I love creating random and messy backgrounds for my projects be it cards, ATC's, or other items, so I decided that today's background would be for a scrapbook layout and a very rare photo of myself. Ask my hubby and my friends and they will tell you that I hate my photo being taken so most are spoiled by me pulling faces, or putting my hands up in gestures or simply to block the view of the camera. This one is no different, and is one of the many 'A' tried snapping of me on my birthday last month, but I thought it might be fun to record this trait which I have apparently inherited from my Mother. Hence there is not that many good photos around of either of us.
My photo I have edited with Picasa using the Comic Book Option and if you look closing you will see the corners have a dotty effect and the outer edges are slightly faded. I have printed this in black and white. I love the contrast of bright colors with black and white photos so I have chosen a summery color palette given how hot the past few days here have been.
I start by spritzing the paper with water.
Taking a wet sponge brush I then blend the color across the page.
Dry with a heat gun.
I love using a variety of stencils to add texture, dimension and interest to my background. I firstly take my Prima Checker Stencil by Finnabair and using an embossing medium either a embossing pen or ink pad and stencil brush. Color across the stencil so that the ink transfers the square pattern to the page.
I apply the embossing medium and then white embossing powder in sections, heating between each section with my heat gun to activate the embossing powder.
Happy with the amount of embossed squares (which will act as a resist to further color application) I then take my Damask Stencil by Donna Downey and my Flat Fabio Pineapple Paradise Mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang.
I spray two opposite corners with this stencil and then on the opposite corners simply turn my stencil over and blot the excess color which had been previously sprayed on the stencil into my page so you get a negative/positive design across the page. As mentioned before this is more about creating texture and interest than precision stenciling of the design.
Next I take a handmade stencil (circles punched in a piece of cardstock) and my Lindy's Stamp Gang Mango Mania and spray random circles (some I mist quite heavily, others lighter) across the page.
I then take my Green - Luscious Lime Flat Fabio Mist and spray through a piece of punchinella randomly across the page.
Then to finish my stenciling, my checker stencil is used once more with my Carribean Blue Flat Fabio Mist.
For more interest I grab some stamps. Today both sets I have chosen are from Unity Stamp Company.
I plan to use the ribbon ends and bracket from the UR All These Things Set and the Stars and Paint Splatters from the Splatters and Stars - All Boy Itty Bitty.
With my background done, I move on to finishing my layout. I choose some papers with similar colors and patterns to the stencils I used. The green and big orange dot papers are from K & Co while the front orange paper is a scrap of a retired Stampin' Up Design.
I die cut some letters for my title from white cardstock, and coordinate them to my layout by using my Mango Mania Mist to color and some black doodled dashes to define them.
I layer all my finishing elements which include some extra punched and die cut pieces along with a stamped star, ribbon ends and bracket and add my photo. Because playing with water often makes the page turn and buckle, I apply a generous amount of tape to the page of my watercolor background and layer it on to a contrasting/coordinating piece of card stock.
And there you have it a page capturing the fact that I am camera shy and a fun and messy background technique for a multitude of projects.
