Cecilia Swatton

It's a delight to play with new-to-me "toys" for art-making!  My two sheets of Artist Trading Card-sized stencils aren't new, but I've enjoyed pairing them with new-to-me embellishments.

Above and below: Two greeting cards were printed with Fern Fronds Silhouette from ATC Mixup Swatton # 2.  On the metallic silver card above, the Bresden embossed foil trim came from Etsy; the butterfly was created with a crafter's hole punch.  Both the hole punch and the Bresden trim are fairly new in my studio -- so much so that I'm still finding different ways to work with them.  The greeting card below, likewise printed using Fern Fronds Silhouette from ATC Mixup Swatton # 2, is embellished with a bronze medallion (another piece of Dresden embossed foil trim) as well as a lacy-edged paper doily -- the likes of which are numerous once you Google "paper doily."  So many doilies will come up that you will barely be able to pick out favorites! 

   

Below is a third greeting card also making use of Bresden embossed foil trim that came from Etsy.  The background is watercolor paper previously decorated with -- believe it or not -- soap bubbles tinted with paint and applied by me blowing thru a straw!  Onto that paper, I made a print using Sprigs, another of the 9 stencils included in ATC Mixup Swatton # 2.  The butterfly was a gift received in one of the monthly exchanges for members of StencilGirl StencilClub.  

My go-to adhesive for these laser-cut paper embellishments, as well as the Bresden embossed foil, had long been a gluestick.  I still use my gluesticks a lot, but now it's just for solid papers like the watercolor paper on the greeting card above.  

For these two types of delicate paper decoration -- both the Dresden and the doilies -- I've started using Artist-tac dry adhesive sheets by Grafix.  These dry adhesive sheets allow me to apply adhesive to every part of the delicate laser-cut papers, but -- this is important -- without adding unwanted adhesive within the many laser-cut openings that make these papers so pretty. 

Directions for using Artist-tac dry adhesive sheets are right on the product's package, and they're a cinch to follow, with good results.  The only warning I need give is to avoid touching the adhesive with your fingertips!  Any area that your fingers touch will not be usable because the glue in that area will be on your fingers!  Any unwanted adhesive is very easy to remove, especially if you have an adhesive"pick-up" square. 

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