Doodles in my Sketchpad

Inked Impressions

Hi everyone! It has been such a treat to do this blog hop using StencilGirl and Imagine Crafts products. I love challenges especially with great tools and what goes better together than stencils and ink?

I have often said after creating a piece, “I had no idea where I was going to go with this project” and this particular quest was no exception.   I decided to do what I now call “The MaryBeth” and just jump in and start inking up my paper using stencils. (And that is what MaryBeth Shaw does.)  I mean really, what is the worse thing that could have happened? I might have had to throw the paper away and start again? That’s ok, right? Happens to lots of us. But you know, the stencils I picked were soooo perfect and the inks went together so well. And this is what I made and it was the first piece out the gate. That is very unusual for me. It’s more dry art rather than wet but I didn’t really mind at all.

So can you make this? Absolutely. First put on a little bit of brave, because for some of you, I am asking that you take a step outside of your comfort zone and do some improv. Grab a piece of heavy cardstock. I prefer 80 or 100 lb. mixed media paper or cardstock. The stencils I used were such a mish-mash. I am listing them all below but please note, you will still have a great piece even if you only use three of the stencils. I loved so many that I had a hard time making a decision and so they all got to go to the “playground”.  (I love including everybody.)  I chose three Staz-On ink pads, Midnight Blue, Saddle Brown and Spiced Chia. You know, art is all about the odds and threes. Just start inking them up in different places all over the paper. That’s right. No planning or overthinking here. Brave. You got this. Try to do them in three places before switching to a different stencil to save a bit of time and to keep your art work balanced. Once you got one stencil down, pick up another.  It won’t take long to realize,  you’ve got a work of art in the making!

 

Now, here is something I discovered when using these inks.  I am not a very good “cleaner” when it comes to my blending tools for stenciling. (Sorry, not sorry…lol!).  Since the Staz-On ink is permanent and generally dries very quickly, I was surprised when I used the Midnight Blue and then dipped it into the Saddlebag Brown and the color came out green.  Ah!  How cool was that?   I believe there is a tad bit of yellow in the brown.  Mixing yellow with blue equals green:).  Happy commingling! So I really ended up with four colors, though two were different shades of brown. The perfect artist madness, mistake, messiness or whatever you want to call it. I own it.  Lastly, I went back over random sections and just swirled some ink as filler. I felt like this piece looked earthy-tribal.  What do you say?

I chose these ImagineCraft inks:

Saddle Brown-StazOn Ink

Midnight Blue-StazOn Ink

Spiced Chai-StazOn Ink

Stencils used…Are you ready for this? You certainly don’t have to use all of them. I got into playing so much that I just reached for whatever made me happy, and these made me very happy…

Polka Party by Tammy Tutterow

Petit Greens by Tammy Tutterow

Straight Stems Stencil by Terri Stegmiller

Make It Count-Mini by Seth Apter

Classic Feather Remake by Rae Missigman

Repetition Stencil by Rae Missigman

Circles Layer Me Stencil by Carolyn Dube

Woodcut Roses by Desiree Habicht

Whew!  Quite the ensemble, right? But such great artistry!

I also wanted to mention that I used:

Seth Apter’s Dot Matrix stamp by Spellbinders and

Tim Holtz’s Cracks & Specs Stamps by Stampers Anonymous

Inked Essentials Blending Tool by Ranger

Now, I’m generally not the type to hang up what I made, though I am getting better at it.  I really love giving away my art most of the time.  Since this piece was a bit large for me, I thought a great way to stretch the giving to encompass more people was to make something that is useful and since I am a crafter too, I decided to cut my artwork into pieces and make cards.  I got 5 plus cards out of one piece of card stock!
How cool is that?

Here is each one, up close and personal, and very, very simple! The roses were created by outlining the stencil then coloring it in with ink. I started light in application then added more ink as I came closer to the base, as you see in the rose. I cut the roses and leaves out so I could add a little dimension.

Sometimes something as small as a sentiment finishes off a card.

Not hard to cut out the feather and ink up the edges as an embellishment for this card.

No sentiment needed because it’s right in the stencil.

And this one is a bonus. I thought wouldn’t it be so cool to stencil on my dinner napkins?  I like the organic look, and shibori and the color navy are my loves right now. And these inks are permanent! Sweet!

 

Well that is it. Oh but wait! Read this…. You definitely will want to get in on this!

