7 WAYS: Scattered Stamping

Hi! It seems backgrounds with lots of stamped images are so popular these days. And I love the look, but struggle with the process. After trying a few things that worked for me, I decided to do a video sharing them with you. And I have seven different options!

[All supplies are linked in the text below and in the thumbnails at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.]

I will admit – I have fallen head over heels for the new Ink Blot Shop Arts & Crafts Sentiment and Arts & Crafts Icons stamp sets! They are sweet, happy, and fun to create with. I made lots of cards with them… sharing several ways to create backgrounds with “scattered stamping.”

When a background is filled with “random” images, I call it “scattered stamping.” However, the engineer in me is happier when they are lined up a bit. 🙂 In the video, I show how to do this with and without a MISTI Stamping Tool. Once you have your background set up, you can quickly make several cards.

#1: SPOTLIGHT

I think one of the best looks for scattered stamping is to do simple spotlight stamping. By stamping the scattered (but lined up) images in the background with a soft ink… and then stamping just one focal image in bold color, the card pops!

Simon Says Stamp Fog Ink works great for a soft background look. Again, all the images are from the Ink Blot Shop Arts & Crafts Sentiment and Arts & Crafts Icons stamp sets. This design is fast to do as there is little coloring.

#2: EMBOSSED RESIST INK BLENDING

Scattered stamping also works very well with embossed resist… and I have a few examples of that today. This first card started with many images white heat embossed on white cardstock. I then generously applied Candied Apple, Wild Honey, and Salty Ocean Oxide Inks.

The white embossing resists the colorful ink… leaving simple-yet-colorful background. Oh – and I white heat embossed the envelopes to match.

#3: EMBOSSED RESIST WATERCOLOR

Another use for embossed resist is for watercolor. This is very easy to do… even for those (like me!!!) who struggled with watercolor. Be sure to watch the video to see this process. I simply applied Distress Ink with water and an acrylic block. This does work best when you white heat emboss on watercolor paper.

You could do the background before heat embossing the images. However, I do feel you get better results embossing first. Also, to make the sentiment stand out, I stamped it with black ink and filled the letters with Black Nuvo Drops.

I had so much fun with this watercolor embossed resists that I had to do another. This time I used blue inks.

You could use any watercolor for this!

#4: MONOCHROMATIC

Sometimes the simple techniques are the best. Here, I created a almost-monochromatic look with white embossing. (You could do any embossing here – even clear.) To add a bit more interest, I “colored” with a Prismacolor White Pencil and added shimmer. This one looks much better in real life. I plan to make more of these to use up some of my colored cardstock scraps.

#5: VELLUM

Vellum is great for adding a soft bit of interest to your cards. Here, I did scattered heat embossing directly onto a vellum background. I added the vellum to a solid notecard, but you could use patterned paper.

#6: ON PATTERNED PAPER

I don’t know about you, but I have a ton of patterned paper! And I rarely use them. Scattered stamping works great with many basic patterns. Here, I white heat embossed over a piece of Pebbles Happy Hooray Paper.

I also have lots of inky backgrounds I have created but never used. This one was from my alcohol ink marbling video. (See it HERE.) Happy to use it for a card!

#7: ONE-LAYER COLOR

Scattered stamping is great for creating colorful, one-layer cards. You can use any images for this… and any coloring medium. This takes a bit more time since there is a lot of coloring, but it is worth it.

CHECK THIS OUT

If you are looking for more scattered stamped backgrounds examples, check out these artists and their cards. Very talented ladies:

SUPPLIES

Want to find the products I used? I have listed them below. (Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you. Thank you! Affiliate and product disclosure can be found here. All products were personally purchased except those with an asterisk. As always, this post was NOT paid for or sponsored.) Click on the icons below each product picture to go to a favorite store.

