To created a foil stenciled background, position a piece white cardstock onto your craft mat. Lay the stencil over the paper and tack it down using removable tape. Allow the gel to dry for at least 30 minutes or until it becomes clear. Next, cover the stenciled cardstock with a piece of Deco Foil. Position it inside a folded piece of parchment paper and run it through a preheated laminator.

A little trick for working with foil: Take note of the direction the grain or lines are running on the backside (silver side) of the foil. Place the foil into the laminator so that the lines are running horizontal to the opening of the laminator. This will eliminate the wrinkling.

Embossed Background - Embossing with Stencils

This second card uses the Newton's Nook Designs Pawprints Stencil. For this technique you will need a silicone mat and a manual die cut machine.

I happened to have a Sizzix, but I have a Spellbinders silicone mat. I had to play around with which platforms to use for this combination. Make sure that you play around with what you have until you get the right combination or you could also just purchase the one that works with your machine. I just used what I had on hand to make this work.

The main things you need to do to emboss with a stencil are to first place the stencil on top of the cutting plate, then place the cardstock on top of the stencil.

Next, place the silicone mat on top of the paper and then place the other cutting plate on top of the mat. From there you will need to figure out the rest of the layers so you have enough pressure to achieve the embossing. I actually removed Layer 1 and only used Layer 2 along with the cutting plates.

To help the embossed design stand out even more, I lightly inked over it using some Distress Ink and and ink blending tool. Use a light hand when applying the ink and make sure to stamp off the excess ink before you begin applying the ink to your paper.

Inked Background - Rotating the Stencil

On this card, I used the Newton's Nook Designs Tropical Leaves Stencil. I applied a small bit of adhesive to the back side of a piece of watercolor paper and adhered it to my craft mat. This trick keeps the paper from moving around when you apply the ink. Next, tape down the stencil using removable tape.

Select 3 colors of Distress Ink from the same color family. Here I used Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn and Shabby Shutters for a green background.






I hope you enjoyed learning some new ways to use your stencils. Any of these techniques will work with just about any stencil. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

Supplies

Are you interested in the supplies I used to create these cards? To make them easy for you to find, I've listed them below. Affiliate links are used at no additional cost to you and I've linked to them because I use them and love them! Click on the image below each picture to go to your favorite store.