Tip on creating your own background paper

I love making my own background paper because there are so many stamps and images to choose from.  Most stamp sets have a combination of images and words that coordinate together, which makes it easier for you to come up with a card design.  Creating your own background paper is quick and easy when using the same image repeated over and over.  Be sure to use a scrap piece of paper to “stamp over” when creating your own background paper because you will get a more professional look.

Stamp the repeated image either in a horizontal or diagonal direction, being sure to “stamp over” onto the scrap paper.  On the next row, stamp the image between the top two images and repeat across onto the scrap.  I find that this repetition and going off the page makes it look more crisp.  If you were to try to squeeze the entire image onto the stamped paper, it would look too smooshed and unbalanced.

A stamp set that I use over and over is Better Together.  It has stamps that hit many of the reasons we send cards: birthday, wedding, baby, sympathy Christmas and Hello.  There are sentiments for the front of the card and matching ones that can be stamped inside, along with a few coordinating images.

Here is a photo of how I stamped the repeated birthday hats onto the scrap:I added a little ribbon, nothing fancy just folded and taped downAnd the final result.  I made a few of these cards because they were so quick and easy. You can see that I varied the direction of landscape and portrait as well as reversing the colors.Here’s another card I made using the same Better Together stamp set and “stamping over” system:And the final result of this Wedding card:I filmed a little video on how I cut the layered papers and used this Wedding card as one of the examples.  To see the video, here is the post: https://mailsomethingpretty.com/templates-make-it-easy-to-figure-out-paper-layers/

There is a card making movement going on called #simplestamping and these are two great examples of it using just stamps, ink and paper (& a little bit of ribbon).  Remember, simple does not have to equal boring.  Sometimes, simple is much better because the card gets made quicker and then gets mailed quicker.

Let me know in the comments section if this “stamping over” technique is a helpful one to you.