Sparkly Meadow Flower To You From Me Card - Inkspirational Challenge 67

The Inkspirational 67 Challenge caught my attention the other day while I was web surfing, it's a purple with grey/silver colour challenge.  I love purple and silver together on a card but I think I've only ever used the combo for Christmas cards so I resolved to make a non Christmas card with the colours.

 

Stencils are popular in card making at the moment and I'm having fun using them.  Actually, I enjoyed using them many moons ago when they were the in thing for home decor!  I stencilled three walls of my neighbour's bathroom and I decorated loads of bits and pieces and small furniture items for our home - I still have a couple of pieces!  

For this card I used a Meadow Flower stencil, Memento inks and Sparkle Medium embossing paste.  I used low tack tape to mask areas of the stencil and I stippled Memento London Fog and Grape Jelly inks through the stencil using ink duster brushes.  I removed the stencil, heat set the inks by blasting the panel with my heat tool and carefully repositioned the stencil.  I then applied Diamond Sparkle Medium embossing paste and allowed that to dry - because the glitter in the Diamond paste is suspended in a clear gel the colour shows through the sparkle.  I made a 5 3/4" card from SU! Elegant Eggplant CS and added the stencilled panel plus white and silver striped paper to a mat layer of silver mirri CS.  I attached the die cut and dry embossed ribbon and bow and added the sentiment element.  I punched two Eggplant flowers and placed those on the silver mirri CS label and I added a rhinestone to the centre of each flower.  A Small Circle Dazzler embellishment on the bow completed the card front.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I may add a sentiment inside at a later date when I know what occasion I'll be using the card for.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Best Yet' set
CS: SU! Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White, silver mirri CS
Patterned paper: First Edition 'Silent Night' 6" x 6" pad
Ink: Memento London Fog & Grape Jelly, SU! Elegant Eggplant
Tools: Imagination Crafts 'Meadow Flower' panel stencil, Creative Expressions 'Classic 3D Bow' die set, SU! 'Apothecary Accents' Framelits die, 1 1/4" circle punch, Woodware multi flower punch, Inkylicious ink duster brushes, heat tool, palette knife, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: Imagination Crafts 'Diamond' Sparkle Medium paste, Creative Expressions 'Small Circle Dazzler, SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

Sparkly Stencilled Holly & Ornaments Card - ATSM #117 Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More have a 'Make Your Mark' challenge running this week which was the perfect nudge for me to use a new technique I learned from the amazing Alison at the Glitter Pot, my local craft shop.  Using alcohol based markers, colours are applied through a stencil and then Diamond Sparkle Medium paste is applied over the top of the stencil.  Because the Diamond paste is translucent the colour shows through the sparkle.  Colour can also be added by applying inks through the stencil - but the inks MUST be dry before the paste is applied or the colours will run and discolour the paste.  Using alcohol markers which dry quickly means you can apply the paste straight away.  It took me a while to find the 'right' CS to use, with some CS I found I had issues with colours from the markers bleeding under the stencil so I wasn't getting a crisp, defined design.  A thick, smooth, white CS provided the best results for me. 

I taped the Christmas Holly stencil down, coloured the design using Marsh Green, Ruby and Gold ProMarkers, applied the Diamond Sparkle Medium paste and then impatiently waited for that to dry! Once dry the marker colours appear muted and softened due to the paste being translucent.  I trimmed the stencilled panel to size, layered onto a red mat and added a brad to each corner.  I stamped and punched the sentiment circle element and popped that up.

I used punches to add holly decorations inside and on the envelope to complete the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampendous 'Small Merry Christmas', Hero Arts 'Holiday Cheer' clear set
CS: IndigoBlu White Perfect Stamping Card, SU! Wild Wasabi & Whisper White
Patterned paper: Bo Bunny Strawberry Double Dot Paper (plain side used)
Ink: SU! Wild Wasabi, Marsh Green, Ruby & Gold ProMarkers
Tools: Imagination Crafts 'Christmas Holly' panel stencil, circle punches, Martha Stewart Holly punch, palette knife, paper piercer
Embellishments & accessories: Imagination Crafts Diamond Sparkle Medium paste, SU! brad bases & Crushed Curry Candy Dots, Dimensionals, low tack tape

Gold Stencilled Flower Just For You Card - Fab Friday 50 Challenge

Whilst browsing Pinterest a few days ago I came across this beautiful gold and white card made by Amanda Mertz and that led me to the Fab Friday 50 challenge.  Hmmm, I've made silver and white cards but I don't think I've ever made a card using only gold and white - I don't know why and I decided I had to rectify that situation!  I just happened to have a brand new bottle of gold shimmer paint so this was a nudge for me to open that and use it with a flower stencil.

 

Firstly, I taped the stencil to a piece of Whisper White CS, squeezed some paint onto a ceramic tile and used a sponge dauber to apply the paint.  The stencil is long and narrow and I thought my large  panel looked too stark with just the stencilled image on it so I stamped a few background stamps over the panel in gold Encore pigment ink.  I tried various sizes and shapes of cards to put my long narrow panel on and wasn't satisfied with any of them!  So I chopped the panel down to a smaller size and opted to use a 5 1/4" square card - much happier with that!  Rather than matting the panel onto a layer I edged the panel with gold paint and popped it up on the card front after adding torn Brushed Gold CS.  I popped up the stamped and punched sentiment oval and added gold nailheads to the flower panel. 

The stencil is called 'Meadow Flower' and it seems to me a stylised version of an agapanthus so I stamped an agapanthus image inside the card and on the envelope flap in gold Encore pigment ink to complete the card. 

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'French Script' background stamp, IndigoBlu 'Crackleglaze' background stamp, postmark from PaperMania All Aboard 'Air Mail' set, SU! 'Oval All' set, Stampendous 'Agapanthus Thank You' clear set
CS: PaperMania white square card blank, SU! Whisper White & Brushed Gold CS
Ink: Encore gold pigment ink
Tools: Imagination Crafts 'Meadow Flower' panel stencil, SU! plain & scalloped oval punches, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: Cosmic Shimmer 'Antique Gold' shimmer paint, gold nailheads, ceramic tile, SU! Dimensionals