Happy Thanksgiving!

 Hi Artzy friends -

Thanksgiving is one week from today here in the U.S. so I thought I'd share a non Christmas card!

I created my background using one of the Dare 2B Artzy Heart Duo Stencils. It was so quick and easy to apply three colors of Distress Inks with the Picket Fence Studios Paper Pouncers. Paper Pouncers are the best tool to use with delicate stencils like these, in my opinion.

My floral image is from the Breezy Blossoms stamps and dies, and colored with the Breezy Blossom stencil.

My sentiments are from the Grateful Layered Word Dies and Grateful stamp set.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday week! I am grateful for all of you!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Two for One Backgrounds

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I have some festive cards created with a two for one stenciled background technique, and hot foiling.

I created my backgrounds by die cutting  white cardstock with the Botanical Background die. I then used the die cut as a stencil by ink blending over another piece of white cardstock with 3 shades of Distress inks, creating an ombre look. This resulted in the die cut (or "stencil") being ink blended, as well as the solid white cardstock panel.  I did this 3 times, in shades of blue, green, and pink.

Picket Fence Paper Pouncers are perfect for this technique, as it's very easy to bend or tear the die cut if you aren't very gentle while inking over it. 

For today's cards I decided to used the green and blue backgrounds. (I used the pink backgrounds for two other cards which I will share soon.)

The other star of these cards is the Dare 2B Artzy Joy Christmas Tree Hot Foil Plate. I hot foiled several of the trees using my Spellbinders Glimmer Machine and different colors of hot foils (Here I used gold, silver, and rainbow foils). I also used the Dare 2B Artzy Solid Hot Foil Plate  to use the negative foil pieces to get a more solid look for the silver and gold trees. I cut my trees out using the die from the Joy Christmas Tree die set. This die set also cuts out the stamps in the Joy Christmas Tree stamp set. 

The cards were then simple to assemble. I adhered my die cut backgrounds to my white card bases. I cut green and blue mats for my stenciled panels to set them off from my card bases. 

These were fun and fairly easy to create! They pack a lot of shine, (so much shine that they're difficult to photograph!) and the sentiment is already included in the image! 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Ocean Floor

 Hi Artzy friends -

July is here, and so is vacation and beach season! I won't be anywhere near the ocean this year but I can create an ocean scene and pretend!

I love creating cards primarily with dies occasionally, to get a little break from coloring. The Ocean Floor Die creates the basis for this card. I cut it out of white cardstock and used these Paper Pouncers and other inking tools to color it in beautiful tropical colors. 

I added a few colored and die cut images from the Jellyfish stamp and die sets and the Sea Horses stamp and die sets.

The Make Waves sentiment is from the Mermazing stamp set. I embossed it in blue on vellum to keep the soft watery feeling.

I hope you get to enjoy some time this summer in the relaxing environment of your choice!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Fun with Stencils

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I have two cards whose backgrounds I created with the Dare 2B Artzy Circle Duo Stencils. this set includes two 6" x 6" stencils that can be used together or separately. 

For my first background I used the more open circles stencil alone, with two very different ink colors. The Picket Fence Paper Pouncers would work great with this delicate stencil. I didn't have my paper pouncers at the time I created this background but I plan to try them out next time!

Other Dare 2B Artzy products used on this card were the Jellyfish stamp and die sets, the Mini Hugs Tag dies, and the Rectangle Framelits dies. I also added a few coordinating Feelin' Groovy Enamel Stickers.

For my second stenciled background, I layered both of the Circle Duo stencils, but kept the colors in one color family. I used the dots stencil first, then the open circles, using the same ink colors on each part of the card for a subtle gradation look. 

Additional Dare 2B Artzy products I used were the Seahorses stamps and dies sets and Rectangle Framelits dies.

I love how the Circle stencils, with the colors I chose, have a very "bubbly" feel and are perfect for water scenes!

I hope you will try out these stencils and  enjoy getting Artzy with them!