Sunday, October 12, 2014

Burning Paper Bags! FIRE!

So there I was. Burning bits of paper bags in my basement. No, I'm not crazy, I just had an idea and had to try it. Do you ever have something in your crafting room that has been sitting there for years without being used? For me, it was a stack of brown paper bags that I promised myself over and over again I would do something with. 

Today was the day. 

The challenge over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge blog is "vintage". Those paper bags seemed like the perfect medium to create a vintage feel. I didn't start with fire, actually, I started by scraping some crackling embossing paste over a paper bag and letting it air dry. Once dry, I sponged it with some Weathered Wood Distress Inks to create a background sheet. 




Honestly, I think this would make a great effect for a Halloween card... Maybe next week? It's perfect for this card, though, because it gives it that vintagey peeling paint effect.

I decided to play along in the Fusion Hardwood Floral Challenge, because they had a great inspirational image this week and in Create Something Crafty's One Card, One Stamp Set challenge.
Luckily, I have STAMPlorations's Bloom Sketches stamp set, which matches the Fusion image perfectly!



I was really inspired by the daisies on Deepti's card. She created this GORGEOUS watercolor effect. Go check it out! To try to achieve similar results, I embossed some of the daisies in an opaque white powder on a piece of paper bag. 


 Then I painted them with Twinkling H20s. The finished daisies were really lovely because the paper bag peeked through and created a more delicate almost petal-like effect. I also created another panel by embossing some of the other flowers from the same stamp set and painting them with blue H20s. 


To create a more vintage feel, I brought on the fire! I burned one edge of the panel (and set off the fire alarm - woops!). I Xacto knifed some places for the daisy to stick into the blue flowers and then I put it all together with some twine and ribbon. 


I can say that this was definitely a process and I didn't know if it would all come together in the end but it finally did! And I used those stinkin' brown bags in three different, but equally gorgeous ways!

I'm also going to enter this into the STAMPlorations Anything Goes never-ending challenge. STAMPlorations has some great challenges where you can use any kind of stamps that you want, but this particular challenge is for the crafters who want to ink up STAMPlorations stamps. For every 50 entries they get, they will be giving away free prizes.

Your comments make me smile throughout my day, so don't be shy! Drop me a line so I can visit you, too!

24 comments:

  1. Wow! This turned out really cool! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  2. What an interesting, fun post! I love your card! I'm waiting on those stamps with anticipation! BTW, if you do the watercolour on vellum, I forgot to mention it was the thick vellum :)

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  3. What an amazing technique! Love how it turned out! The daisy stamps are beautiful and I like how you coloured them!

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  4. Oh, my word! This turned out amazing! I tried soot stamping once and nearly caught myself on fire so I decided for me that me and fire for crafting should never happen. Your card and the burning effect truly looks amazing!

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  5. Woooow love your burning effect Becca...I think you show many lovely technique on your post..must try this too..it looks really vintage and I luv this...another funtastic card dear Becca....

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  6. Oh my goodness Becca. Your paper bag background is completely awesome. I got given these HUGE sheets of kraft paper so will have to try something like this. The daises look stunning on the paper bag kraft.

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  7. Really incredible creation! Beautiful technique, wonderful BG and vintage feel on this card, love how you used flower stamp on paper bag with fire alarm;)Lol

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  8. OMG Becca, this is amazing!!! I have some brown packing paper (Thanks Amazon for the half-roll of it, lol) and I want to try this! I might do the burny bit outside though ;) My smoke detector goes off for EP sometimes! I love the translucent effect with the petals!

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  9. This is a great effect. You give so many ideas in how to use paste. Love the idea

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  10. WOW! This turned out VERY cool!! I love that...must try to do some burning now!! LOL!! ;) Thanks for sharing!

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  11. This came out so cool!! I am not sure about burning paper bags in the basement though. Knowing me, I would start a real fire!! You rock at the cool techniques!!

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  12. Great card! Your technique turned out really pretty. I was hoping you didn't start a real fire! I have set off the smoke alarm...
    but it's usually with my cooking...LOL!

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  13. What fun this must have been to create! I love the delicate look with the subtle coloring on the flowers

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  14. Becca, your distress is to die over, seriously the right touch of all the little nuances of blues and blue grey, with the beige and the sands, lovely embossing!!

    Thanks so much for sharing, FUSION in a fave challenge of mine, and I love seeing others so inspired to join in as well!!! -- Thanks for joining us -Kimberly Wiener (FUSION DT).

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  15. Another beautiful entry at CSSC, a perfect mixed media card too. Thanks foe for joining us at CSSC.

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  16. Oh my !! Becca what a master piece :) I love depth oh details n perfection u achieved, also the texture is incredible. Thank you for sharing with MMCC

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  17. Becca, this is gorgeous, fabulous effects! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Have a great week! x

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  18. What great experimenting you did Becca! and the result is a gorgeous mixed media card! love the look of the burned edge, your lacey looking flowers and the kraft bag background! thanks so much for joining us in the Fusion Challenge!

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  19. This is beautiful!! Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us this week at MMCC :-)

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  20. Well, you blew me away with this one, Becca! Boy are you brave--Amazing project!

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  21. haha, clever blog name! Lovely flowers too! Thank you so much for joining us at Fusion!

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  22. Wow! What a gorgeous card! Love the beautiful paper bag flowers! What a fantastic technique!

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  23. Becca, I think your middle name is "Creative" because every time I come visit your blog, you've got something really creative to share! And yes, I have TONS of crafting stuff/supplies just sitting in storage. I don't want to throw them away but then again, I can't use them fast enough! Wonderful card and use of those paper bags! So happy to see you share this lovely over at MMCC and STAMPlorations! Hugs!

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