Handstamped backgrounds

Handstamped backgrounds - AECP post

A really fun way to personalize a card is to stamp your own background paper. I really wanted to make a tulip card for the March 2019 Inspiration Challenge over at the Altenew card blog, this is what I came up with:

My card was inspired by the super talented hostess of the March Challenge, Svitlana Shayevitch and her photograph from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Please visit the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge here.

Just like Svitlana I wanted to make quite a literal rendering of the inspiration photo but then I remembered a recent AECP class called beyond Basic Background and decided to use one of the techniques Lydia Evans taught in that class.

You basically draw a grid in pencil and stamp out your pattern using that as a guide. And yes, the pencil lines do erase without any problem from under the Altenew Crisp Inks!

Below you can see the tulip pattern (Folksy Florals set) before erasing the gridlines. I used colors to mimic the photograph but decided to use Vanilla Cream for the white tulips as I was stamping on white cardstock.

The card needed some green so I added the three little dots and then diecut "Happy" from green cardstock and added a sentiment (Halftone Happy). The result is a very stylized pattern, could be a quilt almost.

The pattern stamping really was a lot of fun so I decided to make two more cards using this technique. I again used the tulip stamp (Folksy Florals) but this time decided to use a variety of pink and red inks, I chose the color combo called Tea Party for a pretty pink hued card. I also replaced the dots with a little leaf flourish (Arabesque Medallion).

This in turn inspired me to make a card in blue hues using the Deep Blue Seas colors to stamp bluebells (Arabesque Medallion). I love how this came out, probably my favorite of the three cards.

The final cards are very bright and cheerful so I I've decided to donate them to the Celebrating Parents Card Drive. The cards that are donated will be sent to seniors in nursing homes and shelters to bring some cheer around Mothers and Fathers Day, to find out more about this card drive follow the link above.