Welcome everyone! I’m excited to be sharing my first blog post as a Design Team member for Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine.
I am always inspired by the contents in the magazine and today’s cards were inspired by Ashley Van Camp’s card on page 14 of the Winter 2019 issue. This card features a beautiful background with a simple sentiment in the center.
Two of my favorite things to do when making cards is heat embossing and ink blending for a dramatic effect.
My cards today will show you how easy it is to achieve a dramatic look to your cards using background stamps. I”ll be using the Flower Garden Bold Print Background (clickable link) stamp from Hero Arts for both of my cards.
The key to this look is starting with colored card stock. This gives you a base color to work from and saves you some time. Also, heat emboss your background image in an embossing powder that won’t take over your card. I like to use Sparkle Embossing Powder (clickable link) from Hero Arts. This gives almost a watermark effect but with tons of sparkle. For my bases, I’m using Mustard and Azalea (clickable links) card stock from Hero Arts.
I usually use three colors for this look. Two of the inks are shades darker than the card stock I used. My third color is Hero Arts Sea Salt Reactive Ink (clickable link) which I apply with a blending brush (clickable link). This color is added to the center to highlight that area and really make the ink blended edges pop off the card.
To step it up a little, you can add flicks of Liquid Stardust (clickable link) from Lawn Fawn which will just add more sparkle and shimmer.
To keep the rest of the card simple, I just add a large die cut word & sentiment to where my highlighted area is. I used the Bloom stamp/die set (clickable link) from HoneyBee Stamps which has a nice variety of Spring related sentiments to cheer up anyone. The highlighted center, not only makes the edges look darker but also draws your attention to the sentiment.
I hope you’ll give this a try! This technique works with any background stamp you may have in your stash. You’ll be amazed how easy it is when you start with colored card stock instead of white.
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These are gorgeous! I need to try some of the sea salt ink!
Gorgeous cards, Mindy! And congrats on the DT!
Dori