*Ink Blot Shop Arts & Crafts…
[ SSS | INK ]
*Ink Blot Shop Arts & Crafts Icons…
[ SSS | INK ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ SSS ]
Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Cardstock
[ SSS | ELH | AMZUS ]
Heavyweight Vellum
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper
[ SSS ]
My Favorite Things Extreme Black Ink
[ SSS | MFT ]
Simon Says Stamp Fog Ink
[ SSS ]
VersaMark Ink
[ SSS | ELH ]
Distress Oxide Inks
[ SSS | ELH ]
Mini Distress Ink Pads
[ SSS | ELH ]
Mini Ink Blending Tool
[ SSS ]
Sketch Copic Markers
[ SSS | ELH ]
Hero Arts Heat Gun
[ SSS | ELH ]
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
[ SSS | ELH ]
*Tim Holtz Non-Stick Mat
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer
[ SSS ]
Lawn Fawn Small Acrylic Block
[ SSS ]
Catherine Pooler Acrylic Blocks
[ CTH ]
Couture Creations Ultra Fine Tip Bottles
[ SSS ]
Black Nuvo Drops
[ SSS ]
Anti Static Powder Bag
[ SSS ]
Prismacolor White Pencil
[ SSS ]
Pebbles Happy Hooray Paper
[ SSS ]
Tonic Aqua Shimmer Pens
[ SSS ]


Leave a Comment

71 thoughts on “7 WAYS: Scattered Stamping”

  1. I am teased by friends as I like my stuff organized and straight too. i cannot do tilted though the scissors work for me too

  2. Thank you Jennifer this is a lot of fun and a great way to use things we already have 🙂 I think it’s particularly great for cards sets. Take care!

  3. I almost didn’t watch the video because at first, I thought these cards were “too busy”, but after watching the video and all the different techniques, I was amazed and will be trying some of these!

  4. These scattered stamped backgrounds are so much fun! They all looks so nice! So many fun techniques. Thanks so much for sharing this! 😍

  5. I am in love with all of your cards! Who knew you could do so many things with 2 sets of stamps? I love all the colors you used, especially the yellow, which is my favorite color in the whole wide world. I am such a fan of colorful cards and the more colors the better and boy, you didn’t disappoint with that either. I love how you used 2 stamp sets and made so many different cards just with those 2. I am amazed every time I come on to your site! Of course it doesn’t take much to amaze me! LOL

  6. These stamp sets are so cute and I love your cards. I love this idea of using stamps as the background and you get a one layer card. Thanks for the ideas.

  7. I love creating my own backgrounds and am inspired by what you’ve created with these cards and multiple background coloring designs. Thank you so much for always providing so many wonderful design ideas!

  8. Have to check my Stamp stash to see if I have something that will work for scattered backgrounds. These are great cards, Jennifer, and appreciate your tips!

  9. Once again, thanks a lot for the great inspiration !! I could (and by the way I do …) watch your videos for hours <3

  10. Wow! Thanks for sharing! I’ve got a lot to learn! I enjoyed your video and can’t wait to watch more of them!

  11. Love these fun stamps and sentiments used like this! I was most surprised by the patterned paper idea–so very cool! I have two ideas to share. You may have said it–if I missed it I apologize–but your die- cutting plates make wonderful large stamp blocks! And if you have enough images and a big enough surface, it could be fun to lay them all out in an oversize area, then move the cardstock around for stamping. Especially if you are doing a set of cards–each image would be similar, but not identical that way! These are totally wonderful. I so wish I could play today instead of packing!

  12. Thanks for sharing these fun ideas. I love making custom backgrounds with stamps so I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I’m going to try spreading watercolours with the acrylic block today.

  13. Thanks for compiling all these great ideas! I love that you used the same arrangement of stamps for multiple techniques making it even easier to create multiple cards quickly without them all looking the exact same.

  14. I love the stamp sets and what you’ve done here. I have a bunch of little stamps and I’m seeing being able to replicate the technique with them using my MISTI. You are tooooooo creative and addicting, Jennifer. Thanks.

  15. Oh my goodness, Jennifer. You are such an inspiration! Your engineer comment about straight lines helped me to understand myself and how I get frustrated trying to make a loser display on a card. I’m not going to worry anymore. I’m just going to go with what makes me comfortable and happy. YAY! Thank you. I am wondering, because I am not sure, which blue distress inks did you use on the watercolor background? I’ve already placed my order for stamps and I’m ready to get busy. 😊

  16. Gotta have the fog ink! This is something I haven’t seen before. I can’t wait to try it. Floral backgrounds would be gorgeous with that.

