stencil sunday at STAMPlorations

Howdy peeps! I'm up on the STAMPlorations blog today with four projects using stencils. Maybe I can inspire you to pull out your stencils and give them some love.

First up is a great technique for stencils with a lot of open space. Choosing a light color cardstock for my base, as well as adding a drop of pink ink to the pearlescent embossing paste gives the overall design of this feminine card an elegant feel. If you chose a graphic stencil and white embossing paste on dark cardstock you'd easily have a masculine feel.

STAMPlorations Circular Two stencil

STAMPlorations New Day Clear Sticker 

embossing paste

One more tip... careful if using a heat gun to speed up the dry process... the embossing paste will bubble if it gets too hot. See that spot on the lower left?

For my second project I added clear embossing paste through over a PP. I chose a PP with stars and a stencil with stars. You could do the same with, say, hearts. Or animal prints. Or go for contrasts and use a stencil with graphic images, like circles, over a romantic PP. Subtle but packs a punch even though if as in my case, only partially covering the card front. You faintly see the stars in this photo...

STAMPlorations Oh My Stars! stencil

STAMPlorations Shine Bright Clear Sticker 

... but against the light they are very visible. See? Once again I used a  on a PP snippet for my sentiment.

My third projects takes it back to basics - with a slight twist. We all tend to lay the stencil down over a card front and start sponging ink through it, right? How about only using a portion of the stencil? And extending the images off the edge of the card? And flipping it over for one or two images?

STAMPlorations Senecio 1 stencil

STAMPlorations Shine Bright Clear Sticker

Distress Inks 

Stencils with nature images or an organic feel are great for this technique. I found that using scrap paper to cover the holes I didn't want to ink through was a great safety measure ;) And I chose to use Distress Inks for their transparency but you could mix inks and oxides for a mix of transparency and opacity.

As for color choices, I went with blues and followed the gallon-quart-pint rule, adding the bright green for pep.

And my fourth project showcases a great way to use up those backgrounds you have in your stash. I pulled out my box with all my backgrounds and held a couple Faces stencils over some of the less busy ones to see what appealed to me. Surprisingly, this purple and green ink-smooshed background seemed to fit this gal and her mood.

STAMPlorations Faces: Pensive stencil

STAMPlorations Bold Florals stencil

STAMPlorations Hey Sunshine Clear Stickers

Distress Oxides 

Notice how I inked with colors similar to those on my ink-smooshed background rather than just using black?  I also chose to use the oxides (in slightly darker tones than the smooshed ink to be certain they'd be noticed) for their opacity. Then I even added more stenciling with those colors around the edges using a floral image which fits the gal nicely.

You'll notice I also used my tried and true strip-of-PP-along-the-bottom-edge trick for a little touch of gold too!

You may want to check out my post at STAMPlorations. The Stencil Sunday posts include a prize for commenting. One commenter will be drawn from all comments left on the three Stencil Sunday posts for June to win a $15 gift code. Thanks for coming by!