Altered Mixed Media Clipboards

Hey all. Kelly Boler from Book and Paper Arts, one of our delightful Mixed Media Design Team Members, created a captivating Altered Mixed Media Clipboard for us this week. As you know, we feature one new Mixed Media project each Wednesday created by one of our fascinating team of artists. We want you to be totally inspired by this series! Therefore, please make sure you check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…please scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will step out of the way and let Kelly tell you all about her fun project…

Until last year, I had never heard of an altered clipboard, and I am a woman who will alter anything (watch out there, kitty). Then, while discussing ways to display vintage papers, a friend described an altered clipboard she had seen. I looked them up and lo and behold, it is such a charming way to display papers, collage, mixed media, and so on.

The projects I created for The Graphics Fairy are on smaller clipboards than the ones used in offices. (Or were, back in the day. Weird to realise that clipboards are a thing of the past in our digital world!) These smaller ones came from the dollar bin of that craft store we are all thinking of. I adore this slightly smaller size, as it gives a satisfying ratio of space to work on.

The first clipboard I altered (above) is in my typical style and palette of muted shades with plenty of sepia and patina anchored by a lovely belle from another era.

Graphics Fairy Ephemera I Used

If you know my style, you know it is all about the under-layers, creating a kind of canvas on which to work with my featured images. It starts with an underlayer from one of the pages at the Delicate Endpapers bundle available at the Premium site. To this I added some rough-torn fragments, one of a marbled sheet from the Ocean Blues bundle and another (one of my all-time favorites), a page of typewriter typeface from the Ephemera Collection bundle.

After inking up the borders, I added my anchor image, a belle from the Instant Ancestors bundle. (That dress!) I gave her some wings from the Interesting Insects bundle and a kind of faux halo in the form of an oversize pocket watch from the Clock and Watch Faces bundle. To add to the shabby chic look (and to cover up some imperfect paper seams), I added an embellishment of some distressed gauze. And there it is!

I also made a second clipboard. This one is not my usual style, but as I was searching for images under “Women” category in the Premium Site there she was. I found this enchanting circus performer and I couldn’t just leave her there, could I? She is also atop a page from the Delicate Endpapers bundle with some help getting airborne from wings at the Interesting Insects bundle. As embellishment I added an apt caption that I found under “Typography” category on the Premium Site.

I hope you enjoy trying your hand at altering a clipboard in the future (keep your eyes peeled for one at the thrift store!).

Altered Mixed Media Clipboards Show & Tell

Be sure and check TGF Premium Member Site for a longer, step-by-step video of how to make an altered board book diptych of your own. In the meantime, please check out my short video showing these off on my YouTube channel.

Let me know if you have any questions. Please visit my website: Book and Paper Arts and feel free to follow more of my book art on Instagram @bookandpaperarts or check out my YouTube channel.

Happy making, makers!

Kelly