Bleubeard and Elizabeth's color and background homework

I woke this morning with a headache and a backache, but knew I had to create something for tonight. So, I began with my color backgrounds. While pages were drying, I started on a couple of backgrounds I either haven't shown before, or I didn't make clear when I made them.


Once again, I'm linking to CED and will update my Linky Followers entry. I guess I should encourage all of you to join the Linky Followers, since the Google Friends Connect will be gone soon. Not sure what will happen with the RSS feeds.


Let's begin with color. I have started with analogous colors (seen next to each other on the color wheel), then combined them with


tints (pale due to the addition of white) primary colors added to the blue. Note how the blues and greens begin to recede as the lighter colors are added.


While making the above background, I also made another one for my Houses AB and glued it onto one of the pages. After both of these books were dry, I added more


yellow, one is light buttermilk, one is yellow glow, and one is bright yellow. Instead of painting more stripes, I will be adding stamping. Yes, I plan to stamp! Of course, I will be using found items rather than stamps.


The bright yellow rings were made using a yogurt cup.


The lighter yellow circles were made using the open end of a cap from discarded glue.


The glow yellow was quite runny and did not make a good impression on the page or on me! For this I used the closed end of the same cap as above.


I quickly realized I did not have enough colors on my palette, so grabbed a few more. Please note that ANY craft paint can be used for this background. It does not have to be expensive paint.


For the pink, I used a part from a glue runner (or dispenser). This one came from UHU, a glue runner I found difficult to use.


Another part of the same glue runner was this wheel that I used to stamp the Midnight Blue.


The yellow glow was not drying well and it kept spreading on the page, so I added some dark green using the end of a paint brush. I hoped it would look like the yellow circle was planned.


Finally, I added the rings of pale blue using the cap from the paint. I really wish I had not added these because they were not positioned the way I would have liked. Live and learn. I need to stop before I turn the final bit into a disaster!


Call me lazy, or call me rushed, I didn't scan the finished pages of either book. The house above I call the "Background House" because it was made using backgrounds, one of which I created today. This spread is not finished, but for the sake of time, I am calling it ready to show, at least.


I also sort of tried to decorate my color wheel. It's not the best color wheel around, but I am calling it finished.

Paper Bag Background

This is one background I made several years ago. I thought it would be fun to make it again, since I had a few paper bags on hand.


Supplies from left clockwise:

Paper bags
Bucket of water
Mica powders (I used a brand called LuminArte, but you could use Perfect Pearls, Pearl Ex, Cosmic Shimmer, or any brand you might have)
White PVA glue (I used Elmer's School Glue)
Latex or other protective glove
Not shown: Paint brush, Stirrer

Tip: Use some type of covering, preferably plastic, under your work surface.


Begin by taking your paper bags apart at the seams. This is the most time consuming part of the process.


Add glue to the water. I added about half the 4 oz container of glue and probably didn't add as much as I should have. This should be approximately 50/50, but I think I had way too much water and not enough glue.


Stir the glue into the water until well mixed.


If you don't want messy hands, put on gloves. Scrunch one of the paper bags and


dip it into the glue/water mix. Continue scrunching and moving it around in the mix until it is well saturated. Wring it out and place on your work surface.


Do the same for the other bags. My hands don't wring things very well, so I had a lot of the mix left on the bags. However, as usual, do as I suggest, not as I do!


Open your bags and lay them relatively flat on your work surface. Open one of your mica powder colors and sprinkle it around on the wet bag.

NOTE: Not all mica powders are equal. The brand I have has no binder in it. That means it needs a binder in order for it to stay on the paper. For this technique, the glue in the water becomes the binder, so you don't need the type/brand that has the binder already in it. However, if that's the only brand you have, feel free to use it.


Continue sprinkling mica powders on your wet paper bags until you have used all the colors you want for that specific bag.


Dip an old paint brush in the glue/water mix and run it over the paper. You can make swirls, run the brush in a long line, or dip it up and down into the powder, whatever makes you happy.


Hang to dry. By this time, there should be nothing dripping. Stand back and admire your art.


When completely dry, remove from the hanger and flatten. You might want to iron your pieces. Cut your paper bags to size and glue to your book page, card stock, or other substrate. There is no way to see all the shimmer from these powders because they simply don't show up on camera (especially MY camera).

Staz-on and Alcohol Background

I think I misled you with this background before. I want to show it as it should be.


You will need from back left, clockwise:

91% Isopropyl (also called rubbing) Alcohol (do not use 70%)
Staz-on Reinkers
Foam Brushes
Cups for mixing
Substrate (I use 110 lb card stock)


I know there are lots of "permanent" inks on the market, but for me, the only brand I have is Staz-on. Be sure to use a different foam brush for each color. You can save them for reuse, too.



Start by placing a bit of alcohol in each of your cups, then add at least 8-10 drops of reinker to the alcohol. Stir the contents of each cup.


Using a different brush for each color, apply the contents of each cup on your paper. If they are still wet, the colors will blend, but more than likely they will be dry by the time you get to the next color. I personally like to apply one color to all the papers before going to the next color, but you might want to work on one page at a time.


Again, I didn't take time to scan these, but you can see how quickly and flat they dry.

Once again, this is a long winded post and I didn't have time to go back and review it. Feel free to add your color examples to the Linky here, but please wait till next week to add your backgrounds. Have a super week and thanks for playing along on this AB journey.

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