallic Cream Chalks are darker Metallic Colors and polish up to a high sheen.

Alabaster, Amber Clay, Aquamarine, Azurite, Bisque, Blue Iris Blue Lagoon, Blush Rose, Burnt Sienna, Charcoal, Chestnut Roan, Creamy Brown, Dark Brown, Dark Moss, Dark Peony, Deep Green, French Blue, Ice Blue, Ice Jade, Lavender, Lime Pastel, Lipstick Red, Maroon, Olive Pastel, Orchid Pastel, Peach Pastel, Pink Pastel, Prussian Blue, Rose Coral, Rouge, Tangerine, Warm Green, Warm Red, Warm Violet, Wisteria, Yellow Cadmium, Yellow Citrus, and Yellow Ochre. The Cat's Eye (shape) Ink Pad of Fluid Chalk is the smallest

These Cat's Eye pads can be used in the Direct-to-Paper method by just dragging the pad across your paper. I do this a lot to decorate the edges of my photo mattes and to give them depth.

They now come in 6 different sets of Six Fluid Chalk Cats Eye Pads called Queue and feature a Stylus handle with two adapter tips. These are great sets for shading since all the colors are in the same family.


The Stylus tips can be used to transfer the ink from the pads to the paper or the Stylus can actually be attached directly to the back of the Pad. For many, the Stylus provides more control over the ink as it is held like a pencil.

Check out our Scrapbooking Chalk Store at the bottom of the page to see all of the wonderful colors available in Fluid Chalk Pages. These are available for purchase on starting on page 4 of the Chalk Store.

These are other forms for the Fluid Scrapbooking Chalk Pads - The Petal Point and Paint Box Sets. The rounded outside edge is great for inking larger areas while the point of the tip is great for getting in close to those smaller areas.

These Petal Point sets are each 8 colors and each pad color is separate on an "Option Plate" that slides out and has a small tab on the bottom to use for a handle. The same Option Plates are in the Paint Box
While these sets they are stored together, the Optaion Plates allow them to separate easily to use and re-ink.

They come in a package of 6 colors with white, gray, pink, yellow, green and blue pigment ink. These are also acid free, archival quality, light fast, fade proof and waterproof as are all these wonderful scrapbooking pens and writing tools.

Q-tips can also be used for application, but first roll the end of the Q-tip around in your fingers to get the stray fibers up close to the tip to make give you more control with your applicator.

For larger areas that you wish to cover, or for more vivid color, you can use something like a make up sponge, or run the chalk piece directly across the paper, in what is called direct to paper. This method might require some shading with a tissue, cotton ball, or maybe just your fingertip.

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