Last week I had such fun with backgrounds, I hope you all had fun too. Everyone did such an amazing job of using different elements, colors and shapes to create one of a kind cards that are spectacular. I had a really hard time deciding. Congratulations to all the stampers who participated. I looked at each card several times before I could finally decide. Now, here are the Background Challenge winners…

Fresh Face Winner — kristielarsen! Hooray for you Kristie, I love the use of a single background image with many details stamped in a rainbow of colors. This card is a perfect example of how a single image can be changed by adding different colors of ink and different pieces of a single image.

Scrapbook Winner — dancingpeardesigns! Who could resist this adorable face? This page directs your interest to the cute expression on this child’s face. The soft muted colors of green and blue create a perfect backdrop for the photo. The dimensional clouds (created with THIS stamp) and letters placed by the photo draw your eye around the page beautifully.

First Place — Linda aka Oz! She created an amazing mosaic card using lots of different images. By taking selected pieces from stamped papers, Linda was able to blend color and design to create a card worthy of a mat and shadow box frame. The added butterfly image and scored squares add just the right amount of depth to this masterpiece. Besides this beautiful card, think of all the wonderful pieces of background stamping Linda has available for more card making!

Second Place — Pia Overgaard! By repeating a shape in many different colors, sizes and patterns, Pia uses an artist’s trick to create a noteworthy card. The same element repeated creates a subtle and eye-catching design that anyone would love to receive. The small doses of background patterns on Pia’s card are just right.

Third Place — stampersuzz! Her combination of vivid colors captures your attention right away, while the use of symmetrical and unusual shapes moves your eye over the card to catch every bit of detail. I particularly like how she stamped the flourish background right over the top of the patterned paper. I never would have thought orange and green could look this beautiful — it’s a wonderful combination.

An Honorable Mention goes to far north1. She used acrylic paints to achieve a lovely blend of colors that really suits the floral stamped background. The single cut-out flower perfectly highlights the sentiment and also echos the pattern found in the background.

Another Honorable Mention goes to “card”rageous (Robin). Her use of the Screen Shadow stamp on the elephant is an unexpected and clever touch. This card is filled with great details and is just a joy to look at.

Congratulations one and all! Please email us your addresses with “Background Challenge Winner” in the subject line and we’ll send your prizes.

I love the way our Hero Hostesses interpreted the week’s challenge too…they did an amazing job. Just click on any of the thumbnails below for more detail…

Projects by Deborah Nolan, Judy Jung, Kelly Booth, Donna Mikasa, Jenn Biederman & Karen Piskor.  Thanks, Hostesses!

Before you go, be sure to leave a comment about today’s winning cards and you could win this awesome bundle of prizes from QuicKutz!

(QuicKutz Nesting Stars, Tree Border, Diamonds & Dots Embossing Folder)

Jennifer and Tami will announce the random winner first thing tomorrow morning and they’ll also have more great die cut inspiration for you.

See you next time,

Filed under: backgroundstamping

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under You're Talented Thursdays. 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.