TUTORIAL - CREATING BACKGROUNDS

By: Gayle Page-Robak, Mixed Media & Digital Artist
For: Gingersnap Creations on behalf of the Altered Pages Design Team

I have elected to present a fun and relatively simple background. This "CITRASOLV BACKGROUND" requires relatively few supplies and can be very addictive.

Items required:
CITRASOLV (cleaner and degreaser);
Small spray bottle;
Sheet of plastic to protect your work space area;
White Paper Towels;
Cotton Balls & cosmetic rounds (optional);
Glossy magazine or book pages (my preference-National Geographic Magazines).

1. Select and tear out glossy magazine/book pages of your choice, taking into consideration the colors you would like to work with.
ORIGINAL GLOSSY PAGE:

2. Lay your plastic sheet over your work area to protect the work surface.
3. Place some paper towelling over the plastic. This will absorb any liquid over-sprays.
4. Place your page selection on the paper towel.
5. Pour some of the CITRASOLV solution into the small spray bottle.
6. Spray the entire surface of your glossy page.
7. Let this sit for a few seconds while you "wad" up a piece of paper towel.
8. With this wad of paper towel in your hand, begin to gently manipulate the Citrasolv-covered glossy page until you have achieved an altered page to your liking. If you so choose, you can also add droplets of the Citrasolv solution to your page for effect.
9. Let your altered page dry naturally. It doesn't take long since the paper is not thick.

COMPLETED ALTERED BACKGROUND:

10. Cut to desired size for your paper arts project. Great for card backgrounds, covering box art projects, etc.
I have added a number of completed altered Citrasolv backgrounds here so you can see a variety of backgrounds you can use in your paper arts.

This is a card I have created with my sample Citrasolv background paper. I selected an image from a collage sheet I created for ALTERED PAGES entitled "LesChapeau AP#1943". I have digitally created my art piece but it is as easily created manually as a paper arts piece. I would suggest you adhere your newly created background piece to a piece of cardstock. This will provide stability before you add it to your actual card base. Cut out your image, backed by another piece of cardstock which will give it a narrow frame, and affix it to your Citrasolv Background. Embellish and Enjoy! Hugs, Gayle