Background

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Brown Paper Bag Backgrounds

For the monthly challenge at Oriental Stamp Art, we are to create a project using painted brown paper bags. I thought this was a terrific time to pull out some unused items and also meet the challenge over at Lets Play. AND, also the challenge at Creative Carte Blanche.

First I painted the brown bag with white gesso and for one section, I took a baby wipe and removed a lot of the gesso.  (gesso provides a great surface for other colors).  Then I pulled out my Gelatos and added three main colors and on the other section omitted the pink shade and used Lumiere Paints.  On the green section, I also used some Brushos in blue, yellow and orange.  When dry I used a stencil by Ryan Design to add the gingko leaves using a Delusions spray.  I crinkled up the paper when dry because I wanted more texture, adding silver and gold sprays by Lindy's Stamp Gang.  I turned both of these pieces into cards.

1) For the green section I tore the brown bag away from it and edged it with a brown distress ink pad, and with a sponge added some brown ink to the  high spots on the card.  Then I added a brown ribbon and the Happy Birthday Chinese chop and mounted the finished card to a light green followed by a white card.

2)  For the second card, I trimmed it and mounted it on a blue card and then white, adding a ribbon and fan element along with a Thank You in a Japanese kanji.

 
This was a really fun project and I plan to make more backgrounds for my art journal.

11 comments:

bobbie said...

Beautiful!!!

Valerie-Jael said...

Love how you made your art, thanks for the explanations. Your cards are absolutely beautiful. Hugs, Valerie

Janis said...

I saw you over at A Colorful Journey. Wonderful idea for backgrounds and fabulous results. Thank you for the inspiration!!!
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

WOW. I'm so impressed by these .. they look like fun to make and are stunning when finished. I'll have to try this process when I get settled. Love both your cards - however, the 'uneven' one has so much character for me and the brown ribbon just sets the whole thing off. hugs, Donna

Plush Possum Studio said...

VERY nice effect! They seem to shimmer while just sitting there.

Susan said...

Love these brown paper bag backgrounds! What a wonderful technique - your cards are beautiful! Thanks so much for joining us at Creative Carte Blanche. I look forward to seeing more of your wonderful work in the future!

Annette Green said...

Wow, these are beautiful. What a great idea for backgrounds. You've inspired me! Thanks for joining in the Creative Carte Blanche challenge. Well done!

Cheryl Grigsby said...

So cool! Lots of possibilities for this technique, thanks for sharing it on Creative Carte Blanche!

Candy C said...

Hi Carolyn! Thanks so much for joining us at Creative Carte Blanche and sharing your lovely cards with us! Amazing what you can do with a brown paper bag as the beginning, isn't it? I love your choice of colorrs and you've done a lot of layering with various mediums. It's all paid off as your backgrounds are beautiful! <3

Yvonne said...

Hi Carolyn! Now isn't this just the coolest! Love this idea! You created some gorgeous backgrounds using brown paper bags...it's so amazing how things can be transformed! Love the colors you worked with as well! Very fun! Thanks for sharing and joining in with us at Creative Carte Blanche!

Linda Ledbetter said...

Carolyn, it's wonderful to see you, my artistic friend! These are stunningly beautiful. I love the organic feel of these pieces, and the gorgeous shimmer from the Lumiere paints. Really fantastic, and I'm so glad you shared them with us at Creative Carte Blanche!

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