Easy Peasy Colourful Backgrounds, Using Dye Based Inkpads
by Lorri Lennox
You will need:
Dye based inkpads – Various colours. (Tim Holtz Distress ink pads work great for this technique)
Background ATC bases, preferably white coloured.
Non-stick craft mat. (or using a 12×12 inch plastic bag will work for this too!)
Water spray mister bottle (filled with water)
Instructions:
Begin by choosing 3 colours of inkpads that you want for your background.
Clean your non-stick craft mat prior to working.
Take the first inkpad of the lightest colour and dab it two or three times, onto your non-stick craft mat keeping the ink within an area of about 5inches. (I will usually ink up the left corner, the centre and the bottom right corner within the area)
Take the second next lightest colour inkpad and again dab it onto your non-stick craft mat, (I will now ink up the top right corner, and bottom left corners) trying to avoid the previous coloured ink patches, in order to avoid cross colour ink contamination (I admit, I’m not terribly fussy about doing this, as I will remove any ink contamination with my baby wipes until the normal inkpad colour is returned)
Take the third darkest colour inkpad and fill in any gaps (I will usually dab this pad 4 times.. Once in the top centre, in between the top corners, centre left side, centre right side, and in between the bottom corners)
Now take your spritz bottle and generously spray all over the ink, you will see the inks beginning to run together.
Take your ATC base card, or Cardstock for cardmaking etc – and press it down firmly onto the inky patch, then lift it straight up, and set it aside to dry.
Do not move it around, or it can smear and look murky – but experiment as sometimes this can be the look you want to create.
Soak up any excess ink with another ATC Base.
Clean your non-stick craft mat with your baby wipes.
TIP: I will often press a blank journal page down onto the ink, as a starter for a journal page.
Here’s some ATC Bases I inked up after adhering torn paper strips to the base cards, and some torn paper strips were inked up separately and then adhered to the cards.
Here’s some more ATC’s using the inked up technique as a background, this time I used only two coloured inkpads J
I hope you enjoyed my quick and easy tutorial, for more inspiration please visit me:
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