Finally summer is here! With that in mind, I decided to use warm summer colors and background stamping to create the cards for this week. It will be all about using background stamps in unusual ways.

With a single background stamp and an assortment of accessories, you can create the two cards shown today in almost no time.

These two cards came from my “stash cards” — cards that have no message outside or inside and are organized by very general categories (Men, Women and Kids.) I simply pulled these cards out of my stash file and added the messages for two overdue Mother’s Day thank you cards. I usually add the message before attaching stamped papers to a notecard…just in case I make a mistake; but all the cards in my “stash file” have no message.

Supplies:

• Screen Shadow
• Everyday Sayings
• Soft Lilac Shadow Ink
• Light Blue Accent Pearls
• Summer Mix Notecards
• StazOn Black Ink
• Other: assorted papers, flower punches and inks

Instructions:

1. Stamp a Screen Shadow in Lilac Shadow Ink on white cardstock. Trim the image, leaving a narrow border. Stamp three additional images using blue, purple and yellow ink, each on white cardstock.
2. Create a paper vase from marigold paper. Punch flower images from the stamped background papers. Using a leaf punch, make three sprigs of leaves.
3. Attach the stamped background to blue cardstock and glue to the front of a cantaloupe notecard. Punch a variety of flowers from the stamped papers and arrange over the top of the vase. I overlapped the flowers, giving the card a more dimensional look.
4. Stamp the message in black ink and add pearls to the flowers. Using a colored pencil, add a bit of shading to one side of the vase.

Tip: How to cut a vase image? Look through magazines and find a vase shape you like. Trace around the vase, making a pattern. You can use the pattern over and over again. You probably have an abundance of magazines already that have images you can use (besides this is a good excuse to keep all those magazines you can’t bear to throw away).

Now here comes the fun part! Use the scraps from the card above to create this one…

Supplies:

• Screen Shadow
• Thank You Sayings
• Teal Gemstones
• Lavender Gemstones
• Sparkle Gems Small Blossoms
• Summer Art Flowers
• Spring Mix Notecards
• StazOn Black Ink
• Other: assorted papers, flower punches and inks

Instructions:

1. Tear small pieces of the stamped papers, arranging them over a lime notecard…don’t glue them yet. Stamp messages on some of the paper scraps, and punch flower.
2. Glue everything down and add gemstones to the flowers.

I also scan some cards and cut and paste them into a file with space for copy. It creates a personal “e-card” that I can send if I remember the occasion at the very last minute (too late for snail mail). I save them on my desktop in a file named “cards”. I also keep a file on who I sent them to so that I don’t send the same card twice.

Click HERE to download an example of an e-card created from one of today’s cards.

These personal e-cards are fun to send and the message can be anything from a simple “Happy Birthday” to a special poem or message.

So, this week’s challenge is to use a background stamp in an unusual way. Anything goes, so have fun! Please use at least one Hero Arts stamp on your projects and tag them with the code word “backgroundstamping” when uploading them to the Hero Arts Flickr Group. The deadline for submitting is Sunday, June 7th at 11:59 PM PST. We will be awarding the following prizes next week:

• Fresh Face Winner (someone who has not yet won a contest): $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• Scrapbook Page Winner: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 1st Place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 2nd Place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 3rd Place: $15 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog

I know I will get a lot of good ideas from all of you…which is good, because we are starting to work on the holiday catalog. It’s wonderful! You will love every page.

Are you ready for more background stamping? Tuesday I am using two different background images and I can’t wait to show you fun ways to use them.  See you then!

Filed under: backgroundstamping

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 4:04 am and is filed under Motivation Mondays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.