Hi Friends!

Today I’m sharing with you an easy technique that works for any card type that you’d like to make. Tone on Tone refers to matching your ink color to your cardstock, and stamping directly onto the cardstock. This provides visual interest to your card!

I started with an Old Olive card base, cut a separate piece of the same color cardstock and stamped my image on it using Old Olive ink. You can choose any background stamp you’d like; I used a medium-sized stamp from Penciled Pear, a retired stamp set, but you could choose to a smaller stamp or a large background stamp.

I then ran this through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine using the Timeworn Type embossing folder (retired). This extra layer provides dimension to the card that you wouldn’t achieve if you just stamped directly onto the card base.

My sentiment tag was cut with the Perennial Postage dies, and I used Petal Pink cardstock for this, paired with a Paper Pumpkin stamp from July 2025.

You can experiment with inks in the same color family as your cardstock for a lighter or darker look. For example, instead of Old Olive ink, I could have used Granny Apple Green for a lighter look, or Mossy Meadow for a darker look. You can also choose to use VersaMark ink on your cardstock for a subtle look.

You can download a free tutorial here for full instructions on how to make this card. It will also be available under the Tutorials tab for easy reference.

Give this card technique a try!