Well, I don’t think I’ve ever done a class of any kind at such a busy time. While taking the course, I performed on oboe in an all Tchaikovsky concert, drove 2000km to see my brother for the weekend, and moved back to Japan to live. Anyone else had a similar experience? (Probably not)

I have loved the Stenciled 2 class from Online Card Classes. I’m not in any way sponsored, but I think they’re a really good value way to learn. Without regular input, I can find myself making the same cards over and over. Getting out of my safety zone is the main thing that I learnt from this class. So, what did I make with my stencils? And what else did I learn?

Firstly, I learned that I need to look closer at the possibilities for my stencils. I need to see whether the’d make a repeating pattern, look good upside down, work as a partial stencil etc. I’m too quick to use products just as they’re presented to me, and I want to keep stretching my creative brain. This Woven Stencil was a great one to move and reblend, but although I’d had the stencil for a few months, I hadn’t thought of it.

The Happy Birthday stamp above is embossed in Fire Engine Red glitter embossing powder, and comes from the All About You stamp set

Next, as you can see below, I learnt that I can mix my media much more than I have been, and that there are many ways to stretch your supplies. Many of the techniques in the class called for materials that I didn’t have, one of which was pastes in all kinds of colours and textures. In Australia, I had just one jar of white paste. so I mixed it with glitter, shimmery bits, (even novo drops) and watercolour powders and refills to get colour and texture. Sometimes the results were different to what I expected for my concoctions, but I learnt a lot along the way. Those pastes can dry out, and so I think I’ll work with white and clear pastes for now, so that I don’t have so many that I don’t get back to them in time (Farewell, gold paste, you were great until you died!!)

I like the way this Flora Stencil has smaller gaps, and the way it is well anchored, with no flapping parts, if you know what I mean. The paste of shimmery watercolour powder plus embossing posted plus glitter made for a vibrant panel. The sentiment too is about a million years old, and I’m now in Japan, 10 000km away from it, and I can’t remember the company that makes it!!! (Sorry)

Finally, I learned that I can mix media much more that I have been. I used watercolour and then paste for the two different layers of this two layer butterfly stencil set, called Betty’s Butterflies. My experiments with watercolour on stencils were, shall we say, mixed???? There may be a panel in my bin that really was unretrievable (and you know I’ll try and rescue almost any booboo). But I had fun, learnt lots, and it was only one piece of paper.

To match with the watercolour them I did my favourite trick of spattering water everywhere.The sentiment for this card is a mix of companies and fonts. The Hey Friend is actually the middle bonus in a set of Wide Arches Dies, which I’ve used for shaker cards in the past with great success. You’re the Best comes from the All Occasions Sentiment Sheets from Paper Rose Studio.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these cards. I enjoyed the learning process and the discovery in making them. I think that I have learnt more than just how to use stencils, but that the course has made me rethink how I make cards, and how I make creative decisions. All good things to think about. Thank you to all the tutors involved.

Until next time, may you be on a constant learning journey.

Blessings,

Donna

These are the supplies I used. You can click on the link to shop. Where available, I have used affiliate links, which means that I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. I’ve tried to link to companies in different countries, so you can save on postage costs. Thank you so much for your support.

PInk and Main Woven Stencil Shop at: P&M | SBC	Pink and main Flora Stencil Shop at: P&M	PInk and Main Betty’s Butterflies Stencil Shop at: P&M | SBC | SSS	Pink and Main All about You Stamp Shop at: P&M | SBC	Paper Rose All Occasions Sentiment strips Shop at: PRS | SBC
Pink and Main Fire Engine Red Embossing Powder Shop at: SBC	Pink and Main Wide Stitched Arches dies Shop at: P&M | SBC | SSS