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)

GLITTER & METALLIC ALCOHOL INK DIE-CUTS

Several alcohol ink companies have been bringing out various glitter/metallic alcohol inks and though they work beautifully with normal alcohol inks on non-porous surfaces (Yupo etc), they also are absolutely gorgeous when used on black gloss card.  I also found whilst playing around with this technique that silver mirror card also works well with the glitter and metallic alcohol inks, though the glitter colours show up much more on black gloss card than the silver.  It's still worth a play on silver.  The die-cut shapes in the samples below have had either metallic alcohol ink or glitter alcohol ink dropped on them.

"Tiny miracles"
(This bee has a silver base)

"Seas the day"
(All 3 shapes are cut from black gloss card)

"People"
(Dragonfly cut from black gloss card)

"Nocturnal"
(Owl cut from black gloss card)

"Insect puns"
(Bee cut from black gloss card)

"Doing nothing"
(Beetle cut from black gloss card & 
metallic inks only)

MICA FLAKES & SHEETS

I love the effect of Mica Sheets and Mica Flakes and the different looks you can create by using them in various ways.  The first two pics below are the cover of my Technique Book and the mica on that one is on the atc on the front cover where I've attached it on the top right and bottom left so it looks like a shattered window.  The mica flake generally comes in a whitish colour but can easily be coloured by putting a little into a snap-lock bag, add a few drops of alcohol ink in your chosen colour, smoosh it around and it is ready to use.  I attach mine with a clear-drying glue (Art Glitter Glue).  When I attach mica sheets over an image, I always use Glossy Accents as this dries crystal clear so you can't see it.  You can also attach the mica sheets with brads or staples!  I have also used a circle die with some mica sheet to create the circular shape on "tendril" below.

 

"Technique Book #25 cover"

(20cm x 15cm)

Close up of the atc on the front cover.

"Shiitake"
(Mica sheet over the words and coloured flake at 
the bottom of the mushrooms)


"Study Observe"
(clear mica flake on parts of branches
and on the grass at the bottom)

"Tendril"
(mica sheet, circle die-cut from centre and
attached with staples)

"Vulnerable"
(shaker card with mica flake trapped under acetate front)

"Dearly departed"
(coffin shape is also a shaker with mica sheet

over wording at the bottom right)

"Escape the ordinary"
(mica sheet glued down over image)

 "Collection"
(thin piece of torn mica stapled over the mushrooms)

GESSO OXIDE CHRISTMAS BACKGROUNDS

 This year, as every year, the final class is always a Christmas theme.  During the year I spend time trawling for Christmas images and Christmas quotes to use for this specific class.  The technique for this background is a simple gesso and Distress Oxide ink pad class on watercolour card.  As long as you don't cover all of your card with gesso, you will get varying degrees of colour when applying the Distress Oxide, even when you are just using one colour as the sample below shows.  This first one has only Milled Lavender on it, apart from a smudge around the edge of Black Soot.  Of course, if you spritz with water after inking, you will remove the ink and get back to the white of the gesso so there's lots of room for playing with this background technique.  Yes, I had to include a couple of my more naughty ones, I wouldn't be me if I didn't!  😏

I'll be back early February for Book #25!

"Dark Christmas"

"BRB"


"Cole"

(The black lumps down the bottom are black

texture paste coal lumps)


"Wine"


"Balls sparkle"

"Fat in August"

CLOUDY BACKGROUNDS

 A while ago I purchased a cloud stencil as I saw it used to make some gorgeous cards.  Even though atc's are much smaller than your normal greeting card, this technique still translates very well on the reduced size background.  I love both being able to use multiple colours as well as sticking with one colour palette in a couple of shades, and have even done one (not shown here) in just Tumbled Glass, a very soft blue in the Ranger Oxide range of ink pads.  Personally, I prefer using the Oxides to the normal distress ink pads as I think they have a great depth of colour and will blend very easily.  I used Neenah card stock as I know Oxide inks work well with this and for adding the colour, I used one of the handled make-up style brushes with lots of bristles.  Though I also tried it using my round foam blending pads as well as the little finger daubers and they worked well too!  I found it best to work on a glass mat so you can blend off the card to start with and then you are blending onto the stencil so your chosen implement will pick up colour and transfer nicely to the background.

"Artist"

"Memories

"Space bar"

"Escape"

"Voodoo dolls"

"Pinata"

(The brick wall is washi tape)

SPECIMEN ATC'S

I have seen various ways of using acetate to make clear cards and in the past have used shrink plastic as a window in an atc so it looks like stained glass when you hold it up to the light.  These atc's are along the same lines in that they are using acetate to make a specimen type of atc that when it is held up, is completely translucent, apart from the image on the acetate.  These are clear floral stickers that work particularly well as they are photographs and look very realistic.  I have still used my black backing for these atc's as I prefer my cards to have a border around them.  This just means you need to cut the same shape/size window for both the front piece and the back black piece.  The front piece starts out as a white piece of card but ends up with various colours of distress inks and distress oxide inks and some embossing on them to match the image.  I've kept these fairly minimalistic with just a little embellishment so as not to detract from the overall look.  

It was a bit of a mission to work out how to attach them in my book.  If I stuck them down on my black pages you would totally lose the effect of the acetate window, but if I stuck them down over white, they still just looked like stickers on a white backing.  So I made some little vellum library pockets and attached those with washi tape so now the little specimen cards can be pulled out to view without hindering the aesthetics of them.  

 "Specimen #1"

"Specimen #2"

(my favourite, as it's a weedy looking thing)

"Specimen #3"

"Specimen #4"

"Specimen #5"

Working out how the pockets would go.

The finished page with 2 pockets and 2 Specimen ATC's.