Tips to Get Started with Stamping Backgrounds - The Stamp Market

Hello hello! How are you all holding up, Friends? 
Have you been hunkering down at home? I am fortunate to work from home, so this is not a big change for me, although it will be a slower week than usual. Hubby has also joined me this week and will be working from home. It will be interesting to see how gets the home office - I will report back at the end of the week on how we manage! lol

In the happy news department, today I'm sharing a super fun and colorful post over on The Stamp Market blog, and it's all about backgrounds! If you have been meaning to try something new, and you happen to have some extra time this week, perhaps this little post will help :)


I love backgrounds. Stamping them, cutting them, tucking them into any little bit of white space when I can. Are you the same? Well, even if you're not, but you'd like to give them a try, I've got a few backgrounds to share (from super simple, to a little more advanced) to get you into the groove!


My first card features a background using one of the dotted designs in the Circles and Such set.
It's such a fun look, and when I saw it, I instantly knew I wanted to use it in place of a stripe. Which brings me to my first tip.
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TIP
If you're intimidated with backgrounds, try using a design you can repeat, like the one above, and pick a rainbow of your favorite colors. Then just stamp away on your card base! If lining things up feels challenging, don't be afraid to measure out your card and add little pencil marks where your next stamp should go. And I promise, over time, eye-balling will become your super-power ;)
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To finish off my dotted stripes, I added a vellum strip, heat-embossed with the cute sentiment from the Simple Hello set. How cute are these fonts, tho!?


For my next card, we follow a similar idea to the first, but this one encompasses a much simpler background design, using the Simply Stripes set. There are a couple things I love about this - first, the simple look of stripes allows for more fancy, frilly accents because it creates a really uniform and un-fussy background. The other thing I love about this is that stripes lend themselves to more general themes, so they work for a heap of occasions, making mass-production a great idea.
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TIP
If you want a general-purpose background, or to pre-make some backgrounds, stripes a great way to go! That way you'll always have some handy, and they will coordinate with almost every theme you can think of. Plus, who doesn't love stamping stripey rainbows?!
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I was able to add a scallop and a super fancy, layered cake to this design, without taking away from the background. 


Once you feel ready to tackle more advanced designs, I've got some tips that will help make the dive easier. This technique combines a variety of stamp shapes, colors, and proportions.
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Divide Into Thirds
I like to divide my card into thirds. Here, I used the Scallop Background Builder set to stamp a colorful design on the top third of the card. I used the next third for my sentiment space - making sure the sentiment was the same 'weight' as the design (more below). And for the last third, I used some stripes to add yet another layer of interest. 

Contrasting Colors
Picking contrasting colors or colors that have a different intensity from one another, helps the design stand out. See how the soft pinks are much lighter and softer than the yellow, green, or orange. See how they alternate in the seashell design below? This is such an easy trick if you are feeling stuck on colors - pick 2-3 soft hues, and 2-3 bold hues and alternate away!

Add Complimentary Accents
We could leave the card with the stamped background, and it would be fab the way it is, but don't be afraid to add accents to the sides, or to the design itself, if you want to add more interest. I've added scallops and enamel dots here, but you could add sparkle, pop-up certain elements, add die-cut details, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Repeating Proportions
See how the yellow seashell design and the yellow stripe at the bottom are roughly the same in height? Same goes for the aqua and even the red elements. Repeating the same color, in the same proportion, always helps tie in a design! It's not necessary for each color, but if you do that for one or two of the colors, it really helps.
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I hope these tips get you excited about trying out backgrounds! Fun fact - I've been known to spend hours ONLY stamping backgrounds. And I promise, once you get the hang of it, it might become even more fun than making the card itself.

Stay safe, and happy stamping, Friends!
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5 comments

  1. These cards are totally delightful & make me smile, Ivana! I especially love the one with the circles for the background--keep going back to it! Thanks for the tips--some I had never heard like repeating porportions. Hope the fighting over the studio is kept to a minimum--haha!

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  2. Hello to you Ivana~ I am away from the blogging world much these days, but was glad to stop in and see more of your beautiful work! Always delightful. I'm with Greta, your cards make me smile! Much love and hugs to you sweet friend~ karen o

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  3. You've nailed it, Ivana! So well taught, and definitely groove-y! xx
    =]
    Thanks for sharing that scalloped die!

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  4. You always put the prettiest colors together! These are charming Ivana. Oh how I love the vellum overlay!

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  5. Beautiful details and colors on each of your cards!

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