Love this! And if Newfoundland weren’t so far away, I’d jump in my car right now just so that I could touch it. (That’s the inner child in me who wants to touch EVERYTHING!)  This wonderful Index Card (from Index Card a Day) was created by Sara who teaches many cool classes over at The Paperie (also in NL). Sara used so many of our stencils in this, that I couldn’t resist re-posting her blog post. Thanks Sara!!

Index Card a Day #52 – Enjoy the little things…

“I’m finally back to finishing the last 10 ICAD’s from this summer! For this one I smeared light molding paste over a fun stencil, Bug Doily, and let it air dry. I then painted over it with my cheapie water colours paints, blending them together. Although I really liked the blending colours, I wanted a bright spot and that wasn’t happening so I misted the centre with Lemon Zest Dylusions Ink Spray and then blended around it again.

Over that I stippled watercolour paint through another stencil, Art Is, and painted the wood veneer stars. The sentiment is, of course, stamped over a premade background and cut out! I love the texture of the molding paste, especially with the text over it.

And the addition of a quick spritz of Studio Calico Shine? Awesome!”

People always ask “What’s the best way to store your stencils?” Lucky for you, Ronda Palazzari posted the answer to this very question on her blog.  Here are the highlights (but definitely go to her site to read lots more!!)…

A couple months ago i was reading the Cocoa Daisy Blog and found this awesome stencil storage solution Alissa had posted.  Be still my heart for mine had been tucked shoved into 12 x 12 file folders and to be honest it was getting hard to close the draw.  You see i hardly ever leave them in their packaging.  out of the packaging, in the packaging, out of the packaging.  Yeah that’s just too much work for how often i use these amazing design tools from The Crafter’s Workshop.  I actually think i gasped while reading her post.  How simple & brilliant is her storage solution?  and of course i was struck with a big “DUH, why didn’t i think of that?”  Sometimes you can miss the obvious.

I grabbed some page protectors and started adding in my 12 x 12 stencils.  Yes i’m a dirty girl.  Like Julie, i don’t clean my stencils.  I do occassionally wash them off but i’m not going to spend hours making them look brand new.  it’s just not me.  Alexi helped with this task tremendously.  My left side of my brain took over and demanded labels on the page protectors and of course the 12 x 12 had to go in alphabetical order.  I am thinking of jacking Alissa’s idea further and adding in the colored cardstock.

As for the little guys, those are arranged in 6 x 6 page protectors by groupings.  I am always adding to my stash of stencils (say that 3 times fast) so alphabetical order didn’t make sense to me.  Right brain took control again and said they should be arranged by likeness.  So i gathered them in groups of 4, what made sense to me.  Alexi again was a tremendous help.  She colored most of the backgrounds and added in all the labels.  They now are all tucked into a grey album that’s begging to be altered with stencils but that’s a project for another day. 

I LOVE this new storage.  It has been incredibly useful to just fill through my album to search for the perfect stencil.  Plus i actually put them away when i am done!  There are a few protectors left to fill but i am guessing it won’t take me long to add in more stencils!

Ed. Note: Ronda says,  “no” you can not have her book of dirty stencils.  You have to go and dirty-up your own.

Our friends over at Paper Crafters Corner are doing a HUGE giveaway of misting and spraying products.  Including a set of 3 mini templates (see photo above!!)

You can see all of the prizes here.  BUT you must leave a comment here.

Here’s a Dina Wakley layout that uses drips and sprays:

Thank you Susan for inviting The Crafter’s Workshop to play along!!

I’ve been getting asked this a lot, so here’s the skinny on creating your own stencils…

1. You need to be able to order these wonderful stencils of yours in quantities of 100 pieces per style, per size.
2. You need to submit them to me (Jaime at thecraftersworkshop dot com) in Adobe Illustrator.  If you don’t have or don’t know how to use Adobe Illustrator, you can hire a graphic artist, OR you can have us convert your designs for an hourly fee.  (The more intricate, or in need of “clean up”, the longer the job will take.  The higher the charge will be.)
3. Before you even hand me the image(s), print out your designs on paper.  Cut them out as you would like them to be cut as a stencil.  Make sure they don’t fall apart.  (Think about a bulls-eye design.  If you cut out the middle circle, then cut out the next ring, then cut out the next ring, then the next ring, what do you get??  A BIG HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR PAPER!)  In other words, that won’t work.
4. Once we have the finished design and the quantity you want to order, we will work on a quote for you. We can not give you a quote without seeing the image.  The  more intricate the image, the more expensive the stencil.
5. We will assume that you want these stencil unpackaged (bulk).  If you want them packaged, we can talk about the options and the expense.
6. When you approve the design(s) we will ask for pre-payment via credit card or PayPal.  It can take 4-6 weeks to produce these depending upon how busy our production schedule is.  When they’re ready, we’ll let you know the shipping charges and discuss how you want them shipped.
7. This is about a 3 month process depending upon how quickly you respond to us with answers and revisions.

We do not typically add private label designs to our line unless we feel they would appeal to a wide, international audience.  If that is the case, we can discuss that with you.

Also, we respect your creative talents and will not knowingly copy anything you submit.  With that said, we do have over 100 designs on the “drawing board” at any given time. If you thought of something last week, chances are, someone else has thought of it too.

The ball is in your court.  When you’re ready, shoot me an email and be prepared to send an Illustrator file.

Let those juices flow!