Perfect Repeating Pattern w/Dawn ft. HAPPY WISHES

Hello crafty friends! I have a fun technique to share today. And I'll warn you ahead of time, it is addictive!

I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for a pretty pattern. However, I have a love/hate relationship with patterned paper. I love to look at it, but I hate to cut into it! Hence why I love to stamp out my own.

I can't tell you how many times I get halfway through stamping out a pattern only to stamp an image too close or not close enough and then the "seamless" is off, or one area overlaps that shouldn't. Now normally I go with the flow and figure out a way to cover or cut out that area, but sometimes I have to start over.

Today's technique shows you how to take out the guess work and stamp perfect patterns every time. With the tiniest bit of pre-planning, you'll be stamping out as many pretty patterns as you'd like.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

Bonus? Once you've set up your "template", it can be reused again and again with different color combinations!

Let me apologize up front for the poor picture quality today. My DSLR settings seem to have mysteriously gone awry, combined with a rainy day(s)...and well, you get the point. I'll have to figure that out.

This is one of those that is definitely a show, rather than tell technique, so be sure to watch the video. Here, I'll go over each card along with the color combos and products used. You will need a stamp positioning tool for this - I've used the standard sized MISTI - but whichever you have will do. As the name suggests, repeating pattern, you will be doing a lot of repetitive stamping of a simple floral motif. The MISTI makes this super quick, easy, and best of all...accurate.

All of the patterns today were stamped using the Happy Wishes stamp set. (All products will be listed at the end of this post for reference) This first pair of cards comes from the same pattern. I stamped out a 6x6" inch pattern using the following Wplus9 PURECOLOR ink color combination:

Color Combo 1

• Warm Wool
• Flamingo
• Fairy Dust
• Wild Mango
• Last Leaf

For the first card, I trimmed a 4 x 5.25" panel from the patterned paper and mounted it to a standard card base with foam tape. The sentiment, also from Happy Wishes was stamped onto a die cut circle using the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circle wafer dies. To accent the sentiment, I stamped a few extra floral elements, die cut them using the Happy Wishes Die and used them to flanked the sentiment with a few floral clusters.

I had some left over pieces of pattern from where I trimmed out the panel from the first card, and used them to die cut a couple of envelopes from using the Love Notes Die. I also cut a few of the floral images from the patterned scraps using the Happy Wishes Die.

I arranged all of the pieces in a little vignette and stamped my sentiment below it.

I knew I wanted to place all of this on a white base, but it felt a little too plain with all of the white on white, so I added a little bit of texture to the background using my score board and stylus. I have a video on this technique in this post for more on how to do that.

The next card uses the same color combo as the previous ones, except I chose to use a bit more of Last Leaf. Switching up which color you use more predominately in a pattern can give it a whole different feel.

I trimmed this one down to 5" square and mounted it to a 5.25" card base. Again, I used the same main sentiment and added the "on your special day" and placed both on a hexagon label die cut from the Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Die. More little floral images stamped and die cut flank the top and bottom of the sentiment.

This time I added some texture to the background by using a couple sizes of the Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Die to dry emboss instead of cutting. I nested them in the center of my background and swapped out my cutting mats for my embossing mats in the Big Shot. This allows the dies to emboss rather than cut.

The next card uses many of the same colors, but I swapped out the Fairy Dust for Miami Spice. I also changed my floral motif a bit and used some different images from the set.

Color Combo 2

• Warm Wool
• Flamingo
• Miami Spice
• Wild Mango
• Last Leaf

I trimmed the paper down to 4 x 5.25", cutting from the side rather than the middle makes the pattern appear to be more random. If you prefer to retain the "radial" effect of the pattern, be sure to cut your panel from the center of your paper. Again, I used the Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Die to cut a hexagon from my pattern and nested a smaller hexagon inside with my sentiment. This time I used the Bold Banner Greetings stamp set.

And this final card really just lets the pattern shine. I used the following color combo:

Color Combo 3

• Warm Wool
• Sweet Nectar
• Shell Pink
• Nautical Navy
• Last Leaf
• Sea Breeze

This time I used the MISTI to stamp out only the largest elements - the large leaf segment and the large flowers. I then came in and hand stamped the rest of the filler images in a more random pattern to fill in the empty spaces. I made sure to repeat some of the same elements across the clusters but didn't worry about making them exact. For the sentiment, I stamped "you're the best" from the Basic Labels stamp set in the middle.

I hope you enjoyed today's projects and that it gives you some ideas on ways to use this technique. Try it with different images like critters or basic shapes, layering stamps and outlined images. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you next time!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list contains affiliate links.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 PURE COLOR Nautical Navy Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Shop at: SSS	Ranger Multi-Medium Matte Shop at: SSS
EK Success CRAFT TWEEZERS Precision Tip Shop at: SSS	We R Memory Keepers TRIM AND SCORE Board Shop at: SSS	Wild Mango PURE COLOR Dye INk Shop at: WP9	Flamingo PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Wplus9 Basic Labels Stamp Set Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Dove Grey Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Gift Card Layers Die Shop at: WP9	Miami Spice PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Last Leaf PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Sea Breeze PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Sweet Nectar PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Warm Wool PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Tombow MONO Adhesive PERMANENT Tape Dispenser Shop at: SSS	Bold Banner Greetings Shop at: WP9	Fairy Dust PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Simon Says Stamp STITCHED CIRCLES Wafer Dies Shop at: SSS
Happy Wishes Shop at: WP9	PURE COLOR Shell Pink Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Shop at: WP9	Lawn Fawn Glue Tube Shop at: SSS | EH
Tim Holtz Tonic GLASS MEDIA MAT Shop at: SSS	MISTI Precision Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | EH	Gemini Junior Shop at: SSS	Happy Wishes Die Shop at: WP9
Love Notes Die Shop at: WP9

