Layered Halloween Background

Kelly Rasmussen

Fall has arrived and Halloween is just around the corner, so I've decided to break out some new Halloween stamps and dies for today's card.

Believe it or not, this card started with a white panel for the background. But with lots of inking, stamping and die-cutting it has been transformed into a dimensional textured background full of interesting layers.

To create the background, I inked up the entire panel with Grape Slush Reactive Ink and a blending brush. Then I went in with black ink around the edges and Sea Salt Reactive Ink in the middle area. This white ink works great to add highlighted areas over darker colors! Once these colors were blended smooth, I stamped the Nevermore Print Bold Prints over the top with black ink. Next, I added splatters of White Iridescent Shimmer Spray and White Liquid Watercolor with a paintbrush. And finally I created some texture using the Spider Web Texture Fancy Die.

The black cat is a die from the I See Crafting Frame Cuts set. Even though this die was designed to coordinate with the matching stamp set, it works great as a stand alone die. To give the cat some dimension, I die cut it three times from Pitch Black Cardstock and glued those together and then cut it once from Pebble Cardstock for the shadow.

The sentiment from the Autumn Bounty Stamp & Cut is heat embossed with Black Sparkle Embossing Powder on Pebble Cardstock. I added some detail to the cat with a white gel pen and finished off the card with a scattering of Neutral Enamel Dots.

Backgrounds like this can intimidate me a little because there are so many steps I could mess up on. But once I started, it was so much fun! Any mistakes can easily be covered up by another element, or in as in my case with this card, a cat. I accidentally dropped my black ink pad on the background and it left a black streak across the panel. But instead of tossing it, I just worked around it when designing the rest of the card and covered it up with the cat.

Thanks for joining me today!


  • Karen Brown

    Love the layered background. I’ve not done one before but love reading about yours. :-)

  • Ellie Uselton

    I love it! The colors, the speckles, the cat, everything!! Thank you for the inspiration.

  • Ginny

    This is so cute! I love the spider web and embellishments but mostly the cat. The colors are great too!

  • Terrie D.

    This is such a cool card! I love how you created the fun background. :)

  • Barbara-Jean

    Great artistry!

12 Responses

Karen Brown

Karen Brown

Oct 22, 2019

Love the layered background. I’ve not done one before but love reading about yours. :-)

Ellie Uselton

Ellie Uselton

Sep 30, 2019

I love it! The colors, the speckles, the cat, everything!! Thank you for the inspiration.

Ginny

Ginny

Sep 29, 2019

This is so cute! I love the spider web and embellishments but mostly the cat. The colors are great too!

Terrie D.

Terrie D.

Sep 29, 2019

This is such a cool card! I love how you created the fun background. :)

Barbara-Jean

Barbara-Jean

Sep 28, 2019

Great artistry!

Carla Hundley

Carla Hundley

Sep 28, 2019

How darling! Love
the background and
the cat!
Carla from Utah

Shirley Wallen

Shirley Wallen

Sep 27, 2019

Lots of steps, but worth it. I really like how the background inking turned out.

Linda W. (ScrappinBari)

Linda W. (ScrappinBari)

Sep 27, 2019

Wow, Kelly! Just adore the background you created! Perfect for that sweet kitty!!

Lagene

Lagene

Sep 27, 2019

Awesome background, great card!

Karthikha Uday

Karthikha Uday

Sep 27, 2019

Wow! Fantastic background! And love the layered kitty too! <3

Bonita Reyes

Bonita Reyes

Sep 27, 2019

Love the cat!

Henriëtte

Henriëtte

Sep 27, 2019

Stunning card, such a great background Kelly. I love also what you did with the black cat. Thank you so much for sharing and have a great weekend.