A New Way to Use Stencils

The Wednesday Tutorial at SplitcoastStampers today was a Stencil Monoprints Tutorial. At first I didn't think I would be able to try it because I didn't think I had any stencils to use for it, and then, while I was contemplating using my Big Shot to somehow make stencils to use, I suddenly remembered that I did have two stencils! 

The stencils, or masks as they are sometimes called, were a part of the Hooray It's Your Day Card Kit I purchase a while back. 

One of the reasons I purchased the kit was because of the stencils that came with it, and also because of the spritzers that came with it. It's a great kit that was fun to work with.

Anyway, once I remembered that I did have stencils to use I got to work. I decided to try both of the stencils. I used both full sized ink pads and ink spots. It was so much fun, and so easy! 

One thing that I didn't like is how I got different coloured inks on my ink pads when I pressed the different ink pads on the already inked stencil. That's when I decided to try the ink spots to lessen that happening. I was fairly careful and didn't get a lot, just mostly around the edges of my ink pads but I still didn't like that. I think I might try sponging the ink onto the stencil when I try it again. 

I've only used one of the pieces in a card yet. Still not sure what I'm doing to do with the other. 

For the card at the top of this post, I decided to just cut the watercolour paper 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and use the whole thing as a card front. I inked up the sunburst stencil with my Real Red and Daffodil Delight ink spots that I got in Paper Pumpkin kits. I spritzed the stencil with water using the Stampin' Spritzer before pressing the stencil on the watercolour paper. I dabbed the access water off with a paper towels before adhering this to a card base.  I stamped the greeting using a stamp from the Butterfly Basics stamp set using Baked Brown Sugar.

As a finishing touch I decided to add a butterfly I had sitting with my scraps. I had cut the butterfly out of Very Vanilla cardstock using my Big Shot and one of the thinlits from the Butterfly Thinlits Dies*. I had sponged the body of the butterfly with Baked Brown Sugar, sponged around the edges with Daffodil Delight, and dabbed a bit of Pistachio Pudding here and there on the wings. I thought I might use it on a card I made yesterday but decided I didn't like it with the card so I put it in my scraps, and I thought it looked quite nice on the card I made today.

This was so much fun! Now I want more stencils to play with!

* the Butterfly Thinlits dies are still not re-stocked! They are expected any day so keep checking the store.