More Christmas Cards made with Stencils

It was a challenge to scan this Christmas card in a way that really shows the gleam of the textured silver acrylic paint and the red glitter that outlines the leaves; I did the best I could, and you'll just have to trust me that the original looks a lot better!

In making the above card, I used a sponge to apply the textured silver paint thru my 6"x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves, working on red background paper.  After that paint had dried, I cut off some edges around the leaves and glued the print onto a green greeting card blank.  My last touch was to outline the silver leaves with a red glitter pen.

Another Christmas card is below --

This time, I used my 4"x 4" stencil Fern Fronds Silhouette Mini. 

My first step was to secure the stencil to the 6"x6" greeting card blank, using masking tape.  Then, with an old credit card, I spread heavy-body silver metallic acrylic paint across the stencil.  

Once I lifted the stencil, I saw areas that weren't up to par.  So after the heavy-body silver paint had dried, I added glitter glue to some of the individual fronds (clicking on the image above, you can enlarge it to better see those areas.)  I also added squiggles in red glitter glue, creating a frame.  

Again I have to say that the original card looks a lot better than the scanned image above; it's indeed a challenge for me to capture the gleam of metallic paints, foils, etc.! 

Regarding the second greeting card above ... Because its deep bronze metallic cardstock is very dark, I lined the inside of the card with lightweight paper, cut to fit -- 

Above is what the inside of my cards looks like, after the light paper is added.

Other artists would probably skip that step and, instead, use white markers or pens to fill out the inside of these greeting cards.  (The blanks come from JAMPaper.com.) 

Check with the Postal Service before mailing 6"x 6" greeting cards -- there is a non-machinable surcharge for sending mail of these dimensions.  I make things easy for myself by simply using two Forever stamps.

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Quick and Easy Christmas Cards -- with StencilGirl Stencils!

I've cut simple shapes from papers printed with acrylic paints and a variety of stencils, then glued them to blank greeting cards to create collages --

The Christmas trees above were cut from a thick gold foil printed with several layered paint applications using my 9"X 12" Mimosa stencil and another favorite of mine, Feathers and Lattice by Daniella Woolf.

Above:  My 9" x 12" stencil Swatton Borders #1 was used to create the base of this candle.

Above:  My 9" x 12" stencil Vintage Script was used to create this candle.

Above:  My 9" x 12" stencil Swatton Borders #1 was used to create the base of this candle.

Above: My 4" x 4" stencil Fern Fronds Silhouette Mini was used to create this column candle.

The two parts of each flame can be cut out by hand, as I did, or they can be created by tracing inside the openings of stencils like Cornish Petals Stencil Large by Lizzie Mayne and/or Cascading Feathers Stencil by Jessica Sporn.

Swatton Borders #1 in its entirety looks like this --

-- and it is one of three 9" x 12" borders stencils that I've designed.

Vintage Script stencil (also 9" x 12") looks like this in its entirety:

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Dec. 5 Special at Pixels.com/Fine Art America

December 5th, 2018
-------------------------
25% Off Home Decor (Throw Pillows, Shower Curtains, Bath Towels, Coffee Mugs)

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Two 6" x 6" StencilGirl Stencils and One New Christmas Card

While making the Christmas-themed prints shown in an earlier post, I made a print with Marbles 6 stencil along with some extra prints with Sprigs. 

Then I drew three Magi on scrap paper, copying the idea from a commercial greeting card.  

Next, I cut out each of the scrap-paper figures, and used those cut-outs as patterns, tracing around their edges on the stencil-prints. 

After cutting around these traced outlines, I used fine-detail scissors to cut the shapes of the Magi from the stencil prints.

I glued them to the cover of a greeting card blank to make this Christmas card --

The far left and far right Magi were cut from prints made with 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs --

And the central Magi was cut from a print made using 6" x 6" Marbles 6 stencil.

The star was a freehand cut-out.

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More Christmas Cards made with StencilGirl Stencils

Another parade of Christmas cards ....

Above:  This background, made with 6" x 6" Ski Lift Works Stencil, makes me think of a church window.  The substrate is a piece of red foil and I printed it with metallic silver acrylic paint.

Above:  This candle was cut from a print made on green textured foil with metallic paints and my 6" x 6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden.  It's very easy to cut straight lines with prints made from this stencil since each Christmas flower is boxed in a square.

Above:  This candle was cut from another print made with my 6" x 6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden.  Light molding paste was applied thru the stencil; after that dried, the entire surface was painted with green acrylic paint; and, after that dried, the surface was painted with silver metallic paint.  Before the silver paint dried, the surface was buffed with a soft cloth.  This removed enough silver paint to reveal the green paint below.

Above:  This candle was cut from a print made on gold textured foil using Tiger Lily, a 6" x 6" stencil.

Above:  This candle was likewise cut from a print made on gold textured foil using Tiger Lily, a 6" x 6" stencil.

Above:  This Christmas Tree was cut from a print made with red acrylic paint using my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs.  My substrate was white paper that had been marbled with gold.  

Above:  This Christmas Tree was cut from a print made with green acrylic paint using my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs.  My substrate was white paper.

Sprigs....

Tiger Lily....

Quilted Flower Garden ...

Ski Lift Works ....

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To scroll thru the pages of all my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

Angel Christmas Cards ... made with StencilGirl Stencil

I still make many of my own Christmas cards and always will.  The two cards shown below are nearly identical, but not quite.

I wouldn't have thought of a design created this way -- from prints made with my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs -- if it hadn't been for a StencilGirl StencilClub member.  When this stencil first came out, she saw the angel right away.  It took me a while longer to see it!

