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
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Label Love Stamp Set
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Sea Glass Crisp Dye Ink
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Ocean Waves Crisp Dye Ink
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Desert Night Crisp Dye Ink
• 
• Merchant:ALTENEW

• Original MISTI
• 
• Merchant:Concord & 9th

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