Bold Pops of Color on Neutral Background

Hello! Today I’m creating two cards with bold pops of color and neutral backgrounds. I’m using the stamp set Build-a- flower Columbine stamp and die by Altenew as well as the Whimsical Herringbone background stamp for the first card. The second card I’m using the Terrazzo Tile stencil and Simply Spring stamp and die.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. This means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will get a small commission with no additional cost to you as the consumer. I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. For full disclosure policy click here.

Supplies Used

Altenew Build-a-flower Columbine Stamp and Die
Altenew Whimsical Herringbone Background Stamp
Altenew Simply Spring Stamp and Die
Altenew Terrazzo Tile Stencil
Altenew Inks – Limestone, Silverstone, Industrial Diamond, Wisteria, Hydrangea, Andromeda, Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Firebrick, Parrott, Olive, Moss
Altenew Pure White Embossing Powder
Altenew Small Blending Brushes (set of 4)
Versamark
Foam Tape Roll
MISTI
Copics YR07, YR04, YR00, W1
Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink (Copic safe)
White iridescent sequins

I first started with my background and inked in three different gray colors from Altenew inks in Limestone, Silverstone and Industrial Diamond. There wasn’t any special inking here, I just randomly placed those colors on the background.

As with most all Altenew stamps sets, this is a stamp layering stamp. This particular flower has a lot of different layers to it. I used the stamp positioning tool and the stamp positioning guide right beside me.

If you’re having problems getting great impressions with your brand new stamps, check out this article.

When I started working on the center layers of the flower, I wanted to make sure that my placement was correct. I used a piece of acetate over stamped panel and stamped on it first to make sure I had my placement correct.

My colors for this flower are bold too! I created this look by skipping the next to darkest color. This gave the darkest detail layer a super bold punch of color.

The sentiment that I’m using is “hello darling!”, from the Whimsical Herringbone set. It’s white heating embossing on some dark gray card stock. I just cut that down into a square and popped it up on right side.

You might be wondering what inspired these cards. The class Color Your Day. This class has all sorts of tips for creating with bright colors on your cards. My favorite lesson in the course was all about creating cards with neutral colors in the background with bold pops of colors. I tend to keep my backgrounds white or a tone-on-tone color instead of creating with neutrals to add visual interest.

But that’s not the only thing in this class! You can use a color wheel to get inspiration for your color pallet. Purple is my favorite color. Orange and yellow are complimentary colors for purple. The combination adds a ton of visual interest.

Another thing I noticed in this class is the placement of elements on the card to enhance the bright colors. In this first card I placed the flowers at the very top of the card and it adds a huge impact.

The second card is similar to the first the colors except I only colored a single bloom and did not blend any of the colors so it has the same feel as the first card. Check out the video to see how this card was created. Thanks for joining me today!