Pan Pastel Backgrounds

First and foremost, I hope that your holiday season has been happy and festive. I hope you have made time to craft - after all, it is what keeps most of us sane, right?

This will be the last post on the Design Team blog from me (Pat) in 2016. I will be taking the long New Year Weekend off -- but be ready on January 2nd for our New Release blog hop! 

Today I have a quick tutorial for using Pan Pastels to color a background. While Technique Junkies does NOT sell Pan Pastels, they are pretty easy to find on the Internet or at a Tradeshow.  I don't sell them because they are prone to cracking when sent through the mail...and it would just bother me too much to send out pastels destined to crack.

The first example uses the Greatest Story focal image with the Layered Swirls background. 

This is one of those few-and-far between techniques where it is actually preferable to work with a DIRTY ink pad. My VersaMark pad is very dirty - it actually helps you see the details of the stamp.

First, stamp the image on cardstock. Then load one of the sponges and rub into and around the image.  

 

This looks messy when you are working with it -- that is okay. Note that the pastels appear darker where the VersaMark was stamped, and lighter around the edges.

The pastels may also be added in a more specific manner, as in the Pinecones example below:

Very Happy Holidays to each of you -- I'll see you in the new year!

Pat