What’s not to Love about A Simple Background

The K.I.S.S. Principle

If you are not familiar with the K.I.S.S. principle let me enlighten you! It’s actually pretty simple – K.I.S.S. stands for Keep It Simple Silly! I try to keep that foremost in my mind in everything I do, especailly in my cardmaking. While I certainly can (and sometimes do) add lots of elements to my cards and paper projects. more often than not, I really do like to keep it simple!

Clean & Simple

One of the ways I like to keep it clean and simple is to use pops of color to enchance my backgrounds. I can do this in several ways but my favorite way to add some color is to use my blending brushes. Adding color with blending brushes is fast and easy, especially with our new small blending brushes, which are perfect for small areas.

For my live demo last week, I used the small blending brushes to add a little or a lot of background color for my cards. For the first design, my simple stamping card, I used the blending brushes to add little pops of color to enhance my focal point.

For my second card, I used the same colors but used the blending brushes to create a full background for my design. I love how the color goes on – light in some places and darker in others – to create interesting shading. The real beauty of this technique is there is no “right” way for it to look. You can add as much or as little color as you want! Check out my YouTube tutorial to see how easy it is to use blending brushes to add some color.

Measurements & Supplies

The measurements are the same for both cards. You will need a piece of colored cardstock 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″; scored at 4 1/4″ and two pieces of white cardstock 4″ x 5 1/4″, one for the inside and one for the outside. For the stepped up card you will also need scraps for the bunny, clouds, kite, and stump.

Here’s a complete list of the supplies I used to made these cards.

Product List

Small Blending Brushes [160518] $11.50	Playing In The Rain Bundle (English) [160551] $54.75	Rain Or Shine Specialty 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [160540] $15.00	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [147105] $8.00	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095] $8.00
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $6.00	Mango Melody 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146989] $9.25	Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146982] $9.25	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276] $10.25	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [119686] $9.25
Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154882] $9.00	Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154893] $9.00	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $63.00	Paper Snips [103579] $11.00	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220] $6.00

That’s it for this week! I hope you give our blending brushes a try. I think you will enjoy working with them and love how easy it is to create unique and color backgrounds with them. Happy Stamping!