When it’s mealtime, most people are willing to doctor a dish, adding croutons and cheese bits to a purchased salad mix or pressing chocolate chips into the tops of slice and bake cookies. And whether it’s a regular thing or only on special occasions, we all cook from scratch, too.
When it’s studio time, most people are less willing to alter something they buy. A bit of sanding at the edges of chipboard shapes or some ink sponged at the corners of paper for an aged effect is as far as many will go. With hundreds of fabulous background papers to tempt us, it’s little wonder. When store-bought equals endless options, why venture from the obvious path, why bother starting from scratch?
Why not? Why not create your own background papers, starting with a piece of solid color cardstock? Why not alter a piece of patterned paper you couldn’t resist, but that has languished in limbo?
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Creating your own background papers is fun and easy and can take as much or as little time as you want to devote. It can be as simple as sponging paint across the surface of a patterned paper or applying ink directly from the pad. Or it might involve carefully positioned die cut shapes, machine stitching, and an hour spent gluing gems in position one at a time.
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Here is a list of two dozen ideas to get you started plus some “Before & After” background papers to illustrate a few of the possibilities. Remember: It doesn’t matter whether you start with solid color cardstock or patterned paper. The trick is to experiment, risk failure, play and have fun! The paper you like least when it’s partway done could end up as your absolute favorite if you change directions. Don’t forget that you can always make bookmarks or gift tags out of the rejects, cut the duds into small pieces and use them for mosaics; incorporate the best sections into greeting cards. Call a failure a learning experience, decide what you want to do differently next time and toss out what you’d rather not spend time trying to rescue.
1. Match your colors to a photo ahead of time or don’t worry about how or when you’ll use the papers. Make a batch and decide later.
2. Apply ink or paint with a sponge or wide brush.
3. Wrinkle and crumple the sheet; flatten it before applying ink or spray paint.
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4. Tear pieces of newsprint paper and use them to mask (cover) some areas before applying ink or paint.
5. Use a stencil and stencil paste to add dimension.
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6. Emboss cardstock or paper; layer the embossed pieces onto the sheet.
7. Rubber stamp a random repeat pattern (random is faster than carefully positioning the images or pattern).
8. Alter the corners only.
9. Create a frame with your additions.
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10. Glue torn or cut paper pieces to create an abstract collage.
11. Glue die cut shapes, randomly or in a pattern (rows, a circle, as a checkerboard).
12. Use the sewing machine without thread to create pierced patterns.
13. Use the sewing machine with thread to sew decorative stitches, lines, swirls, or words.
14. Glue or sew on low-relief elements like lace, punchinella ribbon (sequin Mylar with holes), skeleton leaves, tickets, cancelled stamps, or other memorabilia.
15. Use the computer to scan and alter a collage.
16. Create a background in the computer.
17. Start with scraps you were planning to toss.
18. Incorporate punched or die cut shapes.
19. Swap scraps with a friend and use what you receive to create a background sheet.
20. Working in a group of 4-6 people, pass sheets from person to person, each person adding at least one thing till the sheets have gone to everyone.
21. Cut the sheets into pieces and make swatch books so everyone has a piece of all of the papers. 22. If you do something you like but might not remember, keep swatches and make notes.
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23. Try a technique you’ve read about or that a friend has described.
24. Add low-relief elements like lace, ribbon, stickers.
To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.
