Handmade Backgrounds - Spring Card

The theme this week on Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'handmade backgrounds'. I love making my own background papers by stamping, painting, spraying, dry embossing and powder embossing - or perhaps all of them at once! Sometimes it's really successful and other times I look at what I've done and think 'hmmm - not sure if I like that'!

I made this background 'paper' (it's on card actually) and fell in love with it straight away. It has a slightly random, grungy look but includes lots of texture, depth and some shine - all things I seem to love!

I have included yet another of my little wooden 'ducks' as they came in a pack of four and I'm sure you'll see the other two at some time on this blog because I just fell in love with them. I'm not a particularly 'cutesie' person but obviously I couldn't resist these or the little TH rabbit which is totally lovely too!

I made the background into a 'Spring' card because that's what these colours say to me. I know some people will say they are also autumnal but I just think of the spring flowers growing in my garden now and I can see all these colours.

This is a close up showing a section of my handmade background. The card was embossed with a floral embossing folder. Colour was added using Distress Inks. The raised areas were embossed with clear powder. Random areas were then embossed with a mixture of gold and white embossing powders, heated from below the card.

The background was made into a spring card using toning colour elements of various kinds. 

These are the various elements that make up my card. All are handmade except the little wooden duck and the TH c'oredinations card.

The flowers and leaves are all TH die cuts. The large flowers were stamped before being inked and coated with glossy accents. The smaller flowers were all inked and coated as before. They are held together with small brads which I coated with nail varnish to make them look less gold. The leaves were inked once, stamped and embossed with crystal embossing powder. I then inked them again, followed by further stamping and embossing in gold to make the detail stand out. You can also see the little 'scarves' around the animals' necks!

The letters are a TH die cut. They were stamped in green with a foliage image then inked and coated with clear embossing powder. The edges have been inked in walnut DI.

This close up shows the detail on the leaves and a little more of the background 'paper'.

I intend to show my work here too:

PanPastel UK Challenge Blog - Bright Colours