{Spotlight Project} Maria Ghosts a Distress Marker Watercolor Background

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I've another project for you using Sketchy Alphabet today. What I love about this set is that it allows you to personalize your cards. That is actually how I got into this whole cardmaking thang... I'd incorporate a photo of the recipient into my design... something I learned from my Dad years ago... but I digress. So you can personalize your projects with names. Or foreign words. Or ages :)

Meet my personalized birthday card.

But today I actually want to share the ghosted background as I promised back in this post.

STEP 1

Gathered my supplies - cardstock, Distress Markers, a water bottle, paper towel and the Leaf Prints stencil - and forgot to take a photo!

STEP 2

Scribbled patches of Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass...

STEP 3

... and Shabby Shutters onto the cardstock, making sure to overlap the colors a bit.

STEP 4

Spritzed the piece with a decent amount of water.

STEP 5

Dried it with my heat gun. BTW, I used regular cardstock. I believe those darker spots of color were the result of the markers pilling the cardstock a bit.

STEP 6

Next step was the ghosting. I taped the Leaf Prints stencil down over the panel.

STEP 7

Sprayed a decent amount of water onto it.

STEP 8

After about 20 seconds I rolled my "loo roll" (commonly called a roll of toilet paper) over it to pick up the wet areas through the stencil. You can see how a bit of the color gets pulled up thanks to the way Distress Markers (and inks) react with water...

STEP 9

... leaving "ghost" prints of the leaves on the background!

I finished my card off with a design I often resort to when working with an artsy background - heat embossing on vellum. I even colored the inside of the Sketchy Alphabet letters on the reverse of the vellum, using the two blue markers. I attached the vellum with a strip of washi, but added some Matte Medium to the tape to be sure the vellum stays on.

BTW, if you'd like to see lotsa messy backgrounds and ghosting and kitchen rolls, check out this video. I could watch this woman for hours!

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Why not give ghosting a try and hook your project up at our Spotlight Project Showcase for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate (random drawing) OR your choice of 5x7 stamp set + a Spotlight Project guest designer spot (randomly drawn from the Top 3 picks).

Tschüss,
Maria

Products Maria used in today's project:

  

Sketchy Alphabet | Leaf Prints stencil