 

GIVEAWAY
One lucky winner will receive both a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products
AND a $25 Gift Certificate to Imagine Crafts!
Visit the fabulous designers from both teams and comment for your
chance to win!
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
(One comment per blog please.)
You have until Sunday, July 23rd at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Winner will be announced on
StencilGirl’s Facebook page and Imagine Crafts’s Facebook page
on Monday, July 24th.

Do you want to see more? Hop on over to these fabulous links to see what other projects were created with StencilGirl and Imagine Crafts and don’t forget to comment to win!

Belen Sotelo

Torrie Gass

Martha Lucia Gomez

Jessica Litman

Alison Heikkil

Debi Adams-You are here

Now did you miss the past two days blog hops? You can visit them here and leave your comment.

July 19

Mary C. Nasser
Janet Joehlin
Gwen Lafleur
Carol Baxter
Jennifer Vanderbeek
Nadine Carlier
Roni Johnson
Mischelle Smith

July 20

Sandee Setliff
Karen Gaunt
Cindy Gilstrap
Tina Walker
Neva Cole
Kyriakos Pachadiroglou
Renee Zarate
Elina Stromberg

 

Thanks for joining me :).

XO,

 

Debi

Comments

  1. I love using those inks through my stencils. Your cards came out great and your bonus napkins rock!

    Reply

  2. I, too, don’t always clean my blending tools….or stencils. Lol And I usually get really cool ‘oopsy’ results, too! Cfrailey64 (at) gmail (dot com)

    Reply

  8. I love the organic look of these cards, and making it on one sheet and then cutting it up is a great idea! I can’t wait to try my hand at this tonite. I thimk I will try it with distress inks.

    Reply

  13. These are really wonderful! I love nature-based colors and artwork – so these caught my eye right away. Really great work!

    Reply

  22. Love that you made the pieces into cards.
    It would be easier to do the big piece
    and then cut it down. Have to remember
    that tip.
    thanks for sharing.
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

    • Thank you for leaving a comment and happy that you learned something today.

      Reply

    • I struggle to do big canvases but this one seemed doable and then when I broke it down, it was easy! Thank you for commenting.

      Reply

  26. I had forgotten that solvent based inks can reactivate when applied atop a dry ink. I never thought to use that for blending StazOn colors! Thanks for the tip & the great cards!

    Reply

  33. oh my goodness Debi these are all so amazing. You have a gift for using stencils and I really love how you made my classic feather pop! SO so cool! Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Thank you Rae. Such a compliment coming from you. I have admired your work for a long time.

      Reply

  34. These are great cards! I love layering with stencils and I’ll have to try your color combination.

    Reply

  35. Your work is beautiful! I love the colors you used and the patterns/stencils work wonderfully together.

    Reply

  36. Glad I got here to see your step-by-step. I hadn’t internalized the rule of three concept. I’ll have to start using that.as I play. I also use a lot of my creations as bases for cards.

    Reply

    • Rhonda, I agree they make the best bases, even the ones that aren’t my favs. Wait until you see the post coming on Thursday on StencilGirl. I use my mistakes too!

      Reply

  38. I love this technique! Great color combo too! The recipients of your cards will treasure your works of art.

    Reply

  39. First of all I’m new to your blog, so I did some back reading, and I love your work. Your writing is captivating and personal and made me feel like you were talking to me as a friend on on a one-on-one. Unusual in this day of rapid blogging. Secondly your designs for this stenciled background piece and your finished card fronts were so inspiring. I’m going to damn the torpedoes and try this out. And finally your photography is superb………….I like all the different settings you used like the dinner plate. Well done. I guess I’m a fan now. Thanks for inspiring, I’ll be back.

    Reply

    • Oh my gosh, Penny! Thank you so much. I am fairly new to blogging…about a year out now and I wasn’t exactly certain where I wanted to go. Your kind words were so helpful and let me know that I am on the right track. And yes, try those stencils! Soooo much fun! It’s just paper so it’s not scary at all :). I do not send annoying ads or any of that so if you sign up to subscribe to my blog, you will only be notified when a new post is up. I’m also over on instagram a lot. Thank you sooooo much!

      Debi

      Debi

      Reply

  40. Thank you so much for sharing. I am currently just getting into stenciling and you have shown me so many alternatives. I am very grateful.

    Reply

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