Tuesday Tutorial: Stencil Transfers with The Crafter’s Workshop

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another Tuesday Tutorial!  I made a bit of a goof a few days ago when I promised to have the UTEE Shrink Art Charms tutorial posted today.  I typed that without looking at my calendar.  If I had checked first, I would have remembered that I was participating in The Crafter’s Workshop Blog Hop today.  I love the tag and technique I am sharing with you as part of that hop so I hope you will forgive me for the goof.  The UTEE Shrink Art Charm tutorial will be next Tuesday, December 20th.  (Hopefully my cold will be gone be gone by then too so I can do a video and not sound like a toad!)

Today the blog hoppers are featuring the Circles in Square template.  Be sure to visit the other amazing artist in the hop today:

• Leslie Ashe: http://leslieashe.blogspot.com/
• Emily Pitts: http://emilypitts.blogspot.com/
• Lisa Pace: http://lisapace.com/
• Nathalie Kalbach: http://nathaliesstudio.com/
• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer: http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/12/tcw224-circles-in-squares.html

Today I am sharing a technique that I am calling Stencil Transfers.

Begin by placing your stencil on a protected surface (I used a Ranger Craft Sheet).  Mist different colors onto the stencil, allowing it to puddle on the stencil.  For my example I misted three colors of Ranger’s Adirondack Color Wash (Lettuce, Butterscotch, and Sailboat Blue) and Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist on to the stencil.

I placed a tag face down onto the stencil, pressed lightly over the tag surface, and then lifted it up.  I sat the tag to the side to dry.

I really like the randomness of the transferred image and because there is so much product still on the stencil, I was able to do several tags and a piece of manila cardstock without adding more product.  I will use the cardstock for die cutting for a future project.

Because there is so much product sitting on the stencil, some of it runs and gets on the back side of the stencil.  When I went to clean up my craft sheet, I lifted the stencil up and set it on a clean piece of cardstock with the backside of the stencil on the cardstock.  The ink from the back side then transferred onto the clean cardstock making yet another printing to save for later.

Before cleaning my craft sheet, I placed a tag face down into the ink on the sheet.  The transferred design will be a great background for a future tag project.

After cleaning my craft sheet, I placed a paper towel down and laid my dirty stencil on it.  I misted it with water to clean it.  I placed a paper towel down over the top of the stencil and and pressed down with my hands to blot it.  The impression on the paper towel has such a soft batik look.  I will be saving it for a future use as well.

All together, I printed on two pieces of cardstock, four tags, and two pieces of paper towels from one inking of the template.

For my finished tag, after drying the transferred design, I added a few swipes of Picket Fence Distress Stain to soften and blend the background image a bit along the left side of the tag.

After drying the stain, I stamped a wildflower design using Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  While the ink was wet, I added clear embossing powder.  (Distress Ink remains wet long enough to work as a foundation for embossing powder.)

After melting the embossing powder and letting it cool, I stamped the same flower again using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  Again, I added clear embossing powder to the wet ink.

After melting the embossing powder and letting it cool, I stamped a second wild flower design using the Gathered Twigs Distress Ink along the bottom edge and on the left side of the tag.  I overlapped the stamped image with the flowers that were stamped and embossed.  The embossing keeps them at the “front” of the image.  The non-embossed flowers appear to be in the back.

Using an ink blending tool, I applied Broken China Distress Ink to the top and right edge of the tag.

Next, I added Peeled Paint Distress Ink to the bottom and lower right edges with an ink blending tool.

Finally, I used a ink blending tool to apply Gathered Twigs Distress Ink along the left edge of the tag.  I chose my colors to edge the tag based on complimentary colors  to those that had transferred to the tag.

I added some light border stamping along the bottom and left edge of the tag, again using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  (Note, Gathered Twigs was part of the fall seasonal release Distress Ink colors.  If you do not have this set, substitute another brown Distress Ink.)

On a scrap of manila cardstock, I stamped a bird using Black Soot Distress Ink.  While the ink was wet I added clear embossing powder.

After melting the embossing powder, I colored the bird using Faded Jeans and Scattered Straw Distress Stains.  I used fine tip scissors to the cut the bird out.

I used adhesive foam squares to adhere the bird to the tag.

On a scrap of manila cardstock (my piece had some random transfer splatter) I stamped a sentiment using Black Soot Distress Ink.  As before, I added clear embossing powder to the ink.  After melting the embossing powder, I trimmed the edges by tearing them against a ruler and then inked the edges using ink on my brown and blue ink blending tool foams.

I adhered the phrase to the lower left corner of the tag using adhesive foam squares.

I absolutely love the way this background technique creates a water color look.  I think the softens of it makes a nice backdrop to the crisper lines of the stamped images.

I love too that each time it is totally unique, you will never get the exact same look twice.

I think the embossing not only creates great texture, it also helps the stamped image stand out from a background that is bold.  Without the embossing, the stamped images would totally sink to the back.  You can see how the non-embossed flower in the lower part of the image does just that, looking like it is behind the background design.

Embossing the text allows it to be a bit more crisp and readable against a background with color and design.  Also because of the texture and finish of it, it makes it more than text, but also