If you are anything like me you will have a huge pile of papers but when it comes to making a card or designing a scrapbook page you simply can not part with some of your wonderful and beautiful papers.



There are so many stunning designs of paper available for card makers and scrap bookers some are so stunning it seems a shame to cut them up and create cards from them, although the cards will be beautiful if you are like me you just do not want to part with any of your paper.

I have often found that when I want to create a card I will search through my pile of papers for background paper and cant find any thing simple enough to use, most of the pretty papers are too mach for a small card especially if you are going to add a large embellishment or maybe even a decoupage piece.

One of the solutions I came up with was to create my own backing paper. I tried out many ideas, some worked some did not the best way I found to create simple background papers is to use my ink pads.

Firstly I decided what topper, embellishment or decoupage piece you want to use so that you can determine the colors you will need so that the picture and the paper correspond and work well together.

Simply stamp your ink pad all over the paper or card front, do not worry about making it even it actually looks better if it is not perfect. If you are lucky enough to have a large supply of ink pads you could always use more than one color but make sure it matches what ever you are going to place on top of it.

It is important to wait until the ink has dried so that you do not smudge it. One dry you can then add your embellishment to the paper or card.

Making your own backing paper will save you money and you can choose the color to match your design perfectly.

You can use this technique on both paper and card but try not to be too heavy handed with your ink pads as this can leave a thick layer of ink. I find when doing this, less is more.

You can also lightly spray your paper or card with a small amount of water, this will make the ink go a lot further, again do not over wet paper or card as this can cause it to crinkle and no longer be flat making it a lot harder to work with.