Altenew July 2018 Stencil Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi Folks! I'm super excited to be a part of the Altenew July 2018 Stencil Blog Hop! You may have arrived here from Vicky Papaioannou, but if not, feel free to start at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog.

Stencils are an important tool in any paper-crafter's arsenal. You could invest in a enormous stack of patterned paper, or you could have a nice little collection of stencils and make your own patterned paper as needed, in the exact colors you want. They're just so versatile! Not only can you use your stencils as-is, but there are so many other ways to create patterns. I have seven different ways to get the most out of your stencils, and I can't wait to share them with you ...

Let's take a look!
 

For the cards in this series I'm sticking to a basic color palette to keep them all coordinating. And for the most part I'm also limiting the stamps I'm using to these amazing 3-stamp florals in Vintage Flowers and the perfect font sentiments in Scribbled Flowers.
 

1. Don't reinvent the wheel, use the stencil as-is - starting off easy here! When I first use a new stencil I often just use it the way it was intended and don't do anything fancy so I get a feel for what it looks like.

This Step Builder Stencil is an interesting one because it's intended to be used twice to achieve a 3D effect. The first time you use it with a light shade of the color, and the second time you shift the stencil and use a darker shade of the color to complete the design. So easy to create an eye-catching pattern! 
 

I've also used the Feeling Dotty Stencil on the charcoal band at the top for some subtle texture. I can see using this stencil all the time for adding just a little interest, but not too much.
 

2. Shift the stencil to the right/left - taking a cue from the last step builder stencil, you can shift your stencil even when it's not intended to. Such a great look with the Feeling Dotty Stencil, especially in coordinating colors!
 

3. Only ink a portion of the stencil and fade away - this is a great way to create a border on your card. You can include a pattern, but also have the center of the card white for your sentiment and focal point.The sentiment for this card comes from Birthday Bash Stamp Set. I love that it has open letters so I can fill them in with coordinating colors from the card. 
 

4. Rotate your stencil (and keep rotating!) - no one says you can't turn your stencil around, or use it more than once on the same project, and here I've done both. For this card I've used the Caligraphy Maze Stencil and only two different colors of Altenew's Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray. 
 

The first time I sprayed Ocean Waves Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray, rotated the stencil counter clockwise and sprayed Frayed Leaf Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray. I tried to line the stencil up so I saw the most amount of white space before spraying, as my goal was to cover the entire card with ink. The final two times I sprayed with Frayed Leaf. 
 

 

Using the spray instead of sponging the ink is so quick ... just a few spritz's to cover the whole card. One great tip I learned from the Altenew website is if you want even coverage (no splotches), point the nozzle slightly off the edges of the card. To finish the card I embossed several sentiments and cut them the same height as the rows of the stencil. 

5. Spray on a dark background - If you want drama, this is a great technique. I sprayed Antique Gold Metallic Ink Spray on black cardstock through the Elegant Swirls Stencil and love the way it pops. For this card I pointed the nozzle more directly at the card, and you see a few larger spots, which I think ties in nicely with the sequins at the bottom.
 

The three repeated sentiments are embossed in gold. Shall we talk about all the sequins on the bottom? It's actually fabric from Hobby Lobby! Talk about mess-free ... they're all connected together. What a find!

6. Flip the stencil over - unlike rotating the stencil, actually flipping the stencil over gives you a mirrored image. This worked really well for the background on this card, as I was able to make an arched pattern with the Molded Lines Stencil which actually mimics the arches on the cathedral! It was looking a little stark behind the cathedral so I flicked a few drops from the Lavender Fields Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray.
 

The cathedral is from one of my favorite sets, Sketchy Landmarks. It seems to have a fairy tale vibe with the flowers layered over the bottom of it. 
 

7. Find a design within the pattern and highlight it - This one is a little more challenging, but very fun to execute. When I had my flower on top of the card, figuring out where to put it, I thought some of the swirls on the Elegant Swirls Stencil looked nature-inspired. When I started highlighting the swirl in the lower left corner, I was excited to see it take the shape of a flower stem and leaves!
 

In addition to highlighting a section of the stencil with additional ink, I added some doodling with a white gel pen. Finally, to further emphasize the leaves, I cut around the tip of one leaf with an exacto knife and stuck my sentiment underneath it. 
 

Well, there you have it, seven different ways that you can use these amazing new stencils (or really, any stencil you currently own). You can find these new stencils in the July 2018 Release section of the Altenew site.
 

I sure hope you enjoyed this collection of Altenew stencil cards! Stay tuned, I have a card coming up that I made from the left over scraps from this session ... including the paper towel I used to remove ink from the stencils! You can follow my blog and/or Instagram which is linked in the right side bar.  

Prizes:

The generous folks at Altenew are giving away a $30 gift certificate to one lucky commenter on my blog! Please leave a comment here by Thursday, July 12th and I will select a winner on 7/15/18.

Additional Giveaway:

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by Thursday, July 12th for a chance to win. 6 winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 7/15/2018.

Your next stop on this star-studded hop is the lovely Zinia Redo!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Kelly

Altenew Card Blog

Paige Evans

Vicky Papaioannou

Kelly Griglione <--you are here

Zinia Redo

Emily Midgett

Rubeena Ianigro

Olga Moss

Lilith Eeckels

Gayatri Murali

Virginia Lu

Nicole Picadura

Karin Åkesdotter

Norine Borys

Heather Hoffman

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Erum Tasneem

Enza Gudor

Nina-Marie Trapani

May Sukyong Park

Justine Hovey

Svitlana Shayevich

Sveta Fotinia

Dana Gong

Kymona Tracey

Agnieszka Malyszek

Lydia Evans

Crystal Thompson

Simon Says Stamp Blog