Tag: background techniques

Art Inspiration, Mixed Media, Techniques

Tea Dye Play

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I spent the first couple of days this week catching up on some extra chores and did a bit of unpacking & purging today. We still had about 7 boxes from our move we never fully unpacked and we moved 7 years ago. Most were knickknacks that we simply had no where to display, some keepsake items & a few odds & ends. Three boxes are heading to the thrift shop. For the knickknacks, we picked up a display cabinet from Ikea and I’ll be deciding what will fill the shelves soon.

Also over the past couple of days I’ve been tea dying paper. I forgot I was brewing tea the other day, so it ended up quite strong, so instead of pouring it out, I opted to tea dye. I’m really picky about vintage style stuff and tea dye is much softer than coffee dyed. After dying about 20 regular sheets, I pulled out the Color Burst Powders and played with the next dozen sheets.

This is just a small sampling of the papers I created. They will make interesting pages in journals.

I hope you are having a wonderful week but staying cool. I know a lot of the states are experiencing wicked high temps.

Blessings!

Cards, Simon Says Stamp, Techniques

Terrific Tuesday – Spray Backgrounds

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I decided to theme my days of the week for awhile based on different art ideas. Tuesdays will be Terrific Tuesday and will feature different techniques, backgrounds, stenciling, fun card folds etc.

Today I played with Distress Oxide Sprays. I purchased 5 colors a year ago & never took the time to play with them. Spray backgrounds are a fun way to play especially if you feel like your muse took a hike & you wonder when she is coming back. Often just doing something with no set plan in mind is great to get the creativity flowing again.

This is my spray station. I moved it to the classroom table for more room but it is set up on a rolling island all year round in the studio. I have been using this for years. It is simply a science project board cut in half to contain the spray, splatter or whatever creative mess I am working with. Did you know that Walmart sells mini project boards? They are perfect if you are traveling. I get many months out of a board before I replace it & that includes the extra workout it gets when I am teaching classes.

It took me roughly 30 minutes to cut 48 mat size backgrounds, cover the table with freezer paper, set up the board & spray all the backgrounds. Easy peasy & fun. Here are the results:

Now if you know me well, I tend to shy away from working in reds, yellows & oranges a lot. However I do get the bug to play in sunset colors as I call them. So when the Fossilized Amber & Worn Lipstick sprays produced a coral type orange I really liked it. Here is what I created……..

I used Distress Oxide inks with Simon Says Stamp Tumbling Hearts stencil in similar colors over the background. I finished the card with the Simon Says Stamp Heart Smile die set.

I hope this inspires you to play, paint, throw color & have fun.

Enjoy your week!