Paper decorating!!

I started on a new project last week and decided to use the backs torn off of old commercial cards as a base because they were good heavyweight cardstock.  I picked the largest ones because those  worked best for the final result.
Are you asking yourself what I did with the card fronts?? You can see the cards I have refurbished and donated here and here.

For my project all of these needed to be scored at 2.5" so I used my "new to me" Martha Stewart scoring tool - Thanks Carol.  That was easy!!

For my project both sides of the cardstock needed to be decorated so I decided to use alcohol inks on the glossy ones!  Worked really well!!

 For the matte ones, I decided to create small collages using decorative papers.  I just dug through my stash of papers and picked pieces that seemed to work well together and glued them down.

So that took care of all the backs of these pieces of cardstock.  Now,  on to the fronts!!

Here is my set up for doing the fronts.  I started with this cool looking piece of packaging that I found as I  was going through my "stuff".  I coated the edges of the open weave with gesso to seal it before I started using it as a stamp.  I sponged acrylic paint onto the edges with a foam brush and stamped it on the cardstock.  Repeated 3 or 4 more times until the whole surface was covered, not worrying too much about how well it stamped because it was just going to be texture in the final project.

   Once they were dry I started adding colour using watered down acrylic paints.  Just painted them on pretty willy nilly and covered them with wrinkled plastic wrap to help create interesting patterns. I waited only a few minutes before removing the plastic wrap and discovered that the stamping was resisting the washes better than I expected, so combined with the random pattern of the plastic wrap, some of the backgrounds turned out pretty cool.
I have taken digital photos of all of them so I can use them in my art later on!!

Decorating paper is so much fun!! I love the randomness of it all and it is fun passing the day just mucking with paint and paper.  In this case, it is even better because I started with cardstock that was headed to the recycling bin!!  Now, that is upcycling!!

Therese