Autumn and Winter Backgrounds

This post is about some techniques to create a mottled multicolored background.  I started out wanting to create an autumn colored background and ended up with a winter night background.  The autumn leaves were for a Club Scrap challenge.  I had extra card mats so I used them for a winter night background.  Come back tomorrow to see how I used the background to make two cards. 

I wanted to create a neutral autumn background without any distinct lines.  So I used Tim Holtz wrinkle free distress technique. 

• Spots of Distress Paint Antique Linen and Antique Bronze on my craft sheet
• Add Distress Ink from the pad in Fired Brick, Crushed Olive, Wild Honey, and Seedless Preserves
• Sprayed generously with water
• Wipe the ink up with heavy weight mixed media paper

 

I liked the result, but it was lighter than I wanted.  So I repeated the process with only the Distress ink and water.  Then I added embossed leaves using Club Scrap Stamps.

 

From this I created two fall cards with the backgrounds.  The papers are from Club Scrap paper.  The greetings are from the Club Scrap Peacock kit. 

Next, I used extra light panels and a salt technique to make a winter night background.     

• Spray mat with water
• Spray Memory Mist Blue Hawaii
• Add Distress Stains in Brushed Pewter, Seedless Preserves, Evergreen Bough, Faded Jeans, and Dust Concord
• Spray more water
• And Spray Memory Mist Blue Hawaii
• Sprinkle with coarse salt and allow to dry overnight
• When dry remove salt
• Cover the whole mat with clear embossing power to seal

      Below is a detailed view of the background created.
 

Come back tomorrow to see how I used this background for the Operation Write Home World Card Making Day Blog Hop.