Beyond Basic Backgrounds

One of my favorite things to do with inks is to create backgrounds for cards. In Altenew's Beyond Basic Backgrounds class you would learn many different ways to use your inks, stamps, and dies to create one-of-a-kind backgrounds that make cards special. They are fun to do and once I get started on them its hard to stop so I usually end up with a stack of backgrounds to turn into cards.

After finishing all the lessons in the class I decided to "twist" one idea a bit and do a was resist technique. Since I felt the technique would be better explained if I showed it to you I made a video, and I have to apologize for it being so long. I did share some tips and favorite products in the video if you have the time to watch it.

Both of these cards were made together, so you can get two backgrounds at the same time. You could ink them with different colors, but I made mine the same.

The small "pattern" in the background is created with wax paper. Crumple the wax paper into a ball and flatten it out again and then sandwich it between two pieces of 80 lb. white cardstock. Place this between two pieces of printer paper. Use your iron on a dry setting and iron over the whole thing.

After ironing the wax is transferred to the cardstock pieces like the photo shows. I blended Distress inks from top to bottom in Stormy Sky, Speckled Egg, Shabby Shutters, and Peeled Paint.

I stamped the images from Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set in Versafine black onyx ink and used Altenew's Crisp dye ink in Sea Glass, Ocean Waves, Desert Night, Bamboo, Parrot, and Moss for the different layers. I cut them all out with the matching dies and glued all but the largest bloom flat on the card. The large bloom I added a piece of craft foam, cut with the same die to give it dimension.

The sentiment are from Altenew's Label Love and Best Sentiments sets and I added foam tape to the back. Both backgrounds were 4" x 5 1/4" and were added to a white 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base.
To add a little interest I added pieces from Honey Bee Stamps Candlelight confetti mix with Multi Media Matte.

Thanks for looking and if you have time to watch the video you can see it here, it shares some extra tips.

Some of the products used are linked below:

• Peony Bouquet Stamp & Die Bundle
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• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Label Love Stamp Set
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• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Sea Glass Crisp Dye Ink
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Ocean Waves Crisp Dye Ink
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Desert Night Crisp Dye Ink
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• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Original MISTI
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• Merchant:Concord & 9th

• Mini MISTI Stamp Tool
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• Merchant:Honey Bee Stamps, LLC

Irresistible Inking Techniques

It is amazing what you can do with a stamp pad and this class is a good review of the options available for using your pads for more than just inking a stamp and pressing it to paper. I would encourage anyone who only uses their ink pads to "stamp" images with to take Altenew Academy's Irresistible Inking Techniques class. One method that I chose to use is direct-to-paper.

For this card using Altenew's Enchanted Iris stamp set and matching dies I made a background by blending Dusty Concord and Mowed Lawn Distress inks, applying them very dark with direct-to-paper. Then when it was thoroughly dry I stamped the images with Versamark ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I sprayed the cardstock liberally with plain water and layered another piece of cardstock on top and ran it through my die cut machine which removed some of the very dark ink from the background and left the embossed images dark. The other piece of cardstock will take some of the ink off wherever there is  no embossing ink.


The irises were stamped again in a black Copic-safe ink on white cardstock and colored with Altenew's artist markers and then cut out with the matching dies. Some of the leaves I adhered to the card base flat and others I added dimension with craft foam, again using the dies to cut the foam. I die cut the "thanks" five times from black cardstock for dimension and white heat embossed the sentiment on black cardstock. Both the sentiment and "thanks" die are from the same set. The piece was affixed to the front of a light lavender card base. I liked the way I was able to get the Artist marker ink to match the Distress inked background. Thanks for looking!

Easy Die Cutting

Die cutting is a staple for card makers and "scrapbookers" and even though it is pretty straightforward you can still learn some tricks by taking Altenew Academy's Easy Die Cutting class. There are so many uses for your dies and it's a good thing as they are usually the more expensive investment in you supplies.

On this card I used a die cut inlay technique with Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set. The background was done using Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn Distress inks in direct to paper, sprayed with water and also sprayed with gold Sparkle spray.

After stamping the images on white cardstock with Altenew's Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, and Razzleberry Crisp dye ink I cut them out with the matching dies. After deciding where to place them on the card front, I used the dies to cut away the background where I wanted the images to be inlaid into the background. I flipped the cardstock over and taped the die cuts into the holes where there were to go. The large bloom was also cut away from the background, die cut, and die cut from craft foam and set into the hole created by the die. This is much easier and gives dimension without the bulk of many layers.

The sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love, stamped in black and added with foam tape. The gold sequins are also from Altenew. Stamps and dies used are linked below. Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day!

• Peony Bouquet Stamp & Die Bundle
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• ALTENEW

• Label Love Stamp Set
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• ALTENEW