It’s getting close to the Holidays and for those of you that celebrate the next few days will go by in a blur. But I often find a quietness descends on Boxing Day for a few days until the energy builds up again for New Year celebrations. If you have a moment in the Holidays, you may find this blog post helpful as a way to make quick and easy cards.

Do you have a stack of backgrounds you’ve made for other projects and for whatever reason didn’t make the cut? Maybe you made multiple backgrounds with a technique and picked your favourite or perhaps tried a new stamp in different ways to play and discover its possibilities but then didn’t end up using all the pieces you’d made. I keep all these backgrounds in a box and every now and then I pull one out to use on a card. Adding a few simple white die cuts to these backgrounds is a great way to quickly and easily make up cards. For example, the background for this card was one I’d make previously and then I simply added die cuts and a sentiment to it. I’ve linked all supplies with compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

DIE CUTS ARE GREAT FOR GIVING NEW LIFE TO LEFTOVer Backgrounds

I was in a blue/green mood, and so, for this blog post, I picked out a few backgrounds and a bunch of die cuts. 

KEY INGREDIENTS

• Simon Says Stamp Botanical Split Background
• Simon Says Stamp Arched Leaf And Flower Blooms Dies
• Simon Says Stamp Detail Tapestry Plate
• Concord & 9th Mix And Match Everyday Sentiments Stamp

The background for this card uses the Botanical Split Background with Distress Inks and then spritzed before stamping to get the watercolour look. Next, I added watercolours to the wet stamped image for extra depth in places. Then, I splattered with leftover paint, white gouache and perfect pearls. For the die-cut focal point, I die cut the Detail Tapestry Plate from an Ivory card and from that die cut a circle.  To this, I added Arched Leaf, and Flower Blooms dies. Finally, for the sentiment, I stamped the Mix and Match Everyday Sentiments stamp from Concord & 9th in Versamark ink and heat embossed it in Antique Gold embossing powder. I then die cut with the matching die and mixed and matched sentiments from these die cuts for all three cards.

KEY INGREDIENTS

• Simon Says Stamp Privet Branch Die
• Simon Says Stamp Mermaid Scales Stencil
• Simon Says Stamp Thank You Text Stamp
• Concord & 9th Mix And Match Everyday Sentiments Stamp

There’s a video for the background of this card. You can find the blog post here or jump straight to YouTube here. As there is a video, I won’t go into lots of detail. The basis is using Distress Glazes over Texture Paste. I made several of these backgrounds testing out various different bacground options and then at the time just made one card and kept the other pieces. Today, I pulled out one of those leftover pieces and added the Privet Branch die cut from an Ivory card, paired again with the Concord & 9th sentiments.

KEY INGREDIENTS

• Simon Says Stamp Delicate Branch Die
• Concord & 9th Mix And Match Everyday Sentiments Stamp

This background was the simplest of the three. I’d previously swept wide bands of light blue watercolour to create a broad striped background. I add the Delicate Branch die and the Concord and 9th sentiment. For all three cards I embellished with sequins and pearls from Little Things By Lucy’s Cards.

THANK YOU

I’m a private, introverted person who struggles to share details of my life other than my crafting. However, I had had so much support recently when I took a step back a little, and I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done to help me. From private messages, comments, and people simply reaching out, if I didn’t know already how awesome this community is, I certainly would now. 

Because I struggle to share details, I have found it hard to explain what has been going on with my health. However, I feel a pull to raise awareness and prevent people from experiencing what I have or worse. So over the Holidays, I plan on writing a health information post. If it saves only one person the problems I face, it would be worth any discomfort from being more public with my private life. So watch this space for that and if it’s not your thing, then I will be back in the New Year with lots more creative posts to share. I wish you and yours a safe and healthy Christmas and a fabulously creative New Year!

SUPPLIES

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or shop icon to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Items marked with an asterisk (*) provided by a store or the manufacturer. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I genuinely appreciate your support.

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Summary of the project which gives all the views of the card in one photo :D I’d love if you pinned and called by on Pinterest :D