Group of Seven Cardmakers - Stencil Monoprinting - Sept 2024

 It's time for the Group Of Seven Cardmakers September post.  This month we are playing with the technique of Stencil Monoprinting.  You will find links to how to videos over at The Group of Seven Cardmakers blog.

You can create beautiful backgrounds or focal points for your cards, depending on the design of the stencil.  Basically you are using the background of the stencil to create your panel.  You can leave it as is on your card, or you can place the stencil back over top to add different ink colors or embossing paste to fill in the design.

Due to the larger/longer sizes of the stencils I used, I made all my cards Mini Slimline size - 3" x 6".

Rosette Stencil from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous - Salty Ocean Ranger Distress Ink

Gondola dies are Alexandra Renke

Illusion Twist Stencil from Altenew - Scorched Timber Ranger Distress Ink

Succulent Stencil from Stencil Girl - Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Ranger Distress Inks

A few photos of how I made my backgrounds.

  

Rub water reactive ink (like Ranger Distress inks) over stencil and spritz liberally with water. For this panel I used two colors - Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss.  

This stencil is  6"x6" so I was able to make 2 mini slim line cards from it (3"x6")

Flip the stencil over onto a panel of watercolor paper and press over the stencil to help the watery ink absorb into the paper.

Remove the stencil and again press over the panel with paper towel or cloth to absorb any pools of watery ink.

We hope you'll give this stenciling technique a try!  We have a Mr. linky over at The Group of Seven blog so you can share your card with everyone.  We'd love to see what you create!

I'm linking my Halloween card to:

Stencil Fun Challenge

Fall Frenzy - anything Fall ends 9/28

 NBUS

First time using the ghost dog die

Linking my Gondola card to:

Peace on Earth Christmas  ends 10/3

red and blue colors

Addicted to Stamps and More

ends 10/1

Linking my plant card to:

Just Us Girls

ends 10/2

Gondola Ski Christmas Card

Stamps: Two Feet Deep - PTI (retired)
Paper: Watercolor - Canson Cold Press, White, Pure Poppy, True Black - PTI
Ink: Salty Ocean - Ranger Distress, Nocturne- Versarine Clair
Accessories: Rosette Stencil - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Die - Small Cable Car - Alexander Renke, foam dots, twine, paper towels or cloth, water mister.

Dog Ghost Halloween Card

Paper: Watercolor - Canson Cold Press, Olive Twist, True Black - PTI, hammered white (on ghost) - Amazon.
Ink: Scorched Timber - Ranger Distress.
Accessories: Illusion Twist Stencil - Altenew, Ghost Dog die - Amazon, Halloween Shadows - Tim Holtz/Alterations, orange Copic, foam dots, tiny gold gems - Gina Marie Designs, white enamel dots - Altenew, Black sharpie pen (pupil on eye), water mister, paper towels or cloth.


Succulent Cards

Stamps: Plant Kindness - Stampotique, Way to Grow - The Greetery.
Paper: Water color - Canson Cold Press.
Ink: Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss - Ranger Distress, Nocturne - Versafine Clair
Accessories: Succulents Stencil - Stencil Girl, Dimensional Plant Stickers - Recollections, water mister, paper towels or cloth.

Easter Egg Blessings

 I'm in full Easter card mode now that it's April.    I made a card similar to this a month or so ago, but used darker colors and no framing and this time I layered the stems over an egg!

I die cut a panel of watercolor paper with the beautiful Quilted Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn and then cut it with the largest Nestability egg.  I die cut the stems out of Pale Rose and Soft Stone card stock using Alexandra Renke's Magnolium die.  

The looped bow is Fit to be Tied from The Greetery.  

I glued the stem pieces together and layered them over the egg with foam dots.  I die cut the scalloped frame using Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frames from MFT and adhered the frame and the egg to the white card base.  

The stamped sentiment is from Mini Strips: Easter  stamped on a sentiment strip die - both from Taylored Expressions.

I really love this Pale Rose color with the Soft Stone!

I'm linking my card to:

Just Us Girls Challenge

Country View Challenge

Spring is Coming

Stamps:  Mini Strips - Easter - Taylored Expressions.

Paper:  white, Soft Stone - PTI, Pale Rose - Bazzill, water color paper - Canson Cold Press.

Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew

Accessories:  Fit to be Tied die - The Greetery, Magnolium Die - Alexandra Renke, egg die - Nestability, Quilted Backdrop - Lawn Fawn, Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frames - MFT, Mini Strips die - Taylored Expressions, foam dots.

