Two Last Christmas Cards for 2015

Things just got so crazy toward the Holidays, that I just never got these posted before Christmas, but I had to post them because I love them both! Bookmark them to try for next year; Magenta never retires their stamps or stencils, so everything will still be available!

Both of these cards use the same technique that I call Stencil Stamping. On the first one, the green panel was featured in a Technique of the Week post, and I told you that you would see it again later on a card! The technique tutorial can be seen here. After creating the panel, I rubbed the edges of the green panel through a gold Delicate ink pad and mounted it on an A2 white base card. I then stamped the sentiment (Magenta 07.780.G) with Black Onyx Versafine Ink.

This second card is so sparkly in real life! It was also Stencil Stamped, using the Magenta stencil TM104 Daisy Love. This is one of my favorite stencils for this technique. You can see a tutorial of stencil stamping here, and other stencil stamped cards here, here, and here. This card also has one of my favorite Christmas stamps (Magenta 07.883.K Multilingual Merry Christmas), since it contains the sentiment Merry Christmas in languages that have a lot of meaning to me: English, French, Icelandic, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, and Russian.

Joyeux Noel Card 

Magenta Products Used:

TM123 Small Holly Border Template

07.780.G Joyeux Noel Small

Other Products Used

Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn

Perfect Pearls Powder

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Delicate Gold Ink

Tim Holtz Watercolor paper

Hero Arts red nailheads

Merry Christmas Card 

Magenta Products Used

07.883.K Multilingual Merry Christmas

TM104 Daisy Love Template

Other Products Used

Distress Inks: Broken China, Faded Jeans

Perfect Pearls Powder

Versamark Ink

Ranger Black Sparkle Embossing Powder

So Silk Fair Blue paper

Tim Holtz Watercolor paper

Various Sequins

Technique of the Week: Stencil Kissing

In conjunction with the Art 'n Soul newsletter article "Technique of the Week" this week, I tried a technique called "Stencil Kissing." I got this technique from a customer (you know who you are). You may recall a previous technique called Stamp Kissing. This is similar, but uses a stencil to transfer the pattern, rather than a detailed stamp. A very detailed stencil is the best for this technique.



1. First, get a stamp with a lot of solid area. I used Magenta 0685.O Bird on Branch Silhouette.



2. I inked up the stamp with a range of Memento colors, starting with the lightest first (Dandelion, Canteloupe, Tangelo, Morocco, Potter's Clay, and Rhubarb Stalk). I wanted a variety of Fall colors for my image.



3. I chose several Magenta stencils to experiment with (TM140 Daisy Love; MC01 Blossoms; and one of the Zen Trio Templates TM54). The one I used to make into my card was TM140 Daisy Love.
 The pictures I'm showing here are using all three of these stencils.

4. Once my stamp was well inked, I stamped it down onto the stencil. This lifts some color from the stamp and leaves the pattern.



5. I then pressed the stamp onto a piece of white cardstock and the patterned image was transferred. 



6. I added a "Thinking of You" sentiment using Magenta 07.869.D, stamped in Memento Potter's Clay, and cut the image out using the Memory Box die MB 30036 Stitched Circle Layers (second largest size).



7. To finish the card, I mounted the image onto a piece of watercolor paper that was colored with Magenta Nuance colors in Bright Yellow, Golden Yellow, Grass Green and Jade. The colors were activated with "pearly water" (mixture of 2 oz water and 1/4 tsp perfect pearls powder).


8. The panel was adhered to a base card, and I sprinkled on a few sequins, sticking them down with Ranger Multi Medium matte adhesive. I did 3 stampings, and I absolutely love how all of them turned out. I hope you give this a try!

Magenta Stamps and Stencils used:

0685.O  Bird& Branch Silhouette

07.869.D Thinking of You

TM104  DaisyLove Stencil

MC01  BlossomMask

TM54  Zen TrioTemplates

Magenta Nuance colors used:

MNU-002  Bright Yellow

MNU-008 Golden Yellow

MNU-009  Grass Green

MNU-004  Jade

Other Products used:

Memento Inks: Dandelion, Canteloupe, Tangelo, Morocco, Potter's Clay, Rhubarb Stalk
Memory Box die: MB 30036 Stitched Circle Layers
Tim Holtz watercolor paper
Perfect Pearls Pearl powder
Various sequins
Ranger Multi Medium matte (the best thing for gluing sequins)
Neenah Solar white 110# card stock