Weekly Challenge | Custom Background with Anna

This week, our member Anna (username AnnaS), is challenging you to create a custom background or use your photo as inspiration for your color scheme on your project. We love our talented members! Check back each week as we ask one of our members to inspire you with a challenge based on one of their projects from our member gallery. Be sure to follow Anna here at SC and to see more of her work and keep up with her!

The idea for this project came to me when I saw Céline Navarro’s “the Underground video” on YouTube. That is the one of many different ways Studio Calico inspires me! I wanted to use more stamps on my layouts. I took the little leaves stamp and after deciding where my photo would go I started stamping with black ink, but I didn’t want stamping to take over the focal point in my layout so I stamped few times without reinking. In that way I created a pattern that is fading out and stretching details from my photo to the background. I added some other triangle and circle stamps just for variation. And then the all fun could begin! I took out my Neocolor II box and began playing with colors, painting with a watercolor brush some of the stamped leaves and triangles. I used Neocolor II to dye the wood veneer letters as well (my favorite technique right now!). To finish it off, I took some tape, stickers and rub-ons with matching colors and shapes spreading them out to create balance on my page.

And now my challenge to you -- use stamps and watercolors/crayons/markers to create a background OR stretch your photo by using the same mood and color.

Now it’s your turn to create a project based on Anna's challenge! Share your new project for the challenge in the SC gallery (add the hashtag #SCchallenge to make it easier to find!), then link up your project in the comments of this post by November 3rd and to be entered to win a $5 gift card to the Studio Calico Shop! This week's challenge winner will be announced in the November 7th Layout of the Week post.