You will love this tip on using paper scraps to make cards – add some POP to your backgrounds so quickly!

When people think of using paper scraps to make cards they often picture using tons of punchies or creating a mosaic look. Today Jamie is showing how you can use all your paper scrap strips in the most fun and cute way to create a quick and easy decorative background that takes practically NO time at all!

How adorable is that sweet little rainbow behind our darling little friend from our new Every Summer set? Right? Let’s make one, too, and use up some of those still-useful paper scraps.

Start by stamping your choice of images from that Every Summer set onto watercolor paper with VersaFine Onyx ink. Heat emboss with clear powder. Jamie chose to make a whole little community of these adorable characters to make multiple cards in one session – smart!

Using your favorite watercolor medium – Jamie used her Inktense pencils – and then cut out your little friends with your paper snips. (We hear a “rumor” that you’d like dies for theses – stay tuned!)

Now, grab those scrap strips you have from trimming card stock and paper for your projects, cut them down to the same width and adhere them diagonally (or whichever way you choose!) over a card sized panel of white card stock. This is where you can use as many or as few as you want, choosing colors that complement each individual die cut element you decide to use.

Using the super fun double inking tip shared in this post – using the same adorable stamps – ink up your sentiment with Bubblegum and Apricot Color Fuse inks from Set #5 and Set #2, respectively, and stamp it onto a strip of white card stock.

Die cut the panel using a die from our Nested Rectangle Stitch Die set.

Cut the center with one of the dies from our Nested Oval Die set. Save that oval for another project!

Cut a piece of white card stock to be a whisper smaller than your card base and adhere with your tape runner to the front. Now layer the die cut piece with your pretty paper scrap design over that with some dimensional adhesive. Layering the white over white adds that beautiful barely-there shadow which lets the colorful elements really pop.

Add your main cut out character in the oval with more dimensional adhesive and add a little companion below with some liquid glue or a glue dot.

Add your sentiment strip over the top of the colored scraps.

Here’s what you will want to have on hand to make this adorable card:

Isn’t this a great tip for using paper scraps to make cards that have adorable easy backgrounds? And because the design is so simple, it lets all the other fabulous details on your project stand out in such a fun way. Give it a try and get that scrap pile used up!