Playing with new stencils

 I have had a good weekend, playing with new techniques, and practicing ones that I am more familiar with.  All three are using Clarity stencils and brushes.  This first card is a new one which was shown on Create and Craft at the beginning of this month.  It is a combi set, with the stencil and then remountable leaves/petals with the filigraphy design on each.  

Initially, I stencilled the design using just two colours of Adirondacks - Butterscotch and Pesto, adding the ink with the Clarity brushes.  By gradually adding colour through the stencil, you can achieve some lovely shading, and real depth of colour. Then I used the remountable filigraphy stamps to add the texture look, stamping in Pesto.

This was never intended to be a square card, but I was too idle to go upstairs to get another piece of base card.  It looked stupid in the centre of a large card, so I put it to the side and then decided to stencil  the flower or part of it to the side.   As you can see, I use only parts of the main stencil, just picking the bits that I wanted and that fitted into the space available.   To finish off, I used the Butterscotch that still remained on the brush to soften down the stark white of the card.

This second card, using the Chinese Lanterns stencil, was a straightforward brushing through the stencil with Butterscotch and Red Pepper, blending them lightly in the middle.  I have not quite finished this one as I intend to add one of the remountable sentiment line stamps, choosing whichever is appropriate to whoever I am sending it to.  I will take the sentiment round all four sides of the design to frame it properly.

Card number 3 is the result of using too much paint on the Gelli plate, which meant that I got a really strong ghost print.  This print has been in my folder for over a month while I decided how to use it.  The base colour was  a strong olive green, and I suddenly decided to go over the top with  a Distress ink, Spiced Marmalade, which I thought was probably the nearest to the true colour of Chinese Lanterns.  I was a bit nervous because I actually liked the print as it was, so it was a bit of a leap of faith, but I think I also like the effect of adding the orange.

Later this week, I will show you the results from Maria's Workshop last Friday.  I had a whale of a time, once I had woken up.

At some point, on Wednesday, I will announce the winners of my Blog Candy.  I am very close to getting to the magic 100 followers, which may mean an extra prize for someone, chosen at random.