carly tee: how to use extra card backgrounds

Sunday, April 26, 2020

how to use extra card backgrounds

Looking for a way to use up paper scraps and extra card panels? Here's a quick look at my newly discovered process for getting more cards made from my extras!

Do you ever have so much fun stamping or die cutting or watercoloring, that you end up with more pretty card backgrounds then you actually need for a project?

This happens to me all the time and I usually put the pretty card panels in a pile on my desk, intending to use them later BUT then the next time I tidy my desk (a rare occurrence), the pretty card panels usually end up in my trash bin. Terrible, I know!

Recently after cleaning my desk, I challenged myself to actually use the panels but I needed to figure out how!

I started by selecting just four panels from the pile so I wouldn't feel too overwhelmed. I chose four that I thought might look nice together.

Next I selected some stamps & dies that I had been wanting to play with more. This part was easy, I just pulled out my most recent stamps & dies from The Stamp Market. I knew they would work well together and I was excited to use them. I think it's always important to my creative process to choose products I feel excited and inspired by!

Then I created little piles on my desk with the panel and the supplies I thought I might use with it.

And finally, I made cards!

This first background was created by applying drops of water & reinker to watercolor cardstock and blowing it around into splatters with blower tool (a technique I learned from the amazing Channin Pelletier).

I used the "thank you" die to cut a window and backed it with acetate to create a shaker window. Then I stamped the coordinating "thank you" on the card front and topped it with a thin layer of Moon Dust Glitter Gel. (You can see more about a similar shaker card in this post.)

This background is one of my favorite ways to use glitter paste or gel. I used strips of low-tack purple tape to mask off a rectangle on white cardstock. Then I added color with ink blending and topped it with glitter paste.

To this simple background, I added a layered butterfly. The top layer has the butterfly detail stamped on vellum and embossed with sparkly glitter powder.

This card started with another glitter paste panel but it had some extra ink and glitter smudged on the bottom so I used it as the background for a shaker card.

I stamped the leafy vine first and then used the die cut flowers to create shaker windows.

And finally this background started as just a test with my rubber brayer. I love brayered backgrounds (you can see more about them is this post).

On the brayered background, I stamped the detailed butterfly layer using Party Pink on the top and Bubble Gum on the bottom. Then I added the butterfly bodies and embossed the sentiment in white.