Punches and Envelope Pattern

Large background stamps can create interesting designs for punching, especially finer ones like Envelope Pattern by Hero Arts.

Flowers are always good for this, well, you can't really call it a technique, but maybe procedure works.

First, stamp the background on scrap paper. For this floral card, I inked it with three different colors using Memento Dew Drop ink pads. Then, punch your flowers (or whatever shape you want) out of the stamped paper. Then, use them as you would any punched shapes.

Bling doesn't hurt.

Of course, this works with any punch, so I decided to use my Fiskar's pumpkin punch, which has separate shapes for the stem and leaf and pumpkin. I inked the stamp with orange and green to create the scrap from which I punched the shapes.

And then I made this card. It looks better in real life...something about the contrast in Picasa made the punch looked washed out and the orange card too intense. But trust me, it's not so bad!

So take a look at your big background stamps and see if any would complement your punches (or dies) nicely. Cupcakes, leaves, and holiday shapes might all be enhanced with fine-detail backgrounds!

Supplies
stamps: PTI Beautiful Blessings (top card), Falling Leaves (bottom card)
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU pumpkin pie
accessories: punches, dimensionals, rhinestones, corner chomper,