Hello there! Thank you for stopping by to help celebrate the new release from Simon Says Stamp – all about Love! I’ve already shared one card & video tutorial on my blog yesterday – check it out for more inspiration and have 4 more projects to share today!
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VIDEO TUTORIAL
As always, I filmed a video tutorial showing how to create this project from start to finish. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it. Watch it below or on my Youtube channel.
Like this video? Please give it a big thumbs up (you can do this on Youtube video page right under the video) and share with a crafty friend! Leave me a comment too, I love hearing from you!
CARD DETAILS – INK BLENDING + DRY EMBOSSING
I love working with stencils as there’s just a ton of things that they can be used for. One of the ways to use it, the most common way, is to apply ink through the stencil to create a beautiful background. I used Simon’s Deep Sea ink, it’s a nice deep blue, and blended color through the Folk Dance stencil onto my paper to create a bold background.
This particular design looked very Scandinavian to me, and I associate blue with this style so I knew I wanted to use a lot of blue, mainly blue color for my cards today. I blended this ink rather heavily onto the paper and I just went with one solid color. If you have smaller ink blending tools, like little daubers, you can do selective ink blending and blend the flowers in red and yellow and keep the leaves blue.
You can also dry emboss with the stencil – its like en embossing folder, it can emboss your paper but the impression is not going to be as deep. I used my Platinum die cutting machine from Spellbinders to dry emboss my ink blended background as well as just a piece of white cardstock with the help of the stencil.
I just love this look of white on white – there’s just nothing quite like it. You can also try it on colored cardstock, but white is a winner in my book.
CARD DETAILS – TEXTURE PASTE
Another thing I like to use my stencils with is texture paste. I used texture paste from Ranger and applied a very heavy layer of my paste onto Soft Navy cardstock from Simon Says Stamp – still going for that white and blue look.
I loved the result, I got dimension, I got texture – I basically got everything I wanted from this background with this paste.
CARD DETAILS – ALTERING THE STENCIL WITH MASKING
One last thing I wanted to share is using just parts of a stencil. I masked some areas of my stencil so that I could change up the look. This stencil has a pattern to it – there are repeating elements on it, and I wanted to break it up apart without actually physically breaking the stencil; I wanted to use these elements separately to create a different arrangement on my background. I still used the same elements, I simply changed how they were arranged on my background.
This handmade card uses Nuvo Drops to create flower centers. Want to see 4 other ways you can use Nuvo Drops from Tonic Studios in card making? Check out this article – 5 Ways to Use Nuvo Drops.
I blended the same Soft Navy ink and formed a floral frame keeping the central part of my panel white. I think I had the most fun creating this background – as it gave me a completely different look to my card.
I also added a bit of color this background by using my Nuvo drops in yellow, red and gray. I used gray for the filler dots – so any blue dots that weren’t flower centers I coated a lot of those in gray and than used yellow as the flower center for large flowers and red for the small flowers. And I loved how I was able to easily add color to this background. And this also helped me to cover up some of the imperfect blending spots that I had on my card.
The sentiments for all 4 of my projects came from an older stamp set from Simon – I heat embossed them in white embossing powder onto blue cardstock, trimmed into strips and foam mounted onto the cards.
GIVEAWAY! (NOW CLOSED)
Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop from the blog comment section. So leave a comment below for your chance to win! Winners will be announced on Simon’s blog on Wednesday.
HOP ALONG WITH US!
Simon Says Stamp Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Kristina Werner
Laura Bassen
Yana Smakula – you are here!
Debby Hughes
Nina-Marie Trapani
Nichol Spohr
Suzy Plantamura
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Heather Ruwe
Lisa Addesa
SUPPLIES
I’m listing the products I used below. Click on the link to go directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for your support
 Simon Says Stencils Folk Dance Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Clear Stamps Kind Flowers Shop at: SSS |
 Spellbinders Platinum Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS |
 Hero Arts White Embossing Powder PW110 Shop at: SSS |
 Hero Arts Heat Embossing Gun PW200 Shop at: SSS |
 Neenah 110 Lb Solar White Cardstock Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stam Deep Sea Dye Ink Pad Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Embossing Ink Pad Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp Soft Navy Cardstock Shop at: SSS |
 Simon Says Stamp White Pigment Ink Pad Shop at: SSS |
 Spellbinders Magnetic Handy Mat Shop at: SSS |
 Ranger Mini Round Foam Refils Shop at: SSS |
 Ranger Mini Round Ink Blending Tools Shop at: SSS |
 Tsukineko 6 Sponge Daubers Tools Shop at: SSS |
 Ranger Texture Paste Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic Metal Palette Knife Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic Oyster Gray Nuvo Crystal Drops Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic English Mustard Nuvo Crystal Drops Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic Red Berry Gloss Nuvo Crystal Drops Shop at: SSS |
 ScraPerfect Crafting Pouch Shop at: SSS |
 Tonic Studios 8.5 Inch Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS |
 Scor-tape 2 1/2 Inch Crafting Tape Shop at: SSS |
 White Fun Foam 12 Pack 9 x 12 Shop at: SSS |
 Scrapbook Adhesives White Foam Squares Shop at: SSS |
PIN THIS PROJECT
Are you on Pinterest? I’d love for your to pin this project if you like it! Thanks!
