The next course I watched is called "Celebration Stencil Techniques".  I rarely use stencils and was quite inspired by the variety of techniques in this course.  Then I realized that I had no stand alone Altenew stencils.  I quickly went browsing in the shop and had to... sigh, WAIT (I am so impatient) for my next order.

Then I had a brilliant idea, one technique is to make your own stencil so I got my dies out from Morning Flowers and chose the solid multi leafed die.  Hmmmm what to make my stencil with... here comes my brilliant idea.... I decided to use a hot laminating sheet and seal it so I had some hearty plastic to die cut to make my stencil.  Now I can use it over and over again!  This is what it looks like.

The card below is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" with a top fold.  Both the background and the card base is Neenah Solar White cardstock.  I used an ink blender to apply distress ink onto the stencil/cardstock, then I water colored the panel with distress ink finally I spritzed the cardstock with water and blotted it, getting the cool white flecks.

The design of my card started coming together in my mind.  I continued using the Morning Flowers stamp set and also die cut some stamped leaves.  I decided to step the background up some more and used a flannel patterned background stamp with white Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink and then heat embossed with clear fine detail embossing powder.  the result is very subtle. The center flower is popped up with foam dots to add dimension.  Once again, because I seem to really like all occasion cards I stamped "Just Because" for the sentiment which was then heat embossed with a pewter powder.  I find that pewter embossing powder has a more matte appearance than silver.  The matte matte finish, I feel, mimic's the softness of the hazy background.

The final detail of this card was the application of orange "Prills" in the center of each flower.  I am quite happy with how this card came together and love the color combination.  Even though the card is bright colored it still gives me a peaceful soothing feeling.

Thanks for checking these out.

Very quickly, my new stencils came.  The first one I used certainly but me down the rabbit hole, it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.  I learned during the course about embossing paste and was very eager to try it out.  This is what I created.

The stencil is called "Illusion Twist", yeah, I'll say it is!  I felt like my eyes were spinning.  This was fun. This card is top folding measuring 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".  The card base is a light blue, the card front is the navy.  I mixed the embossing paste with blue mica powder hoping for a shimmer, it was subtle and did not really tint the paste.  I ended up mixing in Salty Ocean Distress ink where I achieved a light blue matching the card base.  The card front was mounted onto foam then adhered to the base.  I die cut the panel for the sentiment with a Sizzix dotted frame die and then die cut the "hello" onto Sizzix adhesive backed gold paper.  The sentiment die is from Simon Says Stamp.

Another stencil I purchased is called "Elegant Swirls", it has a very Baroque feel to it.  Originally I thought of using some burgundy and coordinating colors, but thought I should think outside the box.  my final card is side folded 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  I ended up using various Distress Oxides and blended them onto the stencil.  I then spritzed with water and decided it needed some shine before I pulled the stencil off.  I filled a spritzer up with rubbing alcohol and put some "All Purpose Ink" by Tsukineko in the Frosted White color.  It is very subtle on light colors but you can certainly see in person.  The sentiment die is from Altenew called "You are Loved".  HA!  To finish it off I added some sequins and metallic looking half domes for the final embellishment.

Thanks for looking!