DIY Patterned Paper with Essentials by Ellen

Can’t find the right piece of patterned paper in your crafty stash? Well you can use stamps and inks to create the perfect one!

Today Julie is sharing one of her favorite tricks—making patterned paper in colors to suit her project!  Because her cards feature a lot of white space, she typically only needs a small piece or strip to accent the design.  The white embossed greeting really pops against this multi-color striped pattern!  As a bonus, you’ll also see Julie’s method for working with full-sized background stamps.

Tips:

• Using an individual clear block for repeat stamping can help speed up the pattern-making process.
• Tack your project down to typing paper with a little bit of tape runner to keep it from moving around.
• Clean and dry your stamp before switching ink colors to avoid ink pad cross-contamination.
• Leave large background stamps on the carrier sheet and apply ink with the design face up; apply card carefully, then cover with typing paper and burnish across the  surface (anchor the typing paper with one hand while burnishing one half, then switch to burnish the other half, taking care not to shift the the paper—don’t forget the outer edges!)

Supplies: