Tutorial Tuesday: One Layer Border Background

Whew, I’m back and with a tutorial that I’m sure is going to delight!  After the tutorial, I have a big announcement.

This has to be one of my easiest and quickest techniques yet!  I have learned through the number of comments left on my tutorials that this is just the kind of tutorial you want.  For being the easiest tutorial, I was shocked to learn that I have 17 photos to share with you.  As you know, I like to take detailed step-by-step photos which, I think, is one of the reasons my tuts are so popular.

Today you are going to learn how to create the multi-coloured and stamped border.  This technique doesn’t have to stop at just a border; you can create a whole background instead.  My tutorial is quite long, so let’s get started.

Supplies:

3 to 5 colours of ink

Two sponges

assorted background stamps or stamp’n wheel

(The reason I like two sponges is to keep the colours from touching each other.  If they do combine, the colour becomes muddy.  Use a good craft sponge as seen above)

I am going to demonstrate on  6″ x 6″ and 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.  For each size, a smaller piece of cardstock is used for masking as seen in the photo above.  The size is dependent on the size of the decorative border you wish to have.  Experiment and have fun in deciding what is right for you.

At random, rub first colour onto cardstock.  Use your other hand to hold the masking cardstock firmly in place.  An example of how I inked a portion of the cardstock can be seen along the bottom; note how I did not ink right up to the masking paper.  I did that with the intention of adding a second colour in that particular area.

Add your second colour.  Notice the random pattern of turquoise.  Do not be afraid of rubbing a second colour over top of another.  Two colours will work, but three will create a muddy look.

My third, and final colour has been added.  This is the time to darken any areas you feel need it.

This next step is quite simple.  Place a piece of scrap paper (I use cardstock so there is no bleeding) so that one side of the inked border is showing.

Now the fun begins.  In this step, stamp over top of the inked background that you just made with the inks.  Do not be afraid to stamp over top of the paper mask.  By doing so, your image will look more natural.  Repeat on the opposite side.

In this step, you are ready to stamp along the other two sides.  Cover the stamped areas with a mask, including the center area.  Stamp out your image into the open area.

For my A2 (5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″) card front, I wanted to add a second image.  Using another colour, I randomly stamped out circles.

If you have a rubber wheel, you can do a nice edge by using the above mentioned masking.  Of course, I took a short cut and did not mask with the wheel, but we will pretend I masked just to keep you happy

Now the cool step.  Distress your edges with one colour of ink.  As you distress over top of each colour, the ink you are using will appear to be a different colour.  Magic.

How to distress edges:  Push sponge into ink pad and swipe along the card edge.

Bammm..kick it up a notch and add white along some of the stamped images.

Not all cards have to have straight edges.  Here I tilted the paper mask to give  a diamond shaped center.

This technique is one of my favourites, and is very addictive.  It is a tutorial I have been wanting to show you for over a year, and I’m so happy to finally share it with you.  Now onto some more examples.

Stamps:  Odd Bird Planet Circle Dot Background #98K; Michelle’s Big Scroll #329U; Brigitte Left 276G; thank you 987B

Stamps:  Odd Bird Planet Circle Dot Background #98K; Michelle’s Big Scroll #329U

Stampin’ Up bird, branch and sentiment:  Spring Solitude

Adirondack Colours I used on my examples:

Watermelon

Sail Boat Blue

Lettuce

Citrus

Wild Plum

That wraps it up for this week’s tutorial.

Now onto the big announcement

Starting this Saturday, I will be hosting a weekly Saturday blog hop with my design team, and guess what is up for grabs?!  A Nestability set.  That right, a Nestability set!  Every week!

All you have to do is participate in the challenge and leave a link to your project.

Don’t forget to come back Saturday to see what the challenge is all about, and for your chance to win a Nestability set.

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