Styling Busy Backgrounds with Split Card Design
Hello and welcome back! Thanks so much for joining me today! Today's post will focus on how to style a card with a busy background you have created. Often times we create a beautiful background but are not quite sure how to style it or give it a good focal point. In this post, we will be focusing on type of style - there will be future blog posts that will be about different ways to style intense backgrounds.
We will be looking at two cards today - one with a bright colorful background and one with an intricate but neutral-colored background.
First up is a bright and layered background. I made this background by stamping eight layered sunflowers from the Hero Arts' September monthly kit onto white card stock. I die cut them out using the coordinating dies, and layered them over a 4 1/4 and 5/12 white piece of card stock. Any sunflower petals that overlapped from the card stock, I cut off and then used to fill in any gaps around the edges of the card as needed.
After making sure all the sunflowers were adhered securely (if you use a liquid medium, make sure it is fully dry before the next step), I cut out about 1 inch of the sunflowers in the middle of the card. I then glued the two remaining pieces onto a 4 1/4 and 5 1/2 white piece of card stock, leaving the gap I cut out in the middle. (I used the piece I cut out to create a second card!). I then cut two strips of 1/8 inch gold glitter card stock to glue up against the edge of the two sunflower pieces.
I then stamped the sentiment "sending you sunshine" from the My Monthly Hero Kit in the center of the white space. I used a small ink blending tool to blend a light aqua on the edges of the white strip for some added color. Finally, I added some Lucy's Cards gems to the center of each sunflower and on either side of the sentiment.
This style allows the sunflowers to stand out while also allowing the sentiment to be clear and uncluttered. It also gives the card a broad focal point. The next card's background is on Kraft paper with intricate white embossing. Another busy background, but more neutral and is not necessarily the main point of the card.
For my second card, I trimmed about half an inch from the top and the bottom of the panel, instead of cutting a strip from inside the card. This allows me to cut the card in half where the center of the stamp is, to act as a radiating focal point. I then glue the bottom panel to the bottom edge and the top panel to the top edge of the 4 1/4 and 5 1/2 white piece of card stock using craft foam, to give it some dimension.
I then stamped the layered flower bunch and a leaf from a SSS Stamptember collaboration with Clearly Besotted, and fussy-cut it out. I then added the flowers and leaf to right edge of the white strip to create a focal point for the card. I put a piece of foam tape behind the flower to make sure it wouldn't buckle in the mail.
I then stamped the sentiment from a SSS stamp set in black in the white strip, and addedWink of Stella and Lucy's Cards gems and sequins to the flowers and around the flowers to emphasize the focal point. I then used an ink blending tool to blend a light brown ink on the edges of the card to give the edge some definition.
This technique works well if you do not have die cut sentiments but want a busy card. There are many other techniques for busy backgrounds and I'll explore those later. I hope you liked these cards and hope you liked this design! Thanks so much for stopping by!
xoxo Meghan