Let's take a look at the new Concrete Texture Background stamp

  Hello Crafty Friends,

Do you ever look at a background stamp and ask yourself "What could I possibly use that for?" I bet some of you do.  If you've been making cards a long time or feel like you're in a rut, maybe these ideas will help get you into an exploratory mood. 

Lately I've gotten a little tired of plain backgrounds so now I'm doing more experimenting.  

The way I used this stamp on the cards below is subtle (to me anyway) yet gives the cards a more artful looking appearance. A little more pizzazz :)

On the three cards shown here I will explain how I used the  newly released concrete texture 3 different ways.

• 1 - The background on Rum Is Gone card I heat embossed it in gold.  
• The very first thing I did was stamp the concrete texture stamp using a clear embossing pad, sprinkled it with gold embossing powder, then heat set. 
• 2 - On the Ending Racism design I put the concrete texture stamp on a large acrylic block and randomly stamped in gray before I did anything else to the card. I also stamped it on the red matte.
• 3 - On the last card (I used a saying from the Inside Out Karma set just released) 
• I first added a little pink ink color randomly to the card using a brush so I could control how much ink was applied. 
• Next I gave it a spritz of water then dabbed with a dry paper towel. 
• I then stamped the coffee girl and saying.
• Last - I used a neutral color (light brown, but it looks gold in this picture) and stamped around the girl and sentiment. 

* You can make a mask to cover the girl and sentiment before stamping the concrete texture stamp around them or simply use a piece of a sticky note to cover them so you can stamp around. 

I hope you find these technique tips helpful. Let me know if you give them a try. I'd love to see what you do with the new concrete texture background stamp.

Thanks for stopping by today.

AJ