PRESS'N SEAL TECHNIQUES

 Layering several die-cuts over the top of each other in a pleasing composition can be fraught with problems, until the discovery of Press'n Seal.  Fortunately, this is now available in Australia at Costco as none of the other grocery stores here carry it.  I have found it is also perfect for placing down fiddly and intricate die-cuts, especially if you have cut it out of thin paper, like metallic paper.  Especially if you have added your double-sided sheet to the back because when you peel off that release paper, the die-cut just wants to fold up on itself and stick together.  By placing a piece of Press'n Seal over the top before pulling off the release paper, you have much greater control over placement on your background.  You'll see I have a bit of a floral theme going on here.  The main dies I have that can be layered are the floral/weed/leaf dies but luckily these work perfectly.  This technique however will work with whatever die-cuts you choose to use.

"Cultivate"


"Bloom"


"Specimen"
(The last atc (Season) has the inner
removed pieces of this die-cut used
in a plain shimmer background. This
will work with any die that has pieces
that can be removed and still create a
recognisable shape.)


"Beautiful things"


"Golden Soul"

"Season"
(The inner part of this leaf is from the 
Beautiful things atc above.  By cutting
the leaf shape from both an alcohol ink
piece and a gold metallic piece, you can
interchange them to create two separate pieces.)

DIE-CUT STENCILLING

 I think it's important to try and get as much use out of your chosen products as you can, and in that vein, this technique utilises die-cut shapes and the off-cut waste that you'd normally discard, by using these pieces as masks.  I have used Distress Oxide Inks for all of these samples as I find it to be a more opaque colour. Some die-cut shapes work better than others and sometimes you need to insert the die-cut shape and sponge over that as well as the original outside shape to depict the details.  The two bug atc's below are the perfect example of this.  If you simply used the off-cut waste to create your design, you would just have a big blank outline of a bug.  But by placing the die back inside the outside waste and sponging a darker colour, you'll get all the detail that you miss in the first colour. Both of the bugs also have highlights in Glossy Accents.  I also used some grey markers to create some depth and shadow, mainly noticeable in the windows on the first act and then around the gravestones on the third one.  Another trick is to use a Mono Sand Eraser to gently erase away some of the colours to imitate the light source. You can see this effect, just under the moon in the first one and also around the ghost and the moon in the last atc. Be careful to not scratch away the card!

"Later"

"Easily distracted"

"In memory"

"What the flock?"

"Two weevils"

"No rest"

EMBOSSED LEAFING FLAKE

 Black gloss card can be used for various techniques and it works really well for this particular one, along with the addition of leafing flakes.  There are a few colours available of leafing flake (also called gilding flakes) and of course, you can mix 2 or 3 colours together to create your own colour combo's.  I used a Zig glue pen to go over the raised (or recessed) embossed design on the black gloss card which means you can choose which areas to highlight and which ones to leave black.  Apologies for the variations in the black gloss card.  It can be really difficult to capture the depth of the black background compared to the shine of the leafing flakes.  Try this technique out for yourself to see how great it looks in real life.  It'd make a great card background!

"Oxygen"

"Journey"


"Anty bodies"
(I've been wanting to use this
quote for ages.  😏)

"Ginfinity"

"Key"

"Warrior"

Mercury Glass

 I have always loved the look of Mercury Glass and this particular technique was inspired by both Seth Apter (an amazing mixed media artist that is renowned for his backgrounds) as well as a couple of other Youtube video's and also home decor blogs.  With this technique, you need to be careful about how busy the background is as a busy background will fight with the mercury glass images so they need to be fairly neutral or you can create the whole background as mercury glass and then add to that.  There are a few steps to create this and I have played around with various products to get these effects so I'd suggest checking with Google for your chosen method if you want to replicate it. 

"Focus"
(The seed pods and strip down the bottom
have been cut from the mercury glass technique)

"Under Water"
(The fish skeleton and light bulbs are
from the mercury glass.  I love how dimensional
Ranger Liquid Pearls are for creating the light
bulb cords and the edging around the words.)

"Too many tabs"
(The whole background is the mercury glass.
The little dots are made with the Molotow
Chrome Pen.)

"Chaos"
(Nuts and bolts etc are die-cut from the
mercury glass.)

"Take flight" close-up
(Showing the depth of the mountains which
is created by using layers of foam tape.)

"Take flight"

"Wings"
(The mercury glass was applied to a thin piece
of card stock and then used to create the
faceted heart die by Tim Holtz.)
"

EGGSHELL MOSAIC #2

Eggshell mosaic is another of those techniques that have been around it seems like forever, it is such a great technique with the addition of alcohol inks and a glossy top coat.  As white eggshells are notoriously difficult to get hold of, your normal run-of-the-mill brown eggs will do but they will just need a quick coat of gesso to allow the alcohol inks to stand out in their true colours.  Just remember to keep wiping off your hands as it can get a bit messy sticking the little bits of shell down into the glue.

"#44"
(This is a simple rectangular frame
that is covered with the eggshell)

"Without Limits"
(Just the bottom part of this background
is covered with eggshell.  The top part
is gesso with alcohol inks)

"Appreciate everything"
(Another framed piece with eggshell)

"De-coffin-ated"
(Ghost die-cut covered with eggshell)

"Strangeness"

"Find your wings"
(This entire background is egg-shell and
has metallic waxes rubbed over the top
of the glossy top-coat)

GLUE FOILED BACKGROUNDS

 This is a simple but effective background technique that utilises the raised areas of embossed pieces of card stock to create random shiny areas by using glue sticks and foil sheets.  I prefer to use permanent glue sticks as I found they worked better than the normal kids' school glue sticks.  By varying the amount of glue you put down, you can create a subtle or very blingy background.  I have used both shiny and matte foils on my samples so it doesn't need to be over-the-top with shine if you prefer a more grungy look.

"Where's the food"


"Silver wings"
(This background is plain white embossed card
with only silver foil added to it.)


"Jump in"
(Two different colours of foil used on this one,
silver and blue.)


"Feeling"

"A good day"
(The silver on this background is matte foil.)

"Windshield"

WAVES & HILLS STENCIL BACKGROUND

A few classes ago we used a cloud stencil to create backgrounds so I thought we'd revisit using a stencil to create another background.  This time it is a soft, wavy stencil that can create either waves or hills.  I used Distress Oxide Ink Pads on a make-up style soft brush to apply the ink and then completed the atc's with a focal image, embellishments and words.

"Sea whore"
(The sand on the seafloor was created with the stencil
and then outlined in Ranger Pearls for a little
extra dimension)
 

"Strong as a weed"

"No refunds"

"Flamingos"

"Bugs & Kisses"

"Dead of night"
(Once again the hills were created using the
stencil and outlined in various shades of 
grey marker)