Inspire Me Monday: You Used What???

Hello all! Julie here! If that title didn't get you, hopefully my tutorial today will! How many times have you looked at something that has nothing to do with stamping and thought, "I could use that on a card!"

Well, recently I was fiddling around in my crafting space when I spotted some leftover yarn sitting on my desk. After looking at it for a while, I decided that I might try to use that little scrap to add a little pizazz to a card. Well, my friends, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was using a whole bunch of out of the ordinary things to craft with! So, that's the basis for today's fun little tutorial.

Let's take a gander at some of the backgrounds I created and then, I'll share a little bit about each technique.

All Wrapped Up: So, let's start in the upper right corner to see how my little bit of yarn turned into a background...

I grabbed a piece of green card stock that measured the same as a card front. I picked a green ink that would be a nice contrast and then.... grabbed that little bit of yarn and wrapped it around one of my smaller acrylic blocks, securing it on the back with a bit of masking tape. Then, I just used it like a stamp, reinking it and turning it to the right with each impression to create a kind of mod basketweave effect!

Smoosh It! This next technique is one I learned forever ago but I decided to dig out some of my older inks to see if I could create a cool manly background. I started with three coordinating inks. Remember Brilliance Inks? I still have 20 colors in my stash with reinkers. Might be 30 years before those dry up! Why not put them to use!

I started with a medium tone grey card stock and then took a sandwich bag and blotted the ink by smooshing it all over the paper, color by color...

And after I "smooshed," all the colors, this is what I had!

I love the marble effect and think it could be really fun to try different color combos. I think this one above would be a great backdrop for a masculine card. I will admit, I haven't made it into a card yet but I will have fun tossing around ideas! While the picture doesn't really show it, that platinum ink really adds a metallic sheen, which is fun!

Stencil It: So, many of us use stencils to deck out a card or backdrop. But, one thing I have never done is use a stencil as a way to emboss! I have probably 20 different embossing powder colors and don't use them nearly enough. I also have quite a few stencils and tend to ignore them as well. So, I dug in my cabinet and decided to mix these two to create one fun background! I started with this fun embossing powder. Don't you love how vibrant it is? It also has a metallic sheen!

Then, I grabbed a fun stencil and a little finger sponge inked up with Versamark Ink and really got into all the little holes within this fun star stencil!

After I felt all those little stars were covered with ink, I heat embossed using the metallic blue embossing powder and..... this was the result!

I think this background would be a great congrats card or maybe even a fun backdrop for a kid's card. So many fun possibilities!

Bubble Up! This last one was just fun for stess relief. Anyone out there love to pop bubble wrap? Hehe! Well, recently, I was unpacking some boxes in my craft room and came upon a sheet of super large bubble wrap. I realized pretty darn quick that this could be so fun as a edgy circle pattern background. Edgy? Yes! Because no matter how hard to try to "stamp" this -- it's never going to be perfect. It's going to have imperfections.

I started with these things -- some copper ink, the bubble wrap and then some burnt orange cardstock.

Using the Cosmic Copper ink, I just inked up my bubble wrap like a stamp and then....

Just ran my hand over the entire piece, making sure that each circle was pressed into the paper. And here's what the paper looked like afterward. Pretty cool, huh?

And if you checked in last week with Creative Confetti, you know this background did make it into a card using Power Poppy's In Praise of Sunflower stamp set. See?

I didn't let a ton of the background show, which I kind of regret but I do love how it peeks behind my main image and really seems to coordinate well with my metal embellishment...

And that, my friends, is it! I hope you had fun seeing my "out of the ordinary" ways to create backgrounds! Stay tuned to my blog, you never know when these backgrounds will pop up in a supporting role on a card or creation! ;-)

So, one note for my Creative Confetti peeps out there! I am on the road as we speak and so, Creative Confetti will be up a little late but, if you want a hint to what the challenge will be, this tutorial might be a great hint! ;-)

See you back here real soon! 
~Julie