Blended Stripes Background

I created this card months ago during an online stamping event. I have a medium-sized stack of old projects that I still need to share, so you will see them showing up here every so often. The stamps that I used are retired and no longer available, but the technique is forever young and you can create it with stamps that you own.

To create this multi-color, striped background you will need three inks, three blending brushes, and a greeting stamp that is a little < 1/2″ tall. I cut three strips of white scrap cardstock 5 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ to use as guides for blending. Here are the steps to create the background:

• Place one of the guides diagonally across the top left corner of Basic White.
• Use a Blending Brush to apply Crushed Curry ink blending up starting on the guide and lightly blending onto the Basic White cardstock.
• Place a different guide 1/2″ below the line from the Crushed Curry blended line.
• Like before, use a different Blending Brush to apply Melon Mambo ink in the same fashion, using a light hand to apply the ink.
• Place the third guide 1/2″ below the line from the Melon Mambo blended line.
• You know the drill – use a different Blending Brush to apply Shy Shamrock ink in the same fashion.
• Repeat the steps, alternating between each of the colors working toward the bottom right corner in 1/2″ intervals.
• Stamp the greeting in Crushed Curry ink over the yellow blended stripes as pictured.
• Ta Da! You have a cool, unique background that you can use on your project.

This is a picture of the inside of the card. There is no repeat of the stripe technique here, but the stamped and fussy-cut butterfly carries the theme from the front to the inside. I love the bright colors which are perfect for a cheerful birthday card. I encourage you to try this out with supplies that you have at home. No shopping required! If you do want to shop, the Choose Happy stamp set is perfect to create a very close cousin to my card shown here.

Speaking of shopping – today is the last day of the current Free Shipping promotion from Stampin’ Up!™. I posted about this earlier in the week, and you can read about it here. This is a great opportunity to buy tools or stamps to recreate this card. Need ink? It’s included. Need Blending Brushes? They’re included. Embellishments? Cardstock? Dimensionals? All of it is included in the Free Shipping deal. You can find everything here.

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