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!

More Christmas Fun with Stencils

The greeting card above was shown here in an earlier post, but at that time I hadn't meant for it to be a Christmas card.  I created it by painting a sheet of mica with silver metallic paint, then printing it with my 9" x 12" stencil Clustered Leaves.  It was just by chance that I used red ink and a metallic green greeting card blank.

Making Christmas cards this year, I came across this card and decided to re-purpose it, by adding a three-dimensional self-stick Christmas star.  Simple!

I used another star of the same kind on the cover of the pocket-sized journal below.  The front of this journal had already been printed with a portion of my 6" x 6" stencil Ornamental Iron Curls.  I had masked off the edges of the journal cover with masking tape so that only the central area received the print.

December 1's post showed my original prints made on foil-laminated papers with acrylic paint, a sponge brayer and several of my stencils.  

December 2's post showed Christmas tree card covers made with some cut-outs from those prints.

Today's post moves on to show more Christmas cards, these with candles made from other cut-outs:

Both cards above were made from papers printed with my 6" x 6" stencil Ornamental Iron Curls.

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!

Stencil-Print Christmas Cards... A Memory from Yesteryear

I've noticed – to my delight – that the round 8-inch Gelli Plate greatly changes the “look” usually achieved from making prints with stencils.  This happy fact stood out for me when I used my 9”X 12” stencil Facets ...

The first print shown above  --

 --reminds me of a stained-glass window.

I'd made this print starting with black-and-white patterned scrapbook paper; then I had layered red, orange and green acrylic paints over it with a brayer. 

Once that paint dried, I'd used my round Gelli Plate, a gesso-teal mix of acrylic paint, and my 9”X 12” stencil Facets to pull the print.

To make my first Christmas card, I covered a blank 5”X 7” greeting card with a background -- green mulberry paper embedded with gold threads of tinsel.

My next step was to add the half-circle I’d cut from my Gelli Plate print.  It was really easy to cut out the printed area, because this stencil’s geometric design is divided equally by its axis. 

On a scrap of the same green mulberry paper, I used a gold-paint pen to write “Christmas Blessings” – I did it on a scrap, not the card itself, because I wanted to make sure it would turn out the way I wanted.  Then I cut out the lettering and glued it to the card cover.  That card is below:

I used part of the leftover print to decorate a matching envelope -- it became a trim that runs along the bottom edge, right under the area where the name and address will be:

Another print I pulled, using the same teal-gesso mix, was on dark blue cardstock that has embedded glitter-like sparkles.  Here, again, is that print:

To make a second Christmas card, I chose a 6"X 6" card blank made from "pearlized" cardstock.  Because of the change in card size, I cut out a bigger part of the print than I had for the earlier card.  I glued the cut-out to my card and trimmed the edges.

I used a rubber stamp and green inkpad to make the greeting on white cardstock.  After cutting out the greeting with Fiskars Paper Edger scissors, I ran the gold pen along its four edges before adding it to the Christmas card.  Here's the card, finished -- except for a red border that I plan to add later:

Here's the matching envelope, again with its decoration along the bottom that leaves room above for the name and address:

For me, it was a natural segue from Christmas cards and envelopes to Christmas giftwrap.  Some of the prints shown at the top of this post were done on foreign newsprint  -- an approach that gives me an interesting background, while resulting in a pliable paper perfect for giftwrap and matching gift-tags.

Here again are those papers:

And here is one of the papers as giftwrap --

And here is the gift-tag, cut from another print, so the prints match but the color backgrounds are in contrasting (complimentary) colors:

Facets stencil, in its entirety, looks like this:

9" x 12" stencil Facets

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!

Still More New Christmas Cards

One of my favorite stencils for Christmas card use is my 6" x 6" Quilted Flower Garden.  Its repeating pattern reminds me of poinsettia blooms...

Another reason I like it is that its built-in lines mean I can easily cut the prints into strips.

Above:  a minimalist Christmas card, with a column three poinsettia blooms centered on a metallic green 6" x 6" greeting card.

Above:  One of many cards I've made with the theme of Christmas candles.

Above:  For this card, I used the entire print, which was done with bronze metallic acrylic paint on handmade green paper.  I cut out the print when the paint had dried and glued it to one of my green greeting card blanks from JAMPaper.com.

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!

Christmas Cards Made with Oct. 14-Released Stencils

Working on muted silver paper, I ended up with a less-than-perfect print when working with my new 6" x 6" stencil Tiger Lily.  First I thought squeeze-bottle glitter might help ...

  

... and it did help the central area, but the area right above the center, as well as below it, were faintly printed; and I didn't want to add more glitter.

So I cut out the star-shaped central area --

-- and glued it to red background paper, then glued those two layers to the front of a white metallic greeting card blank from JamPaper.com.  It doesn't make a perfect Christmas star ... but it's close.

Above:  Tiger Lily got used in a different way on another Christmas card.  I used red acrylic paint and white background paper to make the above print, before adding it to another greeting card.  The central star is an embellishment found years ago at Michaels Arts and Crafts.  

Above:  I used Sprigs, another new 6" x 6" stencil, in the same way.  I liked these results enough to make several cards identical to this one. 

Thanks for coming to see my blog today!

To check out all my stencils, please visit here. 

Part 2 of Making Christmas Cards with Stencils

Above:  the original print was made with 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid

With the exception of one, these cards were made on 6" x 6" greeting card blanks from JAMPaper.com, which also sells matching envelopes.  These blanks are made from sturdy cardstock that has a metallic sheen.

Above:  two prints made with 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid

The above double-print was shown yesterday.  Today, below, I'm showing how I used the shape of the central figure in this print as a guide for cutting out a triangle.

Above left is the greeting card (before being folded.)  The built-in guide of the central shape made for easy cutting of a triangle, to become a Christmas tree. 

To make my other cards with Christmas tree covers, I used a template cut from scratch paper as my template.

Above:  my Christmas tree template (placed on a dark background to show up better.)

I traced around the template, then cut out the tree shape for each of the greeting cards below. 

Above:  It was hard to photograph this print on gold foil made with 6" x 6" stencil Ornamental Iron Curls, so this is Shot 1, with Shot 2 to follow.

Above:  Shot 2 -- the same card, shot from a different angle.

Above:  the original print was made with stencil 6" x 6" Ski-Lift Works

Above:  Unlike the others, this card was made on a  5" x 7" greeting card blank (Strathmore brand.)  The original print had been made with 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid   

Above:  the original print was made with 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid

Above:  the original print was made with stencil 6" x 6" Ski-Lift Works

Tomorrow's post will move away from Christmas cards to show a stocking-stuffer gift and more cards, this time with candles cut from stencil-prints.

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To see my full line of stencils please visit here.

Making Christmas Cards with Stencils -- Part 1

Used above:  6" x 6" stencil Kaleid

For this year's Christmas cards, I launched the idea of making Christmas tree shapes for card covers, starting with partial prints on foil-laminated 8" x 11" papers. So I made a series of partial prints that would lend themselves to be cut into triangular shape; they would also work for cutting out short vertical columns that would become candles on other Christmas cards.  

Used above: 6" x 6" stencil Ornamental Iron Curls

Used above: 6" x 6" stencil Ornamental Iron Curls

Used above:  6" x 6" stencil Kaleid

Used above:  6" x 6" stencil Ski-Lift Works

Used above:  6" x 6" stencil Ski-Lift Works (as a print, made by turning the still-wet stencil upside down and pressing it to silver foil paper)

Please come back tomorrow to see what happened next, after the prints had dried.

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!