Garden background look

The background on this card looks a bit like an out of focus picture of leaves, etc in a garden. We have the in focus plants at the front with our stamped image. This background texture was made with the waxed paper technique that I posted on this past Saturday. For this card then, make a background with Certainly Celery and Old Olive using the waxed paper technique.

Cut a piece of blue from the Brights Collection(#117155) cut 5 1/2 x 1 1/2." Adhere it to the left side of the background cardstock.

Stamp an image in Old Olive from the Just Believe(#120453) set on Whisper White cardstock. Cut loosely around the outside of the image. Adhere it above the blue paper, covering the edge a bit.

Cut a piece of 1/2" Marina Mist scallop dots ribbon(#122986) to about 6." Adhere it to the card covering the bottom edge of the image. Wrap the ends around to the back of the card.

Use the brush end of your Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Marina Mist Stampin' Write markers to color directly onto your stamp. Give the stamp of huff/breath of air to freshen the ink. Stamp onto your white cardstock.

Cut this image out. Place SU! Dimensionals(#104430) on the back and adhere over the ribbon and the other image. Be sure to just overlap the image slightly so that both will show.

Stamp the circle image with Old Olive cardstock. Color the flowers with your Marina Mist marker. Use your 1" circle punch(#119868) to pop out the image. Adhere it to your card on the right about 1/3 of the way from the top of the card.

Adhere this to your 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" card base. Add your greeting or a note to the inside.

Waxed paper technique

This makes a fun background look on your regular white cardstock. You can use any colors that you want to try together to come up with some fun looks. Different shades of greens can give you a nice garden look while yellows, oranges & browns can make your paper look like suede. Thanks to my friend Gail Goodman for directing me to this cool technique.




1. Take a piece of waxed paper slightly larger than the cardstock you are working with. Crumble it up into a small ball; then smooth it back out.

2. Place this waxed paper between 2 sheets of cardstock. I used cardstock 4 ¼” x 5 ½” to use as my card background.

3. Place a clean sheet of plain paper on your surface to protect it. Lay your cardstock sandwich on top of it.

4. Run a hot iron over the top of piece of cardstock for about 15-20 seconds to give the waxed paper time to melt. Throw away the waxed paper. You now have to cards to do this technique with.

5. Place one of the pieces of cardstock on top of a piece of scrap paper to protect your work surface.

6. Choose 2 shades of the same color ink, one light and one darker. Exp. Certainly Celery and Old Olive Rub the light colored ink directly on the cardstock and rub ink all over the cardstock with the waxed paper. Give the ink about a minute to dry. Do the same with the dark ink. (Be sure to use the light color first or you will have a mess with your ink pad.) The dark ink does not have to totally cover the lighter ink. You will want to leave some of the light ink showing in spots.

7. Use a dry paper towel to wipe the wax off of the card to make your texture really show.

Try this technique with just one color or with 3 colors to see the effect that you get.

It makes a fun background for a garden, wild animals, leather look, etc depending on the colors that you use.

Come back Monday to see a card made using this technique for the background.