More Stencil Cards?

OK, I lied. I thought the Monday session of our on-line stencil class was a wrap-up and the gallery was closing, but that is happening next Monday. Instead we got more great videos and some bonus extras that totally inspired me. So I pulled the stencils back out along with my distress inks and made a couple more cards. I was so busy making cards and avoiding the 40 below windchill outside, I forgot to get a new blog post set up for today, which is why this is a little late.

I learned today we can use the new plastic stencils to emboss. I knew you could do that with brass stencils and the No More Shims thick embossing pad, but it never occurred to me to try the new thin plastic stencils that way. The video showed using two thin rubber mats and that works great too. But I like my thick No More Shims mat and I also learned recently to lightly spray the card stock first and the embossing is more crisp. I just loved the card sketch Jennifer McGuire used in her bonus tutorial and also the fun idea of using different colors of cardstock to frame the  card. It just had never occurred to me to do that.

I embossed the background with a Tim Holtz stencil and while it was still attached, sponged on a couple colors of distress ink. I attached a little green to the bottom and some blue to the top before attaching at an angle on a top folding aqua blue card. I stamped my favorite "hello" from Paper Smooches and added a large butterfly diecut from Cherry Lynn.

I made another card with the same sketch and colors. This time I used another plastic stencil from Tim Holtz which I embossed (with my Big Shot and the No More Shims thick embossing mat.) I sponged on the same colors and framed the sides with blue and the bottom with green. I like that this course has encouraged me to pull out some die cuts I have not used much, like the pretty flower from Memory Box. I die cut it twice and sponged on some color on the top one. I layered both the flower and the "With Love" (by Dee's Distinctively) with a black layer before attaching. The wooden butterfly from Recollections was sponged and I added a bunch of thread under it before attaching it with a glue dot. Another fun idea that had never occurred to me until one of the instructors shared it.

One more stencil idea is swimming around in my head and since it is just as bitterly cold today in Wisconsin and I am not going anywhere, I think I will play some more.

Stamping smiles, Karen