Bubble Backgrounds by Bibi


Hi everyone! It's Bibi the Boss here (owner of Rubber Dance). Thank you for stopping by on this very fine day (pouring rain here in the south of Norway right now ..., so it's a good day to stay indoors to play & create!)

Have you seen all those cool soap bubble backgrounds people make these days? I don't think it's a new technique but it seems to be quite popular right now. I thought it looked really fun to do, and I was right - so much fun it's hard to stop!

To do this, you need mixing bowls, water, some soap, liquid ink, drinking straws, light coloured paper, cardstock or tags ...

Mix water with some liquid dish washing soap - not too much, just enough to create the bubbles ....
The less water you put in your bowl, the less ink you need to add. I tried mixing my soapy water with Brusho pigments and it worked quite well, but I achieved better results with a few drops of Distress reinkers (other brands might work just as well). Now, just blow into a drinking straw to make bubbles, and you're ready to go!


Here's a photo from my soap bubble lab:



You can scoop some bubbles (or foam like here) out of the bowl and leave it on your paper ...


The result might look like this - 
Bubbles to the left, foam to the right:



Or you can simply dip your paper/tag into the bubbles like this,
which turned out to work better for the results I wanted:

double dipping is allowed ... ;-)



Tip: If you leave your bowls out overnight, some water might evaporate. Just add more water - not more soap or ink, mix well and they're good as new.

I tried different kinds of paper - regular envelopes, two kinds of watercolor paper, regular tags and coated tags. The envelopes worked well, but since the paper is rather thin and absorbent, I had to be careful not to add too many bubbles at once or the envelopes would curl in all sorts of directions ..
The coated tags didn't soak up a lot of colour, so those ended up being rather pale...but perhaps that's the look you want on yours. I ended up using regular tags most of the time. - Experiment and see which results you like the most.



Some of my tags:



After one layer of inky bubbles was dry, I added a new on top of a different color.
How COOL is that?? (No wonder this technique is addictive...)



I decorated some of my tags:
Rubber Dance stamps from Take the Plunge, New Retro Beach, Something Fishy.


Close-up:



Here's a background I got when I tried the inky bubbles on a white gift bag...


I thought it looked much like coffee bubbles, so I decided to make this gift bag for a friend who loves to grind his own coffee - I'll fill the bag with yummy coffee beans of course:


I made a flap for the top, stamped my sentiment on a label of bubbly background with contrasting colours, and to close the flap I used a bronze brad on both sides:



I know - that bag would have looked SO much cooler with some stamped coffee images!
One of the women on my DT is actually working on a set, so if you come back in a few months... I'll show you how my bag looks with these stamps! :-)))

Meanwhile, here is one of the stamp sets I used on my tags above.......

New Retro Beach
actual size is 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 inches)

......and whomever orders Rubber Dance stamps (any set) from me first AND mention this blog post, 
will get the order shipped in this bubbly envelope:

you know you want it

So that's all for today, m'ladies and gents. Now go to your kitchen, grab some of that soap and start bubbling :-)

Till next time, be immensely good to one another ♥


XOX,
Bibi

Next stop:
Rubber Dance Stamps: www.rubberdance.com

Comments

Suman Pandit said…
looks like you had lots of fun Bibi !! I loved the results and your final embellished ones look gorgeous ..beautiful retro look !!
Majo said…
This is so creative and beautiful, I so, so, so need to try this technique. TFS, dear Bibi ♥
Jane said…
What a fun technique Bibi.....my little granddaughter loves blowing bubbles too, it's such fun. I love your finished pieces especially the tag you framed in a card...gorgeous.I will have to give this a try, rain is due here in the UK today too, time for some inky play xx
Artatag said…
Yay, that´s cool!! Must try it!! Have a nice Sunday playing!!! ♥
Craftyfield said…
Fun technique! The backgrounds you made look great with the stamped images.
SmilynStef said…
What fun ... and such awesome creations using the backgrounds ... love it.
Julie S said…
You sold me! I haven't tried this in a long time. I think I used Dylusions sprays successfully too. Love the look of the layered colors. Will give this a go.
Jeg bobler over av begeistring! Dette var jo aldeles awesome, Bibi. Dette må jeg også prøve : )
Unknown said…
Heheheh - you have me smiling BIG Bibi... this is so FUN!!! Nope - never heard of doing this! Wow. Your backgrounds are totally FABULOUS... love them all. And that coffee gift bag is perfect for your friend. Love the envelope you made for the mail. I still have the one you sent me - I love looking at it!!! You are so creative - for sure! Hugs. j.
TwinkleToes2day said…
What a fun idea Bi! TFS. One to play with Wee Man I reckon :D :D xox
Cazzy said…
I love that idea, I will have to give it a try.
Susanne Rose said…
This idea is so cool! I love how your backgrounds turned out. Fabulous!!!
ionabunny said…
Very pretty technique. Must try. That's a lovely envelope. Someone will enjoy that happy mail. You make such lovely envelopes. Hugz
Bibi Lindahl said…
Thank you all for your lovely comments - I really appreciate hearing what you all think, and it sounds like there will be some more bubbly backgrounds popping up in our blogland community! :-)
I bet all the kids and grandkids will love this, too! I hope you will reoprt back and show us what you all made! Have funnnnnn! :-)

Ellie Knol said…
That looks like messy fun! Have to give that a try! TFS!!
Barbara T. said…
This will be just as much fun and messy as the shaving cream backgrounds. I enjoyed doing those and these appear to be even more delightful.
Karen P said…
I am going to have to try this Bibi! It looks so much fun and for a change I have the supplies to do it. Thanks for sharing hun Karen x
Wowzers! This looks like a party for your inks and mind! So going to have to try this bubbly technique and thank you bunches for sharing this Bibi! You are a creative force dearie! Hugz! ~Niki
Bibi Lindahl said…
Thank you, thank you!
So glad to see that so many have found this fun and useful :-)))
Bibi Lindahl said…
Oh, that's right - I had almost forgotten about the fun shaving cream backgrounds! I'll have a go on those again (and maybe blog about it as well.....) Thanks for the reminder! :)

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