Art...

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Christmas-themed Foil Embossing with StencilGirl Stencils

For today's post, I used a different source of self-adhesive aluminum -- Inkssentials self-adhesive foil from Ranger Industries. It works the same as the aluminum foil tape but comes in a wider width.

Foil is very difficult to photograph, but I love working with this surface because embossing it is so easy and quick. The results are subtle, not flashy.

My first step was to measure the foil needed to cover the front of a blank greeting card--

Then, I placed my 4"x 4" stencil Fern Fronds Silhouette Stencil Mini atop the foil, holding it in place as I traced the openings with a stylus...

Note: this stencil is stained green as result of a previous project. Click on the image to enlarge it and better see the embossed lines made with the stylus.)

My 4"x 4" Fern Fronds Silhouette Stencil Mini is what I chose to use this time, but the greeting card blank was large enough for me to've used any 6"x 6" stencil. I buy these sturdy, square greeting card blanks from JamPaper.com.

After I lifted the stencil, its embossed outlines were revealed, as shown below.

After this, I introduced Titanium White acrylic paint --

-- which I brushed across the surface. While the paint was still tacky, I removed most of it with a paper towel -- my goal being to leave a hit-and-miss look, with foil showing thru in most areas, but with most of the paint remaining in the embossed areas:


Click on the above image to better see the remaining white paint.

Next, I got out the glitter glue (also by Ranger Industries.) Below are two photos showing the border I created this way:

Now I wanted to add some color, so I used red glitter glue to apply dots--

Above: These dots are easier to see in the finished greeting card, shown at the start of this post.

Once the glitter dried, I peeled off the foil's white backing paper and applied the foil to the front of the Christmas card -- as shown in the top photo in this post.

Check with the Postal Service before mailing 6" x 6" greeting cards -- there is a non-machinable surcharge for sending mail of these dimensions. I use two Forever stamps, for convenience.

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

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Friday, December 7, 2018

Still More Christmas Cards

I've made another four Christmas cards -- this time, with marbled paper, metallic-green blank greeting cards and Inkssentials foil tape sheets by Ranger. This self-adhesive foil comes in 6" x 12" sheets.

For decorating the foil, I used red acrylic paint on a Smudgee, along with two strips from my Borders series of stencils, Borders # 1 and Borders # 2. (There is also a Borders #3 stencil.) Each of these 9" x 12" stencils contains three unique borders. For me, using these borders is made easier by my cutting vertically down thru the stencils to separate the individual borders into strips. Once the borders are cut into strips, they're perfect for automatically measuring the two sides of the pillar candles; I simply score a line along the two edges of this Mylar strip. Then I cut alone those lines.

Above: Borders # 1 marked with the vertical strip that I cut apart from the 9" x 12" stencil.

Above: Borders # 2 showing the strip I've cut off this 9" x 12" stencil.

The four new Christmas cards are lined up below.

To scroll thru the pages of all my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

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Thursday, December 6, 2018

Dec. 7 ... 1-Day Special at Pixels.com./Fine Art America

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

StencilGirl Stencils + Greeting Card Blanks = Fun!

Another parade of Christmas cards ....

Above: This background, made with 6" x 6" Ski Lift Works Stencil, makes me think of a church window. The substrate is a piece of red foil and I printed it with metallic silver acrylic paint.

Above: This candle was cut from a print made on green textured foil with metallic paints and my 6" x 6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden. It's very easy to cut straight lines with prints made from this stencil since each Christmas flower is boxed in a square.

Above: This candle was cut from another print made with my 6" x 6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden. Light molding paste was applied thru the stencil; after that dried, the entire surface was painted with green acrylic paint; and, after that dried, the surface was painted with silver metallic paint. Before the silver paint dried, the surface was buffed with a soft cloth. This removed enough silver paint to reveal the green paint below.

Above: This candle was cut from a print made on gold textured foil using Tiger Lily, a 6" x 6" stencil.

Above: This candle was likewise cut from a print made on gold textured foil using Tiger Lily, a 6" x 6" stencil.

Above: This Christmas Tree was cut from a print made with red acrylic paint using my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs. My substrate was white paper that had been marbled with gold.

Above: This Christmas Tree was cut from a print made with green acrylic paint using my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs. My substrate was white paper.

Sprigs....

Tiger Lily....

Quilted Flower Garden ...

Ski Lift Works ....

Thanks for stopping here today!

To scroll thru the pages of all my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Dec. 5 Special at Pixels.com/Fine Art America

More Christmas Cards made with My StencilGirl Stencils

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Dec. 3 ... 1-Day Special at Pixels.com/Fine Art America

Saturday, December 1, 2018

March of the Christmas Cards

Today I'm trotting out a from a past Christmas, and inviting you to click on the first two photos below, to better see details on these six greeting cards:

Altho the above cards celebrate Christmas, the same idea can easily adapt to birthday card decorations.

First, I got out some papers and blank greeting cards...

... starting with the above scrap of leftover metallic paper, previously stamped with alcohol inks.

Next, I placed stencils over the papers and masking taped them down:

Then I used a sponge with heavy body acrylic paint to start pouncing on the color:

Clicking on the above image to enlarge it, you can see that I've masked off the right half of this vertical "swish-and-swirl" pattern. Here I am printing directly onto a greeting card cover. I moved the stencil progressively to the left, applying paint each time, to end up with 3 candles in a horizontal row across the card face. The final card is shown at the start of this post -- it's the middle card in the second-from-the-top photo.

On the upper right in this above photo, you can see where I used a piece of newspaper to pounce excess paint off the applicator before bringing the applicator to the stencil. This helps prevent paint from running under the stencil, which causes problems if you want crisp details in your final prints. This off-loading technique is a huge challenge for me, but I do the best I can.

Next, I carefully peeled off the stencils, to reveal the prints:

Then I cut apart the "candles" -- easy to do, since these stencils provide their own built-in guidelines.

The final products are at the top of this post: The candles have been either collaged, or printed directly, onto greeting card covers, along with collaged-on flames.

The stencils I used were my 9"X12" Wrought Iron Gate --

-- and my 9"X12" stencil Borders 1 --

and my 9" x 12" Borders 2 --

Thanks for visiting here today! To follow this blog by email, please use that option in the upper right sidebar. To scroll thru my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.