Snow Drops for Easter

 Time to make my Easter Cards!

I water colored a panel of white with strokes of Bronze paint to make it look more like the uneven coloring on an egg shell, and die cut a Nestability egg out of the panel. I cut the top off the die cut egg using the bottom edge of the egg die.

I die cut and water colored Snow Drops and stems out of white and adhered them to the back of the egg with tape.

 I embossed the background with the Tufted Embossing Folder from SU and then stenciled over it with the Pebbles stencil from Lavinia using Antique Linen Distress ink and a blending brush - just lightly stenciling over the center of the panel.

I adhered the egg and snowdrops to the panel with thick foam dots, curving the outside edges of the egg down. I added Glossy White Nuvo Crystal drops over the snow drop blossoms to add a little dimension.  I stamped the sentiment and punched it with the Word Window punch from SU.

 I'm linking my card to:

Just Us Girls

As you See It Challenge

Festive Friday Challenge

I used flowers, green, stencil

 

 

 

Stamps: A Beary Good Year - The Cats Pajamas
Paper: white - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Antique Linen Ranger Distress, Obsidian - Altenew
Accessories: Bronze water color paint - Ruby Mountain Paint Co, green water color paint - Winsor Newton, paint brush, water, Egg Die Nestability, Snow Drop Die - Alexandra Renke, Tufted Dynamic Textured Impressions Emb Folder - SU, Pebble Stencil - Lavinia, blending brush.

The Promised Spring

 Looking ahead to the promised spring and working on my Easter/Spring cards! 

I've had this lovely Magnolium Die from Aexandra Renke for over a year and felt it was time to finally get it out and use it. 

 I also added a bow from Fit to be Tied from the Greetery. I layered it over an oval die cut that I embossed with a Spring Leaves A2 Pierced Cover Plate from Honey Bee. (the piercing doesn't show up too well in the photo , you can see it mostly in the center).  

I layered the oval to a panel I embossed with the Weathered Embossing Folder from Taylored Expressions. 

 I die cut that panel with Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frames from MFT. The sentiment is from an older Papertrey Ink set - Mega Mixed Messages.  

I went over the die cut stems with gray and pink watercolor pencils just a bit to add a little depth.

I'm linking my card to:

The Paper Players

NBUS

Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages - Papertrey Ink
Paper: White, Soft Stone, Lovely Lady - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Obsidian - Altenew
Accessories: Magnolium Die - Alexandra Renke, Fit to be Tied Dies - The Greetery, Pierced Feature Ovals - PTI, Spring Leaves A2 Pierced Cover Plate - Honey Bee Stamps, Weathered Embossing Folder - Taylored Expressions, foam dots.

Snow Drop Sympathy

Every month I have all good intentions of joining in on the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge - and the days go by.......  well, this month , the challenge is using Alcohol Inks on vellum which really intrigued me so I got right down to it!

I found some Linen Vellum from PTI on my shelves and thought that might add a little texture to the background - but it didn't really show through the inks.   I swished the Alcohol Inks on 4 panels before I was happy with any result!   You just really cannot control the inks - they just do what they want pretty much!

I used some new AI's that I recently purchased -  Cloudy Blue, Moss, Snow Cap Mixative and Alcohol Blending Solution.

I dropped some of the blue onto the vellum, then some Snow Cap into the middle of the drops, tilted the paper back and forth to make it run, added some Alcohol Blending solution to make it more watery and repeated all those steps with some drops of Moss!  The Snow Cap is really chalky and dried slowly, such that I hit it with my heat tool so I could get on with putting my card together!

I die cut the Snow Drops (Alexandra Renke) out of water color paper that I had put a double sided adhesive sheet on the back of, so when I had the die cut pieces there was already adhesive on the back and I didn't have to add glue to all the thin strips of stem.    I adhered them to the vellum panel.

I die cut a white panel using Crimped Frames from the Greetery and trimmed down my vellum panel to fit inside the crimping.    I adhered that to a white card base, stamped the sympathy sentiment on a sentiment strip and layered it over the panel with foam dots.

So finally -   I have a card to link to the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge!   

I used AI's on Vellum, stamping and die cuts.

Stamps:  Simple Strips: Sympathy - Taylored Expressions.

Paper:  White, Linen Vellum - PTI, Water color paper - Canson Cold Press.

Ink:  True Black - PTI

Accessories:  Stick It Double Sided Adhesive Sheets, Snow Drops Die - Alexandra Renke, Crimped Frames - The Greetery, Simple Strips Dies - Taylored Expressions, foam dots, Ranger Alcohol Inks - Cloudy Blue, Moss, Snow Cap Mixative, Alcohol Blending Solution, foam dots.

