New ! May ePlay Challenge - Get Stenciled !

It's the first Thursday in the month and that means it's time for another ePlay Challenge. Erin is our host this month and she is asking us to 'Get Stenciled'! You can see her gorgeous  Journal pages by following the link here. Stencils are so popular right now that many of us are perhaps wondering what we did before they became so widely available! One great thing about the stencils on the market today, is that they are relatively cheap, quite sturdy and there's a massive variety of shapes and patterns which can be used with all kinds of media. I'm still enjoying playing with my Wendy Vecchi 'Stamp - it Stencil - It Build a Blossom' and have created this little notebook. I've done lots of masked stamping and stencilling with Wendy's Archival Inks and added a liberal helping of Distress Ink for that vintage look.

I started off with a piece of manila card and used Distress Stains to create a background. I then stamped on the first three flowers with black Archival Ink.

I then made several flower masks by stamping onto Post It paper and cutting out the flower shapes. I used these to enable me to layer the flowers and leaves. Once everything was stamped out, I overlaid the flower stencil on each individual flower and applied colour with a blending tool. I used the paper masks to protect the flowers I wasn't colouring. Keeping the masks and stencil in place, I stamped over the surface with my chosen background stamps and contrasting ink, before moving onto the next flower. 

I continued in this way until all the flowers and leaves were coloured, using my hot air gun to dry any wet ink before repositioning the stencil and the masks. Once the whole surface was coloured put my stencil back on top of  each of the three whole flowers and applied embossing ink with a clean blending pad, and used clear embossing  powder. I think this has helped to create depth to the stamped layers. Once finished, I adhered the the card to a piece of chipboard using Studio Matte Multi Medium, I made a back cover the same size, and covered it with some left over spotty papers. I deconstructed an old blank sketchbook for the pages and  used my Zutter 'Bind it All' machine to put the book together. The finishing touches are the little, dyed seam binding ribbons, tied onto the spiral binder and last but not least, a couple of stamped tags made by stamping onto shrink plastic and some of the new Tim Holtz metal photo corners applied to the front and back covers. 

 If you would like to 'Get Stenciled' we would love to see your creations. There is a generous $25 gift certificate for Kim's fabulous eclectic Paperie Shop, for one lucky winner. Hop over to the blog by following this link, where you'll find all the challenge details and some wonderfully inspiring projects from the eTeam. you've got a whole month .......so there can be no excuses......get those stencils out ! x

Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 - Stamp It Stencil It - Build a Blossom	Archival Ink - Jet Black Ink Pad	Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490 Archival Ink - BUNDLE 6 Ink Pads	Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo
Ranger Heat It Craft Tool	Ranger - Mini Ink Blending Tool	Ranger - Mini Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam	Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder - Clear	VersaMark Stamp Pad