Serendipity Stamps Guest Designer

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I'm very excited today to be a guest designer for Serendipity Stamps September Challenge!  The theme this month is "Stamp Your Own Background", something that I love doing, how about you? 

To make the background for this card, I started with Serendipity Stamps Beaded Strings Background.  Background stamps are a great way to start a card, there are so many different techniques you can do with them.  I first embossed the Beaded Strings on white paper using gold embossing powder.  Next I chose 3 shades of Distress Ink, Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass, and Shaded Lilac, and used my blending tool to apply the ink over the gold embossing.  This is one of my favorite color combos when I want a soft, dreamy look.  Next I splashed some water droplets over the background (the lighter color spots you see on the card).  This technique always adds a bit more interest when you're using Distress Ink.  For the circular sentiment panel I actually used a bit of a different technique, but the same ink colors.  First I embossed the sentiment,  You Make Me Happy When Skies, in gold.  Then I smooshed some of the ink onto my craft mat, sprayed with a bit of water, and used a paint brush to apply the colors where I wanted them.  I added some gold thread behind the sentiment panel, and some white sequins and purple gems, to finish the card.

I think this Beaded Strings background stamp is extremely versatile.  It would look great on just about any type/theme of card!  I hope I've inspired you to try your hand at making your own background if it's something you haven't tried yet.

One more thing before I go, there's a beautiful stamp on sale this month for 50% off at Serendipity Stamps, the Japanese Maple!  Be sure to check it out, in addition to being a lovely focal image it would be fabulous as a background.