Paper Towel Painting

I wrote this article last month and thought I'd share it here.

Paper towels are not just for wiping up spills and cleaning windows, you can also use them in your art! I love how they are flexible like fabric and still can be torn like paper. They are the perfect blend of these two mediums. I love to use them as a background on my ATC (Artist Trading Cards) or scrapbook pages. For this project, I was inspired by the little girls on some Graphic 45 tags. I found their sweet faces intriguing and wondered about their personalities. I decided to do a few ATCs that shed a little light on the girls' lives. This is a quick and creatively stimulating project. Cut loose and have fun with it!

I apologize for the small size of the pictures!

For this project you will need the following supplies:

Your favorite tags from a Graphic 45 die-cut tag sheet and Jenni Bowlin stickers, a few vintage buttons, a few flowers, paint, glaze, stamps, black or brown StazOn ink, cardstock in any color, text from an old book

Tools: Paintbrush, wet adhesive, sewing machine and thread, black or brown ink pad

1. Conservatively wet your paper towel. It should be barely wet. Spread it out on your work surface.
2. Conservatively dip your brush into your first paint color and “clean” the brush on the wet paper towel. You are basically dry-brushing paint. Do not load up your brush too much. Repeat using all your paint colors. Try not to mix them as this will muddy the colors.

3. Crumple up your paper towel so that the colors can blend.
4. Spread out your paper towel and add more paint if necessary. If you like the look, drip a few drops of glaze on the paper towel. Crumple again.

5. When you like the look, let your paper towel dry. If you are in a hurry, like I usually am, you can use your heat tool.

6. Cut your cardstock into a 2½ x 3 ½ inch rectangle. Cut the images out of your tags.
7. Find words that you would like to use on your ATC. I took one page of text and hunted for words that were interesting. Don’t limit yourself to the sentences on your page, make your own. Ink the edges of your text blocks if you wish.
8. Adhere your dry paper towel to your cardstock using a wet adhesive. I used gel medium, but PVA would work too. Trim off excess.
9. If you desire, sew around the edges of the ATC. Ink the edges
10. Now comes the most fun part! Using StazOn ink, stamp right on the paper towel. Adhere your images, flowers, buttons, and text in a way that is pleasing to you.
11. Take pictures of your finished project and leave me a comment with a link. I'd love to see your creations!