Project of the Week ~ Faux Leather Backgrounds

Karen here and it is my turn to share a Project of the Week at Repeat Impressions‘ blog and mine. I am sharing a favorite background technique called Faux Leather. I found this video on You Tube where the fabulous Sheena taught this technique to make covers for books. I have adapted it for backgrounds on cards and here is a picture of the supplies you will need for this technique.

The supplies are: Glycerin (found at any drugstore or stores with pharmacy), spray bottle, sturdy kraft cardstock (I used Stampin’ Up’s crumbcake), an embossing folder, a distress tool and several shades of Distress Ink (I used Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade as Sheena suggested.) Mix the glycerin and water in the spray bottle one part glycerin to 4 parts water. Spray it on the kraft cardstock piece liberally and massage it into the fibers of the cardstock. Turn it over and repeat several times. Then crinkle the cardstock up, carefully flatten out, spray and repeat. Here are a couple pictures of these steps.

 

 

The next step is optional. You can rub the Vintage Photo ink over the crinkles lightly to add a little more vintage look to the finished background. Then emboss the wet piece with an embossing folder. I have chosen several masculine scenery embossing folders from Tim Holtz for Sizzix for my two cards.

 

Heat set the piece thoroughly with a heat gun. Once it is dry, start sponging with the Vintage Photo distress ink using the distress tool, highlighting the embossed areas, the edges and then the rest of the faux leather piece. After you have the leather like color you want, add in some Spiced Marmalade distress ink to highlight the center of the piece.

It is really amazing how much the completed faux leather background looks and feels like leather. Now all you need to do is add in your favorite stamps and attach to a card base. Here is my finished card with the deer silhouette and “my thoughts” stamps from Repeat Impressions.

I can never stop at just one card when having so much fun with a great technique and Repeat Impressions’ awesome stamps. Here is another card I made with a darker faux leather background and “hello handsome” from Repeat Impressions’ new word stamp series. I also distressed the edges of this faux leather piece before starting for an even more distressed look.

I think these cards would be perfect for any special man in your life. I hope they inspired you to try this fun background technique sometime soon.