Shabby chic backgrounds FREE tutorial

I'm really into ephemera at the moment. But there comes a time when you think 'Right, now I really have to do something with all this stuff! So I made some grungy atc backgrounds, which I hope you will like.

OK. So this is what you need to make shabby chic backgrounds like those pictured...

1 large sheet of watercolour paper

Glue / seal ( I used Royal Coat Decoupage glue but Modge Pot is similar)

Old ephemera ( letters, envelopes, tickets, invoices, receipts, book pages - try flea markets, e bay your attic or antique sales for supplies)

Brush for glue and paint

White gesso

Twinkling H2o's

Scissors.

1. Tear you ephemera up. Yeah I know it's painful, but to create you have to destroy! You want pieces roughly 3x2" all shapes.

2. Take your paper and start gluing down the assorted pieces so no white background shows, overlapping randomly if you want to. Mix the pieces up so you get a good assortment on the page. Make sure all the edges are sealed down (better than I did!).

3. Now take your gesso and a stiff dry brush and put a covering of gesso over the page. It will mute the colours and give a key to anything else you may want to add later. It gives a lovely distressed shabby chic look. If you want, you can add a touch of acryllic paint in a neutral colour but I have used plain white. Don't make it too thick, you want a veil effect.

4. That dries really quickly so now you can add a wash of twinkling H20's - here I used 2 shades but feel free to add more if you wish.

5. You're nearly done. All you have to do is cut to 2.5 x 3.5 inch size. Watercolour paper is firm enough for a good atc base but soft enough to cut with scissors. I use wallpaper scissors for quickness.

You can use rubber stamps over the top, ink the edges, use more wash in other colours if you want, collage on top..whatever, whatever. (P.S. I went on to use a wash of strong coffee around the edges of mine so they looked even older and more finished.)

Et voila! These are just a a great base for whatever else you want to do. These took maybe 20 mins from start to finish. It's fun too - child's play! Now you have a supply of chic handmade background cards to work on your vintage themed cards.

Here's what I used some of them for - a swap themed on vintage corsets...