"Back to the Basics!"

Hello! This is a basic technique I wanted to share with you today. One of many ways of making your own background paper.

I made two cards. This one is made using the October Stamp of the Month and the Hawthorn-Card making Stamp set for the sentiment.

I have been searching for the best tool to use to do this fun and versatile technique so, I will show you the tools I use.

They all work great, but, the ones that make the smoothest blend are the make up brushes. Plus, they seem to be able to do the job with less of a workout too. I purchased these from Amazon. 

The one with the rounded sponge on the end (which can be replaced) is new and came from Scrapbook.com. 

The flatter one is the new mini made by Ranger. I was able to get bulk replacements of the sponges from Amazon. 

*I want to emphasize here the importance of keeping the circular motion to achieve the smoothness.

I used Water color paper but, you can also use our White Daisy card stock. Both are super smooth and work well with the blending of the inks. The White Daisy card stock however cannot handle a large amount of water or paint.

I used our Close To My Heart water-based dye ink pads(Paprika, Saffron, Toffee), and with a circular motion scrubbed the ink pad with it. Using our All Purpose Mat, keep the circular motion, starting on the pad (helps with the smooth blending) and moving onto the card stock, keep moving and until you need to pick up more color. You can even blend two different colors together where they meet. It takes a bit, but with patience and consistently doing the circular motion with pressure (less with the make up brushes), it's amazing how smooth it will look. 

You can leave it the way it is or as you can see in the picture above, I lightly squirted water on it. It leaves spots that make the background very interesting. I also used a heat gun to dry the piece between layers of color. 

For the leaves, I always stamp with the water repellent inks like Memento. If you squish the lids and open the ink pads, there will be ink in the lid and you can use the water brush, or paint brushes and water to water color the leaves. It doesn't take much. Just add the color. Don't need to take a lot of effort. I even used the background color popping through for some of highlights and shadows. Add other colors for contrast. When I dried this layer with the heat gun, the leaves really popped off the page! What a surprise. They first looked muted. Love it!

The second card is stamped (black Memento) using the Every Little Thing-Scrap booking stamp set. I blended the Wisteria into the corners and the Canary into the middle. Lightly sprayed water over all of it and dried with the heat gun. Stamped the flower in the corners over the Wisteria. I water colored more ink on top of the flowers and it darkened them. Don't color all the flowers, just the focus point ones. I used the Julep for the leaves. Then. I added shimmer with the clear Shimmer Brush to the flowers and leaves.

I used the alcohol markers to color the bird and heart and fussy cut them. The sentiment is cut from the oval thin cuts. 

I hope you will try this technique. Be sure and share your projects on my facebook group Making Pretty Things With Paper! Would love to see what you do with this.