
Happy Spring! It's Kim O'Connell checkin' in today with a quick tutorial on stenciling. Have you tried stenciling yet? Are you intimated? I was, too! You MUST get over it and give it a try! Stenciling is easy and inexpensive way to add interest to your creations!
Start by securing your card stock down with some tape. Then secure your stencil over it. I am using the Flowing Flowers stencil.

Add some texture paste to your craft mat and tint it with a few drops of your re-inker. I chose an ink slightly darker than the color of my card stock to tint the embossing paste.

Mix it up until the well blended. Add more ink to darken or more texture paste to lighten.

Now spread the tinted texture paste over the stencil smoothly over the stencil.

Remove the stencil and clean right away so that the texture paste does not dry on your stencil. Let your card stock dry completely. I have tried to rush the drying process with a heating gun, but I've ended up causing it to scorch and bubble so be patient and just walk away and let it dry. Once dry, you now have a perfectly textured background panel for your card.

And here's how I used it on my card featuring the Spring Medley rubber stamp by A Random Fan and a sentiment from the Hopped Up sentiment stamp set.

As you can see, I went back in with a white gel pen and added freckles to her cheeks AND added white centers to the flowers. It's a nice, touch, right?! Easy peasy!
If you haven't given our stencils a try, please do! You can try this technique with the texture paste. You can sponge some ink through the stencil. You can use watercolors with the stencils. So many possibilities! You will be sorry you didn't give this a try sooner!
