4 Easy Background Ideas for Easter Basket Gift Tags and Cards

Join Angela as she shares 4 Spring-themed projects featuring a variety of backgrounds created with the February Essentials by Ellen release.

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What do the Skinny Stripe Stamp, Lattice Background Die, and Marble Background Hot Foil Stamp have in common? In addition to being 3 fabulous products in the latest Essentials by Ellen release, all of them can be used to create unique backgrounds for Easter cards and gift tags. In this post, I’ll show you how I made two of each, and my hope is that you’ll finish reading feeling inspired to give these techniques a try.

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Gingham Egg-Shaped Gift Tag

To create the patterned layer of this gift tag, I used the Skinny Stripes stamp with Catherine Pooler Lilac and Sugared Lavender inks. Stamping the first color, then rotating my cardstock before stamping again created a gingham look – very appropriate for spring! For best

TIP: If you have trouble getting a clean impression with clear background stamps, try adding a foam sheet or two into your MISTI, and be sure to prep the stamp. I do this by wiping it down with a baby wipe, then a microfiber cloth. It also helps to make sure your ink pads are nice and juicy, so get those re-inkers out if needed! And finally, a sticky mat is a super useful tool for holding your cardstock in place, especially when working with large background stamps.

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Embossed Skinny Stripe Layered Gift Tag

The Skinny Stripes Stamp makes a repeat appearance on this tag, this time in embossed form, and only stamped once. I used the Farmhouse Tags die set to create 2 layers – one embossed, and another covered in simple ink blending. From there, I made a little speckled egg with the Essential Egg Dies and Elegant Eggs Hot Foil Stamp, and filled it with some die cut flowers from the Sew Cute Bunny Die Set. I needed a small sentiment, and found a perfectly-sized one in the Concord & 9th Mini Gift Box stamp set.

Tip: Don’t forget to use your Essentials by Ellen Press Plate with your leftover foil! After making the speckled egg you see here with the Elegant Eggs Hot Foil Stamps, I used the Press Plate to reverse-foil the leftovers, and that gave me a much more gold speckled pattern that I could use in my next project….

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Spring Floral Card with Textured Lattice Background

This card is all about the background texture, and if you enjoy using foam strips like me, now’s the time to pull them out! Thin 1/8″ foam strips fit nicely under the cuts made by the Lattice Background Die, and on this card I decided to use more Elegant Eggs and die cut flowers in the focal area. The sentiments in the Ears to You stamp set don’t come with dies, but fussy cutting them doesn’t take long at all – I promise!

Tip: If you prefer a less-bulky card, feel free to skip the foam strips behind the lattice panel and adhere the die cut straight to the card base. Alternatively, you can keep the dimension and skip the foam strips by layering multiple lattice die cuts on top of each other.

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Egg Wreath Card with Dry Embossed Background

Last but not least, one of my favorite in the bunch. Here I’ve used the new Marble Hot Foil Stamp in the background, not foiled as intended, but dry embossed. I love how this softer-textured look really allows the wreath of eggs on top to stand out. Dry embossing with a rubber embossing mat (or two) and a die cutting machine is super simple, and a great way to make the hot foil plates in your stash stretch even further.

Tip: To make building the wreath easier, I used the skinny frame cut by one of the Essential Circle Dies as my base. After applying some liquid glue, I added my die cut eggs and still had some time to move them around until the arrangement looked the way I wanted it to.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out these 4 projects today. I hope you’re excited to create some of your own backgrounds – either with the new products or ones already in your stash – and send some handmade love this spring.

Until next time, happy crafting!

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