Shells by the Seaside Card

Hello everyone!

Robyn here, sharing a technique for changing up your usual stencilled textures.

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

The Crafter's Workshop blog post - Shells by the seaside card – a stencilled card page by Robyn Wood

Have you discovered The Crafter’s Workshop range of coloured modeling pastes yet? They make getting colourful so easy and had a wonderful touch to any style of project. Today I’ll share how to get a different effect using the coloured modeling pastes along with the seaside-inspired TCW867 Gulf Coast Creatures stencil using two slightly different effects.

I’ll share how to create the creature elements and then give instructions for layering the card together. 

To make the elements nice and easy to create, I suggest you cut small pieces of heavy cardstock (or watercolour card) into a block a little larger than the images you will be stencilling.

Otherwise, I find that I squash freshly stencilled images with subsequent stencilling.

stencilling withTCW9039 Copper Penny through TCW867 Gulf Coast Creatures stencil

It is your choice which elements are stencilled with these different techniques, you can use the same one across all elements or mix it up as I have.

First up I’d like to share a way to get a two-toned effect using TCW9039 Copper Penny Modeling Paste and TCW9003 Shimmering Gold Gesso. Start by stencilling the crab image using TCW9039 Copper Penny Modeling Paste through the TCW867 Gulf Coast Creatures stencil using a palette knife. Set aside and allow to dry.

Wipe the stencil well after each element as this will make clean-up at the end easier. You want to get all the modeling paste out of the nooks and crannies in the design.

Wiping back stencilled image

Once the crab image is dry, paint over it using TCW9003 Shimmering Gold Gesso. Before it dries, replace the TCW867 Gulf Coast Creatures stencil and remove portions of the gold using a baby wipe. This will give the crab a lovely two-tone effect.

Mix two colours of modelling paste as image is stencilled.

Next is a simple blending of two colours of modeling paste. Often I will pre-blend the colours but for this card, I wanted the colours to swirl together a little but still be quite separate on the image. To save contaminating your modeling pastes, it might be handy to have a second spatula handy.

Starting with the first, lighter colour apply the modeling paste through parts of the stencil. Come in with the second colour and ‘fill’ the gaps. For this pair of shells, I have used TCW9039 Copper Penny and TCW9043 Marcasite Silver Modeling Pastes.

The TCW867 Gulf Coast Creatures stencil is very fine so the effect is quite subtle but beautiful!

Crab and shell pieces are painted with extra colour then fussy cut.

Continue stencilling elements until you have enough in a variety to cover the corner of your card. The shells become the supporting elements to that magnificent crab! 

Once dry, paint over the stencilled images using either TCW9003 Shimmering Gold Gesso or different colours of modeling pastes. I find that mixing them with a drop of water loosens up the paste and you get a lovely, shimmery paint. As you paint, remove a bit of the colour from the top of the stencilled areas with your finger.

I could have painted the cardstock first of course, but this gives a very different effect! The little bits of paint which get caught in the texture of the imagery softens the ‘stencilled look’. Once all the pieces are dry, fussy cut closely to the stencilled texture and set aside to add to the card.

Create the card by stamping over white cardstock using the Darkroom Door Fishing Net background stamp inked with Distress Inks. I have used a mix of Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch and then wiped some of the colour away from the rubber prior to stamping. This gives a bit of a random, variegated effect.

I tore a strip off the right-hand side of the layer then inked all edges with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. This piece was layered with a dark blue and laid over a pale blue card base.

Corner detail of The Crafter's Workshop blog post - Shells by the seaside card – a stencilled card page by Robyn Wood

I then grouped the shell and crab elements over the lower left-hand side of the card over a scrap of cheesecloth. They were glued so that some parts, such as the crab claws were able to lift a little to add dimension. A word stamped from the Darkroom Door Seashells stamp set and layered with dark blue and foam tape finished it off.

Supplies:

Thanks so much for joining me, I hope this card gives you some inspiration! 

We would love to see what you create with The Crafters Workshop Stencils and Mediums. You can share it with us on our Facebook Page, Instagram and Pinterest using hashtag #stencillove

Robyn Wood
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

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