12 MDF/Chipboard Alteration Ideas and Castle Shadow Box

Castle Shadow Box

           Hi friends , Dr Sonia here with  a super easy to do Castle shaped Shadow box and before I proceed ,I  must thank each one of you for the amazingly heartwarming response you gave for my 3 D Gazebo tutorial ...Thank you so much ! Each comment, like and share both here on the blog and on face-book means the world to me !

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This Castle Shaped Shadow Box was made using the Castle Shadow Box kit by La La Land crafts which has some beautiful chipboard elements for layering and was quite easy to put together..in fact easier than some of the toy assembly kits my daughter has had !

Castle Shadow Box

Castles always take me to a world of fantasy.....and I guess this is how it would look in fairy land amongst the magical vines and foliage [that's actually my hubby's spinach garden !!]

Castle Shadow Box

           You could add a  family photo or a picture  of your little darling inside the castle or add some cute stamped little images .My Castle is all glittery pink and decked up for a Royal Christmas!                        One of the "stars" is the glass cabochon I made using a butterfly cut from the Mariposa stack. The sparkling diamond studded piece atop it was salvaged from a broken earring and the diamond chain is again a recycled bit from a salwar!

Glass Cabochon

              Most of you know by now I love dies and the Tattered lace rose die is my current favourite- though its such an intricate die- it cuts beautifully and the best thing is it pops right out and no tug of war with the die cut!! I used it to line the tea light in my Diwali Lantern and also to make dimensional flowers studded with crystal beaded pollen + a lacy stand for my Christmas tree!

Money Bag charm

Since this was a royal project my daughter's input was to add the money bag charm and the grand looking pendant!

Glass Cabochon

I fell in love with the glass cabochons as soon as Shalini uploaded them and this handmade Butterfly glass cabochon pendant elicited a " WOW" even from my rather sedate hubby!!

MDF Alteration Ideas
            Chipboard and MDF are all the rage nowadays and even though many projects look cool with the raw MDF or chipboard  ; if you want to add an extra bit of oomph without taking a lot of effort...here are a few ideas  to quickly alter MDF without the sweat!
             I am sure most of you are familiar with what I will be sharing but just compiling many ideas in one place for a quick reference list! Hope it will be useful!
Will list the supplies under each subheading for easy reference

1. Decoupaging with  Paper - I guess altering anything with pretty paper is the first thing that comes to mind for us paper crafters!! Well, choose to alter with pattern paper if you want to cover parts with straight lines-- then you can do a quick job without spending time on cutting tiny parts and worrying about perfection !

Decoupage

In this shadow box I used Modpodge to stick my pattern paper to the background and the side walls of the castle.You can also give a top coat of  satin Modpodge for a lovely shiny surface.

MDF Alteration

Modpodge

Decoupage media and Material

Decoupage Paper

Pattern Paper

2. Altering with Inks  - Take out your ink pads especially your favorite Distress inks and start sponging for a quick alteration project! You can sponge all over or just the edges and you will add  so much interest to your MDF / Chipboard piece!

Inks,Inkpads and Inking Tools
3. Altering with  Mists - There are so many shimmery sprays and mists to easily add a glamour coefficient to your project! Ink and spray or ink alone to easily and quickly transform chipboard!
And here is a confession-- I can work for hours designing 3 D projects and pop up cards but give me inks and media and I have no patience --I want everything quick and fast!! So it was no wonder I  made a proper mess of my Distress ink sponging and created several unsightly splotches in on my beautiful Castle kit!

But I could salvage my project with some gorgeous Lindy's mists as it created  lovely shimmery hues over my messy inking and made it look beautiful !!Ha Ha I couldn't have done it better even if I had planned it!! I guess the crafty gods were smiling at me this time !!

Inks and Mists

4. Heat Embossing - If you have never tried heat embossing, you should, as you are missing out on a whole lot of fun!! I actually got my Ranger heat gun only a couple of months back from Crafters Corner and ever since its my go to technique for every project!

