Cutting Edge Stencil Review and Giveaway!

I was recently contacted by Cutting Edge Stencils and asked to do a review of their card stencils and a giveaway for my readers, and after taking a look at their website, I was thrilled to say yes! I love to make cards with plastic stencils and happy to find another stencil company with more stencil choices for us card makers and scrappers.

**Would you like to win a $20 Cutting Edge Stencil gift certificate and free shipping on the stencils you choose if you win? Of course you would! All you need to do is visit the Cutting Edge website, pick our your favorite stencil and leave a comment on this blog post with the name of your favorite stencil and your email address so you can be contacted if you win. (You can write it out like khasheck at gmail dot com to avoid spammers.) For a second chance to win, Follow Cutting Edge Stencils on Facebook, and for a third chance to win, subscribe to their blog here.  Please leave an extra comment if you have chosen to follow them on Facebook or subscribe to their blog and you will receive extra chances to be the big winner. You have until Sunday, July 13th at noon CST to enter this giveaway. The winner will be announced on my blog Monday, July 14th when I post some more cards I made with Cutting Edge Stencils.**

EDITED TO ADD: You have all been so kind with your lovely comments, I have decided to add a second prize! A second randomly drawn winner from the comments will be drawn and he or she will win a set of 4 rubber grip Crafter's Choice Stencil Brushes and a beautiful butterfly stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils of course. All I ask is that you leave any comment and be a follower of my blog.

I used Cutting Edge Stencil's Birch Forest Card Stencil for the first card I am sharing today. The first thing I noticed when I opened the stencil package was how sturdy and flexible the stencil was, and that is was larger than most of the other card stencils I own. The card size design is 6 x 8 inches and the stencil itself is 9 x 11 inches. The bigger size can be an advantage if you are making a larger card (see below) and it makes it easy to tape it down outside of the cardstock piece you are stenciling. However, it was too large to emboss in my Big Shot machine and I even had to cut it down somewhat to run it through my Grand Calibur. If you visit the Cutting Edge Stencil website, you will see they have a long history of making high quality stencils for walls and decorating homes, and that quality is obvious in their card stencils too. The ones I received are sturdier and more flexible than others sold by companies just now getting into the stencil market.

I also received a package of Crafter's Choice stencil brushes with rubber grips. I usually don't use stencil brushes on my cards, but when a fuller softer brush and a sponge did not give me the dark look I wanted in between the kraft colored birch trees, I tried the largest stencil brush in the package and it worked beautifully. It was so easy to hold on the rubber grip. I used Ranger Archival black ink and that was a mistake, as the brush and the stencil did not come clean when I washed them after use. I am sure with a regular dye ink, it would have been fine. But the brush and the stencil can be used for any color next time, they just has a black edge now. Ranger's Archival black ink is my favorite as it is a true dark black and it is on my desk all the time, but it is much more permanent than other dye inks, so another black dye ink would be better to use for the stencil and brush.

I cut Memory Box's Serene Bird in grey, wet embossed Repeat Impression's bamboo in clear embossing powder, and attached with mounting tape to raise. I stamped Avery Elle's Hello and added a pearl to complete the card.

I have been wanting to get one (or more) of the lovely Prima doll stamps by Julie Nutting and recently I purchased "Kate" on line. When I opened the package, I realized just how big these Prima doll stamps are - Kate is 7 1/2 inches tall. Way to big for any standard size card, and if I used a standard size 6 x 6 stencil for a background, it would not be big enough. So the larger size of the Aladdin stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils was a real advantage for this card. You can also choose a page size stencil if you want it even bigger, like for scrapbooking. I prefer mine a little smaller usually for card making, and so am hoping Cutting Edge Stencils might add a third size like 6 x 6 with smaller image details too. But the ones I received worked great for the backgrounds I created.

I started with a business size cream colored card 8 1/4" tall by 8" wide and folded it in half. I attached a paint strip down the long way on the card and sponged Tea Dye Distress Ink on with the Tim Holtz distress sponging tool using the Aladdin stencil. I was going for an ombre look on the paint chip part. I stamped "Kate" on cream paper, paper pieced her hair, dress and shoes and attached her to the card. I stamped the Heidi Swapp "shine" to complete the card.

I have one more card to share today. I mentioned the stencils I received were too big to do one of my favorite techniques with stencils- emboss with my No More Shims thick embossing pad and then sponge while the stencil is still attached. However, Cutting Edge Stencils sent me a bonus smaller hummingbird stencil with my order, and so I was able to easily make this CAS fun card. I picked a subtle floral cardstock, attached the stencil and ran it through the Big Shot with my No More Shims thick embossing pad. The image is raised with nice dimension. Then I sponged the bird with Starry Skies Distress Ink (Ranger) and Tim Holtz's distress sponging tool. I cut the piece and attached at an angle on an A2 sized card base. I stamped the Soar (from CTMH) on vellum and attached at an angle too.

I do recommend you check out the stencils on the Cutting Edge Stencil website for card making, scrapbooking and also for any decorating you might want to do in your home. I am hoping they expand their card size choices and will be shopping there myself. Please stop back next Monday to see if you won the giveaway and to see some more cards I made with these great stencils.

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at 613 Avenue Create and Scribble and Scrap.