AECP CAS Lesson #5- Luxury backgrounds

As soon as Jennifer started talking about the different types of luxury background papers I knew that I needed to do my favorite luxury background....Yupo paper! I love using alcohol inks on Yupo paper as a background because they are just so unlike other backgrounds that you see, and no two are the same due to the blending process.

I began by cutting an A2 card size panel of Yupo paper. I knew that I would want to cut it down somewhat so that you can see the card base peeking out behind it. Alcohol inks are so stunningly bright that having the background paper makes it stand out even more. I then began adding my alcohol inks to the background (colors listed below), blending them with a can of compressed air (one of my kitties must have put a hole in the hose of my air brush :( That's what I really like to use to get softer lines but with a hole in the hose there was no pressure lol).

I add the colors randomly and blend until I get a background that I like. What I love about this technique is that there are no mistakes. It's whatever you like. The blending solution or simply adding more ink reactivates what you have already on the paper, so the possibilities are literally endless! You can also use isopropyl alcohol too, but I find that this makes the inks a little flatter or duller.

Once I was finished I cut the panel down slightly so that about 1/4" of the white card base would be visible on all sides. I then adhered it with Lawn Fawn precision glue. I like to adhere Yupo paper to the card base with glue since it is a bit of a heavier weight paper I think it hold better with liquid glue.

I knew I wanted to make this a friendship card so I grabbed the great sentiment from the Altenew Leaf Canopy stamp set "Life is better with Friends". I stamped it on white 110 lb. cardstock from Recollections with black onyx Versa Mark ink. I embossed it with fine clear embossing powder from Recollections. Once that was complete, I adhered it to the card with Scotch foam tape to make it pop a bit from the background.

One of the most important things that this entire class has taught me is that it is OK to leave a card simple. I vacillated back and forth about adding ribbon, rhinestones, or sequins. I tried them and I just felt that it really took away from the beauty of the alcohol inked background. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I do have some metallic paper in my craft stash, but I don't have any wood paper like shown in the inspiration section of the lesson. That's on my list to try! Thank you Jennifer for this wonderful class! My family said they can tell the difference in my skills just from this class alone! Now on to lesson #6!

Supplies used:

Yupo paper

Ranger alcohol inks in the following colors:

Pool

Sailboat blue

Mermaid

Botanical

Meadow

Alcohol ink blending solution

Dust-Off compressed air (I think i got this at Sam's club? but it is available at any office supply store or Walmart/Target kind of store).

110 lb. cardstock in white from Recollections

Clear fine embossing powder from Recollections

Lawn Fawndamentals glue tube

Scotch foam tape