Jam Paper Products' Blank Greeting Cards with Stencils

5.75" X 5.75" blank greeting cards from JAM* are a perfect fit for use with my 6"X6" stencils -- but this time, I've used part of my 9"X12" Nosegay stencil with one of JAM's dark bronze metallic fold-over blank cards.  With a Sofft Art Sponge I applied bright red, heavy-body acrylic paint thru my stencil, having first secured both the card and the stencil with masking tape, to hold them in place while I applied paint.

JAM makes bifold (also called "foldover") blank greeting cards in a wide range of sizes; one other size is 5"X7", in another dark color; these are on non-metallic cardstock.  I like card blanks that are already filled with color, ready to go -- having them on hand certainly saves time!

 Since the above card measures 5"X7", I used only a portion of my 9"X12" stencil Buds with the same paint and applicator as on the earlier card.  The only difference is that I added daubs of red-gold glitter as a finishing touch.

Below are these two stencils shown in their full 9"X12" sizes:

Buds

Nosegay

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*I recommend JAM's foldover cards because they are made with cardstock sturdy enough to stand up to mixed-media use.  

Modeling Paste and Stencils

Light Modeling Paste and Ranger Industries' Distress Ink:

This technique has beautiful results on a semi-finished collage, on the cover of a greeting card or the cover of an illustrated journal.  Be aware that dried modeling paste remains slightly fragile, forever, if it's been applied in a thick layer -- the way I like to do it!

Today's post lists steps I took to create this greeting card cover:

I used masking tape to secure my stencil to a substrate; next, I spread a layer of light modeling paste across the stencil.

Immediately I placed the used stencil in a basin of water.  That kept the leftover modeling paste from hardening so that I could later clean it with Windex and a soft cloth or paper towel.

After the modeling paste dried on the cardstock substrate, I applied Ranger Distress Inks with a brush applicator.  A "barber brush" or large makeup brush works beautifully.

Pan pastels could have been used with equal results.
   

I suggest (1) experimenting with adding acrylic paint to the modeling paste before applying it through the stencil ...

and (2) experimenting with other dimensional products similar to modeling paste.  High-viscosity (heavy body) acrylic paint (especially Titanium white) is another medium that works well with this technique.

This greeting card cover was made with my stencil Flowers Version 1 , which looks like this --

Swatton Flowers Version 1

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Printing Plates made with Stencils

Some time ago, I made printing plates with scraps of matboard, molding paste and stencils.  

Using each piece of matboard as my substrate, I covered it with a stencil, then used an old credit card to spread molding paste thru the stencil's openings.  

After each stencil was lifted, it was cleaned.  I don't clean stencils if I've used them with thin layers of acrylic paint. But when they're covered with any thick medium, like molding paste, I clean them with Windex and a soft cloth or paper towels.

My way of printing with them was to brayer a layer of slow-drying acrylic paint* over a Gelli Plate, then to press the plate -- with its 3-dimensional pattern down -- onto the acrylic paint.  

After I'd lifted the printing plate, an impression remained in the still-wet acrylic paint.  

Next, I placed paper onto the plate and burnished its entire back surface with my hands, before pulling the print.  Prints made this way have been incorporated into my collages.

The plates themselves became so pretty with their accumulations of paint that I've decided they themselves will eventually get cut up to become collage elements.  I've posted them today, before they go to the chop-shop.  They delight me as much as the papers that I printed with them.  

The printing plate above was made with my 9"X12" stencil Mimosa.

Above is the printing plate made with my 6"X6" stencil Trivet B.



Above is my favorite printing plate of the three, made with my stencil 6"X6" Mimosa. 

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*open acrylics by Golden 

HERON Earth Did I Miss Your Birthday?

That's the blurb I used on the cover of the greeting card below.

Using a pink and blue monoprint as my background, I made a heron print with a Sofft Sponge, Payne's Gray acrylic paint and my 6"X6" stencil Heron.

