Techniques Tried - Authentic Woodgrain

Woodgrain paper might be one of the more interesting papers in my stash of goodness.  Tim Holtz knew what he was doing when he brought this to market.  I've used it for any number of Christmas card projects, and my go-to look was as a white-on-white kind of background, but then I watched  Tim Holtz's video Demo:  Distress Paint.  Magic was sparked.

The idea for this card actually started with the bee I'd cut and pieced together.  The yellow wings and body were cut from a background in my stash.  I often make backgrounds for use later in projects like this.  I had visions of putting this bee on wood as if it had landed on an old fence or barn.  The idea grew from there with the decision to make a set of cards using all of the bugs in the die set.

While I don't yet own any sprays I was able to create beautiful woodgrain with my Distress Inks & Distress Oxides to build my wood color.  I used a combination of blending tools and ink pads direct to paper to achieve the color and depth I wanted.  

Not having any white Distress Paint didn't stop me.  I pulled some white craft paint from my gel print supplies and applied a light layer with a brayer over my inked panel.  Not happy with the starkness of the white, I pulled Weathered Wood from my Distress Oxides and lightly rubbed the pad over top.  

No two of the panels were identical, but they were the perfect backgrounds for my little bugs.  To complete each panel, I reached for my Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangles and die-cut them.

I completed the card with a simple sentiment on a small banner die.  I wanted the bug on each card to take center stage and be the focal point of the card.