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Credit Card Backgrounds

By Becky Lemire
Off-Road Inksters
Intermediate Scramping Team Designer

If your mailbox is like mine, you are getting credit card applications of all sorts all the time.  You probably toss them in the trash automatically, but you should check them out. They transform into a functional painting tool to use in crafting.  A lot of them send a plastic card that is supposed to look like the credit card "you could get."   It works great for spreading inks or paint over cardstock and other surface.  I'll show you what I mean.

Supplies:

•  Snowflakes Rubber Stamp Set (TAC)
•  Flakes Limited Edition Rubber Stamp Set (TAC)
•  Distressed-Bet Rubber Stamp Set (TAC)
•  Jersey Foam Alphabet Stamp Set (Making Memories)
•  Soft Spoken Rubber Stamp Set (TAC)
•  Royal Blue pigment ink pad (unknown)
•  Moonlight White Brilliance Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
•  Versamark Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
•  White Neopaque Acrylic Paint (Jacquard)
•  Pearl Blue Lumiere Paint (Jacquard)
•  Pearl Violet Lumiere Paint (Jacquard)
•  Pearl White Lumiere Paint (Jacquard)
•  Black card stock (TAC); 8 1/2" x 11"
•  Royal Blue Card Stock; 12" x 12"
•  White Vellum (TAC); 8 1/2" x 11"
•  Six White 1/8" Snowflake eyelets (Eyelets, etc.)
•  Silver Metal Snowflake Charm (Making Memories)
•  Wisteria mini brad (All My Memories)
•  Ivory 3/8" satin ribbon; 2 lengths of about 13" each
•  Purple Funky Fringe Yarn (Knitting found at Target); 4 lengths of about 13" each
•  Purple Fuzzy Fur (Knitting found at Target); 4 lengths of about 13" each
•  Eyelet Setter/hole punch (Click It)
•  Plastic Card/fake credit card
•  1” foam brush
•  3" x 3" acrylic block (TAC)
•  Scotch Double Stick Tape (3M)
•  Scotch Tape (3M) 

Instructions:

1.    Drip Pearl Blue Lumiere Paint randomly over the black 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock.  Using the plastic credit card, spread the paint over the cardstock leaving some black showing.  Next, drip Pearl Violet Lumiere Paint randomly over the black cardstock.  Spread paint using the plastic credit card over the black and blue covering more of the black cardstock.  Finally drip some Pearl White paint over this and spread with the plastic credit card.  Just about all of the black cardstock should be covered with some color.  You can repeat this process until you have reached the desired look.  Set aside to dry.

2.    Attach letters to the acrylic block to spell out "snow."  Ink these stamps up with Versamark Ink and stamp randomly over entire 12" x 12" royal blue cardstock. 

3.    Attach different sizes of snowflakes to a large acrylic block.  Ink these stamps with the Moonlight White Brilliance Ink and randomly stamp over the entire piece of white 8 1/2" x 11" vellum.  Set aside to dry. 

4.    Attach the words "hello winter" (from the Soft Spoken stamp set) to an acrylic block.  Ink up the stamps with the blue pigment ink and stamp along the entire length of the two ivory ribbons.  Leave some space between each phrase to stamp a snowflake in the same manner.  Set aside to dry. 

5.    By now, the painted black cardstock should be dry.  Cut two 3" squares from this piece and cut the squares in half diagonally.  Attach these triangles to the four corners of the blue 12" x 12" cardstock, as shown in the photo, using double stick tape.  Stamp snowflakes on these corner pieces using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink.  Cut two more pieces from the remainder of the painted black card stock to 3 1/2" x 5" each.  Cut one last piece from the remaining painted black cardstock to 2" x 3."  Ink up the "W" from the foam alphabet stamp set with white acrylic paint, using a foam brush to apply paint evenly.  Stamp the "W" on the 2" x 3" cardstock that you just cut.  Allow to dry. 

6.    When the vellum is dry, cut one piece to 4 1/2" x 11" and another piece to 2 1/4" x 3 1/4".  Center the two 3 1/2" x 5" pieces of painted cardstock on the large piece of vellum.  Adhere using double stick tape.  Adhere this vellum to the 12" x 12" blue cardstock centered left to right but slightly below center up and down (See Photo).   

7.    Place the stamped ivory satin ribbon on the top and bottom of the page (see photo for placement) and attach to the back of the page using double stick tape.  Wrap the purple fibers around the ribbon loosely and attach to the back of the page using regular tape. 

8.    Attach the "W" piece to the small vellum piece using double stick tape and adhere to the top left of the page over the ribbon and fibers.  Using the Distressed-Bet alphabet stamp and white acrylic paint, stamp out the rest of the title. 

9.    Punch a 1/8" hole in each corner of the large vellum piece and attach a white snowflake eyelet in each hole.  Punch a 1/8" hole in each dot of the letter "i" in the title and attach a snowflake eyelet in each of these holes. 

10.                       Poke a hole in the bottom right (see photo) and attach metal snowflake charm using a purple brad. 

11.                       Adhere photos to the 3 1/2" x 5" pieces of painted cardstock.

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