In The Background–MFT DT Creative Challenge!

Hello sweet friends!!

I was so excited to see what this month’s Design Team Creative Challenge was because it gave me the chance to practice one of my most favorite techniques that I like to call Faux Watercolor.  So, before I get too far into my blathering, I should tell you that this month’s challenge was to create a project featuring different ways to use the amazing array of red rubber background stamps that My Favorite Things carries and to make them the star of the show!  Here’s my project:

And here’s how I created it:

1. Trim an A2 top folding card base from Smooth White Cardstock; score at 5.5” and perfect crease with a teflon bone folder.
2. Using a craft sheet and a scrap piece of acetate, swipe a strip of Razzle Berry, Lemon Drop, Sour Apple and Blu Raspberry Premium Dye Ink Pads onto the craft sheet.  Use the acetate to block off the previously swiped color so that the colors don’t mix on your ink pads.  And make sure that the ink stripes on the craft sheet are wide enough so that the area they cover is at least 6” x 6” in total.
3. Lay the Garden Floral Background rubber stamp face down into the layers of ink on the craft sheet.  Apply strong and even pressure, making sure to cover the entire background stamp completely with the inks.
4. Spritz water onto the inked background stamp enough to allow the inks to blend and bleed slightly, but not too much as to muddle the ink colors and the pattern from the background stamp.
5. Immediately lay a piece of 4.25” x 5.5” watercolor paper, smooth side down, onto the inked/spritzed background stamp and apply even pressure to make sure that the blended inks have a chance to absorb into the watercolor paper.  Carefully lift the watercolor paper off of the inked background stamp and set aside to dry.  (I typically respritz the background stamp – up  to three times – in order to get two or three generations of the watercolored image.  The first generation is typically pretty bold, the second less bold, and so on.  I’m usually most happy with the second generation application as it’s not quite as bold as the first, but not too light that you can’t really see the detail of the stamped image.  This project uses a second generation image.)
6. Stamp the Pinstripe Background red rubber stamp horizontally onto a 4.25” x 5.5” Smooth White Cardstock panel using Black Licorice Hybrid Ink.  Trim off a 1/4” strip from this panel – save the rest for future projects.
7. Die cut the word Congrats from the Celebratory Greetings Die-Namics set, once from Black Licorice Cardstock, and three additional times from Smooth White Cardstock.  Adhere the layers together with liquid adhesive, placing the black layer on the top.
8. Once the faux watercolored image is dry, die cut it using the stitched panel from Blueprints 23.
9. Adhere the watercolored image panel to the cardbase with foam squares.  Adhere the striped strip directly to the cardbase (with a tape runner) and to the left of the image panel.
10. Adhere the stacked sentiment to the image panel with liquid adhesive.  Apply glossy accents to the top of the stacked sentiment and allow to thoroughly dry (I usually allow mine to dry over night.)

That’s it!!  It’s a detailed description of the process, but trust me when I tell you that this technique is soooooo easy and really packs a creative punch when it’s done!!  I feel like I get the best results when I use background stamps that have a good deal of image surface.  The Garden Floral background stamp is perfect for this technique!  And honestly, the Pinstripe Background stamp is one that should be in every girl’s stamp collection because it’s so universal!!

Okay, so now you really need to visit the MFT Stamps Blog to be linked up to my other sweet teammates sharing their gorgeous Background Stamp projects. I know they’re going to blow you away!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  My youngest daughter and son-in-law are here for the week, so we’ll be having some fun in the sun with them.  I’ll be popping in a few times this week with other projects, so I hope you’ll drop by again soon!!

BG Garden Flourish Background BG Pinstripe Background Die-namics Blueprints 23 Die-namics Celebratory Greetings Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice Lemon Drop Premium Dye Ink Razzle Berry Premium Dye Ink Sour Apple Premium Dye Ink Pad Blu Raspberry Premium Dye Ink Pad Smooth White Card Stock Black Licorice Card Stock Ranger Watercolor Paper Mini Misters - 3 Pack Small Teflon Bone Folder

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