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,

Thanks for joining me during this week of background stamping and for inspiring me to look at my own stamps in new ways. With their incredible versatility, background stamps are an indispensable part of any stamper’s toolbox.

The projects shown this week can be seen in more detail at these links:

• Monday - Two cheerful and summery thank you cards using the Screen Shadow background.
• Tuesday - Unique techniques with a couple of my very favorite background stamps.
• Wednesday - Punches and background stamps are a great combination — check out the video HERE! We also showed several bonus projects showcasing our versatile Travel Sets.
• Friday - Lisa’s great “getaway” card with even more backgrounds, plus a layout with simple stamping.

This weekend I hope you’ll grab a background stamp or two and create something for the weekly challenge.  (More details HERE.)  I look forward to seeing your projects in the Hero Arts Flickr Group!

Happy weekend,

Hello and welcome to Fun Friday! How about some giveaway winners to start the day? The five random winners of the Travel Frames Messages and Getaway Travel sets from Wednesday’s post are…

• #12, Jen Davis - June 3rd, 2009 at 7:55 am
• #39, Norma J - June 3rd, 2009 at 8:24 am
• #182, Gretchen - June 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
• #233, Beverly LoPinto - June 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
• #309, Lori Barnett - June 3rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm

Congratulations! We will be emailing you for your addresses.

Today I asked Lisa to create a card with the Clear Design Getaway Travel set and I just love what she came up with.

Lisa says, “I planned a little weekend getaway for my hubby Jason and thought I’d surprise him with a card!  Here’s the outside — I used lots of background stamps here, plus the Clear Design Getaway Travel set!”

“And here’s the inside!  The Clear Design Getaway Travel set comes with this little message balloon — perfect for writing a little note.  Can’t wait for the weekend!”

Supplies:

• Clear Design Getaway Travel (click HERE for a special on our Summer Vacation Combo Set!)
• Design Block Designer Woodgrain
• Design Block Clouds
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
• Pumpkin Patch Chalk Ink Queue
• Lime & White Notecards
• Summer Card Buttons
• Note: The bird was on my desk — anyone know what set it comes from?  I love this little bird!
• Other: car die cut (QuicKutz Silhouette (auto_1318), patterned paper (Autumn Leaves), brown pen (Sakura)

Those travel stamps are so versatile…as Lisa showed here, they are great for masculine cards too. Thanks for the creative idea, Lisa. I hope you have a wonderful weekend getaway!

Now let’s finish the week out with a simple scrapbook page I made for Delila, the new puppy. She needs a scrapbook too…so I started one for her! I think this is the easiest page ever. Simply trim the papers, stamp, and mount on a page. A neat little knot highlights the title.

I chose Bazzill papers because I liked the way the texture appeared when I stamped the flourish design in white ink. The design complimented the variations in the dog’s fur. When stamped repeatedly, the flourish image creates the look of a background stamp.

Supplies:

• Heart Flourish
• Happy Uppercase Alphabet
• White Memories Dye Ink
• Other: assorted papers, ribbon

Tips:

• Since I anticipate many more pages of Delila’s adventures I am going to cover this page with vellum and make it the cover of her very own scrapbook. My next page is going to be her foot print at different ages (thank goodness for our child safe ink).
• The photographs had lots of detail already and I did not want to take away from the subjects, so I decided to make borders and use a minimum amount of text. The details of the trip are on the back along with some additional photos tucked in a vellum envelope.
• I am finding that as my grandchildren grow up they want photos for memory boards at school and other projects so I am now adding some extra photos in the vellum envelope on the back of each page for those occasions. Since the advent of digital photography this is not necessary, but I have years of old photos and pages and pulling them off the original pages is not an option.

Thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed spending the week with all of you and I look forward to my next blog week.

Remember, you have until Sunday, June 7 at 11:59pm PST to submit your creations for the background challenge.  Complete details are HERE.   Have fun!

All your comments have my mind racing! There are so many things to do with background stamps…I think it deserves another week. Today I have a video showing some ideas for combining punches and background stamps.  The two really are the perfect combination.

As I was making today’s video I was already thinking about other things I could do with the stamps I was showing. Background stamps are so versatile and once you start playing with them, ideas just keep tumbling out of your head.

Supplies:

• Country Hearts
• Reverse Leaf Pattern
• Designer Fruit
• Neutral Art Flowers
• White and Cream Art Flowers
• Other: variety of ink colors and paper, heart and circle punches

Since it is summer, and with summer comes vacations (even if it is just camping in your own backyard), we decided to offer a summer/travel special in the Online Store. And what a great special it is too — two travel sets (Travel Frame Messages and Getaway Travel) both for $24.

Getaway Travel has images that can be used for occasions other than travel. The “Take it Easy” tag is my favorite for sending wishes to someone who is going through a tough part of their life. The word “getaway” I use for a card which contains a Starbucks gift card (sometimes just a trip to Starbucks is getaway enough).

Lisa created a fun card with the road signs from the set…

And Jennifer used just the word bubble from the set on this darling card…

The Travel Frame Messages set can be used as frames for most any images. Here’s a fantastic layout and album from Shari featuring these images.

On Friday we’ll be sharing even more summer/travel themed projects here on the blog. And…today we’re also having a giveaway of  these great sets! Five lucky stampers will be getting BOTH travel sets above.  For a chance to win, just leave a comment on today’s post and let us know your dream travel destination. We’ll randomly select five winners and announce them on Friday.  Good luck!

The two background stamps that I am using today have never been put away since I first received them. The Floating Leaf Pattern is such an easy way to create a background in exactly the same color as your stamped message, paper or accessories. Sometimes I stamp the back of the envelope to match the card inside.

Supplies:

• Floating Leaf Pattern
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue
• Woodland Creatures
• Garden Notecards
• Memories Black Ink
• Other: red marker, craft knife, black fine point marker

Instructions:

1. Use a green ink pad to ink the image completely and stamp on lime green paper. Stamp your message on a separate piece of green paper using a black ink pad.
2. Decide where you will be placing the message and trim to fit that area. Cut the leaves using a craft knife so that the message seems to be held by the leaves. Tip: If there is an area that did not stamp completely, place the message over that area. Make a border of dots around the message with a fine point black marker.
3. Stamp the lady bug on the stamped background in black ink, just above the message (so it seems to crawl on top). Color the lady bug with a red marker. Glue the message in place and attach the background on a dark green notecard.

The Raindrop Background has a pattern of dots that makes a wonderful background.

To create the three color background shown: stamp once in blue, then stamp the yellow one row over from the blue, finish by stamping the pink one row over from the blue. Using this technique gives you a three color background with very little overlapping of the dots. When you trim the paper, trim away the side that has only two colors of dots.

Supplies:

• Raindrop Background
• Smile, Play, Love
• Sparkle Gems Hearts
• Summer Mix Notecards
• Memories Black Ink
• Other:  pink, blue and yellow ink, ribbon, misc. papers,

Instructions:

1. Stamp the background image three times on a piece of white cardstock, using the technique above. Trim the paper so you have a background of three color dots.
2. Stamp three messages on coordinating colored papers in black ink and trim to a tag shape. Punch a hole in the top of the tags and tie a knot of ribbon on each. Adhere the tags over the background, mount on blue paper, and add to the front of a cantaloupe notecard.
3. Add a heart gem inside the letter “o”.

Thanks for visiting today. Join me tomorrow, when I’ll be showing how to create backgrounds from individual stamps, plus other tips and tricks.  We’ll also have a giveaway — think Summer and travel!

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!