Technique: Faux Wood Grain

I posted this on the VC blog I'm a design team member for, but I thought some of you might benefit from it too. I love this technique: it's so fun and easy!

Supplies:

Toothbrush with straight bristles (you can trim them if need be)

Chocolate, Bamboo or Cocoa re-inker

Paper Plate

Bamboo cardstock

Black ink pen

Steps:

1) Cut a piece of bamboo cardstock (or any light color). I actually use a 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 11 and cut it up for multiple projects

2)Squeeze chocolate and/or bamboo re-inkers onto a flat surface (plate) and dip the toothbrush and swipe it across the paper. You may want to blot on side of the plate or a paper towel before swiping on paper, so you don't end up with a big blob.

3) I did all mine with just Chocolate. If you want more shading, you can add Bamboo as well. First swipe the dark color and add swipes of the light color.

I didn't have any pics of this step with browns, but here it is with Blush:

**at this point you have a fun background by itself--I like using this with tone on tone, as in the Easter card here

4) Using a ruler and a black marker, add 1" stripes and then randomly add a horizontal line. Add dots above and below the horizontal line.

Viola! You have faux wood. I love that this technique can be masculine or feminine depending on how you use it.

A couple more cards: