Yup! Salty because our Cookie hostess, Donelda, challenged us to create a salt background, then use it on a card. For me, the salt background technique was not a new one. In fact, I think I probably tried it sometime during my first or second year of stamping, after reading a how to by Suze Weinberg in her book, The Art Of Rubber Stamping, but I don't think I've used it since... Anyhoo, sometime during the week it dawned on me that this was not a T-party creation that could be left until the day of the party, so that evening I applied dye inks to glossy stock, misted over them with water, sprinkled on the table salt (wish I'd had kosher), and went to bed so I wouldn't be tempted to mess with the drying process. Note: I actually created three different color combinations... Two with Marvy pads either twisted or streaked onto the stock, and the other using a Kaleidacolor pad and a brayer. I must confess that thinking of completing this challenge sort of made me groan... Not the salt part, but working on glossy cardstock. You see, for the most part, I'm not a 'glossy' fan... I think it's because I have such hit or miss results stamping/embossing foreground images over the background... especially when attempting to use my favorite ink color (black). While other stampers seem to like Staz-On, I've yet to see any results I'd consider 'excellent'. Okay, by now you just want to see my finished project... Well, after ruining my first background trying to stamp it with solid florals in black (told you I didn't like it), I finally decided to try stamping over the second background in Versamark, and embossing in white. This I liked, and made three cards: Card #1 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and WD-155 Prayer Trio. Card #2 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and BV-36 Prov.16:3 Card #3 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and WD-195 Unimportant Day So, what about the third background? Not to be defeated, I returned to black ink, and keeping my Stamp-a-ma-jig in place, stamped the image three times -- first in Brilliance, then in Memento, and finally, a second time in Brilliance, heat-setting between applications, and buffing with a tissue when finished and cool. Inside the card it says "Happy Birthday". Stamps used on this card: SBO-Happy Silhouettes, and WD-183 Great B-day. Oh, the other reason I'm not too fond of 'glossy' is because technically speaking, one is supposed to spray it with a fixative to prevent fading, but I dislike using 'stinky' sprays, so usually pass on that step, then feel sorta guilty. So who else added salt to their tea? Donelda, Dina, Donna, and Giovana... Check out their salty projects by clicking on their names in my sidebar. If you created a salt background card, make sure to leave a comment containing a link to your creation. A little sprinkle here, and a little sprinkle there, Susan T.
