Reused Paper Towel

 

I like to make backgrounds with ink smooshing, sprays, watercolor, Lindy's Magicals, and Brushos.  That means I use a lot of water and use paper towels to blot up puddling on the background in progress plus wipe up the mat.  Sometimes when I am done I think the towel looks pretty cool and that I might want to do something with it some day, so I toss it in a tray.  The Die Cut Divas September theme is "Re-cycle, Re-use, Re-Purpose."  If ever there was a sign to actually do something with one of my paper towels, this is it, so I went through my pile and selected this one.

I brushed matte gel medium on a piece of 110lb. white cardstock and carefully laid the paper towel on it.  I smoothed it a little, but not too much.  I realized too late that the gel reactivated some of the ink making the colors bleed a little. Next time I will use two sided adhesive paper.  Once the paper was dry I moved a 4.25x5.50 inch window around to figure out the parts that appealed to me and cut three full sized card panels and had a little leftover for something else.  Now to pick one and make it into a card.

First I lightly brushed distress ink cubes in Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord across the "wrinkles" which gave it a reversed batik effect.  Then, like I often do, I tried to stamp some script in Hickory Smoke Archival ink randomly along the left edge and discovered that the image didn't transfer well.  I don't know if it was the texture of the paper towel (Viva) or the gel medium.  Oh well, on to the next step.  

I found a new to me challenge, Paper Rocks Scissors, which asks you to use paper and or scissors to create any kind of project.  Paper is a given when you make cards, although I am not sure how many people use inky paper towels, so I focused on using scissors.  If you have never used rub-ons, they come on clear sheets with many images per sheet.  You use scissors to cut around the parts you want on your project, peel off the paper backing, lay the image where you want it, rub with a bone folder, finger nail. or whatever and then carefully peel back the clear sheet.   As you peel, if you see a part that hasn't transferred you can stop, put the plastic back down and rub some more unless you are going for a distressed look.  The flowers and butterfly from Aall & Create were white and faded into the background, so I colored them with a pink Prismacolor pencil to help them pop.  I used a white Prismacolor to tone down some of the darker blue around the flowers.

I used a die from Paper Rose to cut happy birthday three times and stacked them.  Lastly I trimmed the background to 4x5.25, ran an ink pad along the edge and attached it to a card base.  This is a closer look at the texture provided by the paper towel.

I plan to also enter this card in the Addicted to Stamps and More "Make Your Mark,"  Triple B (Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies), and Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes" challenges.  Thank You for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi