{Spotlight Project} Maria Combines Spotlight Ink Blending With DIY Stencils

Happy December, STAMP friends! I was playing with my Christmas Icons dies to make my own stencils and a couple more Christmas cards for my stash. I decided to add some spotlight ink blending to the mix too. And then I thought, why not on patterned paper? So I gave 'em all a try.

A bit artsy perhaps, but that sparkle of the paste steals the show IRL. Let's see what I did. BTW, if you don't have sparkly embossing paste, you could use clear paste and add glitter. Or you could heat emboss with sparkly powder instead of using embossing paste.

STEP 1

Gathered my supplies - Angel and Two Reindeer dies, some patterned paper, Distress Inks, a sentiment stamp (though I later chose to use Joyful instead) and some scrap card to use to make my DIY stencil (which just might have been packaging from leftover Halloween candy bars I just might have finished eating up ;)

STEP 2
Die cut the icons from pieces of the scrap card and pulled out my embossing paste and palette knife.

STEP 3
The next photo shows you how I line up the DIY stencil on the PP to be sure I place the image correctly. I hold the stencil over the PP which is trimmed to card size in front of a light. The PP creates a shadow and I can move the DIY stencil around to get the deer placed where I want it. Of course, you could first cut the PP and spare card to the same size and then die cut the deer from the spare card where you want it. But I didn't think of that til now;)

STEP 4

Adhere the DIY stencil to the PP with temporary adhesive, especially those tiny little spots like the wings. Apply the embossing paste and then carefully peel off the stencil. Remove the spots of temporary adhesive when it's dried.

STEP 5

Ink. I got so into my groove applying the Distress Ink that I totally forgot to take photos. Geesh. I remembered when I was working on the deer. The first photo shows the inked PP with Barn Door around the deer and Fired Brick at the outer edges. I left a small area inkless for the halo effect. And cuz I wasn't sure if that dried embossing paste would tear up my ink blenders! The second photo shows the panel after application of Hickory Smoke around the edges. It's subtle, but adds more drama.

To finish off the cards I stamped the sentiments onto vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed them with champagne powder. Wrapped the vellum around the PP panel and secured it on the reverse before adhering the panel to the cardbase. Voila!

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial today. Should you try out any of the techniques from our Spotlight posts, like DIY stencils or spotlight ink blending, be sure to hook up at our Spotlight Project Showcase.

And should you find yourself placing an order soon, I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA code for an additional 20% off! I'll be back with one more Spotlight before Christmas. Hope your holiday prep is going smoothly and leaving you with some time to craft!

Christmas Icons - Christmas Angel

Two Reindeer

Joyful