Thursday, May 10, 2018

IO Challenge- Backgrounds

Greetings friends.  I was really looking forward to this challenge because I am enamored with IO Cover a Card Background stamps.  I think you may have noticed that I tend to forgo patterned papers because I can just stamp my own.

For the card today, I wanted to show you how you can combine three different backgrounds to create your own designer paper.  You can choose the colors and designs you want to get a look that you like.  Here is a close up of today's "paper." It uses three of the light/medium/dark IO ink colors that are meant to coordinate together.  I chose Fog, Shadow, and Taupe.


First, I started with Fog ink and stamped the Cover a Card Distressed Denim design on top of white cardstock.  The mottled design is a favorite of mine when building a patterned paper to use as a light base layer to build upon:

Next, I added some lines to my paper using the Scribble Checkerboard Cover a Card and some Shadow ink:
I already had a mottled layer and a lined layer, so for my third layer, I decided to go with some curvy lines.  The top layer used the Flourishes Cover a Card with Taupe ink.
I then had my completed paper that was ready for a stamped image and sentiment.  For the butterfly, I stamped it onto my background and once again onto a piece of watercolor paper that I had colored with Colorburst powders.  It was actually a scrap that I hated as a background.  Never throw those pieces away.  They are great for stamping on top of as well as die cutting.  I cut out the butterfly wings (without the antennae) and glued them onto the butterfly stamped directly onto the card.  Finally, I added my sentiment in black ink.

I encourage you to try making your own backgrounds.  IO has over 250 background designs, so the possibilities are practically limitless!

Impression Obsession Items used:
Cover a Card Distressed Denim
Fog ink
Scribble Checkerboard Cover a Card
Shadow ink
Flourishes Cover a Card
Taupe ink
Sketched Butterfly
Artful Soul

I encourage you to visit the other designers for more background inspiration!

2 comments:

Helen said...

What a great way to create personalized backgrounds! tfs

Joni said...

Wow, such a detailed background! Love how you use mottled, lines, and curves to all come together - and it's beautiful! I'm going to have to look at my background stamps differently now, I can tell!

Good call on not throwing out those scraps. I know I keep scraps of alcohol ink papers until they are itty bitty! Will have to do the same for water color/brusho paper as well, from my "experiments". Never know when they will be just the right thing.

Thanks for sharing your techniques, and your beautiful card!