Here is a great How to article from a past DT:
Create Your Own Background Paper
By Dorrie Saya
Want to personalize a layout? Need to match a certain color or mood for a favorite photo? Try creating your own patterned paper! Whether you paint, stamp, tear, trace or rub….you’ll get great results that really suit your needs! Here are some great ideas that I’ve gathered from various websites and magazine articles. Have fun!
1. Texture rubbings: lay cardstock over a textured surface. Rub completely with colored pencils, picking up the textured design
2. Use a wire paint-remover brush or sandpaper to create subtle, textured stripes or plaids. This works especially well with double-sided cardstock or cardstock with a white core. ( I love to so this with Chatterbox paper!)
3. Use your scraps! Cut or tear strips of leftover cardstock. Adhere to a full sheet of cardstock to create stripes. Try punching leftover cardstock into circles to design a polka-dot background. Don’t be scared to mix and match colors and manufacturers!
4. Make a striped background using ribbon. Attach ribbon in rows across a piece of cardstock, filling the entire page.
5. Scan a group of objects such as candy, blocks, game pieces, leaves, or twigs. Print the scan on a full sheet, or print several times and “tile” the scans onto a piece of cardstock. Also try using artwork, fabrics and clothing for backgrounds.
6. Stamp designs on background paper using bleach in place of ink.
7. Apply acrylic or watercolor paints to cardstock to create interesting patterns. Paints can be applied to paper in a variety of techniques:
- sponge on with a sea sponge, bath scrunchie, or art sponge
- dab on with wadded foil, plastic wrap, paper or a ball of yarn
- drizzle on directly from the paint container
- splatter on with a toothbrush
- make plaids and stripes with an inexpensive sponge paintbrush
- brush bubble wrap with paint, then lay on cardstock to create a dot pattern
- dip the end of an empty paper towel roll into paint, then print on background making circles
- use a wide paintbrush to whitewash a dark colored cardstock
- print with everyday objects such as keys, shaped erasers, dominoes, or coins dipped in paint
- drizzle paint on the surface of a tub of water. Lay paper on top of paint for a marbled effect.
8. Paint designs on background paper with a concentrated solution of instant coffee, tea, unsweetened KoolAid, or walnut ink. Solutions may also be poured into a spray-bottle and spritzed onto background cardstock for a splattered effect.
9. Ask a child to help you create interesting backgrounds by making footprints, handprints, or fingerprints with ink or paint. Allow a child to write their name repeatedly or create simple artwork on the background paper.
10. Cover a piece of cardstock with a thin layer of Modeling Paste. While the paste is still wet, create designs with a stylus, comb, or stamps. Paint or apply rub-ons after paste dries completely.
11. Use rubber stamps to randomly stamp designs on background cardstock with dye-based inks, Versamark ink, bleach, walnut ink, paints, or markers.
12. You can easily add interest to patterned background paper by printing your own themed text over the paper.
Copy text into your favorite word processing program. Copy additional blocks of the same text, over and over again until the whole page is full. Change the font of the entire block to a free-flowing script, or any other font that seems to fit your chosen theme. Print your text page directly on the patterned paper. Tip: Change the margins on your document to be as small as you can for your printer so that the text will fill as much of the page as possible. Also, you may want to “full justify” your text so that it evenly fills the page.
Here is a sample of paper I made using a Heidi Swap Mask, some paint and cardstock.
First, I placed the mask on the cardstock and used paint to create the flower effect on the paper.
Next, I used a paint brush and yellow paint and filled in the white space left by the mask.
And, just as simple as that, there is your own hand made piece of PP.
**You can use this as your background paper or do what Dorrie did here:
To complete my layout, I used Technique Tuesday tiles and traced it on the pp. I then cut, glued and sanded the edges and completed the layout below.
You can also visit the Resource section and view my article on this as well: Resources
Have Fun!
~Tara~
