Homemade Card: Create Simple and Custom Backgrounds for St. Patrick’s Day!

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just can’t find the right patterned paper for my project. To curb my frustrations, I like to make my own backgrounds using just ink and cardstock! You won’t even need the Luck of the Irish to create this; just some basic papercrafting supplies!

Supplies You Will Need:

• Lawn Fawn My Lucky Charm Stamp Set
• Lawn Fawn Happy Everything Stamp Set
• Lawn Fawn Tag You’re It Dies
• Lawn Fawn Silver Sparkle Twine
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• VersaFine Onyx Black Ink
• Clear Embossing Powder
• White Embossing Powder
• Heat Gun
• Shabby Shutters Distress Ink
• Peeled Paint Distress Ink
• Distress Ink Foam Applicator
• White Cardstock
• Vellum/Translucent Paper
• Black Cardstock
• Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers (Colors DG1, DG2, LG3, LG4)
• Craft Medley Green Sequins
• Tiny Attacher (mini stapler)
• Tape Runner
• Foam Adhesive
• Clear Glue
• Scissors
• Washi Tape (or repositionable tape)
• The Best Ever Craft Mat (non-stick crafting surface)
• Die Cutting Machine (Cuttlebug used)

To start my custom background, I secured down a piece of cardstock cut to 4 x 5.25 with washi tape. This will be the front panel. I made sure to protect my surface (I used a non-stick craft mat).

I then took a second piece of cardstock on angled it. I gently started to add color from Shabby Shutters Distress Ink in a circular motion.

I was very light handed with this! You can always add more color, but you can’t take the color away, so be gentle when adding ink. Don’t be afraid to tap off the excess ink on a separate piece of paper. You can see in the image below that I start inking on the extra sheet and then move to the card panel.

I moved the cardstock down on the panel, keeping the angle the same, but leaving space between each inked area.

Then, I took the panel and flipped it. I repeated the inking process, overlapping the inked area. This creates an awesome effect!

I stamped some clovers from the My Lucky Charm set onto a scrap piece of paper and then heat embossed them with clear powder. I did this to not only make the stamped images pop up a bit, I also wanted to protect the ink from smearing or bleeding. I also stamped the same images onto the card panel.

To color in the clovers, I started with the lightest color, then added the darkest. To complete it, I blended the light and dark with the medium shade.

I trimmed out the images, leaving just a little bit of white space around the edges.

To create some extra interest, I chose to stamp on vellum. Vellum is translucent paper. Since ink smears fairly easily on this stock, I heat embossed the sentiment from Lawn Fawn’s Happy Everything set in white embossing powder. I used a heat gun to activate the powder and emboss it.

Since the background has different angles in it, I also chose to add a small piece of black cardstock behind the vellum at a contrasting angle. This helps anchor the sentiment and gives a good contrast against the background.

I adhered everything to a card base and added some sparkly green sequins!

And… because I really enjoyed making my own background, I wanted to do it again, so I created a tag to coordinate with the card!

I die cut a few tag pieces using Lawn Fawn’s Tag You’re It die.

I repeated the same process as before, angling an extra piece of cardstock to create the background.

I also added some ink using the Peeled Paint Distress Ink around the edges of the smaller tag, leaving the center area lighter, but still green. Again, this technique is very easy, but being gentle and light handed is the best bet!

And to add something a little extra to the tag, I splattered some plain water onto the tag. Distress Ink reacts with water, so where the water lands, the ink lightens!

I added some small clovers to the small tag (I made extras when I stamped and colored them previously for the card!) and then I tied both tags together using some twine.

And that’s it! Check out how unique the backgrounds are for the card and tag! This technique can really help out when the right patterned paper isn’t available or when you want to create something that is completely your own.

Thanks for stopping by today!

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Chrissie Tobas

Blogger at Harvest Moon Papiere

I live in the Chicagoland area with my wonderful husband, son and daughter. I have been involved in some aspect of art my entire life. From oil paints and watercolors as a child, to paper crafting and digital art as an adult, rarely a day has gone by in my world that doesn’t include art. I am an Alumnus of the Illinois Institute of Art, where I graduated with Honors and received my Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communications. I started papercrafting shortly after graduating High School, but I ended up just hoarding supplies and not completing any projects. A few years ago, my love of papercrafting was rekindled when I was invited to scrapbook at a friend’s house. I have been obsessed ever since!!!

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