I recently completed one of Altenew Academy's classes called "Stunningly Styled Stencils," and finally found time right before we left on vacation to create a couple of cards inspired by the lessons. The first one uses a Gina K stencil, "Ornamental Fans." I dry embossed it on Neenah 110# paper. I wish I had thought to photograph it, as it was lovely just embossed. But I went to the next step and repositioned the stencil over the embossing and ink blended it with Speckled Egg and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks.
Concord and 9th's Oceanside cardstock made a great frame for the piece which I adhered to a white card base.
One of my Pinkfresh Studio purchases with my birthday gift cards was the Phrase Builder: Hello die set. I love that the words can be die cut alone or with a shadow. Adding the shadow with the Oceanside cardstock provided a good focal point against the somewhat busy background. Here's an even closer look at the pattern. It's a bit easier to see the raised embossing which I love.
The sentiment was finished off with a white embossed greeting from Sugar Peas Everyday Sentiments.
The final touch was to add three clear droplets from The Stamp Market.
The second card uses a different technique altogether, and one I need to practice. I first ink blended some Gina K Key Lime ink onto Altenew's Flowing Drops stencil. The next step was to flick color with some Copic markers onto the drops with the stencil in place. The first problem arose when I realized (a bit late) that my first Copic marker was too dry. (I recently read an article about the importance of keeping your markers filled. I've had some of my Copics for years and have never refilled them. Copic recently came out with small, easier to use refills, so I'm making a list of a few I'll need to order.) But I moved on to the next color, and ultimately added some detail with a Polychromos pencil.
I decided to use a series of Essentials: Squares by Ellen Hutson to die cut the stenciled pattern and two mats from New Leaf and Green Parakeet cardstock. I adhered all three to a square notecard.
The sentiment die cut and white embossed are from Simon Says "Sending Happy Thoughts," although this card is headed for a close friend who has just had some major surgery and a very concerning diagnosis. I hope the cheerful colors will brighten her day a bit.
There are still several more techniques from the class to try as well as giving this one another shot!
