Stencilmania with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. It's time for another challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. I am your host for this one and I've called it 'Stencilmania'. "Stencils are such versatile tools - you can add colour through them, add texture and patterns with them, draw with them, emboss with them, print with them and so much more. So for this challenge we want you to get creative with your stencils, adding as many layers as you dare to create a vintage or shabby chic project to share with us all."

As ever, the Design Team will choose their top four picks, with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and three additional outstanding entries will receive Top 3 Badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

For this challenge I've combined a couple of Finnabair stencils with one of the new Sizzix Chapter 3 die set releases - it's officially a Christmas themed one but I've taken it on a tropical journey to create these Summer inspired cards;

To show how these cards came together I've put together a tutorial.

First up I got out every shade of blue in the Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint range and painted a length of A4 paper (half a width wide) ensuring each one blended into the next.

Once dry I applied Dina's White Acrylic Paint through the Finnabair 'Oriental Wall' Stencil. It's really helpful that this stencil is a long one as it made the process quicker and easier to line up.

When the stencilling was dry I cut the strip of paper up into sections as shown below. The edges were inked with Wendy Vecchi 'Acorn' Archival Ink.

Taking two pieces of card a little smaller than A6 size I covered them with Ranger Opaque Crackle Paste, applying it through the Finnabair 'Vintage Wallpaper' Stencil. It was left to dry and crack beautifully before having a coat of matte gesso applied over the top to seal in the cracked surface.

To finish the matting and layering portion of the cards more of the 'Acorn' Archival Ink was blended around the edge of the stencilled card. I also brushed a little over the surface of the raised crackled parts to emphasis the texture further. Slightly larger pieces of paper were painted with 'Gilt' Acrylic Paint to act as a border between the card blanks and stencilled paper. Once layered together the stencilled strips were added on top, with some raised using dimensional tape.

Moving on to the tropical flowers I began by painting four small offcuts of paper with 'Cheddar' Acrylic Paint, cutting four of the large geometric frames using the new Sizzix 'Geometric Winter Frame' Die Set by Olivia Rose. The inside portions were saved for using with the flowers and leaves.

The first of the inside pieces was repainted with the 'Lemon' Acrylic Paint before some of the larger leaves in the die set were cut from it.

A second inside piece was repainted with the 'Ruby' Acrylic Paint and had the little flowers cut as shown below.

Some of the waste edges from the original frame cuts was repainted using the 'Sedona' Acrylic Paint so I could cut some contrasting larger flower petals from it.

Another inside section was repainted with 'Olive' Acrylic Paint and had a selection of the smaller leaf stems from the set cut from it.

Finally I repainted some of the remaining leftovers with 'Tangerine' Acrylic Paint to cut the berry stems from. They were given more depth and dimension by adding little drops of Wendy Vecchi's 'Orange Blossom' Liquid Pearls.

To finish, the frames were offset over each other onto the stencilled background and the flowers, leaves and berry stems added on top. I added sentiments from Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART 'Thank You' Stamp/Die/Stencil Set to each card, stamping them onto white card to contrast with the background. Here are some close up photos so you can see the details more clearly;

So that's my take on the theme 'Stencilmania'. My hugely talented team mates have also come up with their own stencilled projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE. And remember to link up your own shabby chic or vintage pieces to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes that's up for grabs.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create these cards are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Prima Marketing Finnabair Stencil - Oriental Wall

Prima Marketing Finnabair Stencil - Vintage Wallpaper

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 'Geometric Winter Frame' by Olivia Rose

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gessos

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - Thank You

Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls - Orange Blossom

Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Acorn

Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste