Stampin’ Up!s amazing Buy 3 Get 1 promotion on selected packs of Designer Series Paper ends in just a few days and while I love their pretty paper sometimes I want something I don’t have in my stash.  When that happens I’m happy to create my own backgrounds and that’s exactly what I did today using a technique I probably haven’t tried in years.

I actually started with the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set which I haven’t used in a long time.  I stamped the main sentiment onto a piece of Very Vanilla Card using Night of Navy ink, and then cut it out using my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform with the #7 plain-edge die from the Layering Squares Framelits.  While I was there I used the #8 plain-edged die to cut a piece of Gold Glimmer Paper and attached the sentiment to it with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Next came the floral panel, a strip of Very Vanilla Card stamped with one of simple stem/leaf images from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set using Pear Pizzazz ink.  Onto the stems I stamped the small round flower and the bud using Pumpkin Pie ink that I’d first ‘stamped off’ onto some scrap paper.  This gave me a lighter tone so that I could then over-stamp the flowers with the flower centre image using Pumpkin Pie ink at full strength (this is known as two-step stamping).  Once the stamping was complete I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix the panel onto a piece of Pear Pizzazz Card.

It was at this point that I went looking for a suitable background and discovered that I’d used up all the Soft Sea Foam subtle design in the Tranquil Textures Designer Series Paper (DSP) Pack.  I have to say I wasn’t surprised by this as it is probably my favourite at the moment, but that didn’t help me this morning.

Instead I took out a layer of Very Vanilla Card and my Soft Sea Foam ink pad.  Then using some Saran Wrap scrunched up in a loose wad I tapped it gently onto the ink pad and then onto the card.  I repeated the process, turning the wad as I went so that I didn’t get an obvious repeating pattern and in no time at all I had a really nice subtle background.

Using my Stampin’ Trimmer I cut and scored a piece of Pear Pizzazz Card, folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.  Then I used liquid glue to attach my custom-made background layer followed by the layered floral panel.

With Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the layered sentiment and finished the front of the card with a small bow tied from a length of Grapefruit Grove 1/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon and attached with a Mini Glue Dot.

On another layer of Very Vanilla Card I stamped a couple of flowers stems in the bottom right corner and added flowers as before.  I also added an additional sentiment ‘followed by many days and years of the same’ with Night of Navy ink. Then I fixed the layer inside the card base with liquid glue.

Finally I stamped the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope with the same stems and flowers to create a coordinated look to my project and I was done.

I’d forgotten how much fun it is creating background using Saran Wrap and ink, I must do that again sometime.

LAST FEW DAYS

You only have a few more days to take advantage of the Buy 3 DSP Get 1 Free offer.  With 10 packs of Designer Series Paper included in this promotion there’s bound to be something you want.

Also ending on July 31st is the amazing option to join Stampin’ Up!  Choose any products up to $165 CAD, add one 5 sets of 10 full-size ink pads to your starter kit, and pay only $135 for everything with no additional shipping and taxes.  Not sure what you’d be committing to as a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator?, contact me and I’ll answer all your questions.

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