Three Ways: Backgrounds for focal floral images

There are so many ways to incorporate fun and creative techniques on to background for focal floral images. I’ve shared three suggestions below to pair with the Altenew Build a Flower Magnolia bundle.

The cards I’m sharing today all feature creative and ink-y background techniques that are super fun to try, and pair beautifully with any of the Altenew Build a Flower sets!

Painted Lines

My first card, and my possibly the easiest, is to use hand painted lines as a subtle background to let your beautiful BAF florals shine! I painted these lines by pouncing my ink pad on to my craft mat, and adding a little water using a paint brush and glass of water. I adhered my panel to my craft mat using some low tac tape, and painted the lines correlating to the spaces on my craft mat so I could ensure they were even.

This was such a simple background, and you can add the splatters in a contrasting colour or leave plain.

Hand drawn elements

I was so inspired by one of the recent Altenew videos by Erum Tasneem as she suggested hand drawing elements on to tour card. Again, it’s something I’ve hugely shied away from but on this example below, I see lines using my T ruler and a white gel pen corresponding to the lines on my craft mat for an even look. I add the splatters using white pigment ink mixed with water on my craft mat.

I achieved the softer look with the Magnolia image by using second generation stamping!

Ink Smooshing

Despite this being a fairly well known technique, I had never tried ink smooshing before (mostly for fear of making a complete mess!). I did this in a neater and more controlled way by using a very small acrylic block and mini ink cubes. I pounced my ink cube on to my acrylic block, then added a small drop of water using a paint brush and glass of water (nothing fancy here!) and smooshed this on to my cardstock. I repeated several times but was happy I was able to control the amount and intensity of colour this way. I added a few splatters using the leftover colour on my acrylic block each time.

I hope you’ve been inspired to incorporate some more fun and only techniques into your cards, and I appreciate your time in reading my post.

Beth x

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Supplies

Altenew, Build a Flower Magnolia stamp and die

Raindrops, Bubbles and Jewels from Lucy’s Cards

White and Kraft cardstock

Embossing Powder - Wow

Adhesive

Sizzix Big Shot

Tim Holtz trimmer

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