How To Create Patterned Backgrounds

Patterned Backgrounds

Whether it's dies or stamps that you prefer, there are so many techniques you can use to create punchy eye-catching backgrounds to really wow your recipients! These clean & simple backgrounds are about combining a simple and bold colourway with shape, texture or repetition to achieve a striking look. The cards featured here are great examples of quick and easy ways to create your own unique patterned paper backgrounds! Follow Laura's amazing video tutorials below to improve your cardmaking skills and keep up to date with all the latest releases.

Heart Backgrounds

Hearts are a great shape to use for a multitude of occasions, it's a great way to share the love through cardmaking!

Hello

This simple design features a Concord & 9th set stamped using a range of inks for a multicoloured background - so easy and effective! The finished effect is that of a paint swatch, Laura has then added a statement sentiment topper to finish the look!

Love you

Geometric patterns are still on-trend and now there are so many amazing angular designs to choose from on the market. Laura has used the Botanical Heart stamp set by Simon Says Stamp with heat-embossing and ink-blending techniques to create fun floating ombré heart toppers which form the background of this design.

Circle Backgrounds

Love You

This beautiful background was inspired by a painting that Laura saw online - inspiration strikes in the most interesting places! A card blank is essentially a smaller canvas, so it's a great idea to shrink and recreate fun patterns from the art world! This is a design that you can have a go at using the circle dies from your stash.

Square Backgrounds

Big Thanks

This fun retro-inspired design is much like the circle one above, a manipulation of basic shapes to build a strong contrasting pattern. If you're familiar with patchwork techniques, it's much the same - build the squares in colourways, then cut them up and rearrange as you wish! You could try this with patterned paper instead of bold cardstock colours for a true retro patchwork effect.

Stitched Backgrounds

Bringing other crafts into cardmaking is a fun way to add texture to your designs and to make something truly unique! Dig through your stash for twine, ribbon, hessian and fabric - you can weave, die-cut and build backgrounds using multi-craft items.

Just For You

In this tutorial, Laura shows you how to stitch a card front using the My Favorite Things Creative Spark die set with colourful threads to create a cool rainbow stitch card! This die is a great investment as it die-cuts a grid of holes which can be stitched in different ways to create backgrounds, sentiments, borders and focal points. I'm sure you'll agree, this background is a showstopper and looks super therapeutic to make!

Combination Backgrounds

Pull together a mix of shapes, colours and texture to build a clean & simple patterned background that pack a punch!

Hugs

In this make, Laura showcases the Simon Says Stamp Mix & Match Circles stencil and stamp set to build layers using Distress Ink to make a fun shaker card. Even though the colours are more subtle on this design, the overall effect is really impactful because of the marriage of colour and shape!

Colour Theory

Selecting colours for bold backgrounds can be daunting, if you want to learn more about combining colours using the colour wheel theory, check out the following link for a fantastic article from artist Kim Dellow!

Complementing Colour Wheel Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to create complementary card designs using a colour wheel

I hope you're feeling inspired to create your own bold patterned backgrounds, we would love to see what you make posted on CraftWorld!

Happy crafting,

Natalie