Heat Embossing

So ink your chipboard with Versamark, pour embossing powder of choice and heat....watch the transformation and feel mighty pleased with yourself !! Heat embossing sure does give a crafty kick like no other!!

If you are using clear / clear sparkle embossing powder you can even ink over the embossed pieces with distress ink .And here is the un - embellished shadow box with just alteration of the MDF

Shadow Box

Heat Embossing supplies
5. Crackle Media - These are fantastic media to give beautiful cracked effect on your chipboard. I didnt have time to get the Clear Rock Candy Crackle paint from Crafters corner for this project but you can see its gorgeous effect  in Tejal's demo post. I used a local hobby ideas crackle medium in this project and believe me it was not easy to work with !

Royal Specter charm

Crackle Accents

Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint

Viva decor crackle paint

Distress Crackle paint
6. Glossy Accents - If your chipboard piece is not very big you can make the whole of it literally pop and shine using glossy accents like I did in this Interactive Calendar project. Or  add it to parts of your chipboard to highlight those areas.
Glossy Accents
Modpodge Dimensional Magic
7. Stamping - Even the little pieces can be stamped on - flourishes, scripts, music notes...simply stamp your favorite image and go to town with whatever stamping technique you like to experiment with - embossing, emboss resist etc etc!
Stamps and Accessories
Roller Stamps
8. Add Texture with Modelling paste- Mixed media are all the rage nowadays and I am sure many of you have come across Modelling paste which can be combined with your favorite stencils to create awesome textures on your projects.
Check this post to see how Samreen uses modelling paste to create some amazing texture
And how Riti uses Modelling paste and stencils
Modelling Paste
Stencils
9. Add Texture and Interest with Clay

Castle Shadow Box

I  rolled out a ball of clay into  a sheet and cut out bricks which I inked with the same" Aged Mahogany" distress ink I used on the rest of the project to help it to blend in with the rest of my castle.

Clay Bricks

Clay

10. Stenciling - Use stencils with inks or modelling pastes and get to work on your chipboard -- yeah its a bit of work and if you are like me and cant live with a bit of imperfection in  un-inked areas---its not for you as unlike paper you cant throw away the chipboard ! ....but if you can have fun with a few mistakes , its your cuppa tea!!

You can check the extremely talented Pallavi's brilliant post on working with stencils

Stencils
Modelling Paste
Inks,Inkpads and Inking Tools

11. Glitter it up - Oh Yes you can raid your little one's glitter packets too and jazz up your chipboard pieces but there are quite a few glitters especially for us big girls to play with ! Even their names are so tempting!!

Glittery 3 D Castle

You can see diamond dust on my Daffodils in the Flower Punch Board tutorial post
Glitters, Stickles, Fairy Dust, Diamond Dust
12.Make templates - this tip is a bit of a cheat trick and bordering on being illegal!!

Template creation

          And  its especially for people like me , who like to hoard craft supplies as we cant bear to use it up! It also  enables you to get the maximum from your kit ! Make your own templates form your favourite chipboard  design or like in this case ,the castle parts by placing the pieces on card stock and tracing around the parts and cutting out the traced template ! Use those templates to make matching Castle shaped albums , a Castle shaped flat photoframe or even a Castle shaped card!!

Castle Shadow Box

Experiment in mixing and matching  the alteration ideas when you play with MDF/Chipboard pieces and have courage you can always salvage a mess up !

Castle Shadow Box

Do tell me how you like my Castle shaped Shadow Box and do share what are your favorite chipboard alteration techniques

Supplies 

Shadow Boxes
Dies : Tattered Lace Lacy Rose, Sue Wilson Filigree Bow, Spellbinders Lace hearts, Sue Wilson Faux quilled Leaves , Memory Box Rounded fence
Embellishments : Crystal beaded Pollen , Charms , Cabochons and Pendants
Misc tools : Crop A Dile Big Bite, Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors

My Blog : Cards Crafts Kids Projects