Background Papers

Do you like to do a variety of paper crafts? Many of us like to use premade background papers. What if you could use the materials that you currently have and make your own? I decided to try my hand at making my own background papers. I wanted these to have a soft subtle appearance similar to what an airbrush would achieve however I didn’t own an airbrush. After some trial and error I found that small travel sized spray bottles worked really well and were certainly more economical. I found that the Deco Art transparent colors worked very well; Americana Bright Yellow, Viridian Green, and Primary Blue gave me a nice mix. I then added Glamour Dust Paint to the papers to give them that soft shimmer.


• To mix the paints I added a small puddle of paint to the bottom of each spray bottle and began adding water, testing on a separate piece of paper until I was happy with the resulting paint color.

• Next I wet a 12”X12” piece of white cardstock with clean water that I had beside me in a spray bottle.

• Next I sprayed Bright Yellow onto the wet piece of cardstock. It may be necessary to spray clean water over your yellow paint to get it to move around on the paper.

• I layered Viridian Green over the Bright Yellow, again spraying the mix with clean water to encourage the paint to mix and blend naturally. You will find that some puddles appear depending on the amount of water that you have used, move your cardstock around to encourage the paint to mix and blend always allowing each previous color to show.

• Layer Primary Blue over the green and yellow layers. Apply as much or as little as you prefer. If you find that too many puddles are still on the paper you can gently absorb some of the paint with a paper towel. Dry with a hairdryer.

• Paint Glamour Dust Lemon Drop randomly over the yellow areas, Glamour Dust Limelight over the green, and Glamour Dust Sapphire Blue over the blue areas.

• Allow these to dry completely and iron out the wrinkles making sure to protect your iron with a soft cloth.



Are you interested in using other paint colors, look for the transparent Deco Art Paint colors and experiment with making your own color combinations. These make beautiful background papers for cards, stamping, and altered art. If you are interested in seeing other paint combinations and other techniques visit my website and blog.