  17. Ahhh, such great inspo and loads of good tips – I battle, a lot, with this style! Always looks messy and un-co-ordinated…not a word but you know what I mean. Thank you for sharing and may you have a good week too!

  18. Thanks so much for this! I struggle with spacing and I love the look of this trend too. Great tips as always. I love the speckled watercoloured look you get!

  19. Great ideas/techniques in your video. Another crafter who makes wonderful backgrounds with lots of stamps is Yana Smakula.

  20. Hi Jennifer –
    Love this idea 🙂
    What type of craft mat are you using in this video ? I like the light color and am looking for a mat.
    Thanks 🙂

  21. I have made background stamps in a similar way and wanted to share a tip:
    I have a laminator and I’ve laminated 2 8.5 X 11 5 mil pouches- just fused each pouch together with nothing sandwiched in between. I have kept one pouch as an 8.5 X 11 piece that I use to arrange smaller stamps on to create one big background stamp, as you have showed in this technique. The other fused pouch I trimmed to 5 x 7 to use in the same way. 5 mil makes for a pretty sturdy backing piece and you still have the great see-through feature that most card makers like. The rest of the trimmed piece has been used for ‘windows’ for shaker cards and trimmed strips to help position stamped & colored critters and flowers in box cards and the like- 1/4 inch strips that appear almost invisible, yet help hold up a critter- I’m sure you get the idea. I’ve also been using this plastic lately to make banners with free floating words. When the banner is hung, the words look like they are hanging invisibly. I don’t have a blog or website but if you want to see a pic of a banner with free floating words you can see one on my instagram: deb.cavallaro
    PS: Big fan of your videos! You are teaching me to be more creative and to make better cards!

  22. Thanks for the great ideas, Jennifer! I’ve never used an acrylic block for smooshing, but like how you can control where the color goes–will try that for sure!

  23. Thank you for showing us how to set up a stamp OUT of the misti. I always set up my stamp on my card and then I freeze and think, “Why didn’t I set it up in the misti first?!” I need to remember the acetate trick. 🙂 I love these cards, and will probably be setting up for some like these very soon! I love remembering to use my white ink on colored cardstock!

  24. Love these! I”ll have to look through my stamps to see what might work. I just got a Tonic mat like the one you’re using. It’s a bit larger, but still smaller that others. I would love it a bit larger still, but it works great for me to easily use on my kitchen table without having to tape down my other craft mat.

  25. I absolutely LOVE those sets! The “Messy art makes a happy heart” sentiment made me smile!
    Thank you for sharing your process with us. When it comes to scattered stamping, I do it on the fly, and needless to say, I don’t always like the results because I can never seem to get it quite right; but your process is so much more logical, so I’m going to do this from now on! Thanks again for sharing. 🙂

  26. Great cards. I really like the coloured card, I think the style of the images makes it less busy. Really fun stamp sets (I spotted the “I arted” sentiment, hehehe).

  27. Jennifer,
    This card scattering is a cute idea to fill a card front and still make it look great. I liked how you used the oxides also. The vellum is a nice touch to also use over a patterned paper to subdue it. I never tried this idea but those Ink blot Arts & Crafts stamps are perfect for it. Thanks for sharing your talent.

  28. Some interesting and helpful tips here with the clear plastic. I love that you share so many good things with us in a video. Those cards were awesome and love how you decorated the front of your envelope. Thanks for all you do!

  29. I’m beginning to realize how many stamps sets I have with great small designs on them. Like you, I have trouble with placement wanting them squared up….it’s the perfectionist in me rather than the engineer… I am working on this! 🙂 Thanks for sharing so many card ideas from one set. You are truly an inspiration to all of us. Lots of times when I have been watching a video from someone else, that person will say that she is using her version of some technique she saw you demonstrate.

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