A few weeks ago I posted cards on the Stamps of Life Fan Club page on Facebook where I double stenciled a few backgrounds and several people asked if I could show some of the techniques. There are no special rules to double stencil backgrounds – use the products and inks you have and feel free to experiment because you never know what you can create!
For all of the examples below, I used Stamps of Life stencils and I decided to use just two ink pads so you can see how different they can look. I used the new sunshine ink pad and tangerine. I love the way yellow and orange go together.
I start with white card cut to 4″x 5 1/4″. I always add some painters tape to the back to keep the card from sliding (low tack tape). As you can see I started with the new wedding circle stencil and the sunshine ink.
For the next step, slide the stencil down to offset the circles. I used tangerine as my second layer which, as you can see, covered some of the white but left part of the yellow. You can try different color variations for different looks.
For this next example, I taped two stencils together. I started with the large circle stencil, and then over-laid it with the grid stencil (before adding any ink). Make sure you tape each stencil down so things don’t move. I used tangerine ink at the top and sunshine ink at the bottom and blended both in the middle. Be careful when you peel off the stencils so you don’t smudge the ink when you are done.
For this last example, I again taped two stencils one on top of the other. The first stencil is the grid stencil and then i added the open flower stencil and taped it all down. I started with tangerine this time as my base color.
I carefully lifted off the flower stencil only and then added sunshine ink while keeping the grid stencil in place. As you can see it gives a gorgeous final result and makes it look like the flowers are behind a fence.
Here is a closer look at the final results…. be creative and have fun!
These are the cards I posted a few weeks with similar backgrounds and techniques. I hope they inspire you to try something new too!
Just a few last tips: Remember to tape down your work with any type of low tack tape to avoid your paper and stencils from shifting; and if you have a glass mat, I recommend using it for these projects because you will need to continually clean your work surface in order to avoid smudges. Thanks for joining me! Happy Crafting!