Love these cards! Thanks for sharing the idea that didn’t work too!
Love the blue and white! Funny how different climates affect the texture paste. I live in Houston and my jar is over 2 years old and is just as moist as it was on day one! ONE good thing about our humid Climate!
Fantastic video Yana…..jam packed full of great tips and techniques! As always I love your color choices! I see so many gorgeous cards here on your blog this week, time for me to catch up with you! Love this new SSS release and this blog hop with so many talented designers! My favorite way to start the weekend!! Thanks for being here!
Love how your cards coordinate yet each have such an individual look!!!
Your the mystery designer! Lol. They didnt know in the facebook live video. Classy,stunning n gorgeous cards!
Beautiful cards! Love the blue with this stencil so pretty. The dry embossing is also gorgeous and love the dimension it adds to the card. Wonderful job and. Thanks for the tips in the video too.
Love the blue you used to create the cards. Thanks for showing the different ways to use one stencil!! Beautiful!
Yana, thanks for this wonderful inspiration, it is great! 🙂
These are beautiful! I love the simplicity of the blue and white. Thank you for sharing your all of your ideas!
love the blue colour is bootiful
This such a beautiful stencil.. love your cards today Yana
Thanks for the great ideas! This really is a fabulous stencil.
All of your cards are beautiful! Thank you for such an informative and inspirational video.
How in the world does one pick a favorite! They are all lovely, and I love how you got the pops of yellow and red on the last one. Thanks so much for not only some great examples of this stencil, but the tips for getting more use out of your stencils in general.
Ooooh so gorgeous! Love the monochromatic look, and navy is my fave color 😉 Thanks for sharing Yana!!
Like the variety of looks from one stencil!
You never cease to amaze and inspire me. I really liked the SimonSaysStamp Folk Dance stencil. After seeing your tutorial I need to have it!
Such a great release. Beautiful cards as always Yana. Thanks for sharing.
I like the dry embossed stencil card. It makes a very pretty background.
Yana, I LOVE everything you create and these are just beautiful, love the colors and how you created them, thanks so much I always enjoy getting your blog post every day in my mailbox. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs.
WOW! These are lovely—love the choice of blue! You showcased the versatility of (this) stencil perfectly
These are great ideas. I wouldn’t have thought to use the stencil that way. They are all so pretty.
Love what you’ve done with the new release!
Your cards are absolutely fabulous as always.
You are so talented–thank you for inspiring me to create.
Beautiful cards, love the blue and white contrast!!
Oh wow, I just love your cards!! I too thought this stencil looked very Scandinavian and thought your use of blue was perfect. Great job!!
Great cards,love them.
Such beautiful cards! Love the blue you used also!
Thank you for sharing you ideas for inspiration!
WOW your cards are beautiful!!!
Your cards are so gorgeous! I love how they all look so different while using the same stencil 🙂
Beautiful cards, I like that you leave in the things that don’t work so well also.
Love blue and white and appreciate the variety of techniques/tips you share for products! Thanks for sharing.
Beautifully Simple!
Yana! I love your style. You always choose such interesting color combos and you are *THE BEST* at making those sophisticated background cards. I just adore you! I love how you added so much color and dimension to that last card with those nuvo drops. Thanks for the inspiration!
These cards are just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing your great tips with us, Yana – I always find so much inspiration from you
So glad you leave in the fails, it’s nice to see the thought process behind designs.
These are all beautiful. Love the blue and white and I think it perfect for this design. It is encouraging to see someone with your expertise create something that doesn’t quite work. Thanks for being willing to share the mistakes so that we can learn from them!
Blue and white cards are lovely!
The folk dance stencil is one of my favorites – your work with it is stunning.
Oh Yana I love all the technique you showed me here
the dry embossing with blue ink is cool
the one with white embossing paste is way sooo coooll and I can feel the texture by looking at your photo…and clever idea to change the position of the stencil as I see on the blue cardstok and white cardstock with blue ink…looks like reverse coool
you really have shown how great this stencil it
I wish I can buy it here in Germany 🙂
hugs
Monika
Beautiful result with the nick drops touch! Love what you did here ☉
Beautiful cards!!! I love that they all look so different using the same stencil!!!
I love this stencil. And the different cards you made using the same
stencil are gorgeous!
All of your cards are beautiful, but my favorite is the white texture paste on the blue cardstock.
Your cards are all beautiful in that gorgeous blue and white! Love how you showed several ways to use the same stencil and how you added just a hint of color to the flowers on the last card.
simply fabulous!
Beautiful stencil, beautiful cards. I love the ink blending and dry embossing technique.
Beautiful! Will have to get out my stencils & try this