I made six A6 panels using the same technique, just in different paint colours and layers.

Start by smearing a small amount of paint on a non-stick/glass sheet.

Mist water over the paint to thin and make it runnier.

Pick up the paint with a piece of acetate sheet, or use an acrylic block.

Melt the bonding powder with a heat tool – it will go clear and will feel slightly tacky.

Carry on the transfer process until you’re happy with the background and almost all of the card is covered.

Scrunch up a piece of scrap paper and use it to transfer neat paint in a second colour to the background. Remember to rotate the paper ball between ‘stamps’ to get a random pattern.

Repeat the process with different shades of the main colours until you reach a satisfactory endpoint. Make sure the card and paint are completely dry before moving on.

Swipe an antistatic bag over the whole piece to help excess powder to fall off in the next steps and de-stick any fingerprints.

Ink up your chosen stamp with a clear slow drying embossing ink, and print the image onto your painted background.

Cover the card with the bonding powder and tap off the excess, returning it to the pot.

Melt the bonding powder with a heat tool – it will go clear and will feel slightly tacky.

Press a sheet of imitation gold leaf onto the card and reheat with the heat tool to reactivate the bonding powder. Move spare gold leaf around until the whole background is covered.

Once the card is cool (and the bonding powder has re-set) use the scrubbie foam to remove the gold leaf. The bonding powder will hold onto it and the pattern will slowly reveal itself. Reheat any patchy areas and press into the leaf dust before scrubbing any excess off again.

You will end up with a painted background with bright and shiny gold highlights.

I highlighted three out of six panels for my spread.

I missed a couple of photos. Next steps are: dry emboss the three gold leafed panels and an unfoiled one using different embossing folders. On the unfoiled panel, I carefully dragged the Versamark ink pad over the raised areas before using bonding powder and gold leaf to gild the design. Drag the distress oxide ink pad in either colour over the raised areas of the others, dry and then wipe off excess ink from the foiled areas.

For my layout, I sliced up my panels (including an unfoiled and unembossed panel) to fit a 3×3 grid on each page, muddled them up and glued them down to make an abstract background. Stamp the sentiment in distress oxide ink, dry and mount it on another piece of card that has a coordinating acrylic painted border.