Making a Mess

It's amazing what you can do if you aren't afraid to make a mess. For example...

After a writing deadline, I always go into crafty mode. I've been surfing the web and watching videos for days now. I saw something that sparked a memory about making homemade texture paste. I did a bit more web surfing and basically figured out that making your own involves a thickener and a hardener. After that it's a matter of personal preference. I made mine by squirting white acrylic paint into a small plastic container and adding baking soda until it developed a paste consistency.

Other options include talcom powder, cake flour, baking powder, or cornstarch as you thickener with various combinations of glue and/or acrylic paint as your hardener. Some recipes use water, some don't. It doesn't have to be exact. I went with baking soda because it was handy and I didn't care whether it went on completely smooth. I like the gritty look.

I then smeared it over a stencil I made myself using plastic notebook dividers and my Cricut. This cut is the same as for this card. (Link includes the cutting file for Design Space if you have the USA cartridge from CTMH.) This new Beautiful Friendship paper from Close To My Heart is going to be a hot seller because it's just so stinkin' pretty. So why did I cover it with texture paste? 'Cause my upline is sponsoring a color challenge and this was the paper we were supposed to use along with Canary and Smoothie. (NOTE: I used Sorbet by mistake, but it still worked okay.)

The stencil was too flimsy, so paste smeared underneath. Again...I didn't really care. I wasn't going for pristine and neat. I mean, it's a Mother's Day card. If my mom couldn't find beauty in imperfection and joy in messes, she'd have sent me to live with an aunt before I turned twelve.

My next mess was to custom color White Burlap Ribbon using Sorbet ink. This is easy to do, but take it from me, you'll want to wear gloves. Yeah...

I swiped ink directly onto the ribbon, spritzed it with water, then smushed the ink into the ribbon to even out the color. It didn't give me even coverage, but I didn't care. (For more even coverage, swipe ink directly onto your craft mat, spritz with water, and then run your ribbon through the watered down ink. At least that's my theory on how to get even coverage.)

I blotted up the excess water and then had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. Fortunately, I got a phone call from a friend at this stage of construction. We hadn't talked in a long time so it took a long time to catch up. My ribbon was dry by the time our conversation was over.

The final step was to stamp my sentiment from Short and Sweet (one of my all-time favorite stamp sets) in Sapphire ink and die cut it with the new stitched circles. I adhered the circle directly over the texture paste. Then it was time to glue my layers together, wrap the ribbon around the card front, and adhere everything to the card base.

It was fun to get messy, and I have quite a bit of texture paste left over so you might see this technique again soon.

Until next time,
Becca