TJF: Finish It

- March 09, 2024

Welcome, this week at TFJ Inspiration Ave we are creating to the theme of “finish it”. It is that time of year when spring cleaning is starting. I have been super busy in the craft studio cleaning up and sorting. While putting things away I have noticed that I have a giant stack of backgrounds. The plan is to finish some of them and turn them into completed cards.

If you would like to see a full process video click here.

For supplies I recommend first, use what you have. Pick some of your favourite TH stencils and grab a box of random embellishments. The supplies I used to complete these backgrounds are as follows.

Used: collage medium, Tim Holtz Ranger texture paste mat, crackle paint, crackle paste mat, and Ranger pallet knife, Idea-ology ephemera, decorative washi tape, ATG tape roller, card bases, and glass media mat, Sizzix bunny hop from the vault, distress glazes squeezed lemonade, mermaid lagoon, peacock feathers, scorched timber, carved pumpkin, aged mahogany, and twisted citron.

As crafters we tend to save things thinking ‘oh this might be great on a project’ but when this happens we tend to end up with a giant basket of pieces and or backgrounds. Below is my basket of saved backgrounds. To start I picked about 10 different backgrounds that I thought I could transform into something new.

Next I went through my stash of stencils and selected ones that I could pair with different backgrounds and add texture pastes through. I ended up with three different piles: distress mat texture paste, crackle paint, and crackle paste.

For some backgrounds I stenciled and then added distress glazes over the top. To add the glazes I used the Tim Holtz finger painting with glazes technique. This is where you grab a pinch of glaze and twist and sprinkle it over a wet medium such as crackle paint. I then tapped any excess glaze off and into a trash bin. The distress paint with the glaze took about 25min to dry. After the paint was dry I embossed with the Sizzix embossing gun to transform the glaze into glossy accents. The colors I used on this background include scorched timber, salvaged patina, and mermaid lagoon.

I also used the same technique with distress mat texture paste and glazes.

Below are the results with the added glaze before embossing. Here I used squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, and aged mahogany.

Below is one last background with texture paste mat and distress glazes. I absolutely love the senecio THS162 thorned and had to include it in these backgrounds. For glazes I used twisted citron, peacock feathers, squeezed lemonade, and scorched timber.

On the background I mat texture paste and silver embossing powder.

On this background I used the stencil ringer paired with mat texture paste.

To add some color to this background I spritzed with distress spray stains picked raspberry, mustard seed, and mermaid lagoon. This then gave me the perfect mix of grunge and rainbows.

After altering many backgrounds I then chose these three below to turn into cards. Next I pulled out a bin of random die cuts and a bin of Idea-ology ephemera. This is my favourite part. Here I started playing and trying different combinations of parts and pieces to start putting together cards.