VIDEO - Bursting with Fun! | Stencils and Color Burst

Hi Everyone!

It's Jenny here, and I'm so thrilled to be returned to the BRI blog - and I have LOTS of cards for you today - SEVEN!  I'm focusing on using stencils with Color Burst watercolor powders.    I'm using the just released Catherine Pooler Color Burst collection, and Butterfly Reflections Ink carries tons of other gorgeous colors in the store.

For all my cards I'm using cold press watercolor cardstock.  

You can check out the full video over on YouTube.  

My first two cards use the Catherine Pooler Designs (CPD) Perfect Vine stencil. I laid out two sheets of cold press cardstock and on one I laid down the stencil, and then spritzed clear water  over the top with a Mini Mister.  I then quickly picked up the stencil and flipped it over onto the other piece of cardstock, pushed down to press the water remaining on the stencil into the cardstock and then lifted it up.

Now for the fun part! Take some Color Bursts and puff them out over the two pieces of cardstock - the powder will adhere directly where there is water, and wick out showing the shape of the stencil.  Once you're happy, give the piece a dry with a heat tool or leave it to dry, then brush of excess powder with a soft brush. 

To finish my first card, I trimmed down the panel and stamped the two birds from CPD's Happy Together stamp set in Midnight Ink using my Mini Misti.  I then heat embossed the detail on them with WOW! Gold Pearl embossing powder and die cut them out.   The sentiment is from the same set, heat embossed in white on black cardstock.  All were popped up on foam tape and I positioned the birds so they looked like they were resting on a vine.

For the second card, I die cut the CPD Thanks Die four times from black cardstock and once from gold mirror cardstock and adhered them together, and then into the centre of the panel.  The tiny sentiment was heat embossed in white on a strip of black cardstock (it is from the For Everything set by CPD).

My next few cards use the technique of laying a stencil down on wet watercolor, applying pressure until it's dry (I use acrylic blocks) and when you lift it off, you'll fine a fun pattern.  For this card I created a panel with red and yellow color bursts onto lots of clear water letting it blend together.  I then overlaid the CPD Roses Stencil on top and left it to dry.

When dry, I trimmed it down and then stamped the CPD Fearless Pursuit sentiment in the centre a few times using my MISTI, and heat embossed in WOW! Black & Gold chunky embossing powder twice.   The swirly texture from the Roses stencil totally reminded me of the Sun! To add a little more interest, I stamped some of the shapes from the stamp set in Midnight Black ink.

I used the same technique for this card too - this time I used some Liquid Metals in the mix of Color Bursts along with the CPD Polka Heart.   I trimmed the panel down and then die cut the CPD Hooray! die from the centre. 

I adhered the panel to a white cardbase, and then replaced the Hooray pieces to finish the word.  The sub-sentiment is from the CPD Spot On stampset, heat embossed in WOW! Metallic Platinum to match that shimmer in the background.   As a finishing touch I scattered some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins.

This card features the same Color Burst, Liquid Metals and Polka Heart stencil, except this time I laid down the stencil and picked up or lifted the color using a baby wipe/wet paper towel.  It is a much more subtle but quicker way to get this same textured effect.

To finish the card I heat embossed the main image from CPD's Grateful Heart in WOW! Metallic Platinum and colored it with Tombow dual brush markers and a waterbrush. I then die cut it with the co-ordinating die.   I heat embossed in circle wreath (from CPD's Sweet Home) and adhered the flowers on top.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto black cardstock.  It is from CPD's Faithful Flutterings.  As a finishing touch I scattered some white sequins.

This card is another slight tweak on the previous techniques.  I first created a light Color Burst background by adding one color of Color Burst and lots of water to make the color paler.  I then dried the piece.  I overlaid CPD's Polka Heart stencil and lifted the color with a baby whipe as before.  This time though, I shifted the stencil ever so slightly and then where the color was lightest on the background, I went in with a blender brush and added some co-ordinating ink to darken the edges (I used Samba ink).    You can see that on the darkest part of the panel (the left) I have some lifted areas, and on the palest part (the right) the ink blending is really clear.  There is even a sihouette effect towards the top left!

To finish the card, I stamped the flowers from CPD's Tropically Yours in Samba, Coral Cabana and Limoncello ink, and the leaves in Mint To Be, then die cut them out and popped them up on foam tape.  I also added some Nuvo Gloss White Drops and CPD Phoenix sequins to embellish!

For my final card, I adhered the CPD Swoop Stencil directly to the cardstock using Pixie Spray temporary adhesive.  I then spritzed water over the stencil and dropped in some Liquid Metals and Color Burst.  I lifted up some water with a paper towel and dried it a little with my heat gun (not too much you don't want to melt the stencil!! You could wait for it to dry too but I'm far too lazy!) before peeling back the stencil

I trimmed down the panel and then die cut it diagonally with the CPD Bordering Sweet die.  I popped it up onto a white card panel and then the sentiment was stamped in Midnight ink.  It is from the One in a Million Mom set.  As a little subtle sparkle I added some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins. 

I hope this gave you some ideas to try with watercolor and stencils!  Remember BRI carries tons of stencils in store and they are so versatile at a great price point.  Have fun getting inky!

Jenny