Stamping and Stenciling

Hello,
 I am back with another technique.  This month I was the guest designer for Club Scrap.  Every month one of us chose a technique and share with all the subscribers to Club Scrap Blog.  I thought I would take a moment and share this technique here.   Click the lint to go to The blog post for Club Scrap Technique Challenge or just read on.  This is a fabulous technique to give a try.

 I started out with White card stock and added a layer of Old Paper Distress Stain to give the cardstock some color.  I will include the photos here that outline the steps.

 slightly wet the paper

 Add Stain

 spray again with water and remove any excess stain.

 Dry

 Spray again if need to lighten or add more distressing

Make sure very dry before proceeding

 Tape down the Stencil

 Using a light hand, apply ink to stencil.

 I like unmounted stamps.  You can get that stamp into the smalls areas.

 Continue to stamp until you are happy

 Use Rubbing Alcohol to clean the Stencil is using an Archival ink. 

Finished with stenciling and stamping.  Cut down to 3.75" X 5.0".  Note the blended ink is soft and sparse in places, this give this a crayon colored impression.

Products used: Tim Holtz Clock Stencil, Distress Stain in Old Paper, Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap and Iced Spruce.  Black Archival ink and the word stamp is from the Crewel and Unusual Kit from Club Scrap.  

To finish my card, I stamped the coffee mug from this month's Kit: Office Space, in Brown Archival Ink and heat set with Clear embossing powder.  I fussy cut and Using a Copic Marker YG90 and YG 93 added shadow to the cup and filled in the "white space" around the handle.  This kept me from having to cut out that area. 

If you look close you can see where I added the shadow to the inside of the handle.

All that was needed was the sentiment.  So lets, take a pause here and ponder this card.
This background is busy and could easily be the focal image.  But I need more than just the background.  The coffee mug, goes along with the theme, clock time, coffee time, coffee break, get the idea.  We all work and time controls our day.  This is my hidden message.  But to bring it home, I needed a sentiment that reflects the theme. So in looking at the saying,  You might wonder who I would send this card to?  I wondered that myself, but again, this is art and who cares.  I like it, it speaks to me and someone who loves coffee would be a good recipient with a "hello message" inside.   Ok, so I justified my card and my saying.  Point here is you don't have to make "Get Well Cards, Birthday Cards, or any theme card with a message that reflects that occasion.  You can make a card just for sake of design and/or.  I have struggled with this concept for some time and in the end I decided it is what makes me happy and what I like is how I am going to address my designs, and thus my recipient will also be happy because I just know they will see my smile in the message

But how did I tie it together?  The saying...

I colored the white card stock the exact same was as the stenciled background, this is so they match.  Stamped in Black Archival.  Cut the square side down, this will lay along the right border.  Then I fussy cut to get rid of the extra paper and give movement to that inside edge.  If you look back at several of my cards, I do this frequently.  You might consider it my signature element.  I do it because I can never find the right die to fit my saying, or the area I have on the card.  I also think it adds the the uniqueness of my cards.

After I was happy with the tag, I adhered it to another area of my white card stock and cut this out using the finished tag as my guide for the border.  That gave me a white frame around my tag so that it would stand out from the background.

I added a few sequins to balance out the image, mounted it on the gold cardstock from this months kit and a green/gray from a previous kit.  I love this card!!!

Until next time:
Happy Crafting,
Josette