Painty backgrounds- the simple way!

Hello!
Lots of people have said to me that they would like to have a go at painty backgrounds for a change from all the ink, but they don't know where to start! (It's at this point that I direct them in the direction of my DVD, obviously!!! he he he...) no seriously, the best way to start is with something that takes seconds but is still very effective. Once you've 'dipped your toe into the water' as it were, you can begin to make things as complicated as you wish!
I thought I'd show you a simple paint background to show you what I mean...

This took minutes, the most time was used in drying between layers! Palest colour first, in this case cream. I simply put a blob on a palette knife and scraped it across the cardstock. Plastic palette knives are about £2 for 5, so a really cheap tool to get hold of! Dry it off with a heat gun, as wet paint on top of wet paint isn't a plan. We're going for layers, not a colour mixing exercise! Tan paint was then scraped across in the same manner, and dried. The pink was applied a bit more sparingly. I used a bamboo skewer to print lines across the other two colours.

And that was it! Of course you could go to town at this point, stamping,printing, stencilling, texture paste-ing etc etc. Simple can be good though sometimes!
I sewed around the distressed edges of the cardstock

Smudged just a bit of paint both on the edges and the stitching, just to take off that stark black effect.
The image is a very old Peddlers Pack stamp, stamped onto French text and cut out. I've adhered it with my hot glue gun, as it gives that little bit of a 3D look, but without having to wait ages for silicone glue to dry...

A chit chat sticker word, and its done. See, told you it wouldn't take ages!!!
I'm joining in with my favourite colour challenge with this piece... why not go check out what everyone else has been up to over at CR84FN , loads of fab projects using the colours of light pink, cream and tan!
Have fun!
Love Trish xx