The humble salad spinner is such a fabulous tool for crafting, you can create some fantastic backgrounds packed full of movement, and the great thing is you can use practically any inky product from your stash! In this masterclass I walk you through some beginner techniques, like simply spinning a Nuvo Shimmer Powder background to give added movement, all the way up to layering different products in multiple layer salad spinner backgrounds.

The great thing is there’s no wrong answer when it comes to these backgrounds, you can adapt any product you have to work, and then you can embellish with any dies/stamps from your stash! And if you don’t like the results from your first background, let it dry, add some more and spin again, even spinning two products at once gives some fabulous effects too, there’s so many ways to experiment so it’s something you can really get your teeth into.

Another great bonus of this background-building technique is that it’s relatively mess free as
all the inky messy stuff is confined to the salad spinner.

I think the only downside is the limitations on the size of card you can use it in, but there’s nothing to stop you layering a smaller background up onto a bigger card, and the smaller backgrounds are perfect for standard A6 and 5½”-square cards.

It’s also a fabulous technique for bulk making cards as you can have an afternoon playing and creating lots of quick backgrounds, then you can raid your stash and discover dies and stamps
you haven’t used in a while to embellish your cards.

Overall I think the salad spinner is a mess-free way to make some really cool mixed media backgrounds and it’s a real scrap buster too – after a fun afternoon or two of experimenting and playing, you’ll have a pile of unique artsy cards to give to loved ones. So grab your salad spinner and have a look through your stash for any inky/painty/gluey products and see what results you can achieve.

Christine's Salad Spinner Video Tutorial

Take a look at this brilliant technique in action!

Create a beginner level spun background with shimmer powder

You will need

• white & black cardstock
• water spritzer
• Solar Flare, Cherry Bomb & Blue Blitz Tonic Studios Nuvo Shimmer Powders
• DYMO Label machine
• salad spinner
• manual die-cutting machine
• sentiment edge die
• accent dies

Add a 10x13cm piece of white cardstock into the spinner basket and spray the panel with water.

Squeeze on piles of Nuvo Shimmer Powder, making sure to use colours that will blend nicely if they overlap.

Put the lid back onto the salad spinner carefully and spin with a smooth motion.

You’ll get a background full of motion, and if you’re not happy with the coverage you can simply add more water and powder and spin again.

Once dry, add a sentiment and embellishments by using dies from your stash. Add the panel to the card front to finish.

Create a layered panel with heat embossing, Distress Oxide Re-inkers & Nuvo Drops

You will need

• white & black cardstock
• Mesmerising Mandala My Favorite Things Background stamp
• VersaMark inkpad
• white Cosmic Shimmer Detail embossing powder
• Squeeze Lemonade, Picked Raspberry & Broken China Ranger tim Holtz Distress Oxide Re-inkers
• DYMO Label machine
• salad spinner
• pipette
• Dandelion Yellow, Pink Carnation & Caribbean Ocean Tonic Studios Nuvo Crystal Drops
• heat tool
• manual die-cutting machine
• sentiment & accent dies

Heat-emboss a design onto a 13cm-square panel of white cardstock and place in your salad spinner basket.

Add drops of Distress Oxide Re-inkers and a little water using a pipette too onto your background. Put the lid on your salad spinner.

Spin your background to give this cool emboss resist result. You could leave your background here for a simple effect or…

...to add a touch of texture and gloss, add large Nuvo Drops on top of your dried background and spin your background again.

The Nuvo Drops will spread out in a different fashion to the re-inkers as they’re thicker, and they’ll also layer on top of the heat embossing.

For even more texture on your finished inked background, why not add a few more Nuvo Drops to stay as drops?

Embellish the panel with a die-cut sentiment and embellishments of your choice – then layer the panel onto the front of a 13.5cm-square card blank.

Make Even More with Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine!

Find tutorials to make even more stunning cards with this technique, as well as a huge range of papercraft projects for creative crafters inside Simply Cards & Papercraft Issue 224.