About Me

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I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.

Monday, 4 May 2015

Crafty Cardmakers and More #138 - Make Your Own Background

Hello - time for a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and More. This fortnight, the lovely Pamellia has asked us to create our own background - so no DPs this time around. Get out your inks and paints and stamps and stencils......
I seem to have a thing about orange at the moment! No idea why! So, I started with 2 pieces of watercolour card, and painted one with gesso. 
 I then used Aquatints - 39, 40 and 42, diluting them with water in a palette. 
Next, I used them to cover the pieces of watercolour card. The one I painted with gesso is on the right - I worked in exactly the same way on both pieces - but the result is very different.
 
I cut a piece of the non-gesso'd card to fit on a roughly 8x8 square card. The stencil is Imagination Crafts Honeysuckle. I put the remains of the 42 Aqua Tint into a spray bottle, and spritzed through the stencil - the marks are where my fingers were! 
 
After cleaning it, I then used the stencil again and just slightly offset it from the original position, and then inked through with Walnut Stain DI.  
 
I ran a piece of the gesso'd card through my Crafter's Companion A4 Ornate Butterflies embossing folder, then sanded it back.
I then inked over the top with Walnut Stain DI.
Using more Walnut Stain, I added a couple of Crafter's Companion Texture stamps to the corners - in the top left and bottom right, I used one from the Basket and Burlap set, and the swirls are from Journal Jottings.
I used the Basket and Burlap stamp on the gesso'd card too - but it didn't take so well - partly because of the embossing.
I used brown card to create the base and the mat the background onto. The butterfly is Crafter's Companion Butterflies - cut from a scrap of the gesso'd card. The sentiment is Textures Words of Wonder 2 - stamped onto offcuts from the non gesso'd card.

I really enjoyed this challenge - was great to get a bit messy. Now it's your turn!! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!
I would like to enter this into:
Crafty Calender Challenges - Things with Wings
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Anything Goes/No Patterned Paper

Back soon,
Cxxxx
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4 comments:

  1. PamelliaMon May 04, 01:12:00 pm BST

    Gorgeous Carole!! I really love the techniques you used to create not one, but two stunning backgrounds!! LOVE those butterflies, absolutely stunning!! hugs :)

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  2. Crafty JudithWed May 06, 09:05:00 am BST

    Gorgeous card love it and thank you for joining us at Suzy Bee's Blooming Challenge crafty hugs Judith DT xxx

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  3. RebeccaThu May 07, 04:25:00 am BST

    Beautiful card Carole. I love your background and the stamps.

    Hugs, Bec x

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  4. Sally DodgerSun May 17, 10:57:00 am BST

    A beautiful card. I love both your backgrounds, and the technique with offsetting the stencil is great. The butterfly embossing and die cut are really pretty and the orange and brown colour combination is brilliant. Sally.x.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving a comment!! I really appreciate it!! Cxx

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