Hang on to those mop up paper towels ........

Happy Wednesday .......

How's your week going? ........ flying by just about describes mine!

I've got a fun day today ...... the ladies are coming round shortly for a midweek workshop.  We're going to be working on the calendars again, well we need to get them finished soon.
It's going to be easy watercolouring today, and also creating simple inky backgrounds for all those large sentiment stamps.

Before I dash off to finish getting everything ready, I want to play along with this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge. 

Interesting theme this month ...... Paper Towel??!? 

It's all about recycling those inky paper towels ..... you know, the ones we get when mopping up our craft mats, well ...... don;t throw them away!! 
Loll (Stamping with Loll) is hosting this month's challenge and she's used this technique in the past with amazing results. 
Now you know me ........ I don't like wasting inks or paints, and I do mop up, but it's usually with pieces of card first.  My paper towels don't look that pretty by the time I've finished!  However I did manage to find one that didn't look too bad so, here we go .....

I created the background by spritzing a piece of white card with a little water, I laid my mop up paper towel over the top and then sprizted again with water.  I placed another piece of card over the top, just to avoid getting more ink on my fingers, and then applied a little pressure to help transfer the ink onto the white card.

I did this a couple of times, using different parts of the paper towel and I love the results.  The texture from the paper towel has also come through and looks fab,  and I love the layers.
It's a bit of a surprise what you're going to get using this technique, and no two backgrounds will ever be the same.  What a fun way of using up left over inks!

I stamped over the top using one of the new stamp sets that arrived in the craft room last week ......

and heat embossed the image in gold.

The stamps are from a lovely set called Bloom, by a lady called Tracey Hey.   This is a new range to me.  I've seen the name around Blogland and in magazines so I popped onto the website for a little look.  Oh my! ....... what gorgeous designs, and so cute.  I had to shop, so you will be seeing a few more of Tracey's designs on here.

I added my sentiment, which is from the same stamp set ....... I love the mix of fonts

and I finished off with a few splatters of white paint.

That's ...... Paper Towel (check!)
                  Stamping (check!)
                  My choice ...... heat embossing, or it could be ink splatters (check!)

I'll be looking at my mop up towels a little differently now.

Thanks for popping by ..... have a lovely day.
It's time I checked the work table, they'll be here soon ....... here's a sneak peek at what we'll be doing

Cheerio until next time .........

Products used:
Stamps: Bloom (Tracey Hey)
Inks: Distress Oxides - Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Mowed Lawn; Versamark,
Other: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!), White Acrylic Paint .... and of course a mop up paper towel!