Using Small Images w/Kara ft. GARDEN BUDDIES

Hello again. It's Kara. With Spring fast approaching, I decided to bring out another great set centered on gardening called Garden Buddies.

This is such a cute set. For me, the best feature of this set are all of the small details. The watering can, spade, bird... All these tiny images are so adorable and versatile.

I used them here to create an all-over background design as well as part of the focal point. For the background I added all of the stamps to an acrylic block and stamped them all at once. Then I just kept turning the stamp until that background was full. It looks random, but took no time at all to stamp.

I love this little girl with her arms outstretched. She appears to be juggling all of those little images. I colored them with Copic markers. The circle was cut with the large circle from Love Mom Layers and colored with a little yellow Distress Ink.

Super simple to create, but an adorable way to send some sunshine to a friend or loved one!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Love Mom Layers Die Shop at: WP9
Garden Buddies Shop at: WP9	Garden Buddies Die Shop at: WP9

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Tropic Like It's Hot w/Wanda Guess

Hello everyone! My name is Wanda Guess and I'm very happy to be sharing some cards today on the WPlus9 Blog! Hope you are having a wonderful day! I am an avid paper crafter and blogger and I love to share art with people. I try to do something creative every day. I hope you'll visit my blog - A Blog Called Wanda. If I'm not blogging, you will most likely find me sharing photos on Instagram. My Instagram is @stampcatwg.

I'm so excited to be joining the crew at WPlus9. I've been a fan for a very long time! Last year, when WPlus9 launched their tropical themed release, well, my jaw about dropped to the floor! I immediately wanted all of it, and the ideas started flowing right away! I love anything with a tiki, tropical, flamingo vibe. And I love to create with bright bold colors. When Dawn asked me to guest design for today, I went straight for this collection. I have two cards to show you, so let's get started! In the midst of Winter, I'm bringing you a bit of Summer!

What's better than flamingos and flowers? Not much!

I started this card by die cutting the beautiful Trellis Background 2 Die from bright white paper. I cut and folded a horizontal A2 card base. Here's the tricky part... I cut the top of the card base off, leaving about 1/4 of an inch left at the top. Then I lined the inside of the card base with pretty blue paper. I used liquid glue to glue the edge of the Trellis Die to that little folded over part at the top of the card. This makes the Trellis Die Cut piece the front of the card now! I set this part under a stack of books to make it lay flat and continued to make the rest of the card.

I stamped and die cut out leaves, flowers and the flamingo using the Tropic Fever Stamp Set and the Flock Yeah Stamp Set. I colored all the images in tropical colors using Copic Markers.

Next I die cut out a black panel using a Stitched Rectangle Die. I used the Flock Yeah stamp set to stamp the sentiment and heat emboss it with white embossing powder. Now all of my pieces were ready to assemble.

I used small foam squares to attach the center sentiment panel and the flowers, leaves, flamingo to the front of the card. This is a bit tricky since the front of the card is a trellis! However, there is enough room to attach the foam squares so everything will hold tight. On the back of the trellis, I die cut another black rectangle and mirrored that to the front one.

For this next card I used the Flock Yeah Stamp Set along with another WPlus9 set called Summer Citrus. Those pineapples! Oh my! The sentiment is from the Southern Sentiment Stamp Set. It all works together so nicely for a Hello card!

I used Stitched Rectangles Dies to die cut a green layer and a white layer for the front of the card. The finished card is an A2 size cut from white cardstock. I used Mermaid Lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks to create a blue background on that top layer. I splattered Mermaid Lagoon Ink and Copic Opaque White ink over the blue blended background.

Next I stamped and die cut the palm trees, the pineapples and the little flowers. I colored them in with Copic Markers. I also used Copic Opaque White ink to splatter white over the images and then set them aside to dry.

I stamped the sentiment in rich black ink in the upper corner of the card. This is only part of a larger sentiment. I masked off the other part of the sentiment with washi tape and only stamped the "hello" portion.

I layered the green and blue layers onto the card base. I used foam squares to attach the palm trees and pineapples to the card. Then I sprinkled a few clear gems to finish it off!

Big thank you to everyone at WPlus9 for inviting me to be a guest designer today! I had fun working with these beautiful stamps and dies. I hope I've inspired you to create something today.

Aloha! ~Wanda

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Summer Citrus Shop at: WP9	Summer Citrus Die Shop at: WP9	Tropic Fever Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH	Tropic Fever Die Shop at: WP9
Flock Yeah! Shop at: WP9	Flock Yeah! Die Shop at: WP9	Trellis Background 2 Die Shop at: WP9	Southern Sentiments Shop at: WP9