Backgrounds for me are always a bit of a problem area. Looking around blogland there are so many fabulous hand made backgrounds, bright ones, bold ones, textured ones, subtle ones, backgrounds that echo the main them. There are also lots of backgrounds using designer papers sometimes more than one. All these backgrounds are designed to highlight and enhance the main image, they are all artistic and very clever and I envy them.
I am just not comfortable with doing backgrounds. Masterboard is a technique I am very familiar with, in fact I once wrote a tutorial on how to make one. The is a very full top shelf in the work room filled with pads of designer paper. Every so often I take them down to look at before carefully putting them away again. Somehow in my design style backgrounds should be invisible.
On the other hand getting inky and messy is one of the greatest delights of paper play. Hours will slip by un-noticed while I play with ink sprays, Distress Inks, acrylics, and a favourite at the moment Brusho. Problem with Brusho is getting carried away watching the result of the powder and water on paper, and then putting more on to see the magic again. So I challenged myself to take an A3 sheet of watercolour paper and only work on the ends. The paint was allowed/encouraged to drip down into the middle but not merge with the colours on the other end. What I did not do was take a picture of this before cutting it up.
Sharing this afternoon one of the projects using this paper so far.
The Coco pot.
The middle section of the paper was ideal for this with all those lovely drips running across it. Clarity stamps provided the autumnal images, the verse and the Dragonflies. Dragonflies were also stamped in Brown Stayzon onto acetate and fussy cut. Felt pens coloured the images before the paper was tested against the size of the pot and cut to fit. My son helped to stick the watercolour paper to the pot and I used red lined tape for a secure fix. The first time we did it the paper was on the wrong way round so it was carefully peeled of and reattached. Consequently the seam is not perfect, a piece of tissue tape covered it. For the lid a piece of green lace covers about half the edge with a spray of paper flowers laid over it. To cover the wires on the flowers and fill the centre a slice of dried orange fills the space. The purple of the rest of the lid remains untouched as it blends with the colour at the top of the paper.
Thought I'd share this pot with:
Dream In Darkness - Ongoing challenge Anything Goes on the darker/quirky side.
Not Just Cards - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
A Bit More Time To Craft - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
The Creative Crafters - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
Creative Fingers - Anything paper craft goes (fortnightly)
Take it Make it - Anything stamped (Craft Stamper Magazine monthly)
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes (monthly)
Love to Craft - Anything Goes (monthly)
Allsorts - Anything Goes (usually weekly)
Gem of A Craft Challenge - Anything goes (fortnightly)
Well this has been a much longer post than anticipate so I'll show you the 2 cards I've made using one end of the "background" paper in another post.
It is worth staying safe while we wait for this virus to run it's course just remember to HAVE FUN.
I am just not comfortable with doing backgrounds. Masterboard is a technique I am very familiar with, in fact I once wrote a tutorial on how to make one. The is a very full top shelf in the work room filled with pads of designer paper. Every so often I take them down to look at before carefully putting them away again. Somehow in my design style backgrounds should be invisible.
On the other hand getting inky and messy is one of the greatest delights of paper play. Hours will slip by un-noticed while I play with ink sprays, Distress Inks, acrylics, and a favourite at the moment Brusho. Problem with Brusho is getting carried away watching the result of the powder and water on paper, and then putting more on to see the magic again. So I challenged myself to take an A3 sheet of watercolour paper and only work on the ends. The paint was allowed/encouraged to drip down into the middle but not merge with the colours on the other end. What I did not do was take a picture of this before cutting it up.
Sharing this afternoon one of the projects using this paper so far.
The Coco pot.
The middle section of the paper was ideal for this with all those lovely drips running across it. Clarity stamps provided the autumnal images, the verse and the Dragonflies. Dragonflies were also stamped in Brown Stayzon onto acetate and fussy cut. Felt pens coloured the images before the paper was tested against the size of the pot and cut to fit. My son helped to stick the watercolour paper to the pot and I used red lined tape for a secure fix. The first time we did it the paper was on the wrong way round so it was carefully peeled of and reattached. Consequently the seam is not perfect, a piece of tissue tape covered it. For the lid a piece of green lace covers about half the edge with a spray of paper flowers laid over it. To cover the wires on the flowers and fill the centre a slice of dried orange fills the space. The purple of the rest of the lid remains untouched as it blends with the colour at the top of the paper.
Thought I'd share this pot with:
Dream In Darkness - Ongoing challenge Anything Goes on the darker/quirky side.
Not Just Cards - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
A Bit More Time To Craft - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
The Creative Crafters - Always Anything Goes (monthly)
Creative Fingers - Anything paper craft goes (fortnightly)
Take it Make it - Anything stamped (Craft Stamper Magazine monthly)
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes (monthly)
Love to Craft - Anything Goes (monthly)
Allsorts - Anything Goes (usually weekly)
Gem of A Craft Challenge - Anything goes (fortnightly)
Well this has been a much longer post than anticipate so I'll show you the 2 cards I've made using one end of the "background" paper in another post.
It is worth staying safe while we wait for this virus to run it's course just remember to HAVE FUN.
I'm so pleased I'm not the only one with a fetish of designer papers that accumulate, come out and then go away again Zoe. It never fails to amaze me that one can have so many yet never be able to find one that's quite right, rather like ribbons, I could open a store for those as well.
ReplyDeleteInk on the other hand is a delight and the beauty is you just can't go wrong, plus it offers such vibrancy if that's what you are after and I know you are like me, partial to a bit of colour. I love your altered pot and the lovely dribbles of intensity, then the stamping drawing the eye in.
Perfect for our Allsorts theme, thank you so much for joining in.
B x
What a unique and fabulous 'Coco Pot' Zoe. A little work of art. The dripping effect works really well and I so wish you had taken a photo of the A3 page, as I would have loved to see how you did this. Love the stamping and the acetate dragonfly.
ReplyDeleteArtsy and a unique creation and glad the 'chef' could help you out x.
Love your box, looks lovely, thank you for joining us at Allsorts, xxxx
ReplyDeleteI have twodrawers full of D.paper lol some of it dating back to QVC days with Dawn Bibby dare I say it 15-20 years ago!!! Great stamps and love the technique with the Brushos another neglected item in my craft stash-must remedy that soon
ReplyDeleteCarol x
Yes, I would have loved to see the background prior to cutting but I can't talk because I've gotten into what I was doing and neglected to take process shots myself! LOL Lovely little pot! Thanks so much for playing with us at Love to Craft Challenge Blog! XXO, Aimeslee DT
ReplyDeleteWonderful technique, and why use design papers? They are totally for keeping :). Thank you for entering our challenge at Allsorts.
ReplyDeleteThis background is so beautiful! Thanks for joining us at Creative Fingers Challenge. Have a nice day, DT Mari
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous little project. Thank you for playing along with the Craft Stamper challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at the Crafty Creations Challenges for our latest challenge. Good luck and join us again soon. Hugs, Kathy {Crafty Creations Challenges}
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your fun background idea at Dream In Darkness
ReplyDelete