Creative Confetti: Background Check!

Hello folks and welcome to another little inspirational party here on the ole Power Poppy blog! Just as we do almost every Tuesday, I'm throwing up some creative ideas to see just how they fall into your oh-so-artsy hands! 

Did you see Amy Shulke of Vanilla Arts guest post yesterday? Well, she rocked it and shared all kinds of tips on creating backgrounds not as an afterthought, but as a launching point to your creativity! I LOVED seeing all her examples and the rationale behind each and every one! If you missed Inspire Me Monday -- rewind and check it out HERE! Why? Because we wanted to use some of her pointers to inspire YOU to rethink the way you think about backgrounds! Check out this week's Creative Confetti! 

HOW TO PLAY: It's as simple as making sure your background really sings and helps give depth and dimension to your stamped image. Like I said, visit Amy's tutorial HERE and it will all make sense! We want to break out of our background boxes and make sure the color we add is for a reason and has a purpose in bringing our image to life! 

Moving on to my creation!

So, to start my creation, I decided to go with a dark and moody feel. Not sure why. Maybe it's because we just had a rain storm recently and I loved looking at the depth of those grey clouds and just how powerful they looked? Not sure!

So, to create my background, I started by stamping the rose from My English Rose on a full page removable label. Just a note, this stamp is out of stock right now but you can always use the La Vie En Rose digital stamp and erase the background notecard! For tips on manipulating digis, check out THIS tutorial! To use a digital stamp for this process, you would print the image twice - once on a full sheet removable label and then once on your main paper that you will later color up.

 After fussy cutting and putting the mask over my stamped image on my main panel of paper, I then masked off my border. It's my favorite kind! I just rip Post-It Notes and let the rips go any which way to create a wonky border.

Then, let the sponging begin!

Just a note, while I pulled out the Black Soot Distress Ink, I really didn't use it. I tested it on a scrap and it was just too dark. So, the other two were the main colors. After I sponged on the inks, I splashed on some water to create the little watermarks. I pulled off the mask and then got to coloring! I used a mix of YR shades and YG for the leaves. You can see, to ground my image, I followed Amy's advice and added some shading behind the flower to cast a shadow. I used C1 and C3 to get this look. Here's a little close-up for you!

And here's a peek at my sentiment that I stamped using Versamark ink and embossed with white detail embossing powder.

And that, my friends, is it!

So, now it's your turn! Don't be backwards with your backgrounds! Follow Amy's advice HERE for some real standout creations! And then, when you're done, make sure to link up your creation below so that we can all see! Keep in mind, like I mentioned, one lucky stamper will win a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop!

Happy Creating!

~Julie

a.k.a. The Creative Confetti Thrower

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