ADVENTURE AWAITS

What a fun time I had in putting together the April 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit, You Are My Anchor! I made the entire kit as per the instructions, but found myself with lots of leftovers. Always a nice thing.

So, using some of these leftovers, and adding a little from my stash I came up with the card below yesterday. The main feature I'd planned for this card was the wavy-looking white backdrop for the lighthouse piece. Do you have any idea how I accomplished this look? Keep reading!

The April 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit, You Are My Anchor:

Let's see. What did I use from the kit in my card, you ask? The set of 16 photopolymer stamps (YES, SIXTEEN!!) came in handy for the lighthouse image, the sentiment, the wavy border and the starfish on the round tag. Also all three of these tags were among the leftovers. Everything else came from my personal stash.

Hmm, there's a closer view of that intriguing background. Keep reading!

If you look closely, I used that same technique to add a touch of Island Indigo to the Calypso Coral starfish. I'd also added a couple sequins (which, according to these photos, do not match), as well as some solid Calypso Coral Baker's Twine to add to the nautical look. (The kit had used a natural-colored cord, which I'd almost used up in the projects.)

The woodgrain background paper, as well as the two strips at the top and bottom of the lighthouse piece and the matting for the sentiment all came from the delightful Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack on page 187 of the current catalog. And I am so excited that this stack will appear once again in the new catalog that goes live on June 1! Another year of wondrous wood!

Anyway, I don't know if you can pick it up from the photo or not, but the strips on the lighthouse piece had been run through the Big Shot inside the Pinewood Planks 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, found on page 211. So, it is a double whammy of WOOD -- not only the look, but also the texture. The larger piece on the card is just the paper -- no embossing.

Aw, you've been so patient. 

I will now reveal my secret for the wavy blue on white background:

So easy! And so fun to do! Just wind a couple rubber bands around the removable roller of your brayer, and reinsert. I am lucky enough to still possess the hard acrylic roller that Stampin' Up! carried some time ago, so that's what I used. You can also use the rubber portion of the brayer, but I would remove the rubber bands as soon as you are done, unless you want permanent grooves in your brayer. (Might be a cool look, but not sure I'd wanna risk it!)

Once your rubber bands are in place, roll the brayer across the ink pad in one direction only about 6-7 times to ink up the entire thing. Before using it on your "good" cardstock, ink it up and run it across some scrap paper. Keep adjusting the rubber bands until you are happy with the look. THEN, use it on your "good" cardstock.

When I made my piece for my card, I initially thought I would use it the entire background, so cut the cardstock to 4" x 5 1/4". However, the large piece turned out to be too overwhelming, so I cut it down to a mere 2 1/2" x 4". Below are the leftover pieces -- good for another project!

A few other options would be to first ink up the background in one color, remove as much of the first color as possible from the rubber bands, then follow up with another color. I've already even done a plaid with this technique by brayering both horizontally and vertically. Another thing I've done in the past is to do the rubber band lines in VersaMark, then covered them with a metallic embossing powder. You can check out a card I made using this technique a long time ago HERE. Great look!

OK. Now that you know how easy it is to make a cool background, are you going to give it a try?

Adventure-ous

Smiles.