April CAS Watercolor - Spring Flowers

The CAS Watercolour Challenge for April has just posted!  Susan is our lovely hostess this month and she would like us to watercolor spring flowers - she's looking for SPRING flowers - not just any flowers.  So please think snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, apple and cherry blossom, dogwood, etc.

 I water colored die cut snowdrops from Alexandra Renke for my card

 

Here are a few process photos.

I wanted to layer several cuts of the Snow Drops since they are so intricate.  So I adhered an adhesive sheet to the back of a panel of watercolor paper.  Then I die cut the snow drops, placing the dies on the watercolor paper side.  I peeled off the back of the pieces and easily layered them together .

I water colored the stems in two colors of green water color paint - Sap Green and Viridian and left the blooms the color of the paper.

Using a light blue watercolor paint with lots of water, I painted a background circle for the snow drops and then adhered them over the circle.

I die cut the card base using Noted A2 Scalloped die from PTI (no longer available). The sentiment is from Happy Snippets by Penny Black.

I have lots of crocus in my gardens but no snowdrops - I think I'm going to have to buy some for next spring - they are so pretty!

 You will find the challenge as well as lots of inspiration by the Design Team and our talented April Guest Designer Vicky here.  

The challenge is open through 4/24/20.  

 Please join us with your CAS water colored spring flowers!

I'm also linking my card to:

Happy Little Stampers watercolour Challenge

Try it on Tuesday
The Beauty of Nature

Stamps:  Happy Snippets - Penny Black
Paper:  Watercolor - Canson
Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew
Accessories:  Snow Drops Die - Alexandra Renke, Noted A2 Scalloped Die - PTI, Easy Cut Adhesive Sheet - Thermo Web, blue watercolor tray paint,  Kuretake watercolor paints Sap Green Viridian.

May CAS Stencil Challenge - Mid Month Reminder!

I'm here today to remind you there is still time to participate in the May CAS Stencil Card Challenge!

For my card today - I simply sponged over the stencil using black ink onto a bright piece of patterned paper.

I used a newly purchased stencil by Alexandra Renke called Lotus Ornament.  It's a 6"x6" stencil and I wasn't sure if I'd cut it in half or use the full stenciling so I stenciled it right in the center of the piece of patterned paper (Rainbow Bright 6x6 Double Sided papers/Sunny Studio.)

I die cut the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Window out of a panel of white card and laid it over the stenciling to see how much showed through - and most of it did!  So I trimmed the patterned paper to fit behind the panel.  I adhered the white panel over the stenciling with foam dots and then layered it all to a white card base.  I stamped the sentiment from A-mazing by Neat and Tangled on a die cut sentiment strip from MFT, also using foam dots.  Inside, I stamped a birthday sentiment.

The challenge is open through May 24th so please come and show us how you stencil over a colored background with a CAS design!  You'll find lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team over at CAS Stencil Card challenge here.

Also linking my card to:
AAA Birthday 

Just Us Girls

 

Stamps:  A-mazing - Neat and Tangled
Paper:  white - PTI, Rainbowe Bright 6x6 pack - Sunny Sudio
Ink:  Black - Hero Arts
Accessories:  Lotus Ornament Stencil - Alexandra Renke, Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows dies - Lawn Fawn, Sentiment Strips dies - MFT, foam dots.

Embossed Washi Thank You!

Today I'm sharing a card I made for the Splitcoaststampers Technique Lovers challenge.   The challenge was Embossed Washi Background, which I had never heard of or tried before!

I just love how this came out!   I adhered strips of Washi over a white card panel until it was completely covered.   I started with the bird one in the center and worked above and below from there as I wanted the birds the central focus.  Then I embossed the panel with my SU Square Lattice Embossing Folder, added the die cut THANK YOU and adhered the panel to a black panel and then to a white card base.  

That beautiful Rose Birds Washi is by Alexandra Renke, I used her beautiful Foxes Washi on this Mother's Day card back in May.  The others are just generic Washi tapes I got probably at either Michaels or Joann.

What a great way to use up all those washi tapes we have - and to create a beautiful background at the same time!

I'm linking my card to:

Happy Little Stampers

Paper:  White, True Black - PTI
Accessories:  Rose Birds Washi tape - Alexandra Renke, pink dotted washi, black striped washi, black floral washi - Michaels or JoAnn, On the Edge Thank You die - Simon Says Stamp,  Square Lattice Embossing Folder - SU.