Spring into Stencils

Hello and welcome! I'm so pleased to have a special post today as I am the lucky Guest Designer over at the wonderful Frilly and Funkie challenge blog (on foot of my win for my creation here).

When I was invited to be Guest Designer I was delighted to learn that the theme to work to was 'Stencil Mania'. I find it difficult to make anything now without using stencils so this is right up my alley. Using several stencils I've made a card showing a little Springtime scene...

All the papers are by Maja Design. The window, window box and iron fence are all diecut using Sizzix / Tim Holtz dies. The diecut bird is from a Memory Box die. Foliage is done using Tim Holtz and Marianne dies.

There seems to be quite a blitz in blogland at the mo for DecoArt products so I'm joining in by painting the diecut chipboard window with DecoArt paint in 'Light Buttermilk'. Once dry, I applied DecoArt 'One Step Crackle' (best crackle medium there is imho) to the window and the window box. In no time at all the lovely crackles appeared and I then rubbed some distress inks into the cracks using a babywipe.

For the window 'pane' I applied texture paste through a Wendy Vecchi 'vintage quilt' stencil onto heat resistant acetate. Using the technique outlined by Tim Holtz in his March tag I magically turned the paste silver for a faux 'leaded window' effect. (The trick is to sprinkle embossing powder onto the texture paste before it dries. Then once the paste is fully dry heat it with your heat gun and the embossing powder will transform into your colour of choice). Simples! If you havn't heat embossed acetate before take care with static and handling. Use a narrow brush to disperse any stray flecks of embossing powder before you start to heat.

As further window decoration I made a faux window blind that I've stencilled with Tim Holt's 'gothic' stencil by just blending distress ink through the stencil.

On the background I've again applied texture paste through Tim's 'latticework' stencil and a Memory box 'tessatina' stencil to add extra interest. Lightly dabbed a variety of distress inks over the raised paste to add colour and then went and covered most of it up with window and fence diecuts!

The window box was also given some crackle treatment and attached using double layers of tape. I've placed some dried moss and little resin roses into the window box to make it pretty. Crackle medium was also coated onto both birds.

The iron fence was painted and then aged using 'Brushed Pewter' stain and lightly dabbed with silver gilding wax. I also painted some honeycomb chipboard shapes in a pink shade and placed in corners. These helped to further raise the fence in the bottom corners. Finally, I fussy cut florals and butterflies from Maja Design papers and dotted around the little scene.

Thank-you so much to all the talented ladies at Frilly & Funkie for allowing me feature today as Guest Designer. It’s always a privilege to be associated with their challenge and one of my very favourite design teams. To have a chance to be 'Guest Designer' or to win a generous voucher for Linda's beautifully stocked Funkie Junkie Boutique why don't you grab some stencils and enter your creation here!

Enjoy the rest of your week and thank-you so very much for your visit,
Nicola x

I wish to enter card to the following challenges:
A Vintage Journey - Through the Looking Glass
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Due Date (my Guest Design slot had due date 21.4.15)
Inspiration Journal - Everything Goes
Craft for the Craic - Die-ing for Spring
Crafts for Eternity - Spring
Stamps and Stencils - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes - twist of Spring
Simply Create Too - No digis or stamped images
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Springtime Flowers