Smooshed backgrounds...

 I'm not usually one who creates free-form backgrounds for my cards, but I thought I should stretch myself a bit and give the "smooshing" technique a try.

I laser-printed two big sentiments in a dark reddish color onto two cardstock panels. Then I added three colors of distress ink directly to my craft mat before spraying it with a little water to help the colors move.

The three ink colors that I used were Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick and Bundled Sage. After adding the water, I laid my sentiment panels face down into the inks and smooshed them around a little bit to make sure the inks touched all parts of my panels. When that was done, I turned them face up and laid them aside to dry.

I didn't use particularly heavy cardstock--I think it was 110 lb. weight--so it curled and warped as it dried. The panels were easily flattened, though, by running them through my laminator a couple of times.

To finish my card fronts I added a couple of balloons, punched from glitter cardstock and popped up on foam squares. I used some actual thread for the strings. I held the strings in place with a couple of tiny dots of glue.

On the inside I added a sentiment, again printed with my computer. Sorry for the partially blurred photo.

These backgrounds were fun to make, and I think I'll be trying this again with other colors. I see so many pretty color combinations online.

Yesterday was a spectacular day--weatherwise--in the Twin Cities. I washed my car and today I'm going to clean and set out all of the patio furniture--finally! My rhubarb is popping out of the ground, having made its way through the extra soil that was piled on top of it when they installed our new fence last fall. The tulips are beginning to bloom, as well, and I'm looking forward to bringing a few bouquets into the house.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl