A Christmas Card Memory ...

More Christmas cards ...  

Both cards below were made with dark bronze metallic greeting card blanks (JamPaper.com).  Cut from sturdy cardstock, these blanks perfectly fit my 6"x 6" stencils.  Sturdy cardstock is important when the greeting card has to stand up to coarse modeling paste, used in the first 2 cards below:

The card above was made with my 6"x 6" stencil BUDDING BRANCHES.

The above Christmas card was made with my 6"x 6" stencil Swaying Grasses.

The above card was made with part of my 9" x 12" stencil Queen Anne's Lace.

I created the top 2 cards using an art spatula to spread coarse modeling paste thru the stencil openings.  After the paste dried, I added highlights with glitter glue.

My approach to the third card, made with a portion of Queen Anne's Lace, was to spray acrylic paint thru the stencil openings.  Since this stencil measures 9"x12", I masked off portions of it to keep them from showing.  The same finishing touch was used on this third Christmas card, altho you may have to click on the image to enlarge it, to better see the glitter glue.

Acrylic spray paint is available on store shelves, but I make my own, so I can mix custom colors.  (See the photo below.)  I buy spray bottles at drug stores (in the traveling supplies section); then I fill them with a mix of acrylic liquid paint, water and airbrush medium.  The ratio of water to acrylic liquid paint varies, depending on whether I want to end up with a heavy spray or a light one.  The amount of airbrush medium never varies -- it's always just a few drops per spray bottle.  I clean the spray nozzles after each use.  But if they clog between uses, anyway, then I use rubbing alcohol to clear them.

Because the dark bronze metallic cardstock is just that -- very dark -- I sometimes line the insides of the cards with lightweight papers, cut to fit.  

Above is what the inside of my cards looks like, after the light paper is added.

At times, I skip that step and, instead, use white markers or pens to fill out the inside of these greeting cards.

Check with the Postal Service before mailing 6" x 6" greeting cards -- there is a non-machinable surcharge for sending mail of these dimensions; it comes to 71 cents per card.  I just add 2 Forever stamps ... easier that way.

Today's post first appeared here in 2015.

I'm happy to say that I've designed 70 stencils for StencilGirl.  The multiple pages of my stencils start here.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!