Today, I wanted to make a simple yet beautiful card for a friend. Sometimes, the most simple designs can be the most effective designs because nothing competes in the background with the design itself.
The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.
Have you ever tried using stencils to do heat embossing? It’s really fun and opens up a whole new world beyond stamping! For this card I swiped an anti-static powder pouch over the entire page prior to starting. This helps prevent the embossing powder from sticking to the paper in places that don’t have the ink on it.
Using our TCW2302 Star Sparkle Slimline stencil, I dabbed clear embossing ink through the stencil on to the page. I moved the stencil around on the page to ensure an even coverage of stars across the page. I then took some clear embossing powder and sprinkled it across the page multiple times to ensure full coverage of the inked stars. After removing the excess powder from the page, I then used my heat gun to melt the embossing powder and set the star images onto the page. Tip: Clear embossing powder preserves the white page under the clear powder. It also creates a water proof resist against water-based mediums!
For the next step, I laid the TCW945 Starflower Net stencil down onto the page with the clear heat embossed stars. I then took some ColorSparx powders in Cerulean Blue, Turquoise, and Orchid and sprinkled them across the stencil. Using our Spritz bottle I sprayed water evenly across the stencil to activate the ColorSparx watercolor powders and removed the stencil when done spraying. Note: You can also leave the stencil on the page to dry overnight.
Voila! A really pretty watercolor page with texture and resist appears! Tip: Flip the used stencil face down on to another sheet of paper to make a ghost print or reverse print of the stencil, as shown in the following image. Save this for a future project.
I used my heat gun to dry the page, and I love how pretty it looks when dried. Here’s a couple of close up shots so that you can see it in better detail. Using my circle tool, I drew some different sized circles to cut out as ornaments.
Using TCW950 Joyeux Noel stencil and Signo uni-ball acrylic paint pens, I traced the word Noel as a sentiment onto the card, slightly overlapping one of the ornaments in the lower right corner. Using a ruler, I added the hangers to the ornaments with the same uni-ball Signo pen.
Do you want to see this blog post as a fly-by video (1:13 min)? Hop on over to my YouTube Channel to watch it by clicking on this video link. I’d love to hear which one of these ornaments is your favorite and why, please leave us a comment, below!
Michaela Butterworth
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member
PS: I’m really trying to build my following. Will you please hop on over and follow me on my blog and social media accounts, and please ask your friends to follow me too? Thank you so much!
My Website and Blog Teal Hare Creations
My YouTube Channel
My Instagram
My Pinterest
