Stenciled Friend | by Tracey McNeely

Welcome to another inspiration post at Birch Press Design. Today I am so excited to be making a card with you using some products from the brand new Holiday Release! If you are anything like me you are hanging on to summer with both hands and you may not be quite ready to get going on projects for the holidays just yet. So I am creating a clean and simple card with some fresh summer colours that could be sent to a close friend, as a thank you or even to a work acquaintance.

To begin I die cut the brand new Triangle Fade Frame craft die from lightweight cardstock, this will become my stencil. Tape the die cut over white 5 1/4″ x 4″ cardstock panel, for this I used Bristol Smooth cardstock because I would be using Distress Oxide Ink to sponge over it. You can use regular cardstock because these inks do blend so smoothly. I sponged lightly in small circular motions not inking the entire panel but actually leaving some areas white.

The next step was to die cut the new Big Friends Sugar Script dies in two colours–one for the word and one for the cloud.

Once cut word die and the dot on the ‘i’ were glued together. The “you are the best” sentiment from the Hooray for Everything clear stamp set was stamped on the bottom of the stenciled panel and the panel was adhered to a  5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ solid colour card base. The friend die cut was finally added to the card front just above the stamped sentiment with foam tape for some added dimension and interest.

Monochromatic is to use tones and tints of one colour hue. In terms of graphic design a monochromatic colour scheme will instinctively create a sense of simplicity and harmony.

Clean, simple and easy to put together.

I hope that you try creating your own stencils from your existing cover plate dies. It’s a great way to stretch your stash into something completely different.

Supplies

57177 Big Friend Sugar Script

57178 Triangle Fade Frame

CL8125 Hooray for Everything clear stamp set