Stencils are truely such a fun and inexpensive way to dress up your cards – no expensive fancy equipment needed just a piece of plastic with decorative holes in it and some ink! Last night during my Facebook Live I showed these cards and demonstrated ways to use any stencil!

The featured image above uses Soft Suede ink (#burnished into a Soft Suede Cardstock base for a gorgeous tone on tone background!

Pick up ink by tapping the brush directly onto the ink pad and working in circular motion apply ink through the stencil (I used the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks – #150697 – while holding the stencil edge firmly or tacking it down with washi tape.

Lift one corner of the mask/stencil to check on the ink transfer to the cardstock base the more ink you apply the deeper the tone on tone effect will be!

Die cut butterflies from the Butterfly Wings die cuts (#155523) or buy the bundle and save 10% (#155821)

I added a sentiment from the Friends are Like Seashells stamp set and Metallic Pearls with my Take Your Pick Tool (#144107). The sentiment is stamped on a 3/4″ strip of Basic White Cardstock (#159276) and matted with a 1″ strip of Crumb Cake cardstock (#120953).

Here is another sample with a sentiment from the Butterfly gala stamp set (#148580) I used a 1/2″ strip of Basic White Cardstock (#159276) for the sentiment and matted this with Crumb Cake Cardstock (#120953).

Using a similar technique to apply the ink – I used multiple ink colors to make a rainbow effect – blending the colors where they come together – Poppy Parade ink (#147050), Mango Melody ink (#147093), Coastal cabana ink (#147097), and Bermuda Bay ink (#147096). I used Gorgeous Grape ink (#147099) in the video sample as well.

For an Ombre technique – use the blending brushes and start at one end of the 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Basic White cardstock with a freshly inked Blending Brush (#153611) and do not reink but traveling down the piece of cardstock as the ink is used the area inked with naturally get lighter and lighter creating that Ombre color pattern! I mounted this background onto Mambo Melon cardstock (#115320) added a Basic Black (#121045) die cut butterfly and Matte Black Dots (#154284).

For the Stencil embossing technique – use a juicy (freshly inked) Versamark ink pad (#102283) and after securing the mask/stencil with tape – press the versamark ink firmly through the stencil. Remove the stencil and add Clear embossing powder (#109130) to the wet versamark, this clear tacky ink will stay wet for longer than our regular ink pads to facilitate the embossing process! Heat with a Heat Tool (129053) until the grainy powder turns slick and shiny. I added some shading on the corners with Blending Brushes and Old Olive ink (#147090), a crumb cake cardstock die from the Stitched So Sweetly die set (151690) and the Butterfly Wings Dies, a sentiment from Peaceful moments stamp set (#151595) in Momento Tuxedo Black ink, and Matte Black Dots!

To Reverse Stencil embossing – While the stencil is still wet with Versamark ink I flipped it ink side down onto a Just Jade cardstock (#153079) base and rubbed on the back of the stencil to transfer the remainder of the ink onto the cardstock. Then I embossed it and added the same embellishments!

The Emboss Resist technique uses the white of the cardstock piece by placing the stencil down and pushing the Versamark pad through the stencil as before, emboss with clear powder and the Heat tool and then laying down color with the blending brushes! Using a paper towel burnish the cardstock and the ink will rub away from the embossing powder leaving the design in white shining through the background colors! I used the Banner Triple punch on the sentiment piece (#138292).

I washed off the color from my blending brushes and while wet I applied color lightly to the card through the stencil – this wet application of color lends itself to a different pattern of color. I used the blending brushes directly to the cardstock to add shading to the corners

Colored Shimmer Paint technique – While the color was still on the stencil – I placed a clean Basic White 4″ x5 1/4″ piece of cardstock under the stencil and with a bunched up paper towel I wet a spot on the paper towel with a mixture of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (#147044) and 70-90% alcohol. Rubbing the stencil to push the color mixing with the Shimmer paint into the cardstock – the result is a more subtle color pattern that adds a glorious shimmer and glow to your background piece!