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Pam C. asked for a little tutorial on how I do my backgrounds, so I took a bunch of pics when I did them this time. There are lots of pics and I'll try to explain in detail how I do them. There are a few tricks that help keep you from getting the dreaded mud. The first set will be with regular Distress Inks on watercolor paper. I like to use watercolor paper because the ink flows well, but you can use any good quality card stock.

1. The Supplies--nonstick craft sheet, variety of distress inks, watercolor paper, water spritzer

2. stamp each ink on the craft sheet with a little bit of space in between each square. Then spritz with water, do not saturate, 2 or 3 spritzes around should give you little beads in the ink squares.

3. Swipe the watercolor paper through the ink ONCE! Do not be tempted to do it again, if you end up with white space, that's ok.

4. This is what it looks like after the swipe.

5. This step is very important-- let the wc paper dry, either air or use a heat gun, but it needs to be thoroughly dry to set the ink.

6. Go back to your craft sheet and tap the paper into the beads of ink a couple of times. Then dry again.

7. You can go back and tap again and dry again as many times as you want, just remember to dry in between.

8. If you'd like a second generation and there's enough ink you can swipe another piece of wc paper and start the whole process again, otherwise wipe up the ink with a towel and start from the beginning if you're making more backgrounds. You can see that the second generation will be quite a bit lighter than the first generation.

9. Finished

Next will be a Distress Oxide ink background.

1. Supplies--nonstick craft sheet, variety of distress oxide inks, black (or very dark) cardstock, water spritzer

2. stamp each ink pad on the craft sheet with some space between and spritz 2 or 3 times with water

3. swipe the cardstock through the ink just ONCE.

4. It should look like wet chalk after the swipe. Thoroughly dry the card stock

5. Go back to the craft sheet and tap into the ink, then dry again. Repeat this step until you are happy with the look.

This will be a much more subtle background than the regular distress ink, but you can now stamp something and use embossing powder to make it pop. Really looks nice with metallic embossing powder.

Sorry, about the blurry photo. I'll try to get a better one and replace later.

Thanks, Rachelle, I think the letting it dry between steps is what I've missed all these years.

Yes, allowing it to dry between layers is crucial. I'm always so impatient and my backgrounds suffer.

Thanks so much Rachelle!

Great tutorials. And your backgrounds are definitely turning out great! I've never tried this technique, but I'm pretty sure that I'd suffer from the lack of drying in between layers too.

I do not swipe it right or dry
it always looks muddy

So glad to know that I'm not the only person who wasn't drying between swipes. Now I know why my backgrounds never looked like Tim's. (Never mind the fact that I don't have his talent.)

Super tutorial Rachelle. Thanks for all the time you put into this and sharing it.

One of the things that really stuck with me from the Creative Chemistry classes is that Distress ink when wet reacts with water and other distress inks. Therefore if you want it to stay true to color you must dry it to set it. Then you can put another layer over it and the two will show through each other, but not combine to make mud.

I tried it yesterday and there were definitely better results. I have to combine Distress and Oxide to get the colors I wanted. I'll try some more on some tags that need some color.

I love working with the oxides. I think they have a beautiful effect. I've also added some distress on top for more depth. Was hesitant to try them but sure glad I did.
Thanks for sharing, Rachelle.

Thanks for the great tutorial Rachelle! I hope to try this soon.