Once I'd found it, however, I knew what I wanted to do:  Make prints using traditional Christmas colors, one of which would be the background for my 5.75" x 5.75 " greeting card blanks (from JAMPaper.com); and from the second print, cut out the angel shape.

Above:  Altho a Gelli Plate could be used in making these prints, I opted instead to use a sponge brayer (not pictured) and Hooker Green mixed with gel medium.

Above:  On the left is the Sprigs stencil.  On the right, the sponge brayer has been run across the paint mixture.  Because Hookers Green is so dark, it appears almost black here.  My substrate is a white glossy paper that's been faintly marbled with gold.

Above:  On the upper right, you can see the first print, now that the brayer has been run across the stencil, followed by the stencil being lifted (it's on the lower right.)  After making several green prints, I used the same technique to make red prints.

Above:  Having faintly outlined the angel-shape on the print, the next step is to cut it out.  I used fine-detail scissors by Fiskar.

Above:  Two angels have been cut out.

Above:  With the same scissors, I rounded the outer edges of the wings.

Above; lower left:  I was careful to align the green angel with its matching lines on the red-printed background.  Lower right:  Fiskars Paper Edger scissors that I used to cut out the red-printed backgrounds.

Above:  You may want to click on this image, enlarging it to better see details.  In the lower left, an angel has been turned upside down and dimensional self-adhesives are being added.  I have several kinds of dimensional self-adhesives; they are shown in the upper left and mid-top.  On the far right is the Pioneer-brand Embellishment Glue Stick that I used to adhere the red background prints to the faces of the greeting cards. 

Using the dimensional self-adhesives to attach the angels to the card fronts created a 3-D effect, as shown in the card samples at the top of this post.

After adding the angels, I used gold glitter glue to give them halos.

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MaryBeth Shaw -- the StencilGirl herself -- in a demo video using MIKKI'S FLOWERS Stencil & MIKKI'S FLOWERS MASK

Mary Beth Shaw created this video back on July 8.

Toward the end of this instructional video, I was happy to hear her kind words about Mikki's Flowers Stencil and Mikki's Flowers Mask as she used one and showed the other in this demo. 

Mikki's Flowers Stencil (6"x 6")

Mikki's Flowers Mask (The flowers match the stencil's flowers in size.)

Enjoy the video!

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CYBER MONDAY IS COMING TO STENCILGIRL NOVEMBER 26.  All my stencils will be on sale.  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

Dyeing with Stencils and Teabags!

My Prayer Flags stencil (9" x 12") is one of the StencilGirl stencils starring in this video.  Once you watch the video, you can tell the reason this type of stencil was used; it works best with this technique of dyeing with teabags.

Enjoy the video and my thanks to you for stopping by my blog today!

To scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

Thanksgiving Greeting Card

Hardly anyone sends Thanksgiving Day cards, but I have one dear friend who does.  So I made one of my own to send the same warm greetings back to her.

I started with a greeting card blank from JAMPaper.com; this one measures just shy of 6" x 6" and comes in bronze-metallic cardstock that I like, for its sturdiness.  

On the left, I used a glue stick to add some marbled paper.  On the right, I added a strip of crumpled paper in fall colors.  And in the center I placed a print (made on a colorful old map) that I had created using my 4" x 4" Fern Fronds Silhouette Mini stencil.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Mineral Paper and 9" x 12" Stencil BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED

Today's post was created with my 9" x 12" stencil Blooming Where Planted. 

Above:  On the StencilGirl website, this image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

When I ran across a You Tube video about using stencils with mineral paper, I was stumped:  Mineral paper?  What's that?

Turns out, it's been available for about 5 years already!  It comes in tablets like the one shown above.  And it comes in three sizes.  If I remember correctly, it's made from calcium carbonate.

There were two reasons I wanted to try this paper -- (1) A sheet is thin and translucent enough for a stencil to be placed under it for the technique of dry rubbing; (2) it wall accept wet media without warping.

I did three quick tests ...

For my first approach, starting with the photo below --

-- I slid my stencil under the paper.

Next, I used a China Marker (grease pencil) to do a dry rubbing across the top of the paper.  You can click on the image below to enlarge it, to better see details.  I chose a China Marker for this first approach because I wanted a medium that would repel water.

Above:  I sprinkled the surface with alcohol ink.

Above:  I added rubbing alcohol and tipped the paper to encourage running.

Above:  A close-up of the paper after it had dried.

For my second test, I pulled out watercolor pencils.  This time, I wanted to use a dry medium that would be soluble in water.  The photo below shows the dry rubbing created with these pencils.

The next step was to spray the surface with water.  (I was to discover I'd used too much water!)

The photo above is a close-up of the final results, after the paper dried.  Because I'd sprayed on more water than needed, the effect was a washed-out look.

(If you think I learned my lesson about a heavy trigger-finger on the water spray bottle, you would guess wrong!) 

Above is the start of my third test on mineral paper.  This time I used Art Bar crayons.  These were the easiest to use for the dry rubbing technique; because they can be laid sideways, they reduce the number of strokes across the top of the paper.

The photo below shows my water spray bottle and my box of Brusho powdered pigments.  Other brands of powdered pigments are available; this happens to be the one I have on hand.

 Next, I sprayed the surface with water -- again using too much! -- as shown below left --

Above:  I sprinkled Brusho powders onto the wet surface.

My photo (a close-up) below shows the final result --

Of today's three approaches, my favorite is this last one.  But next time I'm hoping for better results overall.  I really like this paper and I want to do it justice!

Thanks for visiting here today!

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.