Hello, and happy January to you! This month I want to show you a neat way to make a clean and simple background for your cards. It’s super easy, and you can use whichever shape of steel die you have on hand. It’s always great to shop your stash!
So here’s the card where I used the masking technique to “ground” the potted plant.
The stamp set is called Succulents by Simon Hurley, and luckily you can get the dies for all the shapes in the set. You’ll notice that the shape I used for the ink blended area is slightly odd-shaped. That’s because I used one of the dies for the larger succulent images. The spiky edges match well, don’t you think?
So to make this card, I chose colors from one of my favorite nautical color schemes. I made all the layers for the front panel first, then created the succulent for the main focal point.
READ ALSO: CLEAN AND SIMPLE STYLE
There are stamps in the set, so you don’t have to color the plants, which saves a ton of time. To get that gradient look, I inked the image with two colors of green ink; light on top and dark on the bottom. The little zigzag stripes are made with a white gel pen.
Once I had the sentiment heat embossed, I set all the pieces aside and cut my background shape from a piece of masking paper. For the color, I blended in some Dusty Blue Mid Tone ink from Hero Arts, starting as dark as I could at the top and fading to white toward the bottom.
I love peeling off masking paper; It’s so much fun to see what’s underneath!
After the background spot dried completely, I affixed the plant with some 3D foam squares and layered the sentiment over the pot. Now the succulent doesn’t look like it’s floating out in space, which is precisely what it looked like before I decided to add the ink.
Of course, no card is complete without a bit of decoration, right? At least, that’s how I feel about the cards I make. They all need a touch of sparkle… sequins to the rescue!
READ ALSO: HOW DID YOU DO THAT?
Thanks for reading today, lovelies! The next time you have a super pretty embellishment or image you’d like to show off on a card, remember this easy masking technique to make it look amazing.
Niki Coursey is from Texas, US. Niki has been writing for TPC since 2022. Niki started paper crafting in 2014 and she mostly makes cards and do some quilling projects. Her paper projects are often made in Clean and Simple or an Artsy style.