Have you seen the newest stamps and stencils from Scrapbook-com? I dabble in a few different styles for cardmaking, but there’s one that I definitely favor and come back to time and time again – bold, bright, and graphic. The fonts in the newest stamp sets are perfect for this kind of card, but are still pretty versatile for other styles as well. Similarly, the stencil patterns are great basics that work for tons of projects and I’ve already added several to my stash!
I’ve sung the praises of the Make Art Stay-tion before…and I pull it out nearly every time I’m stenciling. This time I wasn’t totally sure what direction I wanted to go in for my backgrounds, but Scrapbook-com sent me a set of five of their hybrid inks (Mardi Gras, Parisian Purple, Surfboard, Sky Blue, and Oasis) to try out with the Teardrop Floral stencil, so I just trimmed down a bunch of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock panels to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and switched them quickly as I played with different techniques.
Here are just a few of the results I achieved with these gorgeous colors. I played with partial inking, rotating the stencil with different colors, and masking. The bottom three panels are the ones I chose to use for today’s cards…brief explanations for the method are below.
- Trim a piece of Lavender cardstock to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and lightly blend Mardi Gras ink around the edges. Lay the Teardrop Floral stencil on top and apply Turquoise Sea Glitz Glitter Gel on top to create a very “mermaid” background.
- Blend Parisian Purple, Surfboard, and Oasis inks across a panel of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock using domed foam blending tools. Lay the Teardrop Floral Stencil on top and blend the same three colors on top for a pretty gradient pattern.
- Using masking paper, mask off a strip at the top of a panel of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock. First blend Sky Blue ink all over the panel using a domed foam ink blending tool, apply the Teardrop Floral Stencil, and blend the same Sky Blue ink over the entire panel again. Remove stencil and masking paper to yield a soft, springtime card front.
Once I had created a few background panels that I liked, I started to focus on the sentiments. The glittery background looked magical and mermaid-y to me, so I wanted to use one of the “magic” sentiments from the Oh So Happy stamp set (can I just say…these are some of the most uplifting sentiments I’ve seen in a long time!). I stamped “this magic moment” onto some black cardstock with Versamark ink, added white detail embossing powder, and set it with my heat tool. To finish the thought, I added “love” to heavyweight vellum in the same way using the Bold Caps Outline stamp set and colored the letters in on the back with pink and purple Copic markers before diecutting the piece with a heart die.
After matting the background panel with some black cardstock, I adhered it to a white card base using tape runner. To make the vellum piece a little less see-through, I adhered a plain heart shape behind the stamped shape using my Xyron machine for invisible full coverage adhesive. Then, I played with the placement of my sentiments before adhering the black strip to the vellum heart with liquid glue.
To pop the vellum piece up on top of the card front, I hid thin strips of clear foam tape behind the “love” letters and sentiment strip. I love how magical this card turned out!
Alphabet stamp sets scare some people because they can be hard to line up properly, but I love how I can stamp any sentiment I can think of with them, so I thought I’d show you how I get near perfect alignment with mine. I use sturdy vinyl quilting grids that I picked up at my local Joann Fabrics, but you could also print a grid onto overhead transparency film if you’d like. I can lay the see-through grid over my project and line the letters and sentiments up perfectly straight before picking them up with an acrylic block or my MISTI door (this grid is cut to fit in my MISTI so I can use it for either). Clear stamps stick just a little to the vinyl as you are lining them up so it’s easy to position them quickly this way, and the vinyl grid is sturdy and wipeable for repeated use.
For this card, I stamped a sentiment from the Oh So Happy stamp set and the “you” using the Bold Caps Outline stamp set in black ink onto some white cardstock and colored in the letters using Copic markers. Then I embossed a second sentiment from the Oh So Happy stamp set in white onto a small strip of black cardstock.
After cutting a circle out of the blended background panel, I adhered it on top of the white panel using foam adhesive. The sentiment strip was popped up even more with another layer of foam adhesive.
I treated the last card in much of the same way by first stamping a “thanks” greeting to the masked strip on the panel using the Mini Caps Outline stamp set and Versafine Onyx Black Ink before coloring the letters in with Prismacolor Pencils.
I then added a fun sentiment beneath the bold greeting by splicing two of the phrases in the Oh So Happy stamp set together (yep, I cut the stamps apart with scissors!) and embossing them in white on a black cardstock strip.
I hope you enjoyed this bold and bright card trio made with some of the newest stamps and stencils from Scrapbook-com and thanks so much for stopping by today. What’s your favorite way to use stencils to create cards?
Supplies Used:
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 Teardrop Floral Stencil Shop at: SB |
 Bold Caps Outline Stamp Set Shop at: SB |
 Mini Caps Outline Stamp Set Shop at: SB |
 Oh So Happy Stamp Set Shop at: SB |
 Vintage Type Lower Stamp Set Shop at: SB |
 Heart Dies Shop at: SB |
 Circle Dies Shop at: SB |
 Make Art Stay-tion Shop at: SB |
 MISTI Shop at: SB | GKD |
 Turquoise Sea Glitz Glitter Gel Shop at: SB | GKD |
 Parisian Purple Hybrid Ink Shop at: SB |
 Mardi Gras Hybrid Ink Shop at: SB |
 Sky Blue Hybrid Ink Shop at: SB |
 Surfboard Hybrid Ink Shop at: SB |
 Oasis Hybrid Ink Shop at: SB |
 Lavender Cardstock Shop at: SB | HA |
 Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock Shop at: SB | CCS |
 NEW Domed Ink Blending Tools Shop at: SB |
 Masking Paper Shop at: SB |
 Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: SB |
 Versamark Ink Shop at: SB |
 White Detail Embossing Powder Shop at: SB | HA |
 Copic Markers Shop at: SBP |
 ATG Tape Runner Shop at: SB |
 Foam Squares Shop at: SB |
 Clear Foam Adhesive Shop at: SB |
 Xyron Machine Shop at: SB |
 Heavyweight Vellum Shop at: SB |