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Adding chalk to your journaling is a quick and easy way to make certain words stand out while adding color and texture to your layouts.

Question: Any new techniques for chalking on scrapbook pages?

Paris says: Using decorating chalk is a simple way to add subtle color and to emphasize certain portions of your layouts. From blending colors to application methods to different chalking surfaces, here are some tried-and-true tips for applying chalk to your scrapbook pages.

Chalking Techniques
It’s mistake-free! That’s right–one of the best things about decorating chalk is that it’s erasable. If you want to remove some or all of the chalk you’ve applied to your page, a white plastic eraser works best.

Chalk is not just for paper! You can spot color your matte black and white or colored photos with chalk, too.

Create an antique effect. By adding pale yellow, brown or ivory chalks to your papers and photos, you can create an antique effect perfect for heritage, ephemera and vacation pages.

Emphasize with chalk. Applying chalk to areas of your scrapbook pages that you want to emphasize is functional, and it looks good, too! Apply chalk to certain words in your journaling that you want to stand out, or chalk the pattern on your patterned paper to emphasize certain areas or shapes.

Application Tools
There are many tools you can use to apply chalk to your pages to get different textures and effects. The best part about chalk application tools is that they’re inexpensive! Your finger is the most simple tool, and cotton swabs, cotton balls and makeup sponges will all produce great chalking results, too. (Tip: We’ve found that the most inexpensive cotton swabs work better than the brand-name variety.) Just rub your choice of tool on your decorating chalk and apply it directly to the portion of your layout that you want to color. These tools will produce a soft, smudged chalk effect when applied to paper.

Using a dry paintbrush is a good way to smoothly and evenly apply chalk to your page, and it can also give some interesting effects. If you choose a flat brush, you can create an even, blunt edge to your chalking, rather than a smudged effect that results from the other application tools. By using brushes, you can also choose the perfect size and shape of brush for your layout.

Blending
Blending chalks is a great way to create your own custom colors, or to mix a color that you might be out of or that is not included in your chalk palette.

If you blend your chalks by rubbing your application tool on one color, then another, the second color will be more visible when you apply the chalk to your paper. For example, if you want to create a purple by mixing blue and red together, you can get a purple that has more red in it by rubbing your tool on the blue chalk first, then the red. If you’d rather a purple with more blue in it, just switch the order and rub your tool in the red chalk first, then blue. If you want to blend two colors equally, you can mix them together on a separate surface, then apply the mixture to your page. You can also try applying one color directly to your page, then adding another color on top of it to alter the original color. 

The basic rules of color mixing apply to decorating chalks. Mixing red and yellow will result in orange, yellow and blue will make green, and blue and red will make purple. Mixing all of the colors at once will produce a muddy grey-brown. You can also alter colors during blending by adding more of one color than the other. When blending an orange, adding more red than yellow will produce a deeper orange, while adding more yellow will result in a lighter, brighter orange. Experimentation is the best way to get the colors you’re looking for!

Texture Strategies
When applying chalk to your scrapbook layouts, you will likely be applying the chalk to paper. As simple as this sounds, there are tons of ways to alter your paper to get different chalking effects. Texture holds chalk very well, so adding texture to your paper through various methods will expand your chalking possibilities.

Crinkle your paper. By crinkling your paper and smoothing it out again, you will create tons of texture throughout the paper. Applying chalk to crinkled paper will give you varying shades of the same color. The deep crinkles will hold chalk very well and the chalk will appear darker, whereas the more shallow crinkles and the flat surfaces will hold less chalk and the color will appear lighter.

Tear your paper. Torn edges are another way to create texture on your paper. Chalk holds very well in the torn portion and the chalk will appear dark and rich. Use it to emphasize the edge of your page or the edges of your photo and journaling mats.

Experiment with different papers. The texture on an unaltered sheet of paper will determine how much chalk it will hold. For example, textured cardstock will hold more chalk than standard computer paper, producing deeper colors. Papers with an allover embossed pattern are fun to experiment with, too, or try chalking on vellum for a cloudy chalk effect.

Love chalks? Check out the cool color palettes like the 24-Color Set and Glimmer Chalk Set in this issue of Paper Wishes!