Torn up, Crumpled, Taken apart...

Ok so a little play on some Cher lyrics adorns todays Blog post - apologies... but it sort of fits.

Every now again we need a background that blends in... one that has texture as we don't the plainness of card staring right at us, but we don't want the attention stealing depth of an embossing folder or a background die. Well.. How about screwed up card...

Before you think I am totally bonkers, I have actually seen a well known brand release an embossing folder to recrate exactly this effect. So to the left, we have a piece of Foundations - Gold Mirror card...

all I have done is literally screw it up in to a ball, flatten it out, screw it up in ball... and repeat... until I have enough cracks and lines to make an interesting background. (We will talk more at the end of the post about FLATTENING them back out so you can pop them on cards once we've looked at a few more options)

Now how about if I said to you... let's play about even more...

Black foundations card... then before flattening... brushed over with Gold Metallic Gilding Polish - Polishes | Craftmaniahttps://www.craftmaniacrafts.com/polishes

Or how about bringing in some inks...

This panel is created with Colour Cloud Blending Inks... then adding polish over the top...

Coconut white with Gold Polish...

Aubergine Dream Ink over Coconut white card - brushed over with Rich Red Gilding Polish..

Or forget the polish.... take a piece of card coloured with a mixture of Airless Misters... The cracks will of course take on more colour to create lovely dark tones..

So we have our very bumpy... polished...inked...misted background and we need to flatten this beast out to pop on a card.. This is soooo easy... Take any of your embossing folders from your stash and the plates required to run through your machine...

Put the crinkled up piece of card - UNDER - your embossing folder and send through the machine. The amount of pressure your machine will apply on an embossing folder to make your card "emboss" is enough pressure to make your card flatten out once again.

I use my - Vassen Creative Cut Em Easy for this all the time - Cut’Em Easy Cutting & Embossing Machine A5 | Craftmania (craftmaniacrafts.com) Feel free to run them through a couple of times if needed TIP - Make sure the panel is bone dry... before flattening, this will stop it from sticking to your plates or losing any of the details. This panel is COMPLETELY flat...

I know... it looks like it is full of texture and depth, because the polish has applied it's own level of shading to the texture... although flat, the illusion is still in place. Here are a few more the panels we've already looked at flattened out...

Does it stop here I hear you ask... ?

Oh no, no, no! Now we have flattened our card... why not pop it in a folder to give it even more depth...

Bringing in polish once again to highlight the new found swirls from the embossing folder. I hope this idea gives you a little Inspiration as we embark on living up to our new Craftmania promise....

Please do make sure you pop your creations using this technique on our Groups/Pages, we would LOVE to see them.... Facebook Group - Create With Craftmania & Jamie Rodgers www.facebook.com/groups/createwithcraftmaniaandjamierodgers Jamie Rodgers Crafts - Jamie Rodgers Crafts | Facebook Jamie -x-