New Home Card (Stencil Tutorial) using a Funky Fossil Bold Damask Stencil

Today I had the ideal reason to craft, my regional electricity supllier was doing work in the area so there was no power from 9am till just after 4pm.

I made this new simple new home card using a stencilled background.  I started using a blending tool, covering the whole card with a Distress Oxide ink in the shade of "Fired Brick".  (This has to be one of my least used colours, but it's actually fab).  

A little tip when doing the blending, you need to have a very light touch, almost like you are tickling the surface of the card with the blending foam and I work in a circular motion.  I start from the edge and work my way towards the middle.  I also use a clean piece of card or paper to hold the card down, that way I don't get finger prints or grease marks don't get transferred.

Positioning the stencil - I like to have a little bit of the card showing on all sides of the stencil. I place the card base on a piece of copy paper and position the stencil.  I then use some low tack masking tape on all sides covering the stencil edge, the thin edge of the card and then secured on to the copy paper.  

I decided to use a Funky Fossil Stencil called "Bold Damask".  I can now start to create the pattern.  Through the stencil I used another Distress Oxide Ink, this time in the shade of "Wild Honey", which I applied with a foam blending tool.  Again, I work from the edges towards the centre in a circling motion.

Once done, you can very gently remove the masking tape.  Even though it is low tack, sometimes it can still rip into your lovingly prepared background, so take it slowly and gently.

I really like the subtle pattern that this colourway has created, it has a lovely warmth to it.

A Little Tip - Don't forget to clean your stencil before storing it.  I place the stencil on an off-cut of plain card and then use a wet wipe to clean the stencil.  You will find that the "cut out areas" of the stencil will fill with a lighter tone of the colour you have used earlier.  

In this instance, the image on the right is my cleaning the stencil pattern, so you now how two stencilled backgrounds for the effort of one.  One to use and one to go in your pile of backgrounds to be used.

To create the rest of the card, I die cut three house shapes using a Papertrey Ink set called "Love Lives Here".  I stuck the first one in the middle of the card and used a rular to align the bases of the other two house shapes.

The "Welcome To Your New Home" sentiment is part of a Hobby Art Ltd stamp set called "General Greetings" which I stamped in Versafine Clair "Chianti" shade of ink.  I then stuck the whole image onto a white card blank.