Make Your Own Background: Mixed Media Bones Tag

Hello Crafters!

This week’s Simon Says Stamp Monday Challange theme is:

Make your own background

For this challange Simon Says Stamp kindly offers a $25 gift voucher to shop over Simon Says Stamp!
Simon Says Stamp is also on Instagram! If you would like you can also share your projects there, but don’t forget to use the hashtag #sssmchallenge

This week’s theme basically means permission to make a mess before covering half of it back up. Perfect.

For this mixed media skeleton tag, I built the background from scratch and kept it dark, textured and slightly kept on the industrial vibe, with that mix of blue, black and rusty metallic details running through the whole piece.

I started with a stencil and modeling paste to create the raised texture. Once dry, I worked over it with Distress Paint, letting the paint catch differently across the uneven surface rather than trying to get a perfectly flat finish. The more texture definitely the better!

I added Distress Oxide Spray to push the color and variation further, then brought in Distress Metallic Crayons over the texture. Those metallic touches really help reveal the pattern from the stencil, especially against such a dark background.

The stamped skeleton is obviously the main character here. I colored the stamped image with Distress Spray Stain, keeping the same rusty tones from the background, then used the coordinating Simon Says Stamp dies to cut it out.

I really like coordinating dies for projects like this because I can treat a stamped image almost like an embellishment. Here, the skeleton sits over several layers of paper and ephemera instead of disappearing into the background, while the thin white edge gives it just enough separation from all that dark texture.

A few fabric threads, layered pieces and the faintly visible label finished everything off. Quite appropriate considering there is a skeleton involved.

A couple of quick tips: when working metallic crayons over modeling paste, concentrate them on the raised areas instead of covering everything. You only need enough to catch the texture. And with a detailed stamped focal point, keeping some contrast around the die-cut edge helps it survive a busy background.