Three Fun Background Techniques for Creating Easy & Colorful Cards

Hi there, this is Annie Williams and I’m thrilled to be back on the blog today to share a couple of simple and pretty cards made with the Beautiful Backgrounds Collection from Stampendous. There are so many fun techniques you can do with background stamps and I used three of my favorites to create these colorful cards for a variety of occasions.

Rainbow Confetti Congrats Card

The Stampendous Streamers Stamp was just begging to inked up in rainbow colors, so I created a colorful background with just three ink pads for this simple and bright congrats card.

Trim a piece of white cardstock to 4” x 5.25”.  Using a stamp positioning tool, ink up the top one-third of the largest stamp in the Stampendous Streamers Stamp Set with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink, rub off some of the ink from the bottom of this inked portion with a blending brush or rag, and stamp the image onto the white cardstock. Repeat this process with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide Ink in the middle third of the stamp and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide Ink on the bottom third of the ink (rubbing off a little ink each time on the portions in between where the colors will blend) until the entire image has been stamped.

Mat the stamped panel with Onyx Cardstock and adhere it to a top-folding A2-sized white card base with a tape runner. Stamp a sentiment from the All The Sentiments Stamp Set in black ink and cut it out using the coordinating dies before adding it to the center of the card front with foam adhesive. To finish off the card, add Crystal Mix Gems to embellish.

Colorful Leaves Encouragement Card

The Leafy Lines Stamp Set is such a beautiful and versatile image and if you remove the smaller pre-cut corner, you can easily tuck a sentiment, bird, or butterfly in there for even more versatility. Here I added tons of color to a gilded background for this simple and elegant encouragement card.

Stamp the larger image from the Leafy Lines Stamp Set and a sentiment from the Sincere Sentiments Stamp Set onto watercolor paper with Versamark Ink, add gold embossing powder and melt with a heat tool. I didn’t want the background to be a stark white, so I pressed my Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, and Dried Marigold Distress Ink pads onto my glass mat, spritzed the ink with water, and smooshed my background panel into the diluted ink a few times to give it a warm and kind of ethereal look.

Once dry, paint the leaves with watercolor paints, overlapping two colors on each branch to give the background tons of contrast and vibrancy. Mat the panel with Mirror Gold Cardstock and adhere to a top-folding A2-sized white card base (I use double-sided adhesive sheets for this if my cardstock is warped from watercoloring).  Embellish with Gold Mix Gems.

Reverse Coloring For You Card

Lastly, when I saw the Agapanthus Stamp Set, my first thought was to stamp it in black ink over a brightly colored sunset background…but then I decided to have a little more fun and reverse that idea! Here I added sunset-colored flowers over a black background using the Joseph’s Coat Technique.

Trim a piece of white cardstock to 4” x 5.25” and blend Shaded Lilac, Kitsch Flamingo, and Dried Marigold Distress Oxide Ink down the panel with a blending tool. Once completely dry, stamp the image from the Agapanthus Stamp Set on top using Versamark Ink, add clear embossing powder, and melt with a heat tool. Next, blend Black Soot Distress Ink over the entire panel with a blending tool and remove any excess ink sticking to the embossed areas with a dry cloth.

Mat the panel with Fruit Punch Cardstock and adhere to a top-folding A2-sized white card base with a tape runner. Die cut a sentiment out of white and Fruit Punch Cardstock using the A2 Gift Card Holder and Envelope Die Set, adhere together with liquid glue, and add to the top corner of the card front with foam adhesive.

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other supplies

White heavyweight cardstock, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac, Kitsch Flamingo, and Dried Marigold Distress Oxide Ink, Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, Black Soot, Spun Sugar, Dried Marigold, and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink, blending brush, sponge daubers, Peerless watercolors, clear embossing powder, tape runner, foam adhesive

I hope you enjoyed these colorful cards and thanks so much for stopping by today.  You can find more inspiration over at my blog AnnieBWills.com or on Instagram.