A Year of Card Techniques ~ December Blog Hop ~ Stamp Your Background!

Welcome to the

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas. This month we’re going to stamp our own background for a unique customized look.  Hopefully, we’ll inspire you to try one yourself.  If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown
• May-World of Watercolor
• June-Basic Card Folds
• July-Bleaching Your Card
• August-World of Watercolor
• September-Inlaid & Lifted Die Cuts
• October-Waterfall Cards
• November-Masking Magic

Our amazing sponsor this month is Claudia Henderson of Close to My Heart. Yes, this is me :-)

Please take a moment to check out her store here.

And the awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today.  Since this is our last A Year Of Card Techniques hop and the holiday season is just around the corner, we are going to give you some extra time to hop!  The winner will be announced on Saturday, December 30, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday. The winner will have until January 6, 2018 to claim their prize.  If you would like to be notified by email, please leave your email address in the comments.

This is the beginning of this months blog hop, so if you happen to start here first welcome.  To increase your chances of winning make sure to hop along and comment on each blog.

Creating your own background papers. How much fun is this? I don't know about you, but I often run into the problem that I need a background paper with design and can't find a matching one or one that I like. So what do I do? Yes, I make my own design paper ;-)

It really is not that difficult to do. I cut my cardstock down to size and pick one or multiple stamps that will work with my card designs. You can go simple or bold, just don't over complicate it. The beauty of having Close to My Heart cardstock on hand is that I also have the matching ink colors to go with the papers.....really simple, right?

Let's start with my candy cane card. I couldn't find the right striped papers or anything that I liked, so instead I cut my "Ruby" cardstock to size, picked a few snowflake stamps and little circles and arranged them on a clear block. In this case I when with our white pigment ink and stamped all images at the same time. Important for a random look, let your stamp go over the edges, make sure to rotate the block with ever imprint and have fun. Ones the ink was dry (pigment does take a bit longer to dry) I added my phrase, a vellum heart and some good old candy canes to the card.

The background to my second card was even easier to make. I have some pretty big background stamps and sometimes you can't really use them for smaller projects, but they are awesome for backgrounds. So I used a music sheet stamp and inked it in "Whisper" grey. I sized my whisper cardstock and stamped the image on top. No worries if the impression is not perfect. I like it this way so it looks more like a random piece. We added our little reindeer to it and then, there was still something not right. Yeap, the background needed some sparkle and maybe some snowflakes. Out came the stickles glitter glue "Star dust" and on I went to place little drops all over the card.

Again, this time I used some really really simple stamps to create my background. And yes, you can get fancy and use multiple stamps and different colors etc, but sometimes easy is the way to go. I hope you give your stamps a second look and see what kind of background you can create. Always remember, if you can't find a matching design or paper, just create your own.

I hope you enjoyed our little excursion through the world of card techniques.

Now you’re off to visit with the talented Debbie. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by.

Claudia

Always remember:

"Art comes from the heart.

So there is never a right way or a wrong way;

there is only Your Way."

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

Claudia
Debbie
Wilma
Amanda
Jodie