 

While the stencil was still wet with acrylic paint all around the edges of the heron shape, I turned the stencil over, placed it on a sheet of foreign newsprint, and rubbed it with the heel of my hand.  That made the ghost print below...

Above is the 6"X 6" stencil itself; to see my full line of stencils, please visit here.

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5 Stencils used with The Gelli Plate and Distress Ink Pads

A technique that I learned from the UK's Barbara Gray is quick and easy --  

First, you ink a Gelli Plate with one or more inverted Distress Inkpads.  Distress Ink appears to be faint on the Gelli Plate, but despite this, the prints will come out beautifully.
 
Today's post uses these stencils --

Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet

Quilted Flower Garden

Palm Fronds Silhouette Small

Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini

Fern Fronds Silhouette

-- and the first three images below are 6"X6" greeting cards. 

Stencil used above and below:  Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet

Stencil used above:  Quilted Flower Garden

Stencils used above:  Quilted Flower Garden, Fern Fronds Silhouette and Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini.  The solid purple background was created with an inverted Distress Inkpad applied directly to the paper.

CLUSTERED LEAVES Stencil Used in a You Tube Video by Kathy Adams

My 9" x 12" stencil Clustered Leaves was used in this You Tube video tutorial with the Gelli Plate to make layered backgrounds for art projects.  

The artist here is Kathy Adams -- who has joined many of us who've cut off the outside borders of this stencil, making it more versatile and (in my humble opinion) more beautiful.

Clustered Leaves -- before its rectangular border is trimmed off -- looks like this:

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Black and White Art-Making with Stencils

Despite undergoing cataract surgeries this past summer, I took an online class in black-and-white with Jane Davies.  (I'd paid for the course before knowing I would be having the surgeries in the same time-frame!)

I can't share the methods we participants used in art-making since that's part of Jane's class ... but I'll share the two pieces I created for one of her assignments, along with a few comments of my own.

Hot Air Balloons, made with my 9" x 12" stencil Facets.

I started with a mix of white gesso and matte medium and used the subtractive/reductive technique to lay in the stenciled area.

After the first piece, above, I switched to zinc white acrylic ... and liked its results much better:

Vases

These stencil-patterns of smaller vases in the upper left and lower right were created with my 9" x 12" stencil Vases.

 These stencils in their entirety look like this:

Vases

Facets

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Scraping Paint over Stencils

I sometimes find myself using leftover acrylic paint, before it dries, to scrape across paper that has stencils underneath.  Below is my work surface covered with (upper left) Borders #2 and (upper right) Trivet A 9 and (lower left) two of my 6"X6" Kaleid stencils.

Below is a sheet of glossy paper taped over these stencils; I have used a credit card to scrape leftover paint across it, picking up the patterns of the stencils underneath.

 Below is a close-up:

 Below are two more examples created with other batches of leftover acrylic paints. 

Above:  this example was created with my Kaleid stencil (lower half) and my 6"X6" Mimosa stencil (upper half.) 

Below are three close-ups of papers that were paint-scraped as a first step.  After the paint dried, I re-positioned the papers over the same stencils and made new imprints, this time using Art Bar crayons. 

Using crayons is the original way to make imprints called rubbings.  I like doing one set of rubbings over another set, and using paint for the first layer makes this easy.  This layering results in a more complex/interesting look in the finished product. 

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To see all my stencils, please visit here.

Kymona Tracey with FEATHERS 6 Stencil

Please check out this issue of StencilGirl Talk featuring Kymona Tracey.  She's delighted me by using my Feathers 6 stencil on the cover of a journal --

Make It Matter strikes me as a perfect title for a journal!

To keep up with Kymona, check out the links below --

Blog: www.kreativekymona.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kreativekymona/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kreativekymona/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kreativekymona/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kreativekymona

-- and to see all my stencils, check here.

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Thanks for looking here today!