Valley Oak Paper - Handmade greeting cards & gifts

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Stencil All the Things

Cecilia Huster

I’m starting by ink blending Pinkfresh Studio Lemon Whip ink through a floral stencil. The stencil set I’m using is Pinkfresh Studio’s Chrysanthemum. It includes six stencils. I’ve labeled them Yellow 1, Yellow 2, Red 1, Red 2 and Green 1 and 2 after the colors on the packaging. See the table below for how my labeling correlates to Pinkfresh’s.

In addition to the stencils, there’s a die set, a stamp set and washi. For this card I’m using everything except the washi tape. 

Cardstock & Vellum

I’ve cut my Hammermill cardstock in half lengthwise and I’m using both halves. Then I did the same with a letter-sized sheet of vellum. 

My idea for this card is to create a floral wreath out of white cardstock and vellum. I’ve seen other designers do that and I always love the results! I think vellum adds interest without adding bulk. 

Palette 143

For the next stencil I’m moving on to Pinkfresh Studio Marigold Ink. 

We’re in late summer now, so I was looking for a palette with warm colors but still some freshness. I settled on palette #143 from volume 1 of the Color Cube. But Palette 143 only had one yellow, so I added Lemon Whip as a lighter tone. See the table above for how I mapped the Color Cube colors onto Pinkfresh inks.

My next ink color is Mimosa. 

Vellum

When you’re ink blending on vellum, you need to make sure the ink is dry before moving onto next stencil. The ink has a tendency to sit on the surface and not dry. I used a fan to dry my vellum. 

The next ink color is Pinkfresh Studio Candy Apple for my dark red. 

It worked really well to cut my cardstock and vellum to 4 ¼ by 11.” You may notice that I’m taking care to push both the substrate and the stencil into the corner of my stencil mat. That ensures that all my stencils are aligned. Super helpful when you’re making multiples. 

My light green is Grassy Knoll. 

My dark green is Olive. This is the final ink color. I’m trying to concentrate it toward the bottom and middle of each stem. 

And that’s the final result! You get 7 different flower clusters from each stencil. I probably didn’t need to make two of each, but I’d rather have leftover flowers than not enough. 

The next step is to die cut the flowers. One big die cuts them all at once. I have extended plates for my Anna Griffin Empress, but you don’t need them for this die. You can just place the cardstock diagonally across regular-size plates. 

The platform is magnetic, but after 6 stencils I’m not taking any chances. So I’m taping down my die. The process for cutting out the vellum is the same as for cardstock. Aren’t they pretty? I just love this product suite so much! 

Sentiments

I’ve chosen “Wishing You All the Best” for my sentiment. There’s a coordinating die for it. I’m stamping it in Versamark on Hammermill cardstock. Then I’m using Ranger Extra Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder on it. 

This is what it looks like after heat embossing. The die is very tight, so I’m definitely using tape here! 

And that’s the result! 

I’m creating a couple of extra layers out of Accent Opaque 120 lbs for dimension and stacking them. That’s sturdier! 

Background

For my background I’m keeping it simple and just dry embossing some Hammermill with a Spellbinders embossing folder. It’s called Plaid Company. 

And this is the result. Simple and elegant!

I’ve cut down my background to 4 by 5 ¼” and now I’m gluing a piece of Accent Opaque 120 lbs to the back. The Accent Opaque is another ¼ inch smaller both length and width wise, so it’s 3 ¾ by 5”. It will help the Hammermill stay flat. If all these measurements seem confusing, there’s a cut list with all of them above. Click on it to enlarge!

When that’s dry I’m matting it on Recollections Gold Foil Cardstock. I want a really narrow mat, so I’ve cut the foil cardstock to 4 ⅛” by 5 ⅜”. 

Then I glue the embossed background to the gold mat. Finally I glue them both to my white top-folding card base. 

Wreath Frame

I prefer to have a frame for my wreath and this time I’m using an oval frame. It’s from a Spellbinders die set called Stitched Wall Hanging. It was the Stitching Die of the Month for April. 

I’m stacking a couple of layers of Accent Opaque 100 lbs and then I’m gluing some Recollections Gold Foil Cardstock to the front. Off camera I added foam tape to the back of the frame. Then I stuck it to some sticker paper backing, so it wouldn’t collect cat hair.  

This is what the die set looks like. There’s a hanger to make it look like an embroidery hoop, but I’m not using that today. This is actually a great die set if you want to get into stitching. It’s not too big and overwhelming. 

Assembly 

Now I can assemble my card. I start by adhering the oval frame to the background. Then I place the vellum flowers around it. 

When I feel that I’ve covered the frame with vellum flowers, I’m adding the Hammermill flowers on top, taking care to not place like on like. I want the vellum to stick out behind the cardstock. The vellum is almost like a bokeh layer behind the in-focus cardstock layer. 

Once I’ve filled up the wreath again, I glue down the sentiment in the center. It’s almost straight. I cut off the excess so the card would fit into an envelope and added some Pinkfresh Studio Glitter Drops in the color Sparkle & Shine to draw the eye to the sentiment. I’m on a vellum kick and this turned out even better than I hoped! 

Supplies Used