Hi friends!
Welcome to Membership Thursday with me! This week I will show you how to use the Background of the Month stamp to create an easy, colorful background to your focal point! We’ll be using January’s Background of the Month stamp, Have Faith Love is All Around stamp, reactive inks, black permanent ink, watercolor paper, and alcohol markers! Let’s get started on all the fun!
First step was to choose the color combination for the background and the flower. It’s important to keep the colors minimal, say 3 or 4, so that everything comes together cohesively!
TIP I use many sources to choose my colors, from inspiration on social media to color mood boards! You can even google color mood boards and get inspired! I think it helps the creative process to find color selections that work well together!
Once I had chosen my colors, which were shades of yellow and coral, I stamped the January Background of the Month onto a piece of 5.5×4.25 white watercolor paper using permanent black ink. The permanent ink won’t streak when it gets wet by water or alcohol. Then I trimmed the panel down to 3.75×5 using my deckled edge paper trimmer.
Next, I took the lightest color of reactive ink (I used Hero Arts brand, but there are several on the market and I’ve linked them above) and applied ink onto my glass media matt and sprayed with water. Then I tapped the stamped watercolor card panel over the ink several times to get random color. I heat set the color and repeated the same technique using the 2 other colors, heating after each layer, which helps each color stand out and not create a muddled effect.
Once the inking was done, I then went back in with the inks and some metallic watercolor and added lots and lots of splatters! Then I adhered the panel over a slightly larger piece of black cardstock and adhered both layers to a 5.5×4.25 white card base.
Next up, coloring the beautiful flower from Have Faith Love is All Around! Using my Copic markers (any alcohol markers will do and I’ve linked those as well), I colored the flowers and butterfly in similar shades as the background panel. The butterfly was done in shades of pink, but I wanted it to stand out a bit more from the flower and background. Then I fussy cut the stamp and adhered it over the background panel along with the sentiment. I finished with Glossy Accents over the center of the flower. You can see all that lovely detail below!!
It is so easy to apply color to a background panel and not have it compete with the focal point because you are using colors that coordinate together! An alternative to stamping is that you could heat emboss the background stamp and create a resist effect and consider using different colors of embossing powder to get a unique look!
Thanks for joining me today! To learn more about saving money each month with Unity’s Membership kits, visit here. You’ll get a new, unique set of stamps to your mailbox each month! To use the items in this post, click on the description to be taken to the Unity shop!