Playing with Purple: Autumn Cards Featuring Hand-Stamped Patterned Paper

Last week our family was a little under the weather, so creativity felt a bit harder to come by. At times like that, I find it helps to simply play without expectations, and that's exactly how these backgrounds began.  

Would you believe that this background started as nothing more than a blank piece of Very Vanilla cardstock?

I really enjoy creating my own patterned paper. For this project, I was inspired by autumn tones, but wanted to give them a fresh twist by letting warm purples take centre stage, with rust and soft mint greens as the accents.

I enjoyed the first background so much that I couldn't resist creating a bonus variation, this time building it over a patterned paper scrap base. This retired Petals and Paisley's paper inspired my colour palette. It's always fun to see how a small change can create a completely different look.

These friendship cards were inspired by several current cardmaking challenges. The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge encouraged me to incorporate text into my background, which is one of my favourite ways to add subtle layers of interest. The All About Craft Challenge is celebrating friendship, so I chose sentiments featuring the word "friend," while the Festive Friday National Friendship Day challenge inspired the finishing touches—a knotted gold bow, tone-on-tone stamped leaves, and delicate little floral details added to the background to bring everything together.

I'd love to know—which of the two cards is your favourite?

Craft Along With Me

If you'd like to make these cards along with me, I've filmed a bonus craft-along tutorial that will be shared as my August subscriber freebie.

If you'd like to join my crafty community and receive the tutorial, simply add your email address in the sign-up box in the sidebar. I'll send the August freebie directly to your inbox when it's released.

It's my little way of saying thank you for being part of my crafty community, and I hope it inspires you to create your own custom backgrounds in colours you love.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Jenn x

Playing with Purple: Autumn Cards Featuring Hand-Stamped Patterned Paper

July 27, 2026

DIY Dinosaur Patterned Paper with a Fun 2 for 1 Emboss Resist Twist

I love finding new ways to stretch the supplies I already own, and this project was the perfect excuse to experiment with a technique that gave me an unexpected bonus  — a second handmade background!

I started by digging through my paper scraps and found several narrow strips of the Merry Little Christmas green leaf patterned paper on a white background. Knowing I wanted to try this emboss resist technique one more time, I pulled out an older dinosaur stamp set, No Bones About It, featuring solid image stamps, and created my own custom patterned paper.

I first patched all the strips together on a piece of scrap printer paper to create a single panel ready for stamping. I then filled in the remaining spaces with coordinating elements, including footprints, spots and small accent stamps. These extra details helped create a fuller, more interesting pattern.

Next came the fun part! I stamped and heat embossed the dinosaur images with clear embossing powder before blending several shades of green ink over the entire panel. Once the ink blending was complete, I removed the embossing using the ironing technique, revealing the original stamped pattern beneath.

This time, I placed a piece of Basic White cardstock over the embossed panel before ironing. As the embossing melted away, it transferred onto the clean cardstock, creating the beginnings of a second distressed background.

After adding a little more stamping and soft ink blending, that transferred panel became a completely different piece of handmade patterned paper.

One technique... two unique backgrounds!

I finished both cards using the same Just Add Ink sketch challenge. This sketch was perfect for these projects. Because I had used scrap strip offcuts of patterned paper to build the background, embracing those cuts helped disguise where the ink caught along the edges of the strips and made the imperfections look intentional.

I also love that this particular layout allowed each background to shine while keeping the overall designs clean and simple.

Both finished cards have their own personality. The original panel has deep jungle vibes, while the transferred background has a wonderfully distressed, imperfect look that gives it plenty of character.

Sometimes the most interesting techniques come from experimenting with what would normally be thrown away.

Watch the Video Tutorial

See the full step-by-step process and discover how one emboss resist technique creates two unique card backgrounds.

Don't forget to subscribe so you can see the newest tutorials as soon as they are released.

DIY Dinosaur Patterned Paper with a Fun 2 for 1 Emboss Resist Twist

July 12, 2026

2 for 1: Sunset Hot Air Balloon Backgrounds with Emboss Resist

There's something so satisfying about turning older supplies and leftover scraps into fresh new projects. These cards feature patterned papers that have been sitting in my stash for 14 years 😳 

For this pair of cards, I pulled out some offcuts of Everyday Enchantment patterned paper from my stash that featured a playful blue background with red spots. The scraps weren't large enough to cover a full card front, so I pieced them together onto cardstock before creating my own custom background.

To add another layer of interest, I stamped solid hot air balloon images from the Above the Clouds stamp set across the panel and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

Once the embossing was complete, I blended ink over the entire background, gradually building colour from rich reds at the bottom through pinks and purples before finishing with blue near the top. The finished result reminded me of a colourful sunset sky.

After blending, I used the ironing technique to remove the clear embossing. For this experiment, I placed a piece of Basic White cardstock over the embossed panel before ironing. The transferred embossing created the foundation for a second handmade background with a beautifully distressed appearance.

Although the transferred panel looked quite simple at first, it quickly came to life after I added a little extra stamping and soft ink blending. The imperfect transferred images created a wonderfully textured background that felt completely different from the original while still coordinating perfectly.

The layout for this second card is based on by this week's Freshly Made Sketch challenge. 

This experiment has been playing on my mind since I first experimented with Emboss Resist for my Autumn-inspired project back in May. At the time, I noticed that the clear embossing transferred onto the scrap paper I used to protect the project from the iron. I wondered: what would happen if I transferred that pattern onto a piece of cardstock instead?

That simple question led to a fun two-for-one technique, creating two completely different backgrounds from one creative process.

It reminded me that some of the best creative discoveries happen simply by asking, "What if I tried this?"

Watch the Video Tutorial

See the full step-by-step process and discover how one emboss resist technique creates two unique card backgrounds.

Don't forget to subscribe so you can see the newest tutorials as soon as they are released.

2 for 1: Sunset Hot Air Balloon Backgrounds with Emboss Resist